Fan reaction to the best player on the Pittsburgh Steelers quitting a week before a potential playoff game was a bit surprising.

"We're supposed to absolve Tomlin and retrofit AB as the scapegoat ... ?”

Yeah, "How can you reporters write about Antonio Brown quitting on his team and take away my steam about firing Mike Tomlin?!"

I wouldn't normally agree with this kind of idiocy, but it appears Brown has leaked his reasoning for walking out on his team the final week of the season, so I'm all ears:





Per @AlbertBreer, Brown has explained to those close to him that he didn’t feel some of his teammates were as invested in 2018 as he was, and it was showing up in their work, and he was fed up with it. The standard, as he saw it, was slipping. #Steelers — Blitzburgh (@Steel_Curtain4) January 3, 2019



Now that's just perfect. A guy who's so self-absorbed he probably couldn't even identify the coach who's made famous the term "the standard is the standard" is now supposedly concerned about the standard.

All right. I'll play along. Let's go down the list and ferret out those lazy, me-first players who weren't "as invested" as Brown alleges he was during a season in which he's twice been publicly accused by his normally non-blameful coach of skipping meetings, practices and going AWOL.

QB -- May as well start with Ben Roethlisberger. That was the original report, that Brown and Roethlisberger had some sort of tiff and Brown was upset because Tomlin is aligned with his quarterback and, presumably, won't allow Brown to do what he feels is best. This has opened the door to reporting on Roethlisberger's character. We had one reporter in the media room do a stand-up and proclaim that Roethlisberger is always the last on the practice field and first off. This report was done on a Thursday, the day Roethlisberger always stays after and works on situational offense with his receivers on the far field. The oldie but goodie, "You think you know, but you don't know - and you never will" was mentioned soon thereafter. Too bad fans couldn't have seen us snicker, but it's actually more sad than funny because most buy this sloth.

Hey, Roethlisberger's not perfect. We could probably do without his radio show (although I often listen for insight that's more tamped down than the respective shrieks of reporting that go with the show's transcripts). But in my opinion - from a guy who wanted him traded in 2010 and has had personal and uncomfortable interactions with him off the field - he's grown immensely as a person and leader. People want to dig at what they presume are his passive-aggressive comments, but I don't know. He seems fine to me. One thing though: He's not as enthusiastic in personal interactions as his backups Joshua Dobbs and Mason Rudolph. If they had Roethlisberger's on-field skill set, they would be the perfect QBs. But, per the topic, they were both completely invested in the season.

RB -- Could it be James Conner? Was he faking his ankle injury so he could be healthy at the Pro Bowl? Probably not is my guess. His backups were a rookie trying to stick with the team and a reclamation project busting his rear end to save his career after two crushing fumbles.

WR -- JuJu Smith-Schuster is a diva, to be sure. But he's a fun diva and has glowered at reporters who don't mention Brown when they're talking about great receivers. I know. I was on the receiving end of such glowering. Smith-Schuster goes out of his way to pay his respect to Brown as the No. 2, even when he probably shouldn't, so I can't believe it's him. James Washington is the most un-diva-like receiver I've seen since Markus Wheaton. Hopefully that's not a drawback, because all Washington did was work. And when Roethlisberger surprised him with a sitdown conversation about the QB's expectations, Washington glowed. Just glowed. I mean, it made his season. The on-air comments made by Roethlisberger that seemed to trigger the media didn't even register with Washington. The No. 4 receiver, Darrius Heyward-Bey, is the only adult in the WR room and we in the media often regret that he doesn't produce more because he would've shed insight that the self-absorbed brat wearing 84 would or could not. Justin Hunter probably stopped working hard and living up to Brown's "standard" following shoulder surgery, which he required after diving for a ball that was just out of his reach. Ryan Switzer involves himself in at least five car crashes every game. Eli Rogers could get his little butt to practice more quickly. This guy's always slow and "waddling." It's always, "C'mon Eli. C'mon Eli" so maybe Brown's angry with him.

TE -- That damned Vance McDonald, scrambling to rejuvenate a career cut short by the 49ers. This guy's Rice smart, lockers next to Roethlisberger, doesn't give reporters much, and just works as hard as he can. This is a guy who could probably use the ball a few more times, but never complains. Jesse James does some nice things as a No. 2 and his work ethic is obvious. It's how he's staying in the league. Xavier Grimble would like to stay in the league. He glows whenever Tomlin walks over to the TE sled and praises his work ethic and physical approach. He's clearly the most physical tight end of the group when it comes to want-to and blocking. And I'm happy he got a bit of redemption in the final game with his 16-yard catch-and-run, but, X, c'mon, man, put that ball in the outside hand!

OL -- No, we're not going to find any bums here. We know the Pro Bowlers, and Marcus Gilbert worked so hard to recover from his injury that he eagerly told me he was coming back this week and every week, and I unfortunately bought it and reported it. But his work ethic is beyond reproach. But, that Matt Feiler, now he's real quiet and he's from D-2 Bloomsburg, so we had better look into whether being so quiet falls below Brown's "standard." I'll also repeat the quote that Ramon Foster -- a guy who probably won't get the money he wants to continue this weekly "washer and dryer" routine (as the great Alan Page once said of how difficult and un-fun it is to play pro football) -- gave me about Tomlin dealing with self-absorbed diva quitters:

"Who? Who can do it better? I don't think (fans) understand the ins and outs of this job, how to handle the people in this place. I don't know if any other coach could do that. I'm being completely honest. If they came in that building for two weeks, I think they'd change their whole mindset about what they think about him and this organization.

