Antonio Brown Got Lucky
January 26th, 2021
Dodges bullet says, SI.com.
It’s that time of year when guys like Joe — and most guys thankfully not like Joe — received e-mails from the NFL about press credentials and what to expect on Super Bowl Opening Night, and similar matters during Super Bowl Week.
But this year is different. Thanks to the COVID, instead of 2,500 reporters jammed into the Ice Palace in downtown Tampa to interview, harass and pester members of the Bucs and the Chiefs, there will be virtual interviews.
And Conor Orr of SI.com believes that furniture-tossing, bicycle-throwing Bucs receiver Antonio Brown gets a monster break as a result.
Brown will answer questions this year from behind a computer screen, and folks who will be monitoring his interview session for the NFL and the Bucs have a virtual death grip on what he can and cannot answer, and what questions will get through.
Otherwise, Orr believes in normal Super Bowl Opening Night circumstances, Brown would be trapped by the thousands of reporters on hand and forced to come clean about his antics with women, or else!
Orr types this in his column, 20 Most Fascinating People in and Around Super Bowl LV.
Antonio Brown
Fascinating might not be the word here, but the mercurial star receiver, who is still facing allegations of sexual assault and rape in a pending trial set for early December 2021, ended up being a subtly important on-field piece of Tampa Bay’s late-season run. During a typical Super Bowl with a crush of media, Brown would probably be confronted about his recent past, as would Tampa Bay’s decision makers. This year, he may very well be able to fly under the radar despite the fact that he’s still been causing trouble.
Well, if Team Glazer would have been there at a normal Super Bowl Opening Night, they simply wouldn’t answer anything about Brown. Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht? He would just say Brown has kept his nose clean.
Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians? He’d probably tell someone to go to hell.
Oh, and in his column, Orr adds more gas to the fallacy that Chucky won with Father Dungy’s team.
If park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking Bucs quarterback Tom Brady another Super Bowl, are people for the next 20 years going to write about how Brady won with Jameis’ team?
January 26th, 2021 at 5:16 pm
Some of us just hold our nose and go with the flow. Did the same thing with Jameis.
January 26th, 2021 at 5:17 pm
Hahaha
January 26th, 2021 at 5:27 pm
Innocent till proven guilty, until it is proven otherwise everyone should be held to that standard
January 26th, 2021 at 5:32 pm
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to the Super Bowl. I can’t wrap my mind around that yet. Felt like yesterday Dirk Koetter was telling us to carry a huge stick on our way to not making the playoffs and now here we are. I’m terrified B.A. and Brady might leave if we win (hope we get Eric Bienemy if that’s the case) and then draft a QB but I’d be okay with it for a W in early February.
January 26th, 2021 at 5:37 pm
“ This year, he may very well be able to fly under the radar despite the fact that he’s still been causing trouble.”
Won’t lie… didn’t want him here, happy to be wrong. However, I thought he’s been under his best behavior since he’s signed in tampa. Definitely earned himself another contract after this year.
January 26th, 2021 at 5:44 pm
They’ve had their chances to bring this up. I’ve just got some questions that the media doesn’t want to put out there because it doesn’t fit their narrative. How much is the girl asking for? Why no criminal charges ? How much did the artist girl get for the SI article? Why does the media not ask these questions ?
January 26th, 2021 at 5:44 pm
Yawn….
January 26th, 2021 at 5:50 pm
National media has been far more obsessed with COVID and Trump to do the typical criticism of NFL players. So every controversial player has slipped under the radar.
January 26th, 2021 at 5:50 pm
Totally agree.
January 26th, 2021 at 6:01 pm
I credit Chucky for a fantastic job of putting together an offensive team that year. He didn’t take charge until February. By then Warrick Dunn was already gone and he had to scramble around and find Michael Pittman, a journeyman RB, for a replacement for example.
Yes, some core players and the great defensive team was in place.
January 26th, 2021 at 6:02 pm
the only guarantee is that if the Bucs lose, it will be Trumps fault and if the Bucs win it will be Trump’s fault
January 26th, 2021 at 6:07 pm
Did chucky win with dungy team ?
So the comparison is:
Did brady win with jameis team?
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😂
Are you even serious? I think you are kidding joes? Or i hope so. Dungy was close to a championship and they won gAmes in regular season and playoffs. They were close but dungy did not care about offense for some reason. So chucky pushed bucs over the top
Jameis won 4 out of 10 games. Let me repeat , he did not win half his games
😂 Was not really close to playoffs. 😂
Not even close
And AB , playoff lenny and gronk would not be on team if brady wasnt.
