Anthony McClinton Jr.

10/17/22
MSP 112

In this incident the Tampa Bay Buccaneers star wide receiver Antonio Brown left the game in

the third quarter against the New York Jets. Espn staff writer Jenna Laine states,” Brown also

accused the Buccaneers of mischaracterizing his outburst on the field as a "mental health issue"

rather than a refusal to play due to pain”. In Antonio Browns statement he states,”I took a seat on

the sideline and my coach came up to me, very upset, and shouted, 'What's wrong with you?

What's wrong with you?' I told him, 'It's my ankle.' But he knew that. It was well-documented

and we had discussed it," Brown said. "He then ordered me to get on the field. I said, 'Coach, I

can't.' He didn't call for medical attention. Instead, he shouted at me, 'YOU'RE DONE!' while he

ran his finger across his throat. Coach was telling me that if I didn't play hurt, then I was done

with the Bucs." He then stated that this was the reason for his absence of the game that sunday

night which was a trigger towards his mental health. In this incident they used a public relation

strategy called media relations. This was implemented when they explained Antonio Brown’s

story to the audience which is a form of media relations because this strategy has to do with the

approach of how the media is being displayed. Moving forward in this incident Antonio Brown

was no longer a Buccaneer and he resigned from the team after this incident. He was scheduled

for surgery to get his ankle fixed but, since he was no longer a buccaneer they began to dictate

his surgery. In the media people gave Antonio Brown a lot of heat for this incident they

continued to call him “soft”, and many other displeasing names. There was a negative impact

that this incident had on the media people began to also imply that Antonio Brown tried to use

his mental health as an excuse to not play in that game. In the present day people continue to
view Antonio Brown as the “bad guy”, due to this situation along with many other instances he

continued to have in the media.

 References

Laine, J. (2022, January 6). Antonio Brown releases lengthy statement, tells his side of story

days after leaving Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. ESPN. Retrieved October 26, 2022, from

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33002723/antonio-brown-releases-lengthy-statement-tells-

side-story-days-leaving-tampa-bay-buccaneers-game

Lauletta, T. (2022, January 3). Bucs coach Bruce Arians says Antonio Brown is no longer on the

team after Brown stormed off the field mid-game. Insider. Retrieved October 26, 2022, from

https://www.insider.com/video-antonio-brown-walk-off-2022-1