During a Wednesday joint practice with the Lions, Steelers receiver Antonio Brown was nearly ejected, according to the official who nearly ejected him. So what happened?
As explained by Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on PFT Live, Brown became upset when Terry Brown didn’t call pass interference after a failed attempt by Brown to catch a ball in the end zone.
“You had a free lunch and you still haven’t made a call today,” Antonio Brown said, according to Kaboly. Antonio Brown also said other things, using words that can’t be used on non-cable TV.
“This is their practice,” Terry Brown reportedly said, according to Chris Adamski of the Tribune-Review. “He will do it here and get away with it. But if he thinks he can do that and get away with it in a game, he’s got another thing coming. I’m still going to report it to the league.”
Terry Brown also told receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey that the team “better get [Antonio Brown] under control or I’m going to throw him out. He’s not going to push me; I’m a veteran, 11 years. . . . I’m not going to tolerate it.”
But tolerate it Terry Brown did. And despite the notion that Terry Brown would have ejected Antonio Brown for saying what he said if he said those things during a game, officials routinely resist ejecting players, because they are reluctant to impact competitive balance.
