Antonio Brown’s feelings toward Tom Brady continue to go from one extreme to the other, but his dislike for Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians remains the same.
Three weeks after posting a hype video to celebrate his former teammate’s retirement, Brown went back to ripping Brady while referencing the controversial ending to his time in Tampa Bay this season.
In an Instagram Stories post on Monday, the eccentric receiver accused the Buccaneers of trying “to hurt me intentionally” and claiming “they sent me out there knowing I was still hurt,” he wrote on top of a photo of an X-ray of his ankle. He went on to write that he was “lied” to by Brady going into the game.
“Tom said he would throw it if I came to play hurt, I came,” Brown said of the team’s Week 17 win over the Jets. “He didn’t throw it, imagine being hurt, having to play through this and being lied [to].”
The 33-year-old was referencing his final game with the Buccaneers. It ended with him stripping off his jersey and pads and running off the field after refusing to go back into the game when asked by Arians. Brown maintains his ankle was too injured to keep playing at MetLife Stadium that day. He was cut by Tampa Bay shortly after.
Antonio Brown went after Tom Brady and Bruce Arians in a social media post.Getty Images (2), AP
“Coach said if I couldn’t run on this get the f–k out of here,” Brown wrote. “F–k all you MF”
Brown flipped-flopped on his feelings toward Brady once already. Shortly after his Bucs exit he said the future Hall of Famer, who was instrumental in bringing him to Tampa Bay, was only his friend because “I’m good at football.” Two weeks later he backtracked on those comments, calling Brady “my guy” and to not get his previous words twisted.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Antonio Brown released a statement Wednesday addressing his midgame exit from the field on Sunday. Brown claims the Bucs tried to force him to play through a painful ankle injury and accused the organization of an “ongoing cover-up.”
“Because of my commitment to the game, I relented to pressure directly from my coach to play injured,” Brown wrote in a lengthy statement obtained by CBS Sports. “Despite the pain, I suited up, the staff injected me with what I now know was a powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using, and I gave it my all for the team.”
Brown said he stopped playing because he could no longer “safely perform my playing responsibilities,” and said the pain was “extreme.” Although he does not mention him by name, Brown claims head coach Bruce Arians tried to force him back into the game despite knowing about the injury, and that after he refused, the coach shouted “you’re done.”
Brown then accused Arians of lying, after the game, about not knowing about the ankle injury.
“That’s 100% inaccurate,” Brown wrote “Not only did he know I missed several games with the injury, he and I exchanged texts days before the game where he clearly acknowledged my injury. He obviously knew I was on the injury list. And the GM acknowledged after the game in text messages to my camp that I did tell coach about my ankle pain on Sunday.”
Brown had previously missed five games this season with an ankle injury.
Brown left Sunday’s game against the New York Jets in the third quarter. The receiver stripped off his shoulder pads, jersey and undershirt and jogged into the locker room bare-chested as the game was still going on. “They threw me out like an animal and I refused to wear their brand on my body, so I took my jersey off,” he said in Wednesday’s statement.
Another angle of AB running off of the field shirtless during a Bucs offensive drive. pic.twitter.com/YWAUvTxHq1
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 2, 2022
After the game, Arians said Brown was “no longer a Buc,” but the receiver is still currently on the team’s roster.
“As part of their ongoing cover-up, they are acting like I wasn’t cut and now demanding that I see a doctor of their choice to examine my ankle,” Brown said in his statement.
He also claims that he has already sought medical attention and that an MRI revealed “broken bone fragments stuck in my ankle, the ligament torn from the bone, and cartilage loss, which are beyond painful.” He said that he has already scheduled surgery to repair the damaged ankle at New York City’s Hospital for Special Surgery.
“Not realizing that I had already scheduled a surgery at HSS, the Bucs ‘ordered’ me under penalty of discipline and with a few hours notice to show up to a more junior doctor at HSS for another opinion. What a joke,” Brown wrote. “They’re playing like I wasn’t cut, giving me a surprise attack ‘order’ to show up to another doctor with no reasonable notice, and setting this whole thing up as a basis to cut me because what they did on Sunday was not legitimate.”
According to CBS Sports, Arians was asked on Monday if there had been any problems with Brown’s ankle injury and he replied, “None whatsoever. He was cleared to play last week [and] played [well]. And [he was] cleared to play this week.”
