Antonio Brown has left the building.
In one of the strangest moments of the 2021 season, the Buccaneers wide receiver abruptly removed his shoulder pads and undershirt and jogged to the locker room at MetLife Stadium during the third quarter of Tampa Bay's Week 17 matchup with the New York Jets.
Here's video of the scene, which shows Brown stripping off his pads, throwing his undershirt and gloves into the stands, and running toward the locker room in the middle of the game while the Bucs were on offense.
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https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/1477733508034568192
Antonio Brown just took jersey and gear off and threw it into crowd. Celebrating and ran to the locker room. No idea what is going on. pic.twitter.com/uPALqGJGJo
— Jake Brown (@JakeBrownRadio) January 2, 2022
Brown, who had three catches for 26 yards on five targets at the time, apparently "boiled over" and was "very upset" on the sideline, according to FOX sideline reporter Jen Hale.
Another angle of the incident filmed by a fan in the stands shows wide receiver Mike Evans trying to reason with Brown before he made his sudden exit.
Antonio Brown has a meltdown at the hand of the #Jets and #BraxtonBerrios pic.twitter.com/RGhSYpyrOu
— Miller (@mmmmillah) January 2, 2022
It appears head coach Bruce Arians benched Brown, which led to the former New England Patriots wide receiver's outburst.
As we just said on #GoBucs radio Antonio Brown was benched by Coach Bruce Arians before taking off his shoulder pads and jersey and throwing them down on the bench. He's gone to lockerrom on his own
— TJ Rives (@BucSidelineGuy) January 2, 2022
UPDATE (5 p.m. ET):Arians told FOX Sports' Jay Glazer after the game that he actually was trying to get Brown to enter the game before his departure.
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) January 2, 2022Just talked to Bruce Arians who said he was trying to get AB to go into game & AB refused. Tried again Brown refused & Arians told him to get out. On if he saw AB take his jersey off.
“Yeah, I did. Never seen anything like it in all my years.” @NFLonFOX
Brown served a three-game suspension in December for violating the joint NFL-NFLPA COVID-19 protocols after he misrepresented his vaccination status. He tallied 101 receiving yards on 10 catches last Sunday and appeared to be back in the Bucs' good graces, but there's a good chance that changes after Sunday's incident.
