Steelers Say Antonio Brown Will Not Be Released – Rooney Talks Trade
New details have emerged on the late-season impasse and subsequent benching of WR Antonio Brown, a rift that has brought the long-time Pittsburgh Steeler wideout’s name up in trade talks around the NFL.
Peter King of ProFootballTalk.com may have his good and bad points as a journalist, but the man is people who know people. After speaking off-the-record with team members and other personnel, King says that that Brown does want to continue his career with the Steelers. The PFT mainstay also sheds light on what exactly went down in Week 17.
Apparently, Brown did more than simply blow up at a practice, as was originally reported. He was technically nursing an injury, but the unhappy WR chose willingly to sit out. Brown was then unresponsive to phone calls and texts while the game with Cincinnati grew closer. Finally, agent Drew Rosenhaus called Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin to say that Brown was “feeling better” and wanted to play against the Bengals.
“That’s no longer on the menu,” Tomlin told Rosenhaus.
Tomlin later met with Brown on the sidelines to ask him to stay and support his teammates despite being inactive for the regular-season capper. But the WR left prior to the 3rd quarter of Pittsburgh’s 16-13 win.
Team owner Art Rooney is giving few of his cards away, though he did tell the media that the player would potentially be traded, not released. “Whether the situation can be reconciled and have him back on the team next year, we’re a long way away from thinking that can happen,” Rooney said this week. “We’ll look at all the options.”
Echoing the rhetoric of his head coach, Rooney told reporters, “We’re not going to release him, that’s not on the table. But I will say all other options are on the table.”
Jason Garrett is a New and Improved Model of Cowboy Coach, Says Wade Phillips
It’s rare for NFL head coaches – or head coaches in any sport – to admit when another skipper has more skill, cunning and guile. CBS football producer Terry O’ Neill once wrote of a lonely, losing coach who finally admitted at the end of the season, “I’m just not very good at all.”
Wade Phillips never had a moment of pathos quite that extreme during his reign as the head football coach in Big D. His team went 34-22 overall, won 2 NFC East division titles, and had 3 winning seasons in a row. Phillips was let go by the Dallas Cowboys in his 4th season when the squad began 1-7 in 2010.
But Phillips is ready to admit it – current HC Jason Garrett may be ready to surpass those accomplishments. In some ways, Garrett already has. Phillips was 0-2 coaching the Cowboys in the playoffs.
“Jason Garrett has done a tremendous job there,” Phillips tells Clarence Hill of the Fort-Worth Star Telegram. “He’s a better head coach than I was. They’ve got a really good football team, so we know that. He’s done better than I have and he would’ve done better. So, I understand that.”
The head coaches are actually quite comparable, with lifetime win-loss percentages each hovering around 56%. That’s not bad at all considering the big sample size of games that Garrett and Phillips have coached to this point.
But there is no denying that Garrett steered the ‘Boys back from the brink this season, in which the team suffered a losing start and a firestorm of questions at QB. Months later, and the Dallas head coach has a 1-0 record in the 2018-19 postseason and a fearless on-field leader in Dak Prescott headed into Saturday night’s game in L.A.
David Irving Update: Former Dallas DT Could Be Out of NFL Following Drug-Abuse Monitoring Fail
There will be many recent Cowboy heroes in uniform on Saturday night when the Silver Star faces the Los Angeles Rams for the right to advance to the NFC Championship Game. Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott and Leighton Vander Esch just to name a few.
But sadly, at least one player won’t be in uniform and may never be again – former defensive tackle David Irving.
Irving’s life has taken a tumultuous turn for the worse in recent weeks. Mike Fisher reports that the player has missed multiple mandatory drug tests in the last 2 months.
The 25-year-old Iowa State product has landed in hot water for marijuana use in the past. Some close to him speculate that he’s had it with the NFL’s drug-testing policy and no longer cares if he’s reinstated in the league.
“He’s just kind of checked out,” one of Fisher’s sources said.
Irving has not technically failed any drug test but has been handed several “FTC” (“failure to comply”) marks which count the same as a failed test for all NFL players.
Head coach Jason Garrett steered clear of any talk of the drug issue while speaking to the media about Irving, focusing instead on the young man’s lingering injuries. “”I just think the biggest thing you try and do with a player like that is a day-by-day process and hopefully he’s getting better and better. He’s one of those players who we think could make an impact on our defense, if he were healthy,” Garrett said.
David Irving has played 33 games in the NFL (all with Dallas) and has amassed 35 solo tackles along with 11.5 sacks.
