Coach Mike Tomlin said Wednesday that Brown (knee) was held out of Sunday's 16-13 win over the Bengals due to a combination of injury and lack of communication with the team, Dale Lolley of DKPittsburghSports.com reports.

Brown had permission to miss practices Thursday and Friday with the expectation he would get an MRI on his knee and show up for a Saturday walk-through. He didn't do either of those things, instead waiting until Sunday to have agent Drew Rosenhaus inform the team that the wide receiver was ready to play, per Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. At that point, the Steelers had understandably become frustrated with the lack of communication and told Brown he couldn't play in the game. Per Lolley, Tomlin said the team hasn't received a formal trade demand, but he did acknowledge the possibility of some form of punishment and admitted there might be a point at which Brown wouldn't be worth the trouble. Adamski notes that Tomlin has a clear incentive to quiet discussion about the Steelers being dishonest with their injury report, and Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports still stands by his Tuesday report that Brown has requested a trade. The 30-year-old hasn't made a public statement and doesn't seem to have contacted the Steelers since Sunday.

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