Bruce Arians Slams Blame from Antonio Brown and Gives Detailed Recount of Wide Receiver’s Outburst

Eventually, the NFL Playoffs will start and the Antonio Brown drama will fade, but for now, the wide receiver and his former team continue to bicker over Sunday afternoon’s wild outburst.

Sunday afternoon, Brown stripped off his uniform and paraded into the locker room during the third quarter of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game in New York. Wednesday night, Brown released a statement blaming the incident on his now former team, claiming he was being forced to play by head coach Bruce Arians despite suffering an ankle injury that will require surgery.

During his Thursday press conference, Arians slammed the accusations by his former wide receiver and offered his own recount of what occurred during the bizarre incident.

“Just to clear you up on some things that happened: at no point and time during the game did he ever ask the trainer or doctor about his ankle,” Arians told reporters. “That’s the normal protocol, you go through protocols during games. I was never notified of it. So, obviously, that was the disturbing thing when we were looking for him to go back into the game.”

Immediately after the game, Arians confirmed Brown was no longer a member of the Bucs. After hesitating to make the move official, Tampa finalized Brown’s release on Thursday.

“He was very upset at halftime about who was getting targeted, got that calmed down, players took care of that,” Arians said of Brown. “It started again on the sideline, we called for the personnel group that he had played in the entire game, he refused to go in the game, that’s when I look back and saw him basically wave off the coach.

“I then went back, approached him about what was going on, ‘I ain’t playin.’ ‘What’s going on?’ ‘I ain’t gettin the ball.’ That’s when I said ‘you’re done, get the F out of here’ and that’s the end of it.”

Arians later said he is “hurt” over the incident and the accusations from Brown, but he hopes the 33-year-old NFL star gets the help he needs.

Tampa becomes the fourth NFL franchise that Brown left unceremoniously after self-inflicted incidents were deemed detrimental to the team, joining and leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, and New England Patriots. Brown has said he plans on playing next season after his ankle injury is fully healed.

Watch above via the Tampa Bay Buccaneers