Before Antonio Brown put up 96 yards on six receptions with a touchdown when the Steelers routed the Panthers, 52-21, the Steelers' star receiver was cited by Ross Township police for driving 100 mph on McKnight Road on Thursday morning.
After the game, DKPittsburghSports.com and one local TV news reporter waited by Brown's locker as he got dressed at his stall. As soon as Brown finished getting dressed, he turned to leave his locker and declined to take questions.
"No comment," he said.
He briefly stopped to chat with a teammate before again declining to comment when an ESPN reporter attempted to talk with him on his way out of the locker room.
"No comment," he repeated.
If Brown had been rattled by the incident earlier in the day, it certainly wasn't evident in his play. The Panthers assigned rookie cornerback Donte Jackson, a second round pick from LSU, to shadow Brown all game. The Panthers tried to aid Adams with safety help behind him.
But as soon as Ben Roethlisberger saw his top receiver in single-man press coverage with a rookie on one play in the second quarter, he knew exactly where he was going and floated the ball to Brown for his longest reception of the season, 53 yards:
Jackson has had a good 2018 season so far, but going up against Brown was his toughest test. When asked how Brown beat him on the play, Jackson gave a simple explanation.
"He has his little touches that he does at the top of the route," Jackson said. "He got me on one. He made a play."
To be fair, Brown made a few plays, considering Roethlisberger and Josh Dobbs collectively targeted Brown six times for six completions. But the majority of Brown's yards came on the touchdown and a 33-yard completion from Roethlisberger over the middle of the field.
Brown has the second most receiving yards for the Steelers with 690, trailing JuJu Smith-Schuster's 762. Brown also leads all NFL receivers with 10 touchdown receptions.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Panthers, Heinz Field, Nov. 8, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS