The new-look New England Patriots have an opportunity to be historic.
The Patriots looked borderline unstoppable in their regular-season opener, which saw the reigning Super Bowl champions run the Pittsburgh Steelers right out of Gillette Stadium. New England now will add Antonio Brown, who could take his new team’s offense to new heights if he lives up to expectations and stays on the straight and narrow.
Mike Greenberg, however, believes Brown and the Patriots already have made history, but for all the wrong reasons.
The details behind Brown’s path to New England are a bit murky, and some reports point toward the transaction being a product of a conspiracy. Greenberg, for one, believes it was Brown’s plan all along to force his way out of Oakland en route to Foxboro. If so, the ESPN host would put the Brown-Patriots signing atop the list of sports’ most unprofessional acts.
“What we just witnessed, if indeed what it appears to be — I thought we were watching a person who was just falling apart to be completely honest with you,” Greenberg said Monday on “Get Up!” “But listening to Chris Mortenson and others yesterday, now here this morning, it seems this was all an orchestrated attempt to get himself out of a situation. What we have just witnessed is the most unprofessional act that I can ever remember seeing in professional sports and I’ve been covering this stuff for 30 years. There is no obvious reason at this point to believe Antonio Brown gives a damn about anyone but himself. Now that very well may work out fine in New England and the good news for them is, they lose nothing if it doesn’t. They looked awfully good without him last night. What he can’t do is bring them down. Their culture is much too strong to be brought down by anything in their clubhouse. But there is no reason at all to believe Antonio Brown cares about anything at this point but himself.”
Yeah, that’s a bit much.
Even if Brown never intended on suiting up for the Raiders, a good chunk of players around the league likely would commend AB for taking matters into his own hands. The NFL can be a cruel, cruel world and the players’ best interests rarely are looked out for. In turn, it’s up to them to make the most of their league tenure, and Brown is handling his business the best way he sees fit.
Could Brown have acted more professional during his short time in the Bay Area? Probably. But to include his jump to the Patriots among sports’ most despicable acts is asinine.