Also , jpp and shaq would have said their days as bucs done if jameis stayed
Which player on offense or defense gave jameis a ringing endorsement other then saying that he was his dog. Yet finished comments with turnovers a problem and beating ourselves a problem.
The fascination continues. Johnny and jameis
😂
January 26th, 2021 at 6:15 pm
The Dungy narrative is so ridiculous- he could not field a decent offense – Gruden brought in 2 TE(Dilger and Dudley), a G from the Jets I believe, I forget his name, Joe J of the miracle catch, Kennan McCardel, Pittman as stated above
Yeah, Dungy’s team
The AB risk has paid off perfectly- if there is room, bring him back again in 21
January 26th, 2021 at 6:16 pm
We need AB to bring is MO and bring the explosive element to the Super Bowl, we have an abundance of excellent pass catchers but none with the bag of tricks AB has after the catch !
January 26th, 2021 at 6:16 pm
I’m gonna put it like this…a person doesn’t have to deserve a second chance, the second chance is deserved once he/she grabs that second chance by the horns and rides that BULL for the full nine!! AB is at 8…help us win the Big One and you will have deserved it!!!
January 26th, 2021 at 6:17 pm
Funny what discipline and being around good influences can do to someone
January 26th, 2021 at 6:19 pm
Lucky he might be playing in the Super Bowl…..so are we.
January 26th, 2021 at 6:27 pm
Brady won with Tampa’s team. Jason Licht built this team, Jameis was a stop gap until the fine tuning was dialed in by Areins. Brady was the key upgrade.
Remember Licht had to retool this team after Love Smith and his staff screwed the pooch and left us with a bare roster. Koetter kept us mired in mediocrity. Bruce Arians put on the finishing touches, and now we be in da Superbowl baby.!
January 26th, 2021 at 6:33 pm
Remember when people wanted Jameis’ head for supposedly touching a woman… Lol. AB gets to stride right through Tampa though! I guess winning really does fix everything… GO BUCS!
January 26th, 2021 at 6:34 pm
It’s amazing what the possibility of a $130,000 super bowl check will do to improve a persons behavior. Maybe the country should offer a check every year to anyone who keeps their nose clean. Might be cheaper than incarceration costs.
January 26th, 2021 at 6:41 pm
Who still reads agenda driven SI.com?
January 26th, 2021 at 6:59 pm
Cracks me up hearing so and so won with Dungys team.., err correction Graden won with Wyches team. If that was true then they should say that Dungy won with Mora’s team. Which we all know is ridiculous because Dungy has ONE COUNT THAT FOLKS ONE Super Bowl with the all stars he had with Tampa as well as Indy. I say that makes him rather mediocre pushing more towards sucky!
January 26th, 2021 at 7:00 pm
AB no doubt has issues, I am not claiming he is innocent but it isn’t uncommon for some to make false accusations for their own benefits. He deserves his day in court as do his accusers. At this point all Tampa has seen is a person trying to better himself, for how long hopefully long term. Brady is obviously a positive influence. I still find it ironic how Hunt, Peterson, AB, Rice and even Brady for deflated footballs were punished but Tyree Hill breaks his son’s arm and receives 0 penance. I guess it’s all about selling tickets.
January 26th, 2021 at 7:08 pm
Joe … Got curious about JimbobBucsFan’s comment that he credited “Chucky for a fantastic job of putting together an offensive team that year (2002)” & did a little research. Came across a fascinating article on Football Outsiders that you might find interesting. It’s titled ‘The last 25 Super Bowl champions and their offensive and defensive rankings’ and analyzes a ranking that I’ve never seen before but that makes perfect sense: points/drive (either scored or allowed). It then compares Super Bowl winners’ rankings using that stat back to 1993 (when FO started keeping that stat).
From 1993 through 2017 (25 yrs), the SB winner ranked in the Top-10 in BOTH offense & defense using that stat in 14 yrs. Then 4 more SB winners ranked in the Top-10 offensively but not defensively, and 5 more SB winners (including our 2002 Bucs) ranked in the Top-10 defensively but not offensively. Only 2 SB winners didn’t rank in the Top-10 in either offense or defense.
So out of those 25 years, 19 SB winners ranked in the Top-10 defensively, while 18 SB winners ranked in the Top-10 offensively. Interestingly, BOTH the Bucs and the Chiefs ranked in the Top-10 offensively and defensively this year.
