We first heard earlier this week that Steelers receiver Antonio Brown had been involved in some sort of domestic dispute last month. Shortly after details came out, and Brown was accused of having shoved his daughter’s mother to the ground, with the NFL announcing they would investigate. Brown denied any wrongdoing, and today his attorney pushed back even further. Brown’s lawyer forcefully denied Brown did anything wrong, accusing the mother of being in the wrong in the situation regarding Brown’s daughter, and said Brown did not get violent in any way, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN (Twitter link).
The lawyer also elaborated that Brown is now filing for custody of his daughter in court. It’s yet another dramatic chapter in the saga surrounding the Steelers, and while the situation is still very murky as of right now, we’ll almost certainly have more details soon.
Here’s more from around the AFC:
- Speaking of organizational drama, the Jets have found themselves in a mini controversy of their own. It was reported a few days ago that there was already some tension between new head coach Adam Gase and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, as the team objected to Williams bringing his son Blake Williams onboard as a coach. While the team eventually relented and added the younger Williams as a defensive assistant, the drama doesn’t end there. Rich Cimini of ESPN.com has a great breakdown of the situation unfolding, as Gase hired his own father-in-law Joe Vitt as an assistant coach as well. Vitt and Williams have a longstanding beef, as both were members of the Saints’ coaching staff during the infamous bountygate scandal. According to Cimini, Vitt testified against Williams during the league’s hearings on the scandal, and accused him of lying. They’ll now be serving on the same staff together again, and it’ll be very interesting to see if the bad blood has been put to rest.
- Last week, the Texans promoted Tim Kelly to offensive coordinator. Head coach Bill O’Brien has called plays in the past, but O’Brien left the door open for Kelly to call plays during a recent radio interview, according to Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). “There’s no doubt in my mind that Tim Kelly is ready to call plays”, O’Brien said, before adding that it would be “a collaborative effort.” Kelly was previously the team’s tight ends coach.
- In case you missed it, suspended Patriots and Raiders receivers Josh Gordon and Martavis Bryant may apply for re-instatement in the next couple of months.
Having watched Gregg and Blake last year in Cleveland, Gregg had the defense in great shape after the initial 8 weeks as DC. Then Gregg was promoted to Interim HC and he promoted his son, Blake to “de facto” DC (since he called plays, I guess that’s the new term a la Flores in Miami). Defense took a noticeable step back after week 8 and cleveland’s LBs weren’t very good all year long. I assume he can take credit for coaching the LBs all year… so if it weren’t for Daddy, Blake would have a hard time finding a job… why Gase would hire G Williams knowing what the deal w Vitt is a little hard to believe.
jets seem to zero in on Williams from the get go so gase should have know he was coming aboard as jets wanted him really bad . I think it’s a terrible situation for gase I don’t see him doing well with the jets. to me it seems the jets want Williams more then gase
I like Gregg Williams and Adam Gase, but they are obviously off to a bad start with easily avoidable hires… I think Gase was awesome in Denver and Miami, especially with Miami’s roster. If gase didn’t want Williams, the FO should have honored that request.
Uh I would imagine things are worked out. Doubt Maccagnan is going to hire guys that are at war nor would those guys agree to be on the same staff. Vitt got suspended too didn’t he?
Classic Jets right there! I’m a big Adam Gase fan but he doesn’t stand a chance with this franchise and its constant inability to get out of its own way.
Over/Under on Gase’s tenure is 2.5 years. I’m taking the under!
As a Jets fan, Im going under too. If Maccagnan fails to hit the postseason in 2 years he is probably gone. If Maccagnan is gone Gase will definitely be.
However, if they have a good opening season theyll stick around for at least 3 years. Bowles stuck around for 4, with his 1st year being his only good one
Mac was already under some heat so if the internal problems with coaches escalates he will be fired by midseason.
Normally I would agree but I think that the Jets owner is just going to give benefit of the doubt in fear of too many coaching swaps hurting Darnold. They were lenient with Bowles and still lenient with Mac.
I am actually hoping the coaching staff disappoints sooner than later so they can blow it up and get a better coaching staff. I dont have much faith in anyone outside of Gregg Williams. Williams might be a bit crazy but he makes defenses tough and can sort out attitude problems that were prevalent on the Jets defense for the last 3 years.