New teammates Antonio Brown and Vontaze Burfict are quickly trying to put a muddy past behind them.
Burfict knocked Brown out of the playoffs with a malicious late hit in 2015 which seemed to create a beef between the two new Raiders players. But after both players touched down in Oakland this week, they took time to praise one another.
Posting a picture of the two together (below), Brown wrote on Instagram:
"It’s funny how the NFL will make you a villain with your own teammate now... Things happen on the field [but] with all due respect it’s in the game" said Brown: "After the game there’s real life and we do have personal lives [and] families... Encourage someone [and do not] bind them by circumstances."
Burfict sent his own message to Brown via a conference call with Oakland media after signing a one-year contract on Tuesday:
"We're on the same team, with one goal. It's all positive, man," Burfict said. "[Brown]'s a great player, he's gonna be a Hall of Famer one day, and honestly I'm gonna approach him just like I do all my other teammates... There's nothing negative over here, man. We're on the same team, everything's [about] trying to win a championship."
It's not the first time the two have tried to put the incident behind them. According to ESPN, Brown said in 2016 that Burfict had apologised via Twitter and had "no intentions of trying to injure" him. But it was difficult to know how sincere that message was.
Their beef really gained attention after Burfict insisted Brown had faked the hit. Despite Brown missing the AFC Championship game with a concussion, Burfict insisted the wide receiver had seen the contact coming and turned his body in a dramatic way.
Considering Brown's Steelers lost the Championship game a week after the hit and Burfict received a three game suspension, the two players must have realised the incident was punishing enough.
Now they can focus on making new playoff memories together.
COVER PHOTO: USA Today
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