PITTSBURGH — Odell Beckham Jr. says he watches every move that Antonio Brown makes. That’s a good thing. The two of them play the position of wide receiver at about as high a level as the law allows. And both seem to have a hell of a good time doing it.
Brown had a little more fun Sunday, as his Steelers beat the Giants 24-14 at Heinz Field. He only had six catches (as opposed to Beckham’s 10) on seven targets (Beckham had 16) and only gained 54 yards to Beckham’s 100. Part of that was because the Giants were trying to take Brown away as much as possible.
But even that is only slightly possible.
“They improvise as well as any two players in the league,” Giants cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said of Brown and Ben Roethlisberger. And never was that chemistry on brighter display than on the 22-yard toss Roethlisberger threw Brown with 7:10 left in the second quarter, with Roethlisberger buying time in the pocket and finding Brown in the very back of the end zone.
“Well, I mean, it’s total trust,” Roethlisberger said. “I trust him and he believes in me and it’s one of those plays that’s kind of a broken play and you step up and scramble and I knew I could run for it, but AB covered one-on-one, that’s a tall task for a defender.”
Told of Rodgers-Cromartie’s praise, Roethlisberger added: “You know what, AB is special. We don’t really practice it, it just happens. I think it really comes down to trust, faith and belief in each other.”
Then he smiled. “AB is AB,” he said. “Or Ronald.”
Ah, yes. Brown, after all, is a bit quirky. Friday, he had engaged the Pittsburgh media in a bizarre game where he announced he wanted to from here on in be referred to by a new name.
“It’s my new name,” he told them. “From now on, address me as Ronald.”
That is part of the Brown canon, after all, as were his string of odd clichés only barely related to the game that he said afterward. Nobody in that locker room seemed bothered by any of that. AB is AB.
Or Ronald.