The Buccaneers shouldn’t even let Antonio Brown ride the plane home.
The Antonio Brown experiment with the Buccaneers appears to be dead. Quitting on your team during a game is inexcusable, and it is even worse when you look at how depleted the Bucs are at receiver.
Tampa is approaching the playoffs, they are in a must-win game, and Brown leaves the field and makes a show of it. There is a lot that has been swept under the rug or overlooked prior to this point due to Brown’s incredible talent and his apparent buy-in, but all of that is over now.
Whatever caused Brown to freak out like that is irrelevant. AB quit on his team when they needed him, and he makes the playoff outlook for this roster even more bleak.
Bruce Arians made the right decision to stand by Brown when his most egregious offense was the COVID misrepresentation, but this is a different level. Keeping Brown at this point would destroy every ounce of credibility that this coaching staff possesses, and they need to send a message to show that they are strong.
In fact, the Bucs probably should just let Brown find his own way home. If his needs come above the team’s during the game, then their priority shouldn’t be finding him a way back from New York.
Quitting is the one thing that no team can tolerate, and this selfish decision will absolutely cause unneeded distractions over the coming weeks that Tampa could’ve avoided if they moved on from Brown when some in the media thought they should.
Its a tough situation for a team that really needs the help, but there should only be so far one is willing to sell their soul to win. Brown has proven that his isn’t worth the headache, and Bruce Arians needs to act swiftly to keep his team locked in for the playoffs.
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