Antonio Brown will miss Sunday’s game against the Broncos after suffering a concussion in the Wild Card round.
It looks like Adam Jones was wrong. Antonio Brown is in concussion protocol, he did not clear it in a week, and he will not play against the Broncos. The Steelers confirmed as much on their official website, stating that a full injury report will be released after practice. If the NFL wants to really eradicate their concussion problem, they should hand out a fine to Jones for his idiotic comments that Brown was faking a concussion.
Losing a player of Brown’s caliber is always bad, but doing so before going up against that Broncos defense is even worse. In addition, there are still questions surrounding Ben Roethlisberger’s status – he’s expected to start, but was limited in practice and doesn’t look like he’s 100%. As a result, the Broncos’ passing attack will be extremely limited. They still have Martavis Bryant, who caught one of the best touchdowns you’ll ever see, but Markus Wheaton becomes their second wide receiver. Heath Miller is also expected to see a big uptick in targets, meaning that the Broncos can focus in on him, while DeAngelo Williams remains out.
The Steelers’ offense, which was once its biggest strength, now goes into the Divisional Round with a lot of questions. This was a team that, heading into the playoffs, looked like a trendy sleeper pick and one that could cause the Patriots a lot of problems. Now, because of their extensive injury problems, they don’t stand a good chance of getting out of Denver.