Kovacevic: AB plays the fool at expense of coach, teammates

Jan 16, 2017 • 4:04 am

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Antonio Brown's a fool.

I'm absolutely miserable having to address his latest laughable lack of common sense, not to mention his lack of common decency. But there can't be any doubt about what'll consume almost all of the headlines between this Sunday night, when the Steelers rubbed out the Chiefs, 18-16, and the AFC Championship Game next Sunday night at New England.

Not that the coverage won't be justified.

Because, wow, when the NFL's premier wide receiver decides to post his team's very-much-private postgame celebration on Facebook Live out to "16K ... 32K ... 40K ... 43K" witnesses, as AB was boasting during his webcast -- the video had 1.1 million views as of sunrise Monday -- and that airing includes no less than the following:

• Mike Tomlin calling the Patriots, the next opponent ... well, let's just say it's the common profane term for a certain part of one's backside.

• Tomlin powerfully suggesting an element of unfairness in that the Patriots played Saturday night while the Steelers' game was pushed back from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night.

• Describing how Kevin Colbert, the Steelers' general manager, tried to help break up a postgame skirmish between Brown and the Chiefs' Terrance Mitchell thusly: "Yeah, the general manager breaking up the fight. I'm, like, 'Man, get yo' ass back!' "

My goodness, I'm not even scratching the surface with those.

If you aren't the sensitive type to foul language and other vulgar fare, here's the full 17 1/2-minute video, though our staff blotted out nudity:

Think about what's happening up there.

I'm not talking about Brown's teammates whooping it up. I'm not talking about whatever other swear words one can pick up in the background. Believe it or not, I'm not even talking about Tomlin's remarks on the Patriots.

Everyone of us has spoken something in private that we wouldn't want made public.

Everyone on the planet.

Tomlin and all those players had every right to expect that their privacy, especially during the postgame speeches made by Tomlin, Ben Roethlisberger and Ramon Foster, would be respected. For crying out loud, all three of those gentlemen actually plea for players to use good judgment in their public remarks during the coming week, especially on social media. And they stressed that, above all else, for the good of the team.

And this fool — I don't use the term lightly — is mugging for his Facebook Live audience behind a wall of stalls that divides the cramped visitors' locker room in half while they're speaking. I know the layout of that room. I know where they were, and I know where he was.

He's hiding from them.

While he's recording what they're saying and putting it out to the world.

And now, this team, this special team that's done so many special things, this group that was enjoying this W as much as any I've seen in a decade-plus of covering them, this hottest entry into these playoffs that's now as legitimate a Super Bowl contender as any, has to spend the coming week dealing with the repercussions of his thought process in this matter. Assuming, of course, that any thought was involved at any point.

Tomlin will have to go first. He'll have to open his Tuesday press conference -- presuming he doesn't try to head it off earlier -- with some form of acknowledgment or even apology to the Patriots. That's not necessarily my stance on what he should do, as, again, he's not the one. But I think it's what he will do. And that in and of itself is something he shouldn't have had to face.

Next will come all the rest of the players, at least if Brown follows his season-long diva-esque approach to limiting his interviews to Fridays. And because he's so vital to their objective, they'll all contort a zillion different ways to defend him.

Or they'll take Vince Williams' route and just blame the media that runs with it: