First Call: Antonio Brown's bike incident could have personal conduct consequences, WPIAL star up from Ravens practice squad

Wednesday’s “First Call” has some troubling news for former Steeler Antonio Brown. A former WPIAL player is up from the Baltimore Ravens practice squad. And a Bengals signing bust.

Oh, boy, A.B.

Former Steeler Antonio Brown may be in more trouble than we thought.

Well, that’s depending on how much the NFL wants to pursue the latest off-field mishap surrounding the oft-troubled wide receiver.

As we passed along Tuesday, Brown is accused of damaging a camera and throwing a bike at a security guard shack on the grounds of his housing complex in Florida.

His new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were quick to point out the incident (Oct. 15) occurred before he was signed (Oct. 27). But they aren’t saying if they were aware of it.

An NFL spokesman told the Tampa Bay Times, that the league will investigate the matter. And the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that the league is insisting it was unaware of the complaint, which occurred shortly before Brown’s eight-game ban ended.

That’s all well and good. But the NFL’s personal conduct policy states that players have an onus to make the league (or at least the team) aware of such matters.

Via Pro Football Talk, “Failure to report an incident will be grounds for disciplinary action,” the league’s Personal Conduct Policy explains. “This obligation to report is broader than simply reporting an arrest; it requires reporting to the league any incident that comes to the club’s or player’s attention which, if the allegations were true, would constitute a violation of the Policy.”

Now, does that apply to Brown? Technically, he wasn’t in the NFL because the NFL was actively keeping him out. I’m sure that’s the defense Brown and his representatives would make if the league were to discipline Brown for these actions.

But it’s unclear how the league will interpret that approach. Or if they will say that Brown should’ve said something after he was put on the roster.

Good luck getting Mr. Big Chest to buy that!

Geno back with Ravens

Geno Stone may be suiting up against this hometown team next week.

The former New Castle star has been elevated from Baltimore’s practice squad in advance of this week’s game against the Tennessee Titans. If the former Iowa safety stays there next week, he’ll be playing against the Steelers on Thanksgiving at Heinz Field.

As RavensWire points out, “Stone had been among the players elevated from the practice squad the last two weeks, ending the number of times he could be brought up for gameday. However, in both games, Stone’s primary role was on special teams, seeing just two total defensive snaps compared to 38 special-teams snaps.”

The Ravens have been hammered by injuries in the defensive backfield of late. Terrell Bonds was just placed on injured reserve. He’s the fifth cornerback (Anthony Averett, Tavon Young, Iman Marshall and Khalil Dorsey) placed on the list by Baltimore this season.

No ‘Takk’ backs?

Remember when the Cincinnati Bengals acquired former Atlanta Falcons first-round pick Takkarist McKinley off waivers last week?

The plan was that he’d replace traded defensive lineman Carlos Dunlap.

Well, so much for that idea. The defensive end failed his physical with Cincinnati, and the franchise has returned the player to waivers.

McKinley has not played since Week 7 due to a groin injury. It has kept him out of action for all but four games this season.

RMU rescheduling

Robert Morris University hockey is supposed to start up the men’s program this weekend.

That’s still happening. Just not quite on time, as schedules continue to be flexible for teams attempting to get as many players clean of covid-19 as possible.

This weekend’s games against Alabama-Huntsville will now be played on Saturday (Nov. 21) at 7 p.m. and Sunday (Nov. 22) at 4 p.m. They were originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights.

Tuesday’s game against Bowling Green has also been moved to Dec. 1.

Those are home games at the RMU Island Sports Center.