Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans was recently a guest on Yahoo Sports with host Matt Harmon. There was a lot of good nuggets in this interview that we will address later, but one stood out.
Meltdown Brown
Antonio Brown’s time with the Buccaneers was very fruitful for both sides, until it wasn’t. Brown had a meltdown of sorts during the late season matchup against the New York Jets. We all saw it, we all have heard reports of why. Brown said Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians was forcing him to play injured, Arians said Brown was unhappy about the lack of balls thrown his way during the game. Brown erupted and decided to strip down and prance off of the field.
During the sideline fiasco Buccaneers captain Evans tried to calm Brown down, we all have seen the videos. But, what did Evans say to Brown during the exchange? Thanks to Matt Harmon from Yahoo Sports we now know what was said.
Evans On Brown
“I mean, what I remember is we were trying to get him to come back in the game. You know, he was saying he wanted the rock, and I mean, rightfully so. We should have gotten the rock. I mean, he’s an unbelievable player. But like, yo, come in the game, AB. So we’re asking him to come in the game. We’re on offense. And I’m like, AB, big bro, come on. Let’s go in the game. They’re calling for us, because me and him are both on the pitch count, because we’re both coming back from injury. And so I’m trying to get him to come in the game. And he doesn’t come.
So I go back on the drive. I do my two plays. I come out. And then I see BA still trying to get him to come in the game. And they had like a falling out somehow. And AB goes off. And he’s about to take his pads off. And I’m trying to grab his pads and tell him like, yo, big bro– because me and him have a relationship.
“I Don’t Want Him To Go Out Like That”
And I don’t want him to go out like this. Like we obviously we need him, so I’m telling him, big bro, we need you. The season’s almost over. If you don’t want to be here the next year, you can leave, you know what I’m saying? Like obviously I just didn’t want him to go out like that. So I’m telling him, please don’t go out like this. And they’re calling me to come back in the game. So I just left him alone like, all right.
And then second, third down comes. We score in that drive. But then on TV timeout, we see that he was doing all that stuff, taking his pads off, doing jumping jacks and [MUTED]. I mean, it was unfortunate. I mean, I didn’t know that it was going to go down like that. I mean, I thought you know we was going to have a chance to go to the playoffs and probably repeat. And he would have definitely helped us.”
"I just didn't want him to go out like that, so I'm telling him, 'Please don't go out like this.'"@MattHarmon_BYB recently caught up with Mike Evans to talk about Antonio Brown's abrupt in-game exit from the Bucs and more.
Full interview ➡️ https://t.co/JSVY6kLKjW pic.twitter.com/NUZjmmOMeR
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 15, 2022
Brown Still Insists
Antonio Brown still insists Arians was trying to force him to play injured. Yes, we all saw Brown seemingly having no issues with his injured ankle earlier in the game., but Brown insists. Now that Evans has spoken in length about it it’s worth noting Evans never mentions Brown’s injury. Cynical people will say Evans is just towing the company line, protecting the team he plays for. I honestly feel Evans is just being honest and straight about the situation. You’ll have to decide for yourselves after watching the interview.
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