Antonio Brown will likely miss the final two games of the regular season, but the Pittsburgh Steelers expect to have him back for the playoffs.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported on Sunday that Brown’s injury is considered minor, and he is not going to miss a playoff game even if the Steelers don’t secure a first-round bye.
From @NFLGameDay: #Steelers WR Antonio Brown's calf injury is not a major one. The team is confident he'll be ?% whenever he takes the field next. pic.twitter.com/m7xejdDTqA
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 24, 2017
“The Steelers expect him to be 100 percent by the time they take the field for the playoffs, whether or not that is the first round and whether or not they get a bye,” Rapoport said. “It’s actually a calf strain despite being described as a partially-torn calf muscle — really the same thing. This was described to me as a minor injury, one that actually has led Brown to tell people he could actually play Week 17 if they needed him.”
That directly contradicts an earlier report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, which stated that Brown would be in danger of missing the wild-card round of the playoffs if the Steelers are forced to play then.
Brown was injured in the first quarter of Pittsburgh’s loss to the New England Patriots last weekend, and Mike Tomlin said this week that the six-time Pro Bowler is dealing with a “significant contusion.” Brown provided a vague update about the injury on Twitter earlier this week, but it’s still unclear how long he will be out.
