Jason Miller/Getty Images Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns walks off the field after being ejected against the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 14, 2019.
All eyes were on Myles Garrett prior to the Cleveland Browns matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the defensive end was on his best behavior despite the blowout loss.
Garrett had limited extracurricular interaction with the Steelers, outside of a conversation with Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin in the pregame. Garrett put his arm around Tomlin and the two had a brief conversation.
Myles Garrett and Mike Tomlin share a moment before kickoff.
Of course, much speculation swirled about what the two were talking about and if it had anything to do with the incident last season when Garrett ripped off the helmet of Tomlin’s quarterback Mason Rudolph and hit him with it. Apparently, it did not, according to what Garrett said in his postgame press conference.
“Talking to him had nothing to do with last year,” Garrett said. “Him, his brother, my mother and my uncle all went to school together in Virginia so we were just talking about that. I made a little joke about some phone games they had been playing, and that was it. He said, ‘Good luck, live your life, have fun and tell your mother I said hello.'”
Both Sides Were Looking Past Myles Garret Incident
While the topic could not be avoided, the sides were trying to look past the incident and focus on the game, which pitted two of the AFC’s top team against each other — at least record-wise with the Browns at 4-1 and the Steelers at 4-0 entering Sunday.
“They’re a 4-1 team,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “We’re trying to remain undefeated. We’re not looking for that low-hanging fruit or that reality TV storyline and so forth. This is a big game here in 2020.”
Garrett echoed that sentiment in the days leading up.
“We’ll see when we play,” Garrett said. “But their head coach [Mike Tomlin] said they’re past it. We’re past it as a team. We’re ready to go out there and play ball.”
The Browns and Steelers ownership groups also met up prior to the game and were on the same page with it being a clean game without retaliation for what happened last year. The two sides held a call prior to the game to discuss the expectations, per Diana Russini of ESPN.
#Browns and #Steelers ownership had a phone call this week and related a message to their teams that there should be absolutely no retaliation during today’s game after last year’s incident between the two teams, per @diannaESPN.
Garrett said that’s exactly what happened.
“It’s just a game to me,” Garrett said. “It’s just about playing ball. With these guys, it was all love and it’s all football. It just stays on the field and stays between the whistle. We didn’t have any problems. There was respect during and after the game.”
Myles Garrett Adds Another Sack in Loss
GettyBrowns defensive end Myles Garrett.
Garrett didn’t provide his usual consistent pressure against the Steelers, but did manage to haul down Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger once for his sixth sack of the year. He added four tackles and a tackle for loss, but would have much rather got the win.
The Browns fell to 4-2 after the loss and will face another AFC North foe in the Bengals next weekend. The Browns won the first matchup 35-30 on Sept. 17.
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Browns DE Myles Garrett Reveals Pregame Conversation With Mike Tomlin