CINCINNATI – Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown hasn't forgotten the helmet hit by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict and he doesn't want NFL officials or commissioner Roger Goodell to forget about it, either.
Brown is ripping Burfict and Bengals cornerback Adam Jones in several interviews in the buildup to Super Bowl 50 this week. It sounds like a player - and a team - on a campaign to make sure that referees keep the penalty pressure on Burfict next season and the league doesn't back off his three-game suspension.
Brown said defenders like Burfict "want to kill me." He called Burfict "an idiot" and Jones "a coward" and said the two Bengals "cost them the game" in the crushing playoff loss Jan. 9 at Paul Brown Stadium.
“Guys don’t want to stop me anymore. They want to take me out. They want to kill me,” Brown said on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh.
“They want to steal my dreams. They want to ruin me. They want to end me, but we’re not gonna let them," Brown said. "What we are gonna do is win more.”
Brown was asked on the Dan Patrick Show what he would say about Burfict.
"He's an idiot," Brown said. "In that situation Burflict and Pacman Jones cost them the game, from the hit to the personal foul, allowed us to make the field goal and advance to the next round."
On PFT Live, Brown said of Burfict, “You know what kind of guy he is, what type of player he is. He’s a real unprofessional-like player. An undisciplined player."
Brown didn't mince words about Jones, either. After the Jan. 9 game, Jones claimed Brown was faking an injury and said Brown even winked at the Bengals when he walked off the field.
“I lost a tremendous respect for him when he went on record saying that I winked at him,” Brown said on PFT Live. “I was unconscious, I didn’t really even remember what had transpired so for him to say something like that is totally a coward, it’s idiotic.”
Jones later apologized on Instagram when the Steelers confirmed that Brown had a concussion and wasn't going to be able to play against the Broncos in the divisional round. But Brown said he hadn't talked to Jones and had no interest in doing so.
"The guy texted me. No reply," Brown said. "I don't even know why people give him a platform to say something. Ridiculous."
