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Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is not spotted on a video posted by wide receiver Antonio Brown, but his message to the team following the AFC Divisional Playoff win at Kansas City comes through loud and clear. Tomlin is heard addressing the team and the hand they were dealt in starting preparations for the AFC Championship Game at Foxborough, Mass., against the New England Patriots, all while reminding the players in the locker room to keep a low profile.
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"When you get to this point in the journey, man, not a lot needs to be said," Tomin can be heard barking on the video. "Let's say very little moving forward. Let's start our preparations. We just spotted these a--h---- a day and a half. They played yesterday. Our game got moved to tonight. We're going to touch down at 4 o'clock in the f---ing morning. So be it. We'll be ready for their a--. But you ain't got to tell them we're coming. Keep a low profile, and let's get ready to ball like this up again here in a few days and be right back at it. That's our story."
Brown's video captured and streamed to Facebook Live had nearly one million views one hour later.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Monday that the snafu on social media would be cause for punishment on a Bill Belichick-coached team.
"That's against our team policy. I don't think that would go over well with our coach," Brady said Monday during his weekly interview on WEEI Radio. "Our coach, he's been in the league for 42 years and he's pretty old school. He's not into social media, and I think he lets everyone know that. I think our team has a policy. We don't show anything that should be private because he feels when we are inside our stadium, inside the walls, there has to be a degree of privacy that we have. What's done in the locker room should stay in the locker room."
The Steelers beat the Chiefs 18-16 on Sunday night. The game was moved from 1:05 p.m. ET to 8:20 p.m. by the NFL because of weather concerns with sleet and icy roads prompting fan safety concerns for Sunday morning travel to Arrowhead Stadium.
The Steelers lost to the Patriots 27-16 in Week 7 of the regular season in October at Heinz Field, a game backup quarterback Landry Jones started for Pittsburgh with Ben Roethlisberger dealing with a knee injury.
Brady is 9-2 all-time against the Steelers with 26 touchdowns and three interceptions.
While New England was off Sunday, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said early in the day via conference call that the perception of a head start was not necessarily reality because of the guesswork involved.
"Getting a little rest, that'll help all of us," Belichick said. "It doesn't matter who we play. There are some things that we need to do regardless that'll be important, and whatever time we have to work on the two teams that play (Sunday night). I mean its 50-50 on which one -- if you're working on the right team or not, we understand that.
"Each coach has his own part of the game plan or scouting report and preparation for his players to do. If he chooses to do something on one team, or guy, or whatever, it's 50-50 whether that could be right or not. You do what you think is the most important thing or what's best for your group or that area that you're responsible for. We've done all of the work on both teams that we can do from a staff standpoint. We have all of the games broken down except for (Sunday's) game."
