Following his inexcusable actions in the final seconds of the Cleveland Browns 21-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett addressed the incident.
Here is what the former number one overall pick had to say. Quotes are courtesy of the Cleveland Browns media staff.
On if he wants to walk through what happened that led to and the altercation at the end of the game:
“I really don’t. I made a mistake. I lost my cool, and it’s going to come back to hurt our team. The guys who jumped in to the scrum, I appreciate my team having my back, but it should have never got to that point. It’s on me.”
On the win being overshadowed by the altercation:
“A win is a win. I don’t think it is overshadowed by what happens in eight seconds. Play a hell of a game on defense, the offense came out firing and we held it down from there on. What we did on the field of play for the rest of the game for the first 59 minutes shouldn’t go unnoticed.”
On if he thinks he has played his final game of the season tonight:
“No clue.”
On if Steelers QB Mason Rudolph said anything to spark the incident:
“You just have to go look at it. I’m not going to comment on it.”
On Head Coach Freddie Kitchens saying the altercation was embarrassing and if that is a fair description:
“Absolutely. What I did was foolish, and I shouldn’t have allowed myself to slip like that. It’s out of character, but in a situation like that where it’s an emotional game, like (DT) Larry (Ogunjobi) said, I allowed myself to fall into my emotions with the last play and what happened.”
On how it escalated to the point of hitting Rudolph with his helmet:
“You have to go watch it.”
On if he addressed the team after the game:
“I will tomorrow. The next time I see them, I’ll address them. I will address them all, not just my position group or the defense. I am hurting my whole team with what I did, and it could come back to bite us. I don’t know what kind of repercussion I face, but I have to be better.”
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On what he might say to the team:
“No, I’ll think of it when I get there, but it’s embarrassing, foolish and a bad representation of who we want to be and what we are trying to do with the rest of the season.”
On the altercation was the result of chippiness and tension building up throughout the entire game:
“I don’t think so. It is an emotional game played with a high intensity, and I wouldn’t have any problems with anyone on their team before that that. It’s just one play – one play got to me.”
On anticipating a different attitude going into the next game against the Steelers in two weeks:
“Yeah, it will be a little bit more animosity a little bit more of an understood – I don’t know if you can call it hatred, but however they feel about what happened. It was an accident, but they are going to feel some type of way. It was foolish on both parts, but they are going to protect their guy just like my guys are going to protect me. However that swings when we play them again, we’ll see.”
On having to answer questions about potentially being viewed as a dirty player earlier in the season following multiple penalties and if he believes this may tarnish his reputation:
“I don’t know. If they look back at the film and you say that I’m a dirty player, then that’s your opinion. I have my own [opinion], and I just can’t fall into those kind of traps.”
On how Browns teammates have responded so far:
“My team has had my back. You saw that when they came out and got me. Even (Steelers G David) DeCastro on the other team, he was trying to keep everybody off of me. He understood the gravity of the situation, and he didn’t want any more blows to be thrown, and he knew it was just two guys getting chippy. He and I made a mistake, but I appreciate him coming up to me and Larry coming up to me and having my back in the whole situation.”
On how he expects the league to respond to the altercation:
I don’t know. I’ve never been in this situation and I’ve really never seen any suspension. I’ve never really looked into it, so I wouldn’t know what they’re going to do.”
