Steelers Had A Rookie Johnny Manziel Shook: 'You've Gotta Be F***ing Kidding Me, This Actually Happened?'

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a ton of memorable moments from the seasons during the 2010s, mainly due to the outspoken cast of characters on their rosters. It wasn't often that a week went by without seeing one of the Steelers’ stars names in the headlines, either for things said off the field or for a stellar performance. Antonio Brown was one of those performers that was always in the limelight, and he had a lowlight on the field during his time with the Steelers that still lives strong in NFL lore. 

During the opening game of the 2014 NFL season, Brown caught a punt from Cleveland Browns’ punter Spencer Lanning. He had an open lane down the middle of the field and he looked like he could score. Lanning stood in the way of Brown, and instead of trying to be agile and go around the punter, Brown attempted to hurdle him and failed. This resulted in Brown kicking Lanning in the face. A rookie Johnny Manziel was on the Browns sideline during that game, which was his first in the NFL, and he recounted the story with Bob Does Sports in a YouTube video. 

"My first game ever with Cleveland, Steelers, opening day, on the road. You remember this play probably. Antonio Brown catches a punt return, takes it right up the f***ing middle of the field, our punter is the last one standing. This is my first game ever on a NFL sideline, he splits the middle bro and runs down, sees the punter and is just like, 'I don't give a f**k', he tries to hurdle him and kicks him right in the grill. I'm sitting on the sideline with my headset on and sun flower seeds and I just go, 'You've gotta be f***ing kidding me, this actually happened?'"

Brown was fined for the play, and he also received a 15-yard penalty which essentially negated his impressive return. Le'Veon Bell made the penalty not matter, as he rushed for a 38-yard touchdown on the Steelers drive following the punt return and the Steelers would go on to win the game by a score of 30-27. 

The kick to the face by Brown was not intentional of course, usually players hurdle because they expect the defender to go low when attempting to make the tackle. Lanning was technically a defender on the play, but he is a punter by trade, meaning he didn't know what to do when he saw one of the most electric players in the NFL running at him at full speed. Lanning didn't take the kick in a bad way, and even had fun with it after the game ended.