"The public doesn’t know that" - Antonio Brown reveals Bruce Arians' ill-treatment in Pittsburgh
Antonio Brown and Bruce Arians have become arch-rivals since the wide receiver walked off the field late in the 2021 football season. However, the wide receiver has admitted to harboring bad feelings about Arians going back to when both were working in Pittsburgh.
Here's what the wide receiver had to say about his experience under Arians back then:
“You (Clark) and I know how Arians used to treat me,” said Brown. “You and I know that Bruce Arians said that 'A.B. isn’t smart enough to play the ‘X’ position.' You and I know that Ben Roethlisberger had to say 'enough is enough' and tell Bruce Arians that we have to play this guy. The public doesn’t know that.”
Bruce Arians and Antonio Brown's run-ins through the years
Arians, the offensive coordinator for the Steelers from 2007-2011, oversaw much of Brown's work. In an interview on The Pivot Podcast, the wide receiver revealed that the head coach apparently didn't think much of him back then.
According to the receiver, the feud between the coach and player took the quarterback stepping in to supposedly resolve the matter. It is unclear which year this took place in. Brown was with the team from 2010 on. Arians was with the team until 2011.
Bruce Arians was asked about trading Brady and what it would take. “Five No. 1’s.”
Based on the comments, it would make sense that it would have been said during the wide receiver's rookie season in 2010. It wouldn't make as much sense if the coach complained during the wide receiver's second season, as he earned 1,108 yards and two touchdowns that year.
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In the interview, Brown spoke with Ryan Clark, who was with the Steelers during the entirety of Arians' tenure as the offensive coordinator. The former Steelers wide receiver attempted to get backup from the former free safety, but while the free safety was in the same locker room, he was as far from the receiver as he could be.
As such, the odds that he remembers an argument from more than a decade ago on the side of the ball that he was not a part of are low.
After Arians' exit in 2011, he went on to become the offensive coordinator in Indianapolis for a year before starting his famous stint as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. From 2013-2017, Arians coached a team that made the playoffs twice and played in a conference championship. The head coach retired after the 2017 season before his renaissance.
In 2019, Arians returned to coaching. One year later, he landed Tom Brady, No. 81, and won a Super Bowl that same year. After the 2021 season, he lost Tom Brady and the wide receiver. Will Arians continue to win without them?