Rather than getting upset at Antonio Brown, Todd Haley empathized with the wide receiver losing his temper in a sideline incident that included a thrown Gatorade cooler and Brown slapping Haley's hand away.
The Steelers' offensive coordinator explained Thursday, in his only weekly availability following practice at the Rooney Sports Complex, that he's allowed his own emotions to get the best of him on the sideline during his coaching career. Like some of the players who have commented on the incident this week, Haley said Brown's actions Sunday in Baltimore were nothing more than emotions running high during a road game against a difficult opponent.
"You just try to understand that guys are passionate, want to contribute, want to make plays and there's going to be some emotion out there," Haley said. "I've been one of the emotional ones at different times, so I was understanding of it."
Haley's sideline encounters are well-documented. When he was the head coach of the Chiefs in 2011, Haley got into a lengthy sideline argument with his starting quarterback, Matt Cassel, during a win over the Vikings. During the NFC Championship Game in January 2009, Haley, who was the Cardinals' offensive coordinator, got into a heated exchange with Anquan Boldin, one where Boldin had to be restrained by teammates. As the wide receivers coach for the Cowboys in 2006, Haley got into an argument with Terrell Owens during a loss to the Eagles, which carried over into a team meeting later that week when Owens was late.
So, this scene was hardly unique to Haley:
It occurred in the second quarter after a play when Brown ran a shallow cross. Once Brown saw safety Tony Jefferson jump the route across the middle, he followed protocol by turning the route up field and it left him wide open. But safety Eric Weddle began to move towards Brown's side of the field before the snap, which led Roethlisberger to look to the opposite side. It was precisely what Roethlisberger was supposed to do, but Brown was frustrated nonetheless.
"Everybody did what they're supposed to do," Haley explained. "Eric Weddle is very good at disguise and held for a long time, even started back into a certain look that pushed Ben's read to different spots. Everybody really did what they're supposed to do. ... AB was upset he didn't make a play, but really, everybody did what they're supposed to do."
Before his tantrum, Brown had only two receptions for 16 yards. After that, he was targeted seven times and caught only two passes for 18 yards. Brown is second in the NFL with 30 receptions and 388 yards on 45 targets.
Once Haley saw that Brown was upset, he approached him on the sideline and ... well, the rest has been discussed in great detail over the past four days, with Roethlisberger and Tomlin making it clear they were not pleased with Brown's actions.
“AB is a competitor and we all know and understand that,” Tomlin said during his news conference Tuesday. “It aids him and aids us, but we have to control it, he has to control it. If he does not, it can work against him, it can work against us. Emotions are capable of getting away from you. It doesn’t need to happen, it shouldn’t happen. Hopefully it won’t, moving forward.”
However, Cam Heyward defended Brown's actions Wednesday, saying too much was being made about the one play and it's only natural for an athlete to get frustrated.
Bucketgate seems to have passed, although Brown is expected to speak to reporters Friday, which will be the first time he'll address the incident since Sunday in Baltimore and this exchange between Brown and our Dejan Kovacevic:
Like last week's discussion regarding the Steelers' actions during the national anthem, it's clear both the players and coaches are trying to move past yet another potential distraction. Haley doesn't seem to be holding any hard feelings.
"I just knew he was worked up and tried to calm him down a little bit, but guys are competitive and passionate," he said. "It kind of got away at that point and it seems to have worked itself out."