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TAMPA, Fla. — In his first statement since leaving the field in the third quarter of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ game at the New York Jets on Sunday, Antonio Brown said he was forced to play on an injured ankle that will require surgery, which is why he exited so abruptly.
An MRI on Monday revealed broken bone fragments, a ligament torn from the bone and cartilage loss, the wide receiver said in a lengthy statement released Wednesday night.
Brown also accused the Buccaneers of mischaracterizing his outburst on the field as a “mental health issue,” rather than a refusal to play due to pain.
The Buccaneers did not have any immediate comment to Brown’s statement when reached later Wednesday night.
Brown was on the field for 26 plays before his exit Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Upset on the sideline, he took off his jersey, pads and undershirt, and he threw his shirt and gloves into the stands. He then dashed across the end zone while both teams were on the field and waved to fans as he went to the locker room.
After the game, Bucs coach Bruce Arians denied having knowledge that Brown was injured, a point he reiterated Monday. Asked if Brown told him he was injured, Arians said, “No.”
However, the wideout’s attorney Sean Burstyn told ESPN that Brown told the training staff and Arians that he felt he was too hurt to continue in the game and that Brown’s ankle had been discussed with the coach and the training staff throughout the week.
Brown said the same in his statement.
“I took a seat on the sideline and my coach came up to me, very upset, and shouted, ‘What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you?’ I told him, ‘It’s my ankle.’ But he knew that. It was well-documented and we had discussed it,” Brown said. “He then ordered me to get on the field. I said, ‘Coach, I can’t.’ He didn’t call for medical attention. Instead, he shouted at me, ‘YOU’RE DONE!’ while he ran his finger across his throat. Coach was telling me that if I didn’t play hurt, then I was done with the Bucs.”
He added that what happened then triggered him to leave the field.
“I know we were losing to the Jets and that was frustrating for all of us. But I could not make football plays on that ankle,” he said. “Yes, I walked off the field. But there’s a major difference between launching from the line and taking hits, compared to jogging off the field with a rush of emotions going through your mind. I am reflecting on my reaction, but there was a trigger. The trigger was someone telling me that I’m not allowed to feel pain.”
After the game, Arians said Brown was no longer a Buc, which the coach reiterated Wednesday — even though the team has yet to formally release him.
Brown claimed Wednesday that despite cutting ties with him, the Bucs are attempting to dictate his medical care, even though he’s already scheduled surgery.
“You can see the bone bulging from the outside. But that must and can be repaired,” he said. “The MRI has been read by two top orthopedic surgeons in NYC, including Dr. Martin O’Malley at Hospital for Special Surgery. Not realizing that I had already scheduled a surgery at HSS, the Bucs ‘ordered’ me under penalty of discipline and with a few hours’ notice to show up to a more junior doctor at HSS for another opinion.”
Brown first suffered the ankle injury in Week 6 and missed five games. He then was suspended for three games after an NFL investigation found that he produced a fake COVID-19 vaccination card.
He returned in Week 15 against the Carolina Panthers, catching 10 passes for 101 receiving yards. But he also aggravated the injury and as a result, he was a nonparticipant in Thursday and Friday practices last week and was officially questionable leading into the Jets game.
Arians was not at those practices because he was quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19, but he was kept abreast of all practices and player statuses.
There was confusion on the extent of the injury from the beginning. Arians said on Dec. 1: “It was more [that it was] a different injury than originally thought — a sprain. There [are] issues in the heel. That’s what he had problems with.” The team, however, was pleased with his rehabilitation.
Brown had multiple significant missteps off the field before signing with Tampa Bay but had not had any incidents with the Bucs prior to what happened Sunday. Arians had called him a “model citizen.”
The coach even voiced support for Brown on Monday and said it was difficult watching him erupt on the sideline.
“It was very hard,” Arians said. “I wish him well. If he needs help, I hope he gets some. It’s very hard. Because I do care about him.
“I care about him a bunch. I hope that he’s OK.”
Brown’s statement in its entirety:
“First of all, I’d like to express my gratitude to the Bucs, fans, and my teammates. The Bucs helped me return to productive football after I had difficulties that could have ended my career. We worked together to resolve those difficulties, and I will always appreciate that. Being part of a Super Bowl champion team and then a contender is a dream come true.
“I make mistakes. I’m working on myself and I have positive influences around me. But one thing I don’t do is shy away from playing hard on the field. No one can accuse me of not giving it my all every play.
“Because of my commitment to the game, I relented to pressure directly from my coach to play injured. Despite the pain, I suited up, the staff injected me with what I now know was a powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using, and I gave it my all for the team. I played until it was clear that I could not use my ankle to safely perform my playing responsibilities. On top of that, the pain was extreme. I took a seat on the sideline and my coach came up to me, very upset, and shouted, ‘What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you?’ I told him, ‘It’s my ankle.’ But he knew that. It was well-documented and we had discussed it. He then ordered me to get on the field. I said, ‘Coach, I can’t.’ He didn’t call for medical attention. Instead, he shouted at me, ‘YOU’RE DONE!’ while he ran his finger across his throat. Coach was telling me that if I didn’t play hurt, then I was done with the Bucs.
“I didn’t quit. I was cut. I didn’t walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out. Being fired on the sideline for having a painful injury was bad enough. Then came their ‘spin.’ Coach denied on national television that he knew about my ankle. That’s 100% inaccurate. Not only did he know I missed several games with the injury, he and I exchanged texts days before the game where he clearly acknowledged my injury. He obviously knew I was on the injury list. And the GM acknowledged after the game in text messages to my camp that I did tell coach about my ankle pain on Sunday.
“I know we were losing to the Jets and that was frustrating for all of us. But I could not make football plays on that ankle. Yes, I walked off the field. But there’s a major difference between launching from the line and taking hits, compared to jogging off the field with a rush of emotions going through your mind. I am reflecting on my reaction, but there was a trigger. The trigger was someone telling me that I’m not allowed to feel pain. I acknowledge my past. But my past does not make me a second class citizen. My past does not forfeit my right to be heard when I am in pain.
“First they cut me. Now they cage me. Instead of asking how I felt or getting to the bottom of it, the team texted my camp promoting a totally false narrative that I randomly acted out without any explanation. They even told us in writing ‘don’t spin this’ any other way. I have stress, I have things I need to work on. But the worst part of this has been the Bucs’ repeated effort to portray this as a random outburst. They are telling people that first I walked off, then I was cut. No. No. No. I was cut first and then I went home. They threw me out like an animal and I refused to wear their brand on my body, so I took my jersey off.
“As part of their ongoing cover-up, they are acting like I wasn’t cut and now demanding that I see a doctor of their choice to examine my ankle. What they did not know until now is that on Monday morning I had an urgent MRI on my ankle. It shows broken bone fragments stuck in my ankle, the ligament torn from the bone, and cartilage loss, which are beyond painful. You can see the bone bulging from the outside. But that must and can be repaired. The MRI has been read by two top orthopedic surgeons in NYC, including Dr. Martin O’Malley at Hospital for Special Surgery. Not realizing that I had already scheduled a surgery at HSS, the Bucs ‘ordered’ me under penalty of discipline and with a few hours’ notice to show up to a more junior doctor at HSS for another opinion. What a joke. They’re playing like I wasn’t cut, giving me a surprise attack ‘order’ to show up to another doctor with no reasonable notice, and setting this whole thing up as a basis to cut me because what they did on Sunday was not legitimate. Sorry, GM. I already received a confirming opinion from the Top Doc at the hospital you ‘ordered’ me to go to.
“I love the Bucs fans. I really do. I love my teammates and everyone who showed me grace and believed in me. I gave the Bucs everything I had on the field. What the organization is doing now needs to get cleaned up. I do not understand how people publicly claiming to be concerned about my mental health can do these things to me in private.
“Once my surgery is complete, I’ll be back to 100% and looking forward to next season. Business gonna be BOOMIN!”
Burstyn also issued a statement on Wednesday night, saying in part: “Antonio never faked an injury in his life. It is incredible that people are pushing false rumors that what happened Sunday was the result of mental health issues and not a well known ankle injury. Why would they embark on a campaign of false concealment? To avoid responsibility for ignoring the risk of serious injury for the sake of winning a game.”
TAMPA, Fla. — In his first statement since leaving the field in the third quarter of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ game at the New York Jets on Sunday, Antonio Brown said he was forced to play on an injured ankle that will require surgery, which is why he exited so abruptly.