"You guys are around. I know I've got to say it in order for you guys to throw it out there, but I'm not going to say it. You guys know. You understand the underlining of things that go on. He is one of the best at managing that and sometimes the ropes get pulled a little bit farther -- that's dealing with kids; that's dealing with a Fortune 500 company; that's how this stuff happens."

We weren't sure at the time, but it was obvious Foster was furious about someone. Yet he wanted us to find out for ourselves. He wasn't about to throw a teammate under the bus.

But back to finding the teammates who disappointed Brown. Was it B.J. Finney? He was very quiet all season, and was in no mood to ever talk about a starting spot on the team that one might foresee as written on the proverbial wall. So he kept. his. mouth. shut. And worked his rear end off. Zach Banner lost 70 pounds last year and was a slave to the locker-room scale. He's determined to make this league, this team, and while he's as outgoing as Max Starks, Banner never said an offensive word about anyone, even when he was miserably hungry at lunchtimes.

DL -- You know, that Cam Heyward and his devotion to protege Stephon Tuitt was getting a little old. Maybe it's them. I know, not very good sarcasm, but that's how much of a joke it is to blame any of these defensive linemen. I'm hoping Tyson Alualu can last a while longer as a solid, team-oriented, hard-working, anonymous backup. Maybe it's Big Dan McCullers making A.B. upset. Yeah, maybe.

LB -- T.J. Watt is the attitude of the future, a fantastic find at pick 30 and I love how Tomlin told a national interview, "Everyone should have a Watt. I have mine." This guy is the gold standard as far as work ethic combined with attitude and team play. Bud Dupree takes a beating and screechers often blat that his lack of development is reason to fire Joey Porter. Didn't they see Dupree coming out? He is exactly that player. He lacks the bend of a big-time pass-rusher but his speed and strength allow him to continue working. I do question his reasons to talk and talk and talk to some reporters. They think he's a gold mine. I can never make sense of what he's saying. Does he work hard? I guess. I've never seen him not. He's a guy you would like to replace, but with so many other holes his position is not my priority - because of his speed and athleticism. Anthony Chickillo is an overachiever who had a critical sack against the Bengals. Brown probably didn't see it because he had left the stadium by then.

Inside at linebacker, Vince Williams is a close friend of Brown's. They locker next to each other. James Harrison used to locker back in that corner (we reporters have a nickname for that corner that I can't repeat here in this family column) and all three of them agreed not to talk to reporters until Fridays. That day is always too late in the week for reporters, who have most of their preview work done by then. It's only the TMZ types who show up for those late-week freak shows. I think it's foolish of Williams to play along with Brown on this. A middle linebacker should be the face of the defense, and Williams has the insight, smarts, passion and team-orientation to become a great "face." But he does what Brown wants him to do, so I'm sure Brown doesn't mean Williams in his grand assessment of those who've disappointed him this season. Jon Bostic has shown his limitations in coverage. It wasn't just Keenan Allen who got five yards of separation out of a cut against Bostic. That said, Bostic is the No. 1 coaching prospect, IMO, in that entire locker room. And I hope the Steelers are paying attention, because this guy's going to be very good at it one day soon. Now what about Tyler Matakevich and his group of special-teamers? Um, no. They are classic overachievers - L.J. Fort and Jordan Dangerfield and the rest of the coverage guys who may not be all that fast, but no one cares more. No one.

DB -- Joe Haden is all ballplayer and it's been a joy to watch him rejuvenate his career. Coty Sensabaugh and I share a birthday, so I know he's a no-nonsense prick (if I may be so lewd this morning), but Sensabaugh has rejuvenated his career as well. Haden, Sensabaugh and Mike Hilton were all found on the scrap heap, and the only way they're making it work isn't with God-given athleticism (although Haden might be the best pure athlete on the team) but with hard work and great attitude. Artie Burns isn't making it. Maybe he's the guy with whom Brown's most upset. They battled through camp and Brown continually skirmished with Burns, who skirmished right back. But where did that feistiness go? So put him on the A.B. Festivus list with Big Dan and Eli. The safeties are maniacally hard workers and you hope that their play will develop along with that hard work. In fact, Sean Davis is the only player of the play group who's been with the team longer than two years (and his tenure is only three years). Maybe that's why they didn't play cohesive ball until late this season against Tom Brady, Drew Brees and the great Jeff Driskel.

OK, so all I could find were Burns, McCullers and Rogers who might fit Brown's list. Make up your own mind on Roethlisberger. I've made up mine on Brown and I would love to dump him if I could.

But as you can see, this locker room isn't the rollicking, free-wheeling group of uncaring jerks that thrive under a coach whom fans believe lets all of them do their own thing.

Yeah, they're all jive, right?

Still, I hope maybe now fans can see why I dismiss all of that "players' coach" nonsense. This locker room consists of one uncontrollable jerk, a QB who should be given the latitude that a 15th-year QB deserves in aligning with a coach, a layer of serious and hard-working veterans, scared-to-death reclamation projects, and a bunch of kids working as hard and quietly as they can to become NFL players.

I'm sure you'll believe what you want, though, because this team - that's been completely rebuilt from a group that played three Super Bowls in six years - has only won three playoff games since that last Super Bowl.

Mathematics are hard, but the fact that 31 other teams have expensive draft budgets and high-level scouting corps should mean something to a team drafting near the bottom of every round over the last 10 years. That's EVERY round.

I guess math doesn't matter when you're entitled to championships at birth.