Steelers WR Brown blasts ex-teammate Clark

[SteelCrazy]

Antonio Brown walked into the Steelers' locker room last week and almost couldn't believe what he saw — so many new teammates here, so many longtime teammates gone.

But Brown also couldn't believe all he has heard since the Steelers last played four months ago.

Namely, remarks by former Steelers safety Ryan Clark that some Steelers use marijuana to relieve pain and reduce stress. While marijuana is legal in Colorado and Washington, it remains on the NFL's banned substance list.

Brown believes negatively toned comments like Clark's need to be banned from that under-transformation locker room, too.

“When you see things like that, it shows you how guys feel when they're not part of the team anymore,” Brown said Sunday of Clark, who has since signed with the Redskins. “It's a form of bitterness or taking a shot at the team because you're not there anymore.”

Clark's remarks — and those a year ago made by players alluding to the poor conditioning of others — are exactly what the Steelers must eliminate following successive 8-8 seasons, Brown said.

“That's the type of things we need to get better at. When you see stuff like that happen repeatedly year after year — from a guy calling LaMarr Woodley out, from a guy that's calling the team out for illegal uses of a substance — it just shows the lack of team camaraderie we had in the locker room, the lack of togetherness,” Brown said.

“When you see people taking shots who were on the same team and wearing the same jerseys, that's a sign of not having that team camaraderie. That's something we need to get back, something we haven't had for the past two years.”

Clark is convinced smoking pot kept some players from becoming addicted to painkillers, and he said he wasn't being critical of his former teammates. Still, a disappointed Brown felt Clark's talk served no purpose other than to boost Clark's post-football career as an NFL analyst.

“He's getting into his career as a reporter and trying to get those things in the works,” Brown said. “I don't think he meant any harm taking those shots to players as individuals, I just think he was trying to make pointers and make himself sound smart on ESPN.”

Brown isn't convinced there was any widespread team discord in 2012 and 2013, though he understands that specific reason are always sought when a team falls off.

But he wants to see the Steelers go back to being the type of team they were during their 12-4 seasons in 2010 and 2011, when team chemistry was a priority and criticism of others wasn't tolerated by longtime team leaders.

“Our business is winning ... and I think we've definitely got to get better in that area,” Brown said. “We've kind of got a new team and a new environment, and I'm excited to get the draftees in and get everybody together so we can get rolling.”

Brown, currently taking part in voluntary team workouts on the South Side, attended a private party Sunday at the Oakdale home of the Aaron Kellington family. Kellington was the local winner of the Panini NFL player of the day promotion in which the trading card company rewards one of its collectors with a star player's visit.

[url]http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/6017747-74/team-brown-clark#ixzz308IqLHK1[/url]

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Sounds like Brown is trying to take on the mantle of a team leader. Hope he can handle that role well.

[hawaiiansteel]

Sounds like Brown is trying to take on the mantle of a team leader. Hope he can handle that role well.

Antonio Brown shows he's ready to take on leadership role

By Neal Coolong on Apr 27 2014



Regardless of who said what, one sign of outstanding leadership within a group is a unified voice. The Steelers have lacked that, among other things, the last three years.

Late in the fourth quarter on Sunday Night Football, former Steelers linebacker James Harrison stood up from his stance, looked back at his teammates with his arms in the air, as if to say "what are we doing?"

Former Steelers linebacker Larry Foote seemed confused, pointing different things to different players, no one seeming to understand what he was saying.

Troy Polamalu missed an interception. So did Foote. Ryan Clark failed to make it from center field to the corner to help out cornerback William Gay. Ravens receiver Torrey Smith finally caught a pass (he dropped four that night) and Baltimore completed the season sweep of defending AFC champion Pittsburgh with a late touchdown.

It's easy to compare skill of players and the declination of that skill from the 2010 Steelers to today is fairly obvious. But the lack of cohesion, it seemed, has dropped even further.

James Farrior wasn't playing in that game against the Ravens, and perhaps he could have gotten the defense on the same page in that final no-huddle drive. Maybe he could have gotten Harrison to rush the passer, or Clark to have been ready for that shallow fade. The Steelers were 12-4 that year but it wasn't a strong 12-4 - their opening-round loss to Denver suggests that's the case.

No Steelers player called each other out after the game for any reason. It's an interesting debate going over whether that same kind of result would yield a "move onto the next game" kind of attitude among today's team.

However it should be sliced, it's been clear the team has been in a transition mode over the last two seasons from a leadership standpoint. Whether Antonio Brown's recent comments should have been made, ironically, to the media, decrying former teammate Ryan Clark for bolstering his potential post-football media career, is only half the point. It shows that transition is now starting to bear fruit from seeds planted over the last two years of roster moves, drafts and difficult losses.

Leaders know how to speak the right way on the right topics - or to not speak at all. Brown's comments could be seen as too little, too late - a shallow action that really only confirms the same self-serving things he accuses Clark of making. Or, it could be seen as the team's most productive player in 2013 sending a message to the rest of the team that, despite the specifics of the past, that's no longer the way his locker room will go about its business.

It's naive to suggest conversations about marijuana and other social issues don't take place in the locker room. Some would argue a group cannot grow together positively without debate of social issues in an appropriate and healthy manner. But those conversations are best held in confidence. The fact Clark went public with them erodes the trust his teammates will give, not just to Clark, though, but to each other. That forces every member of that locker room to look inward, and probably not talk about such issues.

That hampers their internal communication, which limits their ability to grow together as a group.

If Brown's comments do nothing more than take the shine off the unspoken, and launch it into the forefront in the locker room, he should be applauded as the right kind of leader for that environment. If he's simply telling the team I'll take the power out of Clark's statements by acknowledging them with his name on it, so the media will look to him to speak on such topics from then on, the team should thank him.

Sure, he's got a few things to learn, like remembering leaders are judged 25/8/366, and his meltdown on the sideline yelling at offensive coordinator Todd Haley about getting him the ball can't be duplicated again. He was benched at the end of the Steelers' loss to New England because Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin didn't like his attitude. These are all teachable moments, though.

Brown's shoulders are big enough to take 110 catches, they must be big enough to carry the team from a PR perspective.

[URL]http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2014/4/27/5659458/steelers-antonio-brown-comments-ryan-clark-leadership-locker-room[/URL]

[flippy]

Sounds like Brown is trying to take on the mantle of a team leader. Hope he can handle that role well.

By all accounts, he's the most talented and hardest working player every time he steps on the field for the B&G. This is precisely the kind of person that should be the team leader.

[Oviedo]

Won't miss Clark.

[Sugar]

It's surprising to me what is considered a "blast" in the press.

[SidSmythe]

Won't miss Clark.

I agree. I believe he was a liability in the TURNOVER department.

[Notleadpoisoned]

The team has too many introverts on it right now so I like to hear that Brown is being vocal. Maybe we should draft someone with a big personality over big-time talent this year.

[RuthlessBurgher]

The team has too many introverts on it right now so I like to hear that Brown is being vocal. Maybe we should draft someone with a big personality over big-time talent this year.

If drafting introverts gets me guys like Troy Polamalu and Heath Miller, though, I'm happy drafting introverts.

[sick beats]

What was Brown crying about? That Clark told the truth? I guess just being truthful is out of vogue in Pgh. Since when is hiding the truth the moral high ground? Oh wait, I see it in other areas with the Steelers as well. Brown doesn't deny that Clark was being truthful. He just didn't like it.