An MRI on Monday revealed broken bone fragments, a ligament torn from the bone and cartilage loss, the wide receiver said in a lengthy statement released Wednesday night.
Brown also accused the Buccaneers of mischaracterizing his outburst on the field as a “mental health issue,” rather than a refusal to play due to pain.
The Buccaneers did not have any immediate comment to Brown’s statement when reached later Wednesday night.
Brown was on the field for 26 plays before his exit Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Upset on the sideline, he took off his jersey, pads and undershirt, and he threw his shirt and gloves into the stands. He then dashed across the end zone while both teams were on the field and waved to fans as he went to the locker room.
After the game, Bucs coach Bruce Arians denied having knowledge that Brown was injured, a point he reiterated Monday. Asked if Brown told him he was injured, Arians said, “No.”
However, the wideout’s attorney Sean Burstyn told ESPN that Brown told the training staff and Arians that he felt he was too hurt to continue in the game and that Brown’s ankle had been discussed with the coach and the training staff throughout the week.
Brown said the same in his statement.
“I took a seat on the sideline and my coach came up to me, very upset, and shouted, ‘What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you?’ I told him, ‘It’s my ankle.’ But he knew that. It was well-documented and we had discussed it,” Brown said. “He then ordered me to get on the field. I said, ‘Coach, I can’t.’ He didn’t call for medical attention. Instead, he shouted at me, ‘YOU’RE DONE!’ while he ran his finger across his throat. Coach was telling me that if I didn’t play hurt, then I was done with the Bucs.”
He added that what happened then triggered him to leave the field.
“I know we were losing to the Jets and that was frustrating for all of us. But I could not make football plays on that ankle,” he said. “Yes, I walked off the field. But there’s a major difference between launching from the line and taking hits, compared to jogging off the field with a rush of emotions going through your mind. I am reflecting on my reaction, but there was a trigger. The trigger was someone telling me that I’m not allowed to feel pain.”
After the game, Arians said Brown was no longer a Buc, which he reiterated Wednesday — even though the team has yet to formally release him.
Brown claimed Wednesday that despite cutting ties with him, the Bucs are attempting to dictate his medical care, even though he’s already scheduled surgery.
“You can see the bone bulging from the outside. But that must and can be repaired,” he said. “The MRI has been read by two top orthopedic surgeons in NYC, including Dr. Martin O’Malley at Hospital for Special Surgery. Not realizing that I had already scheduled a surgery at HSS, the Bucs ‘ordered’ me under penalty of discipline and with a few hours’ notice to show up to a more junior doctor at HSS for another opinion.”
Brown first suffered the ankle injury in Week 6 and missed five games. He then was suspended for three games after an NFL investigation found that he produced a fake COVID-19 vaccination card.
He returned in Week 15 against the Carolina Panthers, catching 10 passes for 101 receiving yards. But he also aggravated the injury and as a result, he was a nonparticipant in Thursday and Friday practices last week and was officially questionable leading into the Jets game.
Arians was not at those practices because he was quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19, but he was kept abreast of all practices and player statuses.
Brown had multiple significant missteps off the field before signing with Tampa Bay but had not had any incidents with the Bucs prior to his outburst Sunday. Arians had called him a “model citizen.”
Arians voiced support for Brown on Monday and said it was difficult watching him erupt on the sideline.
“It was very hard,” Arians said. “I wish him well. If he needs help, I hope he gets some. It’s very hard. Because I do care about him.”
“I care about him a bunch. I hope that he’s OK.”
Brown’s statement in its entirety:
“First of all, I’d like to express my gratitude to the Bucs, fans, and my teammates. The Bucs helped me return to productive football after I had difficulties that could have ended my career. We worked together to resolve those difficulties, and I will always appreciate that. Being part of a Super Bowl champion team and then a contender is a dream come true.
“I make mistakes. I’m working on myself and I have positive influences around me. But one thing I don’t do is shy away from playing hard on the field. No one can accuse me of not giving it my all every play.
“Because of my commitment to the game, I relented to pressure directly from my coach to play injured. Despite the pain, I suited up, the staff injected me with what I now know was a powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using, and I gave it my all for the team. I played until it was clear that I could not use my ankle to safely perform my playing responsibilities. On top of that, the pain was extreme. I took a seat on the sideline and my coach came up to me, very upset, and shouted, ‘What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you?’ I told him, ‘It’s my ankle.’ But he knew that. It was well-documented and we had discussed it. He then ordered me to get on the field. I said, ‘Coach, I can’t.’ He didn’t call for medical attention. Instead, he shouted at me, ‘YOU’RE DONE!’ while he ran his finger across his throat. Coach was telling me that if I didn’t play hurt, then I was done with the Bucs.
