by Aubrey Bruce, For New Pittsburgh Courier
There was a game played between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots this past Sunday, Sept. 8. I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the Patriots manhandled the Steelers, 33-3. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said: “We were humbled.”
The Steelers’ new wide receivers corps proved to be (at least for the moment) just a bit more hype than substance. The Steelers offense hung the Steelers out to dry for just a bit too long.
Let’s get to the meat and potatoes. During the last decade and a half, the New England Patriots have been the principals in juicy scandals known by the names of; fumble-gate, spy-gate and deflate-gate. Patriots head Coach, Bill Belichick, unlike the originator the “gate” series, former President of the United States the late Richard Milhous Nixon, was not forced to resign as head coach of the Patriots like Nixon was. What if Nixon was only forced to pay just a fine? Maybe Nixon should have lost the Watergate tapes like New England lost the spy-gate tapes? Without hard evidence against him, President Nixon may have never been impeached.
The latest Patriot venture into the dark-underbelly, back-alley, smoke-filled room culture of professional sports can now be labeled as “tamper-gate” or “collusion-gate.” However, if you want to unify all of the titles of the latest foray of the “cheaters from the east,” just call their current misadventure, “Antonio-gate.”
On Sept. 7, the Patriots signed wide receiver Antonio Brown, the ex-Steeler and ex-Oakland Raider almost immediately after Brown had demanded to be released and his wish was granted by the Raiders. The Steelers had traded Brown, the consummate and problematic narcissist, to the Raiders in March for two future draft picks.
Will Brinson posted this on cbssports.com after the deal with New England was finalized. In an article titled, “Patriots reportedly offered first-round pick for Antonio Brown trade, AB hired consultants to ‘accelerate’ release,” Brinton also wrote the following: “New England has always wanted Brown but couldn’t get him from the Steelers, until he was released by the Raiders.”
Maybe a rule could be legislated and enacted by the NFL to prevent some of this skullduggery from happening in the near future. If a team has a prohibited team trade-to list, should a player be required to sit out a year if he is released or traded and signs with a team that is on his former team’s no-trade list? Being placed on waivers would be the exception to the rule.
It is not too farfetched to assume that this possible conspiracy has been under construction for a while now. Could it have been Antonio Brown’s intention to wind up with the Patriots all along? If not, why isn’t Antonio Brown demanding that he be able to wear his favorite special helmet? Did Brown maybe get an inside scoop about the Patriots modus operandi from former Steelers linebacker James Harrison when he signed with the Patriots on Dec. 17, 2017, just prior to the 2017 NFL postseason?
When Antonio Brown was traded to the Raiders, many of the talking heads said that was a cure all because there was no way that Jon Gruden was going to be weak and accommodating enough to be an enabler of Antonio Brown’s unprovoked nonsense. Jon Gruden dealt with Brown for seven months, Mike Tomlin dealt with Brown for seven years. Who’s the stronger coach?
There are times that I have to struggle to remain objective when covering certain teams that almost always seem to be on the precipice of illegitimacy. The New England Patriots in particular seem to use downright illegal tactics as part of their standard operating procedures. Some of these tactics allegedly include regularly disabling the opposing team’s audio communications at Gillette Stadium along with using illegal or questionable offensive formations. Popeye the sailor once said, “I yam what I yam.” I say; “it tis, what it tis.” Can you dig it?
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