DE Myles Garrett (11.3.23)
So, Myles, Deshaun (Watson) is going to start this week. What does that do for you guys?
“It motivates us. He’s been a big motivator in the locker room on the field, even though he hasn’t been playing. But seeing him on the field doing his thing, balling out, having fun, supporting the guys. It’s just another level.”
How have you seen him (Deshaun Watson) kind of handle these last few weeks? Obviously, he’s remained in his captaincy role but how have you seen him handle these weeks?
“As gracefully as possible, taking in stride, doing what he can to be here for us. But also take care of his body and maintain a level of professionalism.”
Familiarity. I think technically on both sides on this one, but knowing that offense is run by Drew Petzing, like, have you guys seen some similarities between the last few years and what they’re doing there and the fact that they don’t have their quarterback? Well, they haven’t announced it.
“We don’t know if they have their quarterback, but there are some similarities. Especially when Kyler (Murray) is in. Don’t know how they’ll turn out, starting tune, but there are definitely a lot of things between them and our old offense. So, it’s very nice, I won’t say comfortable, but be able to adjust a little bit easier towards the door.”
They’ve done a good job running the ball so far this year. I know they have guys in and out with injuries, but guys, this week have been talking about how to shorten up the run defense. How much of a test is that going to be?
“It’s a matter of physicality. I think we, a lot of the time, we got outworked the last two weeks. That wasn’t the case the first five. We got to take it more personally than we have and go back to the standard which we set originally.”
Jim (Schwartz) talked yesterday about kind of getting rid of the feast of family nature of the defense. Start slow and play great. How do you get rid of it? How do you be more consistent throughout the course of the weeks?
“It’s got to come from the players. As much as Jim is out there trying to motivate guys, we got to acknowledge that we haven’t started out great and we’ve had great spurts, but we got to put it all together. We’ve had a couple of good games. But the standard is the standard, throughout the game and throughout the season. So, we can’t just have these ebbs and flows. We have to acknowledge who we are, what we’ve done, and learn from it. Do better.”
Whether it’s (Clayton) Tune or (Kyler) Murray. Does it really matter to you? I mean, neither one have taken a snap this season.
“It doesn’t matter for me. Kyler’s definitely the money man over there. He’s definitely a little bit more talented. At least he’s proven to be. I don’t want to undersell Tune, for we haven’t seen him, but Kyler’s special. We’ve seen when he’s thrown in the air and with his feet. But as far as changing how we’re going to play or how we’re going to attack, we’ll have the same aggressiveness and ferocity, no matter who starts.”
You guys are in the stretch of so many home games. So how important is it to continue to protect your house?
“It’s huge. You want to win them all but feels even more special in front of your own crowd. We want to be road warriors, got to have that Rangers mentality. But right now, we’re at home. You got to have that protect the house mentality and not allow anybody to come and disrespect us or the fans.”
You guys have been sort of the new version of the Kardiac Kids. Just such close game every single week. Would it be nice for you guys to try to build a league, maintain it, kind of put something away?
“Win is a win. Whether it’s by one or it’s by 20, it doesn’t really matter to us. We want to be on our P’s and Q’s and execute efficiently on offense, defense, special teams. But sometimes that looks like a close win. So as long as we get it right, we play the way we’re supposed to, the score will take care of itself.”
Do you guys scoreboard watch at all, I mean last night the Steelers won. So that kind of puts a little bit on you guys to keep pace here. Is that something you guys pay attention to here now that we’re in the month of November?
“No. Saw it this morning, but I wasn’t really looking at who played last night. Working on what we got to work on. Focused on ourselves and how we can get better, how we can win. It’s all about the people in this building. If we continue to win, like I said, things will take care of themselves no matter what the other teams in our division are doing.”
Myles, what does it say about his team that you guys were able to keep afloat, stay in things while you’re waiting for your starting quarterback to get better?
“I don’t think we ever doubted that we had that kind of talent or that ability in the village. Had a phenomenal start on defense, which we can continue to maintain but also playmakers on offense. And even though we’ve lost a couple, we have guys who stepped up and filled big roles and will continue to play well.”
How much would it help you, or maybe it doesn’t matter, you’ve got eight and a half sacks, and the next highest sacker is like ten and a half and it seems like it was going to be a little bit more even perhaps this year. But would it help you if some other guys were getting some sacks to take pressure off of you?
“Would it help me? I think it will help the team. It helps the team to get sacks whether it’s by me or anyone else. So, if I get them, it’s just as great as anyone else gets them. We’re trying to get each other free, get each other one-on-ones. At the end of the day, someone’s got to win, someone’s got to make a play. Doesn’t have to be anyone in particular.”
You talked about what happened that last drive, but I know you guys don’t want to dwell on it, but how much of a learning or teaching point has that been for this defense?
“I mean, we exercised a little bit of it out on the field, working on two-minute. Also talking through it in meetings, how it can better as far as formation, being in the right spot, being a little bit quicker and getting the calls out and getting lined up. So, it was a point of emphasis. But then there you got to move on.”
You guys have given up 52 points in the opening quarter, but it goes down from there. Jim (Schwartz) kind of quipped a little bit, hey, maybe we’re making some good in game adjustments, too, while also acknowledging that you guys do need to start faster. But what has been the difference between that first quarter and those final three quarters?
“Start to get a feel for teams and what they’re doing and how they might execute. Start to get comfortable with the play calling and coming out and the physicality. But we got to get off on the jump. Can’t allow them to get an early lead in the swing first. We have to jump on him from the start.”
People may look at Za’Darius Smith’s, number and say he’s not having the impact, but you playing alongside him. What does he do to kind of help you out on that defensive line? What does he do so well?
“Still constantly provides pressure. Still great at communicating. Great at helping not only myself but other D tackles, Ogbo (Okoronkwo), freeing them up to make plays. There are multiple plays where I’m getting the quarterback pushed to me because he’s going high, he’s going low and he can’t step up. Ends up I make the play. But it’s directly correlated to him being there and making him move out of the spot. So, it’s not a matter of who’s making the play because he’s going to get his eventually. They’re going to try to do things around me, around DT (Dalvin Tomlinson), around Ogbo and those plays will fall as well.”
But how do you make sure that you guys bring the same intensity and sense of urgency to a 1-7 team that you would feel like a division game?
“It’s not about them. It’s about us.”
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