# NFL 2021: Week Seventeen Again **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-nfl\ **Created:** [January 2, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085 "2022-01-02T16:41:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/101 "2022-01-06T15:59:45Z")
Funny, it didn’t look like his ankle was bothering him much when he jogged off the field after his tantrum. I guess it’s his word against the coaching staff, team doctors, and the rest of his teammates. Who ya gonna believe? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/102 "2022-01-06T15:59:55Z")
It’s been a long-running controversy since it happened - you’re definitely not the only one that saw it. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/103 "2022-01-06T16:19:40Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Funny, it didn’t look like his ankle was bothering him much when he jogged off the field after his tantrum. Please do not mistake my posting this information as a defense of Brown, who I think is a complete asshole, but he does address that point in his statement: > But I could not make football plays on that ankle. Yes, I walked off the field. But there’s a major difference between launching from the line and taking hits, compared to jogging off the field with a rush of emotions going through your mind. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/104 "2022-01-06T16:30:22Z")
Yeah, I did something to my foot where it doesn’t hurt when walking, but if I try to run or make a sudden stop/turn it reminds to not do that. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/105 "2022-01-06T16:32:05Z")
Oh I didn’t think you were defending him. I was just commenting on what you quoted, which made me go 🤨. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/106 "2022-01-06T16:34:12Z")
On the one hand, there’s nothing in what Brown accuses Ariens and the Bucs of doing which, if true, would surprise me in the least. On the other hand, I am not sure that I trust Brown as a “reliable narrator.” ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/107 "2022-01-06T17:56:20Z")
It’s official. > **[Bucs Officially Release Antonio Brown, Issue Statement on His Ankle Injury](https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/01/06/antonio-brown-released-bucs-abrupt-exit-jets)** > > Brown left the field shirtless on Sunday and did not return. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/108 "2022-01-06T18:18:47Z")
The most telling part of the Bucs statement: "The team said in a statement Thursday that while Brown did receive treatment leading up to Sunday, he was cleared by the team’s medical staff and “at no point during the game did he indicate he could not play.” “We have attempted, multiple times throughout the week, to schedule an evaluation by an outside orthopedic specialist, yet Antonio has not complied,” the Buccaneers added." ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/109 "2022-01-06T18:26:49Z")
I’m wondering if they waited in case another team picked him up specifically to get a look at their playbook. I suppose one still could, but that would be presumably an NFC playoff team that would have to make the decision to cut a current (and presumably useful) player for one they had little intention of actually playing and who would bring a 3 ring circus of drama with him at a critical point of the season. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/110 "2022-01-06T20:32:49Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > I’m wondering if they waited in case another team picked him up specifically to get a look at their playbook. I think that’s an overrated myth that teams sign guys to learn their opponents playbook. Most NFL teams run all the same plays anyway and have diverse enough mix of plays and formations that getting your opponents’ playbook won’t give you any discernable advantage. That goes triple considering the amount of option plays (RPOs, leverage dependent route running, and hot reads) that are used. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/111 "2022-01-06T20:36:20Z")
So…is it really true that Antonio Brown was okay until Vontaze Burfict hit him in the head one day and that’s where all his behavior troubles began? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/112 "2022-01-06T20:36:36Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I think that’s an overrated myth that teams sign guys to learn their opponents playbook. Agreed – it may have been a thing in the past, where there was more diversity in offensive systems. I could see where learning an offense’s snap-count system could be useful, but I’d also suspect that teams change that up regularly, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/113 "2022-01-06T20:37:58Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So…is it really true that Antonio Brown was okay until Vontaze Burfict hit him in the head one day and that’s where all his behavior troubles began? I’ve heard more than one person cite that hypothesis. As I noted upthread, there definitely seemed to be a turning point in his behavior late in his tenure with the Steelers; I have no idea if there is any connection with that particular play or not. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/114 "2022-01-06T20:42:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So…is it really true that Antonio Brown was okay until Vontaze Burfict hit him in the head one day and that’s where all his behavior troubles began? [Article about that very thing](https://deadspin.com/stop-blaming-vontaze-burfict-for-antonio-browns-idiocy-1848302571) (Sorry, it’s Deadspin). It points out AB has a history long before the Burfict hit. Abuse of women. Expelled from college. Missing practices. Hell, his NFL draft stock was greatly affected by his misdeeds and prima donna attitude rather than his clear talent. He’s been an asshole his entire life. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/115 "2022-01-06T20:45:31Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Agreed – it may have been a thing in the past, where there was more diversity in offensive systems. Plus, in the modern age there are assistants who spend their time mapping out all the plays from each game. There are undoubtedly a handful of trick plays every coach has that haven’t been called yet, but the value of learning about those seems negligible. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/116 "2022-01-06T20:48:45Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I think that’s an overrated myth that teams sign guys to learn their opponents playbook. Not saying it’s useful or that the Bucs think it’s a real risk, but I could see somebody over there thinking “well, maybe some _other_ team would try this against us”. NFL teams are notorious about still doing things even they know don’t make a lot of sense because “it’s the way it’s done”. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/117 "2022-01-06T20:59:58Z")
If a team signs AB to pick his brain and form a game strategy around the information he gives them, they deserve the inevitable shellacking that would happen. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/118 "2022-01-06T21:30:48Z")
There are a lot of things a player can provide to another team - codewords for audibles, schematic information like how the team approaches changes at the line, how they adapt to different situations, what the strengths and weaknesses of the players that the coaches try to compensate for is, etc. Generally, how a team thinks, how they do things, how they develop schemes, how they make adjustments, how they communicate. It’s not a decisive advantage, but there’s certainly useful things you can glean from that sort of information I’d imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/119 "2022-01-06T21:48:04Z")
Yeah, again, not thinking any sane team would do it but more along the lines of the Bucs thinking “why even risk it?” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085/120 "2022-01-06T21:55:33Z")
I imagine, in part, because _not_ cutting Brown would mean backpedalling from Ariens’ statements during and immediately after the game on Sunday; it appears, from the Bucs’ statements over the past few days, that they are maintaining that the incident was entirely Brown’s fault. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2021-week-seventeen-again/957085.md?page=7)