Antonio Brown Steps Out

I will start off by saying this is definitely nit-picking. I love Antonio Brown's game and he certainly came through big time yesterday. There still isn't a receiver in the NFL I would rather have than Brown. He may not have great size, but he has everything else. Nobody runs better routes. Few are better at the spectacular catch. He is also fearless going over the middle.

That last one is what leads to my question. Why is it he goes out of bounds when he seems like he should be able to get a lot more yardage sometimes?

Watch the highlight of his 48-yard reception in the fourth quarter yesterday. He was still a few yards away from the end zone when he hurdled Jackson. It seems like he didn't even try to stay in bounds. If he turns up the field there, it's a touchdown. For a guy who is so precise in running his routes, it just seems odd to me that he can't get under control in situations like that on occasion.

I have no problem with a receiver his size making the occasional business decision and stepping out to avoid contact, but sometimes I think he just gets a little careless. There was nobody between him and the goal line there, so I could not figure out why he stepped out.

Maybe I'm the only one seeing it. If so, just ignore this thread and move on. I was just wondering if anybody else saw the play that way.

 

I saw James Washington not blocking better which kept him from scoring. That is what I saw.

 

Your nitpicking a bit. But I did actually notice the exact same thing. Its hard to fault any player for that nowadays. In this era of safety first, players, especially star players, are taught not to take unnecessary risks with their bodies. I still remember, as a young player, being taught to run through contact. I remember being taught that if you play not to get injured, that hesitation will increase your chances of being injured. I still believe those sorts of things to be accurate, but its just not the way the game is coached now.

 

I saw the same as troybellringer...... Brown did get hit and it pushed him near the sideline, I don't see how he could have regained his balance from his momentum.

 

On the game winner, I saw a well executed pick by Hunter. Glad it didnt get called, but it could have easily been a flag. If it was, we were looking at a 10 yd OPI penalty and a 58 yd FG attempt by Boswell. Darn glad the game didnt come down to that, but even the black n gold glasses can't hide the obvious pick. Regardless of what Riverton says, that was a designed pick play and the ball bounced our way on that one, thankfully.

 

When you gotta waste the clock, stay in. Just fall down.
I know there's a lot to process, but Steelers needed the clock to run at the end of game a few times this season.

 

I saw him trying to stiff arm Jackson and momentum essentially pushed him out (canno change the laws of physics captain). He might have been able to make a super human cut but that would have put his knees in jeopardy. I've certainly seen him going out half a yard or so early to avoid taking a hit but never when I thought he had a reasonable (or even an unreasonable -- immaculate extension anyone??) chance to make a first down or a score.

So, no, i've never seen anything to make me think of AB as "shy"

 

While I agree it was a pick, how often is that called? I can't even tell you the last time I've seen it called. And if they aren't going to call it, might as well keep doing it.

 

Yes, I'm with you on that. Looking at previous year penalties, and so far this season, DPI is called about 4x or 5x as much as OPI and most of the OPI gets called for push offs. Just seems like a flag there wouldn't have been a surprise because of how penalized this squad is.

 

That's a good point.
You know, when I saw Hunter checked in to the game there, I was screaming at the TV that's how you lose a game by throwing to him. Maybe that's why they picked Hunter to do the pick. It's conceivable to me that Hunter got confused and was running the wrong route. Maybe the refs thought the same way?

 

Yeah I saw the video with Riverton saying that. If that is the rule, then we just got lucky the DB was aggressive and jammed Hunter closer to the LOS. I've watched that play a dozen times and there is no way that Hunter was running a route. That was a designed pick play all the way, IMO. Which is good coaching and play calling as far as I'm concerned.

EDIT: when I wrote good coaching, I was referring to Fichtner just to be perfectly clear.

 

That's funny! And also damn disappointing being a Vols fan. There was so much hype for Hunter when he was here in Knoxville that he has just never lived up to.

 

Jackson didn't pus him. He dove at Brown's legs. Brown eluded Jackson with a stiff-arm and by stepping over him, but kept going on a diagonal line rather than turning up field.

It's a minor quibble. It just surprised me that a guy who has such amazing body control when he catches the ball couldn't stay in bounds there. I don't it would have taken any breaking of the laws of physics there. Maybe the business decision was not wanting to cut right as he was taking the awkward stride to avoid Jackson. If that's the case, I withdraw my question and side with Brown doing what he has to do to stay healthy.

 

That's what I meant... the stiff-arm changed his vector of momentum and doing anything else would have put his knees at risk.

 

Didn't shy away from contact here:

 

Considering Burfict was creeping around out there and had already tried to take AB's head off (again), he made the right choice.

 

I mentioned his fearlessness going over the middle in my original post. It's just the occasional play like that one on Sunday that he seems to give up on trying to stay in bounds a bit too easily and it surprises me because I've seen him play fearlessly so often.

 

Was thinking the same thing. However, what occurred to me was that he had his bell rung by a dirty Burfict shoulder a series before - so *perhaps* (guess) his head still wasn't entirely unfogged at that point?

 

Wasn't a pick as he didn't block the man covering Brown...that guy was 10 yards deep. All he did was make contact within the 5 yards allowed with the guy covering him. m

 

You're assuming his ankles could have held at an angle that allowed him to land and turn up field a little better. Sometimes it's footing and the fear of twisting something...

 

Like Dungy and Harrison said in sundays night game, they never call a pick at the line!


Article 4 "Other Prohibited Acts by the Offense. Blocking more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage by an offensive player prior to a pass being thrown is offensive pass interference."

Key word here is blocking MORE THAN 1 YARD beyond the LOS....

 

The other key is prior to the pass, Ben threw it right away, they literally occurred at the same time, not prior