AB - Clown or Concern
- Nov 6, 2019
- 6 min read
Full disclosure to begin this article: I am not in any way an expert surrounding head injuries or their long-term effects, but I do know that they can have quite a drastic long term impact on people in a range of different ways, one of which is a change in behaviour and personality. So, this article is in no way an expert’s opinion, but rather just speculation on a reason for the amount on unreasonable behaviour we have seen come from a particular person in the NFL.
But before we get too far into that, let’s look at the incident first.
In 2016, during a playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals, Antonio Brown reached for a catch, that was thrown too high. After not reaching managing to secure the ball, on his way back down, Bengals Line-backer Vontaze Burfict hit Antonio Brown, quite violently across the front of the head, on a late charge with the shoulder. Brown was unable to get up and had quite clearly suffered a pretty serious head injury.
It’s been documented since the 1840s that damage to the brain can cause behavioural changes. The most prominent early realisation was when Phineas Gage was involved in an explosive’s accident in 1848. As. Result, he received a fracture in the front of his skull and while Gage was able to recover back to full physical health, it was recorded that people that knew him noticed a gradual decline, from his old behaviour, into what was essentially a completely new person. The records of Dr John Martyn, who treated Gage after the injury explain the differences. Gage, who, before the accident was described as his peers as a ‘smart business man,’ and a ‘well-mannered favourite of the men,’ declined into someone who was later described as ‘grossly profane’ and ‘impatient’ as well as a self-centred attitude with no respect for those around him. (Harlow 1848, 1849)
Sounds, somewhat familiar to the behavioural change of someone in more recent times. . .
Behavioural changes are particularly common when the prefrontal cortex is damaged, and looking back at the hit that Burfict put on Brown, this is the area, towards the front of the head, that took the bulk of the impact. The behavioural change wasn’t immediately noticeable after the hit. The first major incident came in 2018 when Brown blew up at Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for not seeing him wide open on a play. After that, Brown’s relationships began to fall apart completely, with Roethlisberger, and eventually Mike Tomlin. He would eventually request a trade.
In the same year, Brown was also recorded throwing furniture off of a hotel balcony from several stories up in a supposed ‘fit of rage.’ He almost hit a toddler with a chair and settled the lawsuit from that by agreeing to pay the child’s future college tuition., a few months after this in February 2019 Brown was caught driving at over 100mph and then proceeded to not turn up to his court case.
So, the real behavioural issues didn’t start until after a few years past the Burfict hit. However, another solution might be ‘Chronic traumatic Encephalopathy,’ (CTE) or better known as ‘Punch Drunk Syndrome.’ With similar effects as mentioned before with Gage, CTE can sometimes take years to develop and is caused from an earlier head injury. In fact, behavioural changes from CTE are quite common among NFL players, there is a large list, headlined by former Patriots player Aaron Hernandez who, after being sent to prison for murder, ended up hanging himself.
Brown was finally traded to Oakland and received a three-year $58.25 million contract, exactly what he wanted. Pretty soon after that Brown’s behaviour began to spiral, and questionable decisions were being made.
Next came the helmet saga.
After the 2018 season, the NFL implemented new rules, limiting and universalising the helmets that players were allowed to wear, unfortunately for Brown, his old helmet was removed from the eligible. And so, like a rationale person, despite his $58 million contract, he refused to play or practice with his new team in an attempt to make the NFL undo its new rule.
This didn’t work and eventually Brown was able to sign a deal with a brand, and many wrote it down as an act for business purposes, which at the time, made sense. . . unfortunately the ‘act’ didn’t end there.
Finally the helmet situation was resolved, and Brown was ready to practice. . . well meant to be, until it was revealed Brown managed to give himself frostbite.
To start with, Brown was missing practice with the Raiders due to a ‘non-football related’ foot injury, not much was thought of it until a Brown posted a photo of his heavily blistered feet, which were a result of not wearing proper footwear in a cryotherapy chamber.
Brown would end up ghosting the Raider’s organisation while he recovered from his injury. Initially listed as a day-to-day injury, without knowing the extent of the damage to Brown, the Raider’s released a statement saying only that he would be back “soon.”
Finally, Brown made his way back to the field, his feet were fine, and as mentioned he had managed to find a helmet he felt comfortable in. However, due to missing practice and ghosting the entire organisation, Brown received a one week suspension from the team, and that, definitely didn’t go down well.
Brown took to social media to share the letter he received. It was reported later that at practice, AB got into a confrontation with Raider’s GM Mike Mayock, threatening to punch him and calling him a ‘cracker.’
Incredibly, the Raider’s decided to un-suspend Brown after a ‘heartfelt apology’ to the team and organisation. Raider’s coach Gruden backed brown but even he acknowledged at this point there is something wrong with Brown.
“It seems like there is something that is distracting him from his love that he can't control."
The back and forth behaviour of Brown in this series of incidents with the Raiders gives some sort of example of how Brown is switching back and forth and doesn’t really seem to have a clear idea of his mood. And while it may seem like things ended well here and the saga was over. It most definitely was not. The continued signs of CTE were still on their way
After Gruden backed Brown and defended him, Brown, in, what was clearly a very healthy state of mind, recorded and released a phone call between himself and his coach. Because what better way to repay someone who has put up with everything you’ve done, than bug his phone call and release it to the world.
In the call you can hear Gruden say “Please stop this shit and just play football.”
The next morning AB took to social media once again, and in a post caption he wrote “Release me @Raiders”
And so they did. The Raiders released Brown, and the $30 million guaranteed that was in Browns contract was void due to his behaviour.
Brown’s behaviour with the Raiders definitely suggests there is something wrong with his mood control. Switching between requesting a trade, only to then insult the owner of the new team, to trying to take the NFL to court over a helmet, to then giving yourself frostbite, the signs of CTE or some other kind of brain issue are there. The story continues even after the Raider however.
Brown would end up signing with the Patriots, a move which drew a lot of attention and of course, as it was the Patriots there was immediately accusations that this had been the plan of Brown all along. Get bought out so he could choose exactly where he wanted to go.
The move lasted all of one game. Brown would debut for the Pats in week 2 before a multitude of sexual assault allegations came through. Brown was cut from the Patriots before he could suit up for a second game with them.
Brown hasn’t had another sniff at NFL level football since being released by the Patriots and it seems as if maybe we have seen the last of him, maybe at least for some period of time. Nobody is even sure whether or not Brown actually wants to play anymore. His social media posts are so hard to decipher nobody is really sure what he is saying, but it seemed not long ago that he didn’t want to play football, saying “He doesn’t need the NFL.”
Then recently there were reports that he was looking to be picked up by a team.
So, Antonio Brown was definitely. . . entertaining if nothing else. But it does raise questions, amidst the whole of the internet relentlessly making Antonio Brown a meme, and ridiculing him constantly, there is probably room for concern. Since the hit he took from Burfict in 2016, there has been a trail of incidents that point towards some kind of brain damage.
It might be worth a quick trip to the doctors for Brown, if not for him, at least so the rest of us know whether it’s okay to keep laughing at his antics or if we should actually be worried.
Comments