It seems like a long time ago now, given all that has gone down around the Browns in the past 12 days, but when last we saw this team in action, star pass rusher Myles Garrett was chucking his helmet in frustration and kneeling off to one side, alone and clearly upset despite having racked up five sacks on the day. As it turned out, he was not so much upset about the Browns’ sixth loss of the season, he was upset about the fact that coaches had removed him from the game.
Blowout loss or not, Garrett wanted to be on the field. If there were thing the Browns needed to figure out to play better going forward, Garrett wanted to be part of the figuring out.
For defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, that said a lot of about Garrett. Most defensive players like being on the field at the tail end of a blowout win, to pad stats with sacks and potential interceptions. Garrett wanted to be on the field for a loss, to take his lumps with the rest of the group.
Myles Garrett Did Not Want to Leave Browns Loss
Schwartz said he understood the desire of coach Kevin Stefanski to take Garrett out and avoid injury. But he said the Browns star’s attitude was much appreciated, even if the optics weren’t great.
“I like the competitiveness with it,” Schwartz told reporters. “Sometimes you get taken out of the game because it’s like a blowout win, and you’re protecting your guys at the end of the game. And we had that at the end of the Miami game. And guys want sacks and interceptions and things like that. They’re fairly – well, they’re easier to get at that time of the game than other times.
“But this was the point that we were down. And I appreciate the competitiveness of him wanting to figure that out.”
Browns Appreciate Leadership
Schwartz also said that what was lost in the shuffle of Garrett’s reaction at the end of the Browns’ loss that week is the fact that Garrett had put in extra work that week, that he was not happy with how he played against Miami the previous week.
“He took every single practice round. Every single,” Schwartz said. “And he had told Jacques (Cesaire), ‘Hey, I wasn’t happy with my performance the week before, you’re not taking me out of practice in this during this week.’ And I think that goes, you know, like that kind of statement speaks loud, too.”
Schwartz, then, was willing to give Garrett more leeway with his late-game reaction.
“You want all your guys to be honest and to be, you know, to be honest with their feelings and things like that, but you also want to frame it the right way, and I think Myles has been good that way,” Schwartz said. “… Having frustration at the end of the game is not something that normally shows with him. So he’s done a good job of being consistent and working.”
Myles Garrett Played Complete Game in Week 8
Garrett did more than just pile up sacks against the Patriots, Schwartz said. He was graded out with a 91.5 at Pro Football Focus, his second-highest individual grade this season behind Week 3.
“I think the thing I told him this, the thing I was probably most proud of with his play was not the five sacks, it was the way he played the run in that game. And he did a really good job there, setting edges and chasing from the backside and things like that. Obviously, in a losing effort, there’s really no silver linings, but it was a good individual performance.
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