DE Myles Garrett (12.15.24)
The eye doesn’t look good.
“Yeah, my eye hurts.”
How does that happen?
“I think it was literally the first play I took my visor off because it was raining, and it was getting kind of blurry, and then it got real blurry and dark after he hit me in the eye. I mean, it hurt a lot, but I was thinking I might not be able to see at all because I have Lasik and that’s why I wear the visor. I don’t want the flap to go up because if it does, then lights out and I have to go to the doctor.”
You think you’ll be alright?
“I should be. Going to the doctor tomorrow, see if there’s anything else that we didn’t see initially. But minor at the moment, just in pain.”
How were you able to come back so fast? I think you only missed like four plays. How were you able to come back out and get back on the field so quickly?
“Well, I mean on offense, it was moving the ball. Got in there, answered the questions, did everything they asked me to, and I was okay with seeing double when I moved my eye, but as long as I looked straight, I was alright. So, didn’t show any concussion symptoms. Nothing else was hurting like around my eye. None of the bone structure was hurting. So, nothing to let me out.”
Should that have been a penalty? I mean, he’s got his hand kind of up by your face like that.
“Yes.”
Did you ask the official?
“I mean, I talked to him afterward and he said he just didn’t see it. That’s how the game goes.”
Did he sort of punch at it?
“No, his hand was open. I don’t think (Joe) Thuney’s a dirty player by any means. I think he meant to catch my shoulder with his hand and he just ended up going a little bit higher. I would say I rush with a lot of leverage. I get lower on my rushes and it caught me in the face.”
Did you say you talked to him afterward? Did you talk to Thuney about it?
“I talked to both. I talked to Thuney, too.”
And did he say, “Hey man, I didn’t..”
“I mean, he apologized when I was going to the locker room. He also apologized after the game. So, I mean, he’s a good player, good human being.”
How close did you think you came to taking down Pat (Patrick Mahomes) multiple times it looked like?
“I mean, yeah, there were three, four, five times where I either hit him or chased him out. I mean, he just knows when to — he has great timing, knows when to get the ball off, he has great pocket presence. There was a couple where I thought he was going to step up. He dipped in and he came back out and ended up chasing him to the sideline or just hitting him right as the ball came out. So, just part of it. The guy’s special for a reason. He knows the game very well.”
You said Friday that batting a couple balls down, you could frustrate him a little bit. It seemed like you guys were able to get your hands on a couple of them at the line of scrimmage. Could you sense any frustration or that he’s just not one of those guys that shows into that?
“Well, I heard the offensive line get frustrated because he was holding onto the ball a little bit too long. Even though he was getting it off, I guess the plan was to get it off even quicker and it led to him going down a couple times. But,frustration with him, he doesn’t really voice it. You can kind of see it with the body language, but as you see it from outside looking in, he’s cool as a cucumber and he plays like that pretty much all day.”
Did you see how he got hurt?
“I did not. It could have been the hit from Dalvin (Tomlinson) or any one of us. But he’s played through it before. I wasn’t sure what play did it though.”
When you hear that their Starting left tackle, D.J. Humphries is ruled out for the game, you might think that could end up resulting in a big sort of sack game for you. But sliding Joe Thuney over is really beneficial for them isn’t it?
“I had a feeling they’d do that with getting Thuney out there. I know they have faith in him as a pass protector, or anyone on the line, so I just tried to prepare myself as much as possible and did a good job. There were some chips here and there. Didn’t particularly get the slide, but the guard came down to help pretty quickly when I was winning with power, winning inside. He’s good at what he does, whether it’s at the guard or at the tackle. It was a good battle. It was fun going against him.”
We know how good they are on third down conversions this season. How would you evaluate how you guys did overall in that area? The numbers were about 7 for 14.
“I think the first half we did a better job than the second half. I think they completed too many [in the] second half overall, but I think we had a little bit [of a] lapse in the second quarter which allowed the points, but I think were able to get off the field a little bit better in the second half, even though we relinquished a couple of third downs. We’ll give up third downs. We can get off the field. Held them to 21 points. We’d love to keep another score off the board,, especially with the short fields, but they’re a talented team. They have a whole bunch of talent all across the board. We just have to play complimentary football all across the team and there are opportunities for us to score. Especially with me. I had my hand on one and it hit me kind of square in the palm and I wasn’t able to corral it, but just next time.”
Is your eye sensitive? It looks like it’s a little puffy and red.
“It hurts. I mean, it’s kind of bright up here. It wasn’t that sensitive to light when he was shining it at me, but it does hurt.”
How hard is it to hear that Nick Chubb broke his foot?
“I mean, it just goes from bad to worse, man. It really does. The man fights back from injury. He does it. There’s not a more hard working, just resilient individual in the locker room. And he just has continued to face adversity like this. It’s just tough to see because he’s one of the cornerstones. He’s every bit a part of the foundation as myself and Denzel (Ward). And it’s just, it’s tough to see him have to go through this. And we want to be there for him in every way possible, but it’s a real freaking shame.”
I think a lot of people that were in that kind of pain that you were in on the field and then probably in the locker room probably wouldn’t try so hard to get back out there and finish the game. Why was it so important for you to come back out there and fight through it with your teammates?
“I’m a fighter. Fighters fight. My brothers out there, they’re doing the same thing. And if I can go out there and make any kind of difference, I’m going to be out there with them every single time. I’ve had injuries, I’ve had pain, I’ve had illnesses. That doesn’t change anything. They’re going to get every bit of the best out of me, every situation, every opportunity. The plan was to go a little bit more inside and left side. But looking from the left side of the ball, looking to the right, I couldn’t see. So I have to stay on the right side now. It’s a part of it, but I’m going to do everything I can to be a difference for this team. As long as I’m out there and as long as I can be out there. I love this organization and I love this team. I love my brothers.”
How much do you think the helmet plays a role in how games get officiated?
“You know, I don’t want to get too far into that. I don’t want to, you know, a bruise on my eye and in my bank account. But, I mean, teams that play well get the benefit of the doubt, then continue to play well and earn that. That’s just part of the process in any league with any good team. It definitely feels that way with us. We feel like we’ve been on the other side of the balance a lot of the times, but there were some situations when we’re doing well in the previous seasons where some people would say, no, we got the better luck or the better calls. But that’s part of it. We just have to play through it, and we have to play clean, sound football and execute and not let that come into play.”