TAMPA, Florida – The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will not have the wide receiver Antonio Brown for Sunday’s NFC Championship Game at the Green Bay Packers, coach Bruce Arians announced on Friday.
“I just talked to him this morning, and putting him on the plane and flying over there and making it swell up more doesn’t make sense,” said Arians. “He was not as close as we expected, so let’s get him ready for the next one.”
Brown suffered a knee injury in the division’s playoff game at the New Orleans Saints and played only 27 snaps. He didn’t practice this week.
The Aryans described him as “day by day”, but Brown was unable to progress quickly enough in his healing.
The former All-Pro led the Buccaneers in receiving targets in the final five weeks of the regular season and had a 36-yard touchdown in the wild card victory over Washington. Brown also has experience in two league league games and a Super Bowl, something that few other players have on this list outside of Tom Brady.
“It’s obviously shit for Antonio. We wish he could be out there with us,” said Brady. “Other guys are going to have to introduce themselves and get the job done. I have a lot of confidence in the guys who weren’t there so much when AB was there.”
Arians said he believed Scotty Miller and newcomer Tyler Johnson would be able to stand out. Johnson made a key reception on the third 15-yard run against the Saints. Miller had a 29-yard reception against New Orleans, but he’s been getting some of Brady’s best deep pass moves this season – a 33-yard touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders and a 48-yard touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings.
“I think if you look only at last week, when Scotty and Tyler made those huge plays in the fourth period, the amount of confidence that the coaches and Tom place on these guys just because they deserved it. Their performances were worth it,” Arianos they said. “We will miss Antonio, but we have capable people to intervene.”
Arians said there is a possibility that striker Vita Vea will play after returning to training this week for the first time since his ankle fracture in week 5.
“He looked very good. He has been running around for almost three weeks and had a very good workout yesterday and a good one today,” said Arians. “We have not yet made that determination, but we will see if we want to activate it or not. There is a chance.”