As ugly as Thursday night’s loss was, the way it ended was even uglier. And unacceptable. On the next-to-last play of the game, Myles Garrett took Mason Rudolph to the ground. The two got into a skirmish, Garrett ripped off Rudolph’s helmet, swung it at him, hitting him in the head, then NT Larry Ogunjobi shoved Rudolph down.
Garrett and Ogunjobi were ejected. Garrett is obviously looking at a lengthy suspension for one of the most malicious acts on a football field we’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s one worthy of being ejected for the remainder of the year.
After the game, Mike Tomlin said, “I’ll keep my thoughts to myself. You guys saw what happened at the end.”
Baker Mayfield admitted in his post-game interview that Garrett is going to be suspended. To their credit, I’ve yet to hear a Browns’ player defend his actions. Nor should anyone try to.
Some other quotes from players that we’ll update here.
Alejandro Villanueva: “We have to protect our QB at all costs.”
Joe Haden: “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Maurkice Pouncey, on if Garrett should be suspended for the year: “Absolutely. 100%. We’ll see how serious the NFL is.”
Pouncey said he doesn’t remember going after Garrett, saying that he “blacked out” in the moment.
Quotes from David DeCastro and Cam Heyward, courtesy of Jeremy Fowler.
Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens: “As long as I’m the head coach here, that’s not going to be acceptable in any form or fashion.”
Mason Rudolph called Garrett’s actions “cowardly” but said “I’m fine” after getting hit in the head by Garrett swinging his helmet.
Myles Garrett called his actions “embarrassing” after the game.
