Browns Star Out for Personal Reasons After Clash With Coaches

Getty Images Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns.

Myles Garrett missed practice for personal reasons on Wednesday after making some disparaging comments about the coaching staff following the Cleveland Browns blowout loss to the Patriots on Sunday.

The Browns defensive unit as a whole was frustrated after being gashed by rookie quarterback Mac Jones and the rest of the New England offense, giving up points at will in the loss. The comments from Garrett in his postgame press conference appeared to be aimed at Joe Woods, who has been criticized by Browns fans over his two-year tenure for not being able to adjust in real time.

“We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and see how we can get better, see how we can scheme better, see how we can make adjustments on the fly,” Garrett said in his postgame press conference. “We never had a chance just because we didn’t make any adjustments on the sideline or when we had time to.”

The Browns defense has played great at times this season, but when things are bad, they are very bad. The outing against the Patriots marked the fifth time the Browns had given up more than 33 points.

“I think we didn’t counter like we are supposed to,” Garrett said. “We didn’t stop the bleeding and they kept attacking where we were deficient.”

Kevin Stefanski Spoke to Garrett About Comments

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski understood the frustration in the locker room and from Garrett in particular. Stefanski said he spoke to Garrett about the comments but did not want to share what was said, which has been par for the course when it comes to his leadership style.

“Any time you have a game like that, there is a lot of frustration,” Stefanski told reporters on Monday, November 15. “I have spoken to Myles about that, and I will keep that conversation between Myles and myself.”

Stefanski did admit that everyone needs to do better, which is obvious when the score is so lopsided.

“Again, you give up 45 and you score seven, we just did not have a good enough plan, we did not make enough adjustments and we did not play well enough,” Stefanski said. “It is all the above when you get beat.”

Browns Having ‘Tough Conversations’ Amid Struggles

The Browns are 5-5 but not out of the playoff race just yet, with the AFC North currently a logjam. Cleveland has a chance to turn it around but has to do it in a hurry to stay in the hunt. Quarterback Baker Mayfield said that there have been some tough conversations taking place to help make things right.

“Realization and being honest with yourself. It is a humbling process. It is very easy to look around and try and find excuses, but when it comes down to it, we have seven more games right now to be able to figure out how to make it work,” Mayfield told reporters on Wednesday, November 17. “We have a lot of division games in front of us, and that is the most important part.”

One thing is for sure — the Browns need to pick up a win on Sunday against a winless Lions squad or things will really start to fall apart.