DE Myles Garrett (10.18.24)
Myles, going against Joe Burrow, I know you always love to play him, you respect his game. How exciting is this for you to finally get to see him again after a year?
“Well, we’re going against the Cincinnati Bengals. I wouldn’t say it’s me versus Joe or any particular individual going against another. But it’s always nice going against AFC North opponent, division opponent. And they’re tough. They have a lot of different weapons on offense. They’ve always been very dynamic, and he makes them very dynamic, and he makes them go. He’s sitting confidently in the pocket, he’s healthier than ever, he’s one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the game right now and has been for a while. So, we’re going to have to be very focused on our jobs and executing because he’s going to do everything he can to get it to his playmakers.”
And it seems like he’s getting rid of the ball really quickly this season so how do you counteract that so you can still make your impact?
“I mean, they’re trying to keep him upright. I mean, when he’s on the field versus when he’s off the field, it’s a completely different team. They are as tough as they come whenever he’s on the field and he’s able to get that ball to any of those guys. So, it makes it difficult but just got to get him frustrated with batted balls, getting pressure in his face early and having a very tough interior rush. Putting guys in his face, whether that’s us or walking back there, offensive lineman just trying to make it hard for him to see over his own guys, because hell, two of the tackles are 6-8 so, if we can back those guys up and get them thrown over them instead of by them, then that can change the game as well.”
As a leader of this team, what has your message been with the Amari (Cooper) trade coming out, you guys being 1-5, what has your message been to that locker room?
“The mission doesn’t change. AFC North is still open. We’ve got to win out and we got to win one game at a time. So you can’t be discouraged about what’s happened before and you can’t be looking at everyone around you, as far as team wise, thinking, ‘Wish we would have done this or wish we could have had that’. None one of that helps the situation. Only thing that’s going to help the situation is winning. That means winning every rep. That means going out there and winning in film study, trying to learn more, retain more information, being where you’re supposed to be, attacking everything 100%, because that’s what it’s going to take. And it’s going to take even more and dialing up even more every week because that intensity can only grow because every game on out is a playoff game, especially with AFC opponent.”
Do you feel like you guys have the assets right now to run the table?
“I do. I feel like we have from the beginning of the year and it’s really been a sign of our mentality and execution. It’s just been a lack of focus, and we need to improve and we’ve been doing that and we’ve been close, but we’re going to get where we need to be.”
Myles, with Nick (Chubb) expected to come back, just what are the emotions for you guys of getting to see him make this return after that injury and how much of a boost do you think it’ll give?
“I mean, I’m excited. I feel like a fan whenever he’s on the field. He’s as great of a running back as the league has seen in this modern era, whenever he’s able to touch the ball and he can break through that line. So, we’re all looking forward to giving him a bit of our energy watching him play and getting him back on the field however we can on defense and just trying to support him however we can. I don’t want to put too much of a load on him. He’s only one man and make his return pretty simple, not make him work too hard but of course we’re excited for what he can do and what he can bring to this team and help us turn things around.”
Myles, I know you say it’s not one player against another player, but when you’re going against a quarterback like Joe, do you feel like it brings a little extra out of you knowing that it’s best versus best?
“I was about to say, there’s not a lot of quarterbacks like Joe. It’s only maybe two or three in the tier that he’s in. I would say absolutely brings out your best, you have to. And as much as you try to dial it up every week, try to attack it every week, there’s a bit of a hint of that increased competition and that heightened awareness and that urgency that you just know as a competitor, you really have to bring it this week because you have some guys like Ja’Marr (Chase) and Tee (Higgins) and Burrow. You have those tackles over there. So, you’ve got to bring everything you’ve got for this kind of game, especially with it being a division of game.”
Jim (Schwartz) talked yesterday about the need for the pressure to be better from the front forward. What’s his message been to you guys and then how can you be better as a group in that area?
“Just got to rush together, got to get pressure in his face like we’ve been saying, anterior rush and the edge rushing has got to be a little bit more conjoined right now. I think we’ve been a bit out of whack and we haven’t really been rushing together completely. Winning in some ways and letting him escape, and we saw a lot of that, him breaking the pocket against Washington, making plays, and a little bit with Jalen (Hurts) the other day. So, it’s just about keeping him in that pocket, rushing as a unit and keeping him where we want him. Even if he’s moving out of the pocket, maybe that’s exactly what we want him. Maybe we got a guy coming, wrapping around and making that play, or stopping him once he breaks that pocket, and then we got someone getting the strip sack. But once we all rush together, then we can really start making the plays that we have the ability to make.”
