Browns Star Myles Garrett Doubles Down After Recent Callout

Getty Images Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett is standing by his critical comments about officiating in the NFL.

Myles Garrett called out the officials after a Week 14 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cleveland Browns‘ star pass-rusher is standing by his comments.

The Browns beat the Jaguars 31-27 but Garrett was held without a sack for a second consecutive week. He expressed his frustration after the game with some poignant comments aimed at the officials.

“The officiating was a travesty today. It was honestly awful,” Garrett said on Sunday, December 10. “I mean, respect to those guys, it’s a hard job, but hell, we have a hard job as well. You can’t make it harder by throwing, holding, and hands to the face out the rulebook. And like I said, I got a lot of respect for those guys, but we get scrutinized for the plays that we don’t make. So someone has to hold them accountable for the plays or the calls they don’t make. And they need to be under the same kind of microscope as we are every single play.”

The comments will likely cost Garrett some cash via a fine, although he wouldn’t confirm that while speaking to reporters on Friday, December 15.

“Ask the league,” Garrett said.

He didn’t want to talk about a potential fine but Garrett also didn’t take back anything he said.

“It was something that’s been stoked for a while last couple of weeks and other rushers have been also dealing with the same thing,” Garrett said. “I can only speak for myself, but once you got like a whole position kind of fed up with how they’re being treated. That’s when you know something is kind of off.

“Right now I’m not getting any calls, so it can’t get much worse than that. I’m not trying to offend anybody. I just want them to do their to the best of their ability. Same here.”

Myles Garrett in Focus After Flurry of Browns’ Injuries

Getty ImagesMyles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns.

Garrett has 13 sacks this season and is one of the top contenders for Defensive Player of the Year. He’s also playing with a banged-up shoulder, gutting it out to be on the field every Sunday.

He’s already a massive part of the Browns’ defense but even more is going to be asked of Garrett the rest of the season after a flurry of injuries on that side of the ball. The Browns lost safety Grant Delpit for at least the rest of the regular season, as well as defensive tackle Maurice Hurst.

The Browns are also awaiting final word to see if defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo is done for the season with a pectoral injury. Okoronkwo won’t play on Sunday against the Chicago Bears. He’s second on the team with 4.5 sacks this season.

“Good men. Good people, good leaders as well. Great teammates in their time, look forward to coming back and being around,” Garrett said. “Their presence won’t go unnoticed. Those guys are dynamic. They’ll make this a big place for us. We’ll just have to step up in other ways.”

Bears Focused on Slowing Down Myles Garrett

Getty ImagesThe Bears are focused on slowing down Myles Garrett.

Garrett is always a player opponents have to game plan for and the Bears are no different. Chicago will do all they can to slow down Garrett and his pass-rush partner Za’Darius Smith.

“They give us a report each week and I think they were like No. 1 in like every defensive statistic in the league, so I was like, ‘This is gonna be fun, right?’” Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said, via The Athletic. “Then you go out there and you have 95 (Garrett) and 99 (Smith) staring down at you at the same time.

“It’s fun. I think this is why you do what you do. You want to play against the best. Yes, those two you have to account for at all times. There’s no question about it that when you’re going up against guys like that, your game plan has to be centered around those two guys.”

The Browns are a 3-point home favorite for the matchup against the Bears.