Antonio Brown (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
By now we all know that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have released Antonio Brown after he walked off of the field during the team’s recent game against the Jets. Now Antonio has is speaking out about the situation, and he says that he was forced to play against the Jets while injured.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, on Wednesday, Anotonio released a statement through his attorney Sean Burstyn and said, “Because of my commitment to the game, I relented to pressure directly from my coach to play injured. Despite the pain, I suited up, the staff injected me with what I now know was a powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using, and I gave it my all for the team. I played until it was clear that I could not use my ankle to safely perform my playing responsibilities. On top of that, the pain was extreme.”
Further in his statement, he explained that he had an MRI taken on Monday. He continued, “What they did not know until now is that on Monday morning I had an urgent MRI on my ankle. It shows broken bone fragments stuck in my ankle, the ligament torn from the bone, and cartilage loss, which are beyond painful. You can see the bone bulging from the outside. But that must and can be repaired. The MRI has been read by two top orthopedic surgeons in NYC.”
In his statement, he also made it clear that he did not quit the team, but he was thrown out. “Being fired on the sideline for having a painful injury was bad enough,” he said. “Then came their ‘spin.’ Coach denied on national television that he knew about my ankle. That’s 100 percent inaccurate.”
As previously reported, after Antonio left the field during the game, Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said, “He is no longer a Buc. That’s the end of the story. Let’s talk about the guys that went out there and won the game.”
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TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