When you see where the Bengals are too, at 2-4, I mean, doesn’t that give you guys so much hope that you can get this thing turned around if you just go out there and start Sunday?
“Our situation got nothing to do with their situation. I don’t look at their record. They’re a great team and if you start looking at records and try to use that as an indicator of the talent and the kind of intensity that team’s going to bring, then that’s how you get beat.”
Myles, when a guy like Amari gets traded, does that spark any awkwardness or any discussion among the guys about who else might be next?
“Shoot, anybody could be next. I mean, when you lose, the door is open for anyone. So how you keep from losing your job or getting moved anywhere else, you have to play your ass off. You have to show you earned the right to be here, earned the right to be on the field, earn the right to rush. You earn just a privilege to wear these colors, it’s an honor and privilege to be here and to do this job every day. And if you’re not doing it, then someone else will step up and take your place. That goes for anyone, myself included. So we’ve all got to be better. And I take that seriously, I take it to heart and I want the guys to match my intensity.”
Myles, I mean, along those lines, could you see yourself ever not wearing a Cleveland Browns uniform?
“I hope not. Like I’ve always said, I want to play here until the end of my career. I want to win here. I want to bring a championship here. So that doesn’t cross my mind, no matter the record. I’m always focused on how we can improve, how we can turn things around. In my mind, I don’t never think of doing anything else. And we have to finish what we started. Keep the main thing, the main thing. Work on where we are now. No one should be worried about the situation with Amari and how that affects them. We’re still here, everyone’s still here and I’m hoping great things for Amari and hope he continues his great career. But we have to worry about the situation in which we’re in and how we can improve upon that and how we can make our situation look a lot better by the end of the year.”
On the defensive line, guys are the engine of the defense, right? And so, when the secondary wants to improve, they want their play to be better, how do you guys as a unit kind of make that cohesiveness happen? How do you guys get back on the same page once you get to practice after a game that maybe didn’t go your guy’s way?
“It’s about keeping the standard. I feel like we’ve talked about weeks prior, we’ll have a lot of great plays, we’ll have some consistency, and a big play will bust the defense open and all of a sudden, we start hitting that roller coaster. They start making good plays and bad plays, and it starts having this rubber band effect. We can’t have that. And in practice that’s when you start running those plays over, making sure we are where we need to be and allowing the time for us to make plays up front. As fast as any of us can win, there’s still two and a half, three seconds, three and a half seconds, where we have to get to the QB or whoever they got back there. So that’s how we can work together. If they can take away the quick throws, the slants and all those, we can work on getting there, getting pressure on his face and allowing them to start throwing some error passes and getting them those PBUs, those picks and creating turnovers for the offense to turn into points.”
Myles, there’s a lot of talk from the Bengals about how they have not won in Cleveland since Joe’s been there and how they’re on a mission to do that. So how important is it from your guy’s perspective, to keep that streak going and to stay maybe in their heads about that?
“That’s not a stat that I was aware of and not going to bother me none.”
Starting off 1-0 in the division?
“Well, we got to be 1-0 for reasons more than that. I know they have a job to come in here and win, and we have a job to defend our home territory, so we’re going to do our job the best we can.”
Myles, did you have any sort of surprise or reaction when you heard the news yesterday about the Browns moving to Brook Park?
“No, I’m focused on this team winning. Where we play makes no difference to me. The Cowboys are supposed to be Dallas Cowboys, and they play in Arlington, so I don’t think it makes too much of a difference if we move eight, 10 miles down the road. I think the fans will be here to support us regardless of where we play, and we’re going to bring everything we got regardless if we’re on the lake or we’re in Brook Park.”
How important is it for you guys to reestablish yourselves and be dominant at home on the lakefront again, and last year you guys couldn’t lose there. I mean, what are your thoughts on just nailing it at home again?
“I think it will help with the momentum. There’s a little bit of comfort playing at home and knowing that we have a history of doing that and got to keep that up and use that momentum to carry us throughout this game and through the rest of the season. But it’s got to start here, it’s got to be consistent, and we’ve got to have a repeat of what we did in the beginning of last year.”
Do you think that Nick running through that tunnel might have the same effect on the crowd that last year when he smashed the guitar and wore the Batman, do you feel like that can bring so much energy to the stadium on Sunday?
“I mean, I expect it to be. The man’s been gone for over a year now. There are not many people more loved in the history of Cleveland more than Mr. Chubb. So, I think it’ll have a h*ll of an effect.”