Buccaneers: Antonio Brown proves Bruce Arians right in return
By Rob Leeds
Antonio Brown is a vital part of the Buccaneers, and Bruce Arians made the right decision to keep him on the roster.
The Antonio Brown crisis is coming to an end for the Buccaneers. The star receiver is back in the starting lineup and back to making Tom Brady’s life easier, and no one looks better from the situation outside of the players more than Bruce Arians.
The Arians and Brown situation has been one of the few points of drama on this roster over the past two years, but the joint focus on winning has brought this unlikely pair together in a way that no one could’ve anticipated.
Arians made it clear from day one that Brown was on a short leash. In year one, Brown was nothing short of a model teammate, and the Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl with the best receiver trio in football showed that Arians made the right decision to take a chance on a player that he didn’t love.
Then, 2021 came along, and Brown slipped up, putting him back on the hot seat for the first time in months. Many fans and analysts believed that Arians had already laid the framework to move on from Brown with an infraction such as misrepresenting his vaccination status, but that is not what happened.
Instead of cutting Brown when he was suspended, Arians stuck by his players, and even put him in a leading role for his first game in months. Arians was rewarded with over 100 receiving yards, ten catches, and a passing offense that worked in spite of Brady missing his biggest contributors.
This all came because Bruce Arians saw a new side of Brown, one that more of the fans and other onlookers should start to notice. When he’s on the field, Antonio Brown has become the model teammate, and this type of player is one that will help the Buccaneers make a playoff push in a few weeks.
The Buccaneers are a better team with AB back on the field, and Arians’ decision to stick by his player is going to pay off when Tampa needs it most.
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