“I didn’t quit. I was cut. I didn’t walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out. Being fired on the sideline for having a painful injury was bad enough. Then came their ‘spin.’ Coach denied on national television that he knew about my ankle. That’s 100% inaccurate. Not only did he know I missed several games with the injury, he and I exchanged texts days before the game where he clearly acknowledged my injury. He obviously knew I was on the injury list. And the GM acknowledged after the game in text messages to my camp that I did tell coach about my ankle pain on Sunday.
“I know we were losing to the Jets and that was frustrating for all of us. But I could not make football plays on that ankle. Yes, I walked off the field. But there’s a major difference between launching from the line and taking hits, compared to jogging off the field with a rush of emotions going through your mind. I am reflecting on my reaction, but there was a trigger. The trigger was someone telling me that I’m not allowed to feel pain. I acknowledge my past. But my past does not make me a second class citizen. My past does not forfeit my right to be heard when I am in pain.
“First they cut me. Now they cage me. Instead of asking how I felt or getting to the bottom of it, the team texted my camp promoting a totally false narrative that I randomly acted out without any explanation. They even told us in writing ‘don’t spin this’ any other way. I have stress, I have things I need to work on. But the worst part of this has been the Bucs’ repeated effort to portray this as a random outburst. They are telling people that first I walked off, then I was cut. No. No. No. I was cut first and then I went home. They threw me out like an animal and I refused to wear their brand on my body, so I took my jersey off.
“As part of their ongoing cover-up, they are acting like I wasn’t cut and now demanding that I see a doctor of their choice to examine my ankle. What they did not know until now is that on Monday morning I had an urgent MRI on my ankle. It shows broken bone fragments stuck in my ankle, the ligament torn from the bone, and cartilage loss, which are beyond painful. You can see the bone bulging from the outside. But that must and can be repaired. The MRI has been read by two top orthopedic surgeons in NYC, including Dr. Martin O’Malley at Hospital for Special Surgery. Not realizing that I had already scheduled a surgery at HSS, the Bucs ‘ordered’ me under penalty of discipline and with a few hours’ notice to show up to a more junior doctor at HSS for another opinion. What a joke. They’re playing like I wasn’t cut, giving me a surprise attack ‘order’ to show up to another doctor with no reasonable notice, and setting this whole thing up as a basis to cut me because what they did on Sunday was not legitimate. Sorry, GM. I already received a confirming opinion from the Top Doc at the hospital you ‘ordered’ me to go to.
“I love the Bucs fans. I really do. I love my teammates and everyone who showed me grace and believed in me. I gave the Bucs everything I had on the field. What the organization is doing now needs to get cleaned up. I do not understand how people publicly claiming to be concerned about my mental health can do these things to me in private.
“Once my surgery is complete, I’ll be back to 100% and looking forward to next season. Business gonna be BOOMIN!”
Burstyn also issued a statement on Wednesday night, saying in part: “Antonio never faked an injury in his life. It is incredible that people are pushing false rumors that what happened Sunday was the result of mental health issues and not a well known ankle injury. Why would they embark on a campaign of false concealment? To avoid responsibility for ignoring the risk of serious injury for the sake of winning a game.”
TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said Friday that he has no reason to believe wide receiver Antonio Brown procured a fake COVID-19 vaccination card, and that the team did its due diligence in vetting player vaccine cards.
“None whatsoever,” Arians said. “We did our due diligence. The league will do theirs. The statement says everything. I really don’t think it’s a story, and it has nothing to do with the Giants game.”
When it was brought up that player health and safety does impact every game, considering Brown missed Week 3 because of a positive COVID-19 test, Arians quipped, “No it doesn’t. It has nothing to do with the Giants game.”
On Thursday, in an article in the Tampa Bay Times, Brown’s former live-in chef Steven Ruiz, who also took on the role of a personal assistant, accused Brown of obtaining a fake vaccine card, after Ruiz was asked by Brown’s girlfriend, Cydney Moreau, how to go about obtaining one for each of them.
