Brown up to his old tricks in Pittsburgh

In the past, Pittsburgh Steelers star receiver Antonio Brown has been prone to displays of extreme childishness and selfishness on the field when he feels he isn’t getting the ball enough.

He was at it again Sunday in Pittsburgh’s 42-37 homefield loss to Kansas City.

Columnist Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette took Brown to task afterward, writing he actually feels sorry for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for having to put up with it all from Brown.

“Does he force the ball to Brown even when he’s covered in an attempt to get him his precious catches and keep him in the game?” Cook wrote. “Or does he go to the open receivers and risk having Brown zone out on him and the team, as he did against the Chiefs?”

Worse, Brown got into the face of Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner on the sideline and walked off the field alone when teammates were celebrating a late touchdown run by Roethlisberger that narrowed K.C.’s lead to five points, Cook reported.

Brown uncharacteristically bolted the Pittsburgh locker-room before it was opened to reporters afterward. Nice.

But he fired back Monday at a critic on Twitter who suggested Brown ought to be grateful he has had Big Ben throwing him passes his whole career.

Brown retorted: “Trade me, let’s find out.”

It’s not so much how many and which NFL passers are performing like Hall of Famers early this season — Ryan Fitzpatrick, really?! — but how.

On Sunday alone, six quarterbacks who attempted at least 25 passes misconnected eight times or fewer. That’s a pretty remarkable stat. The six:

Philip Rivers, Los Angeles Chargers: 23-for-27 (85.2 per cent)

Matt Ryan, Atlanta: 23-for28 (82.1)

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City: 23-for-28 (82.1)

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tampa Bay: 27-for-33 (81.8)

Drew Brees, New Orleans: 28-for-35 (80)

Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rams: 24-for-32 (75).

Combined, that sextet threw only 35 incompletions on 183 throws. Mahomes actually threw more touchdown passes (six) than incompletions (five).

So, yeah: 2018, year of the passer indeed.

Arizona’s meek offence had five first downs versus the Rams … The Giants are 0-2 for the fifth time in the last six years … According to Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, the Rams over the last six quarters have allowed the opposition just four snaps on their side of the 50-yard line: three by Oakland and one by Arizona … Houston leads the league in rushing offence (158 yards per game) and is 0-2. Tampa Bay leads the league in passing offence (405 per game) and is 2-0 … DE J.J. Watt was on the field for all 59 of Houston’s defensive plays. He forced a fumble, had one tackle for a loss and was in on six tackles.

While quarterbacks en masse are ripping up the NFL, a few placekickers are compelling their head coaches to rip out their hair.

Especially in Minnesota and Cleveland. Both clubs cut their struggling kickers Monday.

The Browns could be 2-0 right now instead of 0-1-1 if Zane Gonzalez (kicking despite a groin injury) hadn’t been so inaccurate.

Indoors Sunday, he missed two extra points and two field goals (a 44-yarder wide left and a 52-yarder wide right that would have sent the game to overtime) — as Cleveland blew the game at New Orleans and lost 21-18.

“I just let everybody down,” Gonzalez said.

A week earlier, Gonzalez’s attempted 43-yard field goal at the end of overtime was low and blocked, allowing Pittsburgh to escape Cleveland with a 21-21 tie.

On Monday, the Browns agreed to terms with former Miami kicker Greg Joseph.

Minnesota, meantime, waived Daniel Carlson, the latest in an ignominious line of Vikings kickers who have blown pressure field-goal kicks in recent years. Carlson missed two makable gamewinning kicks in Sunday’s tie at Green Bay.

Maybe Charlie Brown is available.