page_title: Antonio Brown
section_title: 2011 season
hierarchical_section_title: Antonio Brown / Professional career / Pittsburgh Steelers / 2011 season
caption_attribution_description: English: Antonio Brown (born 1988), a player on the National Football League.
context_page_description: Antonio Tavaris Brown Sr. is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. Raised in Liberty City, Miami, Brown attended Miami Norland High School, where he competed in both football and track. He played college football at Central Michigan University, where he earned All-American honors in 2008 and 2009 as a punt returner. A sixth-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brown amassed more receptions than any other player in the league from his rookie season in 2010 through 2018.
  During Brown's first season with the Steelers, the team advanced to Super Bowl XLV but lost to the Green Bay Packers. He finished his rookie season with 16 receptions for 167 yards in ten games. During his second NFL season, he became the first player in NFL history to have more than 1,000 yards receiving and returning in the same year. For his efforts, Brown was selected as a punt returner for the 2012 Pro Bowl. In 2013, he became the only receiver in NFL history to record five receptions and at least 50 yards in every single game of an NFL season.
context_section_description: Brown entered training camp competing with Emmanuel Sanders, Arnaz Battle, Limas Sweed, and Jerricho Cotchery to be the Steelers' third wide receiver after the departure of Antwaan Randle El. He won the competition and was named the third wide receiver on the depth chart behind Hines Ward and Mike Wallace. Brown was also named the starting kick returner and punt returner.
  Brown made his first appearance of the season in the season-opener against the Baltimore Ravens and finished with two receptions for 14 yards and had three kickoff returns for 34 yards in a 35–7 loss. In Week 7, against the Arizona Cardinals, he had seven receptions for 102 receiving yards, marking his first career game with over 100 receiving yards, in the 32–20 victory. On October 30, in Week 8, Brown had a season-high nine receptions for 67 yards and caught his first career touchdown reception on a seven-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger in a 25–17 victory over the New England Patriots. The next game, he caught five passes for 109 yards in a 23–20 loss to the Ravens. On November 13, he earned his first career start and made five receptions for 86 yards in a 24–17 defeat of the Cincinnati Bengals. On December 4, he returned a punt for a 60-yard touchdown and made two catches for 67 yards, as the Steelers routed the Bengals 35–7. The punt return for a touchdown was the first in his career and Brown was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance. In a Week 14 win over the Cleveland Browns, he made his second start of the season and ended the game with five catches for a season-high 151-yards and scored a season-long 79-yard touchdown in a 14–3 victory. Brown finished the season with 69 receptions for 1,108 yards and two touchdown receptions in 16 games and three starts.
  The Steelers finished 12–4 and received a playoff berth. On January 8, 2012, Brown caught five passes for 70 yards and had one carry for 18 yards in a 29–23 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Wild Card Round.
  Brown became the first player in NFL history to have more than 1,000 yards receiving and returning in the same year. For his efforts, Brown was selected as a punt returner for the 2012 Pro Bowl. In his first Pro Bowl, Brown caught two passes for 15 yards, helping the AFC defeat the NFC 59–41.
caption: Brown in Denver in January 2012
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