Steely McBeam
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- Mar 20, 2019
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NFL Films, owned and operated by the NFL (including the Raiders), had nothing to say on Tuesday night’s debut of Hard Knocks regarding the reason for receiver Antonio Brown‘s inability to practice due to foot/feet problems. NFL Network, owned and operated by the NFL (including the Raiders), finally has confirmed that which first was revealed more than 24 hours earlier by Chris Simms on PFT Live.
Unnamed Raiders representative/players/whoever told Ian Rapoport of the NFL that, indeed, Brown injured his feet by entering a cryotherapy chamber without proper footwear.
Rapoport seems to hedge a bit with the report, explaining twice that the Raiders sources are “saying” that’s the reason for the foot/feet problem instead of just saying that, indeed, this is the issue. Maybe he just wanted to create the not-so-subtle impression that the reason for the foot/feet problem wasn’t already reported more than 24 hours earlier. Either way, there should be no skepticism about such a bizarre and specific reason for an injury — especially since the report had surfaced more than 24 hours earlier.
The fact that it happened in such an avoidable way explains why the Raiders opted to keep the reason for the foot/feet problem out of Hard Knocks. Disclosing that Brown did something that some would regard as dumb would make Brown look bad for doing it and, in turn, would make the Raiders look bad for putting so much emphasis on someone who would do something so dumb.
It will be interesting to see whether the next episode of Hard Knocks confirms the basis of the foot/feet problem. If it’s otherwise like last night’s debut, it may be the only thing interesting about it.