Antonio Brown on reported holdout: 'Money's not important to me'

[Notleadpoisoned]

This is not true at all.

I could see if Ben was threading needles and working miracles but he throws a 5 yard dump off to AB and the guy makes 5 guys miss him on the way to a TD.

That, my f

Put Bruce Gradkowski, Kordell, Tommy Maddox, Byron Leftwich, or any other former substandard Steelers QB in there for an entire season and there's no way that Antonio Brown catches 100 balls.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

What's the saying? "Whenever a player starts saying, 'It's not about the money,' trust me--it's about the money."

Probably not very realistic to expect them to play primarily for thrills and giggles.

[hawaiiansteel]

Ben makes WR's better.

exactly, just look at what happened to Emmanuel Sanders after he went to Denver.

oh wait...

[The Man of Steel]

exactly, just look at what happened to Emmanuel Sanders after he went to Denver.

oh wait...

Eric Decker anyone?

[feltdizz]

Put Bruce Gradkowski, Kordell, Tommy Maddox, Byron Leftwich, or any other former substandard Steelers QB in there for an entire season and there's no way that Antonio Brown catches 100 balls.

that is hogwash and you know it. Brown catches a good 50+ balls a year on bubble screens...

The fact that you went from Ben to a long line of back ups to prove your point shows how crazy you sound.

[feltdizz]

I certainly agree. Brown in the man. Dude's work ethic seems to be unparalleled for a receiver in this league since the epic workouts of jerry Rice.

However, Ben does seem to have a knack with his receivers (Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Markus Wheaton, Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, Santonio Holmes, Hines Ward, Antwaan Randle El, Plaxico Burress). The only one on par with him is Aaron Rodgers, who has been excellent with Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Greg Jennings, James Jones, Donald Driver, etc.

Brady, Brees, and Rivers seem to prefer throwing to their TE's like Gronk, Graham, and Gates instead, with many unsuccessful attempts at developing receivers. Brady makes short white guys like Welker or Edelman into stats accumulators but not necessarily dangerous weapons (the only truly dangerous WR in New England during the Brady era was Randy Moss, but he was a beast no matter who was throwing to him as long as he wasn't a disinterested Raider). Brees turned Marques Colston from a 7th round flyer into a Pro Bowl level performer, but that was years ago. If he's not throwing to his TE, he's dumping it off to a RB like Darren Sproles, Reggie Bush, Pierre Thomas, etc. Rivers main weapon at WR during his career was Vincent Jackson, but VJax's numbers actually increased when he left Rivers for the sucktastic Tampa QB's instead. It looks like Keenan Allen was promising as a rookie 2 years ago, but his production tailed off last year.

Basically, what I am trying to say, is that compared to some of the other franchise QB types, Ben has quite the knack for working really well with whatever receivers are placed in front of him (hell, even Cedric Freaking Wilson was semi-competant with Ben throwing him the ball, and that quite an accomplishment there).

Ben is a great QB...

but it makes no sense to say AB wouldn't be who he was without Ben. You can say that about Wallace because he was one trick and relied on Ben extending plays but AB is a monster route runner with great hands. There are 15 or so QB's who could make AB look just as great because he is great in his own right.

[feltdizz]

He stayed healthy and held onto the football.

Ben can't keep Sanders from getting injured.

He was injured throughout his rookie season, and in 2011 when the lockout prevented him from being in the facility.

The ONLY thing that really changed for Sanders along with his health when he went to Denver, was this:

2014 Peyton Manning threw 597 passes, but only 60 with 2+ TE's on the field.

To compare

2014 Ben threw 608 passes, but 156 with 2+ tight ends on the field.

So if Manny were still here, he'd still be getting shuffled in and out of the lineup while guys like Matt Spaeth and Will Johnson are running pass routes.

But your slam at Ben is duly noted "Steeler fan".

that wasn't a slam on Ben..

it was a slam on the idea that AB wouldn't be as good without Ben.

[hawaiiansteel]

But your slam at Ben is duly noted "Steeler fan".

nah, I love Ben.

it was obviously Haley and Art II's fault...

[hawaiiansteel]

that wasn't a slam on Ben..

it was a slam on the idea that AB wouldn't be as good without Ben.

you are correct.

AB is a special talent who would be just as good with many other QBs...

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Does Captain Lemming know that he's got a lemming?

[hawaiiansteel]

You need to start paying attention to what happens on the field.

and you need to start paying attention to the context that statements regarding Ben are made under...

[The Man of Steel]

that is hogwash and you know it. Brown catches a good 50+ balls a year on bubble screens...

The fact that you went from Ben to a long line of back ups to prove your point shows how crazy you sound.

You could probably name any Steelers QB that wore the black n gold and I doubt if any of them, except for maybe Tommy Maddox, could have helped Brown make over a hundred catches in a season.

[feltdizz]

You could probably name any Steelers QB that wore the black n gold and I doubt if any of them, except for maybe Tommy Maddox, could have helped Brown make over a hundred catches in a season.

phooey... Neil O'Donnell. Granted we didn't have a bunch of great QB's but that was by choice. We had Cowher who was raised in Marty Ball so it was run, run, defense, defense.

But why are you guys trying to put AB back in time instead of pairing him with other QB's of TODAY?

[The Man of Steel]

phooey... Neil O'Donnell. Granted we didn't have a bunch of great QB's but that was by choice. We had Cowher who was raised in Marty Ball so it was run, run, defense, defense.

But why are you guys trying to put AB back in time instead of pairing him with other QB's of TODAY?

Antonio Brown is a really good WR but he's still a bit of an overachiever thanks to Ben.

[RuthlessBurgher]

phooey... Neil O'Donnell. Granted we didn't have a bunch of great QB's but that was by choice. We had Cowher who was raised in Marty Ball so it was run, run, defense, defense.

But why are you guys trying to put AB back in time instead of pairing him with other QB's of TODAY?

With Ben the last 2 seasons, he caught 110 and 129 balls. I suspect that he could also have caught at least 100 passes from Rodgers, Brady, Brees, Luck, Peyton, Eli, Rivers, Romo, Ryan, Stafford, and Wilson. With a few other QB's, he'd probably catch at least 80 or 90 something balls, such as Flacco, Newton, Dalton, Tannehill, Cutler, Palmer, Bradford, etc.