And BTW, our 2002 Bucs ranked #1 defensively but #23 offensively using FO’s points/drive criteria (but #18 in Points Scored). I surmise that their points/drive ranking was worse because the offense was helped out by our defense scoring 5 TDs (4 Pick-6 plus 1 fumble TD) plus 1 punt return by the great Karl Williams. Those 42 pts certainly helped (as did the 38 TOs generated by our defense), since our SB team only scored 346 pts that year as compared to the 492 pts we scored this year).
January 26th, 2021 at 7:12 pm
Bucinitup813
There are plenty not thrilled with having AB, because of his personal issues. Jamies was retained until his contract was up…So There’s not a whole lot of difference, at this point.
Odds are AB will do something he shouldn’t. I don’t wish for that but chances are….
Thankfully he’s on an incredibly short leash.
January 26th, 2021 at 7:40 pm
I though that he settled out of court today for $100k… at least Fox 13 reported that this am
January 26th, 2021 at 7:44 pm
Were gonna need AB and our defense to keep playing the way they have been with thier intensity…keep the run game going but get creative with the plays….play action and motions are working also plus disguise our blitzs bc mahomes is good against the blitz….TAMPA.BAY ALL THE WAY
January 26th, 2021 at 7:46 pm
Frank
Look a little closer…
January 26th, 2021 at 7:59 pm
other than the addition of brown and gronk, this team was built to get jameis over the hump, no biggie he just could not get it done, it took THEE LORD OF THE RINGS TO DO IT
January 26th, 2021 at 8:08 pm
What was the name of the head coach who went to the Superbowl that year with the team Gruden built?
January 26th, 2021 at 8:32 pm
What was wrong with my post?
Cmon guys
January 26th, 2021 at 8:51 pm
This tells me to ignore Connor Orr.
January 26th, 2021 at 10:06 pm
So did Mahomes win a Super Bowl with Alex Smiths team? The Gruden Dungy comparison I can get because the D installed by Dungy did carry that team but Gruden did bring the pieces and scheme to put the offense over the top to win the Super Bowl. Plus it didn’t hurt that Gruden knew everything the raiders were going to do before they made it. A QB know as the goat will never have Jameis team ever brought up in the same sentence if a Super Bowl is won. C’mon man!! 🤣
January 26th, 2021 at 10:10 pm
One last thing…. for some reason every time I read one of Joe’s stories that talk about the greatness of Winston I always have the extreme urge to go fishing. I know, weird right?!?! Haha 😂
January 26th, 2021 at 10:30 pm
@joe… why did you include alink to Orr’s story? I clicked it and started reading.. what a waste!
January 26th, 2021 at 10:34 pm
So it’s just cemented in history that Tony “built that roster”, when McKay, Angelo, Ruskel etc did it too, including drafting Sapp and Brooks before Dungy even got there.
January 26th, 2021 at 10:35 pm
Re the whole Gruden’s team vs. Dungy’s. What they fail to include is that Callahan took Gruden’s team to the SB too, So, Gruden took, at least one of his teams to the SB. AND, he won the game.
Do I want him anywhere need the war room on draft day? No. But, that Bucs team was a different one than the year before he arrived.
January 27th, 2021 at 2:29 am
Can’t people do their homework? Gruden replaced 20% of the team. Oben. Jurevicius. McCardell. Pittman. Spires. Kerry Jenkins. And on and on.
And even if he didn’t, the reality is Dungy could win with Dungy’s team. Gruden did.
January 27th, 2021 at 3:36 am
“how Brady won with Jameis’ team”
Hahahaahahahahahahahahaha
Thanks for the laugh Joe, I’m working late and that made me chuckle.
January 27th, 2021 at 6:59 am
Whoever built the team did a lousy job they missed 1 key element, the QB. Not sure why a third stringer whose game uniform never gets cleaned constantly comes up in the same conversation as the GOAT. Can we talk about Montana, Manning, Brees or other HOF QB’s if we want to compare any similarities? Winston may never win a PO game let alone a SB. Brady versus Mahomes now that’s good stuff.
January 27th, 2021 at 8:04 am
“Park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking Bucs quarterback Tom Brady”
Can you give this a rest, Joe? What’s your point?
January 27th, 2021 at 8:29 am
Please give the Brady name calling a rest ! If JW was still here your column would have been m ok months ago ?
Whats the point your trying to make!
January 27th, 2021 at 10:09 am
Y’all to nosey always got brady name in y’all mouth need to find something better to do tampa bay is in the super bowl and that’s the only thing that counts
January 27th, 2021 at 11:22 am
Don Says:
January 26th, 2021 at 8:08 pm
What was the name of the head coach who went to the Superbowl that year with the team Gruden built?
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Gruden sure wasn’t worth a crap after the Bucs won the SB. Stuff him and his ego.