When Antonio Brown visited State Farm Stadium last month with the Raiders, he didn't play, but at the time it seemed like the issues he was having with the team were fading. As the regular season approaches this week however, it came out that Brown and Raiders GM Mike Mayock had words following Mayock fining Brown, and the whole situation felt like it was crumbling.

Indirectly, Larry Fitzgerald became a topic.

For all of Brown's issues -- and there have been a ton, whether in Pittsburgh or now in Oakland -- Fitzgerald has come across as the anti-Brown. And it has been pointed out, like by Fitz's former teammate, one-time Cardinals QB Rich Bartel.

Fitzgerald wasn't about to wade into the Brown controversy on Thursday. He said he wasn't aware of the latest stuff with Brown. "I've known AB since he was a rookie, I'm good friends with AB, I wish him the best and I just hope it works out for him," he said.

But it was pointed out to Fitz that he was being used in comparison, for lack of a better term, as a good example.

"When I was coming up, I feel like my era of guys, there were different guys," Fitzgerald said. "You look at Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, and myself. We were the kind of guys that just went about our business and didn't really care for much else. Ball is ball. We loved to play the game, but it's just a game. We never really took ourselves all that serious."