DE Myles Garrett (10.11.24)
So, Myles, there’s so much talk last week about kind of making a stand and stopping the losing ways and then you guys go out, lose to Washington. I guess, how do you bounce back from that and try to do the same thing this week?
“Well, if I didn’t say it last week, props to Washington. They’re a good team. They did a lot of good things offense and defense, and we have a lot to clean up and that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve been doing it all week personally and as a collective trying to figure out how we can better and what we can do more for this team. And I think everyone’s really been focused on that task solely and hope to put that out on Sunday.”
How do you balance owning your 1-4 record but not letting it diminish any kind of hope as the weeks go on?
“We won’t be the first team to bounce back from 1-4, we won’t be the last. And right now, we are 0-0 as far as the scoreboard goes and we want to be 1-0 by the time the game ends on Sunday and then we can continue from there. But it’s got to be a 1-0 mentality like what you’ve been talking about. But we got to mean it. Especially when you’re down, you can’t be focused on the past, focus on right now in this present and working your *** off to get out of this little rut that we’re in.”
Myles, it’s not a pass rush question, but with the Eagles, what kind of challenges does Saquon (Barkley) presents in just the way he runs and the way he can kind of drive that offense?
“I mean he’s a special athlete. I mean, God-given athletic, but he also works his *** off. That didn’t happen overnight. He wasn’t born like that. He put in that time to look how he does, perform how he does, play like he does. But glad to see him healthy and back to his game-changing ways. But definitely puts more stress and more focus on stopping the run when you have somebody like that in the backfield. So, we got to make sure that stopping the run is imperative, something we do early trying to get them out of it and try to force them to drop back more often than not.”
Do you think you guys are up to that challenge this week after the last two weeks kind of getting gassed on the ground a little bit here?
“Yeah, I mean, I’m pointing out some of the stats. I mean, there were probably 90% of the plays that they had on the ground we held them to under three yards. But they had just a couple of those big runs that led to a lot of the yardage and big plays that we saw. But we just have to nip some of those big plays that they had. With a guy like that, he might break off one, but it has to be negated from 60, to 15, to 20. Keep that yardage down and keep them contained as well as possible. So, we just have to contain that consistently across the board.”
Do you feel that just eliminating the big plays, that’s the number one thing on your side of the ball that has to get tightened up and if you’re able to do that, you’ll be in good shape? Or is there a list of things that you’re looking at that you’re unhappy with?
“I think that’s really the main thing. We’ve had too many big plays that really hurt us and set us back and just put us in bad field position, or if we get a stop, it puts our offense in bad field position. So just get them in those good places, being consistent. How we started the game, you don’t want to come out of the half and play the end of game like that. So it’s just about being able to do that and executing. We show that we had that potential. We showed it earlier this season, we showed it last year. So, just erase some of those big plays and it’s a different story completely.”
Myles, you guys head into this game with a very embattled quarterback, one in which Jonathan Allen said last week that he didn’t look like he was playing with confidence. My question is what can you guys do, maybe you as a team leader to support your quarterback and you guys also as a defense to help show him what he means to you guys as a team?
“Not make his job so hard. Put him in easier situations. Not just him, the offense. The pressure’s on everyone to perform. He might feel it a bit more because he’s the highest paid guy and the media is going to be pointing the finger at him and it should be pointed at every single one of us. We got to put them in a position to have success. We got to help our team win however we can. We got to play complementary football, which we didn’t do, at least not all four quarters. So, we’ve got to find a way for all of us to be more helpful and more productive for this team. And I think when we put in a position to win and the position to gain confidence by scoring and putting points on the board, that changes the outlook not only for us but for everyone who has something to say.”
He said that he stayed off Twitter, he hasn’t listened to any of the criticism or the madness that has gone on all week. I’m just wondering, I mean, is that your approach to it as well? Are you seeing all the bashing that you guys are taking this week especially now?
“I don’t look at that stuff anyway. I don’t know the last time I looked at Twitter or any of that. And if I did, it’s not to look at football. I got family I need to see; I got photography I can learn from and competition I can improve with. So, the football stuff, that’s for here, that’s for Thursday night when we’re having team dinner and discussing some of the teams we want to play. But we’re not worried about the opinions and contents and negatives, that does nothing for this team. I just call it more negative discourse.”
Myles, there’s a lot of talent on this team. I know you guys have dealt with some injuries here in the early part of the season. You guys dealt with that last year, too. Is there something that’s missing that you guys had last year that you haven’t found this year? Like fans are having a hard time understanding why you guys are having the struggles that you’re having considering how talented this team is.
“Sometimes teams go through ruts. Like Jacques (Cesaire) said, he was on the team himself with Antonio Gates and Shawne Merriman, like a team full of Hall of Famers and they had a terrible start. Ended up going to the playoffs and one game away from Super Bowl. Sometimes it doesn’t click immediately. It doesn’t always flow year to year as you see with some other teams, but just got to find a way to pick it up. Some individuals, some leaders have to decide that enough is enough. It’s time to make a stand and that’s got to be team-wide. And so, I feel like we’re at that point we got to decide who we want to be and create our identity.”
You said Sunday was different. The Washington loss was different than the rest. Can you expand on that a little bit on what you meant there?
“It was different because it was limited, everything from everybody. I feel like there was no complimentary football played across the board. Like there were special team moments where we want back, defensive moments we want back and on offense. There were some decisions that Kevin (Stefanski) wanted back as well. Same thing he said to us. It’s about all of us being on the same page and clicking all at the same time. And that’s what I meant by it was different. Sometimes it’s a play away, it’s here, it’s there and you don’t always see the events that led up to what either caused the win or caused the loss, but it just continued to snowball away from us.”
Myles, I know you had some pressures against Washington, but you weren’t credited with any tackles. I was wondering if they did anything different to you that game? Did they run away from you, what you saw?
“The tackle tried to take years off my life by chipping down on me. They were sliding, they were chipping, and I’ve never had it to that extent. I’ve had it a couple times where it was like that. But they made sure that I wasn’t a disruptive factor in the game. But just try to find different ways where I can move around or get a one-on-one or at least get away from the chips so that I can be more impactful. That was the game plan.”
With those set of tackles in Philly (Philadelphia Eagles), would you think that they would have the same approach or maybe you’ll get some one-on-one?
“I don’t know. We talked and it’s known that Lane (Johnson) doesn’t like chips. I know a lot of them don’t really like them either, but they might help them both or they might deny them, but we’ll see when we’ll get there. Those guys pride themselves on what they do. They’re highly touted because they perform well day in and day out and just fortunate for the opportunity. Both of those guys are pretty special, especially Lane who’s been doing it for a long time. So, I’m waiting for opportunity like this.”
Last week you told us you were feeling better, and things were looking up. Just where you at? Is it on that same trajectory?
“It was a tough week.”
Myles, Mike Hall is going to play for the first time this week. Can you just talk about — have you kind of taken him under your wing a little bit like you have some of the younger guys and how do you think he’s looked so far? Talk about his return a bit.
“It’s a little bit different as far as taking him under my wing because he’s not exactly my position. I know he’s in my room, so I kind of try to do it as far as like a joint process with me, DT (Dalvin Tomlinson), with Shel (Shelby Harris) and Z (Za’Darius Smith) at times. We just try to give him knowledge and catch him up on things since he hasn’t been out there. We talk about what we’ve been seeing, explain how we approach the game and what’s out thought process. He’s a pretty high IQ kid as far as football. So, we got to get him up to speed so that when he gets out there he’s impactful, he’s making plays and he’s meshing well with it.”