Ruiz told her he’d “look into it,” but never obtained the cards, which is not only subject to the NFL personal conduct policy but also a federal crime.
“I was very uncomfortable,” Ruiz told ESPN Friday. But he said Brown obtained a card from a Buccaneers teammate.
“He got them from another player who was selling them,” said Ruiz, who declined to name the player. “That player came over to the house multiple times. He had to get another copy of Cyd’s vaccine card because they got her birthday wrong on the first one.”
“I’m gonna sit on it for a little while,” Ruiz said. “The truth will eventually come out. If this does become a bigger and deeper investigation to follow the NFL — just to get into legal terms — this will all come to light.”
Moreau denied the accusation and told the Times that she doesn’t know Ruiz, who provided screen captures of the alleged request to the newspaper.
Brown’s attorney Sean Burstyn denied that Brown obtained a fake vaccine card. He asked for proof of a transaction for the card and doesn’t believe it exists.
“If Antonio’s doctors and the guidelines require a booster shot, then at that time, he’ll be happy to do it live on TV and everyone can come watch.”
Ruiz said he moved to Tampa to live with Brown, and once their business relationship ended after the Week 1 win over the Dallas Cowboys, Brown tried to renegotiate his rate, and he moved back to Los Angeles.
He said it was well-known in Brown’s camp that Brown was hesitant about the vaccine and its side effects. “It was talked about like it was nothing,” Ruiz said. “So it was never really like a secretive thing [with] anyone around his camp. It was just something that everyone knew and everybody discussed.”
Ruiz said he came forward and spoke to the Buccaneers general counsel but feels his claims were dismissed. The Buccaneers put out a statement Thursday saying they did their due diligence, as the NFL makes teams responsible for vetting vaccination cards by snapping photos of them and does not have any additional steps to verify their authenticity.
“To be honest, I feel like the Bucs started distancing themselves from him already, once they knew that this story was gonna break,” Ruiz said. “They were already trying to wash their hands of it because they don’t want any part of it. The NFL doesn’t want any part of it. Just from what I gather from the Bucs in general — they just wanna keep their hands clean.”
NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told ESPN on Thursday that no other vaccine cards had been called into question and that teams remain responsible for verifying the cards’ authenticity. Players, coaches and other team employees must present their vaccination cards to club medical staff for verification.
“It’s a health hazard,” Ruiz said about fake vaccine cards.
“The money is what it is. I’m not gonna stress about $10,000. It’s just more of a public safety issue that I wanted to bring to light and shed the lying and cheating that’s going on behind the scenes at the Bucs.”
Would he have come forward if he was still working for Brown? “That’s a good question,” said Ruiz, who was not required to sign a non-disclosure as part of his employment. “I don’t know. I can’t answer that.”
TAMPA, Fla. — Last week, it was wide receiver Antonio Brown toasting quarterback Tom Brady for breaking the NFL’s career passing yardage record against the New England Patriots. This week, it was Brown’s turn at making history.
With a first-quarter catch against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Brown overtook Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison to become the fastest NFL player to reach 900 catches. On first-and-10 from the Tampa Bay 25-yard line, Brady found Brown on a slant route for a 10-yard gain for the mark.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Buccaneers’ stadium PA announcer acknowledged Brown’s achievement. He was given hugs on the sideline by wide receivers coach Kevin Garver, wide receiver Jaydon Mickens and running back Ronald Jones. Other teammates came over to congratulate him on the sideline following Ryan Succop’s 42-yard field goal.
On Brown’s next catch, Brady found him underneath for a 62-yard catch and run on a crossing route for a touchdown — the longest touchdown of the Buccaneers’ season through five games. On the play, Brown reached 20.95 mph, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
Brown, 33, added a second touchdown catch shortly before halftime.
Heading into Sunday’s game against his hometown team, Brown, now in his 12th season and second with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, needed just one catch to reach the 900 mark in his 142nd career game. Harrison, who spent 13 seasons in the NFL — all with the Indianapolis Colts — did it in 149 games.
Brown would likely have achieved the milestone sooner had it not been for an eight-game suspension in 2020 due to burglary and battery charges stemming from an incident with a moving truck driver in January 2020. But in Tampa, he has been reunited with Brady, has worked to get his life back on track and has found a career resurgence.