DE Myles Garrett (12.8.23)
Do you expect to see Trevor Lawrence on Sunday?
“Game time decision. We’ll see if that’s the decision. But you never know with these kinds of cases.”
How’s your shoulder feeling this week?
“Still here. Feeling alright.”
Anything change for you not knowing who the starting quarterback is?
“Just go get them. Apply the same amount of pressure, come with the same kind of effort and tenacity and play the game how it’s supposed to be played.”
There hasn’t been a D line sack since you took Kenny Pickett down in the fourth quarter of that Steelers game. Is there a renewed interest in that this week? I think Z (Za’Darius Smith) said you guys were getting chewed out about not having a sack the last two games.
“We deserved to get chewed out for not getting one. That’s something that we pride ourselves on, applying pressure to the pocket and making it difficult for those guys and that hasn’t happened the last two weeks. There are no excuses for that. Got to find a way regardless of what gets thrown at us and just got to be more valuable to the team.”
I know that teams do a lot to take you away. Was the Rams approach to you extreme?
“Extreme? I don’t know if I would say that. I know it was a heavy dose of what everyone else does. Again, find a way. Nowhere to point any blame. If I got to find a matchup somewhere else or if I got to fight two or three guys, I got to be in the middle of the formation. Whatever I do, if I got to come off the ball and rush them kind out of the back. Find a way to get to win, to make those plays out. That can’t be on the scheme or coaching, it’s on me to make those plays.”
How do you react when you have a game, rare game where you don’t have any sacks and you didn’t make tackles. How’d you approach the next game?
“Watch the film over multiple times. How could I have done better? What did they give me that I didn’t take advantage of? There weren’t many opportunities, but the few that I got, I have to be ready when they were there and then get back in the gym. How can I get myself in tip top shape, better cardio wise, better physically, make sure that I’m limber.”
Can you share what Sean McVay said to you when he rolled up on you at the end of the game and what you felt about what he did say to you?
“He said [he was], ‘Planning for me.’ And I said, I appreciate that, but the results of your plan didn’t help my week.”
And what kind of moment is that? I know you were not happy after the game with the result of the game. What is it like to have a coach of that caliber stop and take the time to tell you just what impact you had on a week like that?
“I smiled on the outside and I cried on the inside.”
When we talked to Jim Schwartz, he said it’s not just about sacks for you and the rest of that defensive line. But when you kind of get shut out the way you were shut out and the rest of the guys weren’t able to do much either. I think only one tackle for a loss. Not a lot of backfield disruption. Does that frustrate you even more? Because you’re receiving that attention and that should help your teammates.
“Not a frustration at them because it’s never me versus them. It’s never, if I’m getting this, you all should be doing this. We got to find a way together. I’m frustrated for us, not towards us. We have a high standard. I have a high standard for the guys in our room, the level which we have played and can play. So just comparing ourselves to that, we didn’t do what we needed to the last two. We have to get back to our ways. We have to get back to training and working and communicating with each other like we have before and get back to dominating games for this team.”
What do you think the team’s mindset is coming off those two losses, knowing that you need to file up these points to get some playoffs?
“I mean they all count, but now they all count for two. Especially being an AFC opponent and make it simple. Make it wild, make it ugly. We’re not a team that plays pretty ball. It’s got to be dirty, messy, sloppy. We got to make it as silly, cool and sloppy as we can for the picture for them so that they can’t just go out there and just air it out or have a clean way of doing things. When they operate like that it’s difficult for us. But when we make it AFC North football – it’s our brand. It’s what we do and we’re the best at it.”
I know you’re not 100% healthy. These last couple of weeks, the challenges that you’ve got from Denver, from Los Angeles, were those unique from what you’d seen earlier in the season or are you just kind of fighting through some of the middle of the season and shoulder injury?
“A little bit of everything. They showed a little bit more willingness to throw more distractions, more people my way at a higher efficiency. It is what it is. It’s midseason for everyone. We need to recover, get treatment, do all those things to take care of my body. That’s the strength of the season, it’s about longevity and consistency. It’s nothing unlike what everyone else is going through.”
But in terms of other guys on the team not necessarily being able to get the sack production, would it help you so much if one or two other guys were able to bust through and take some of that heat and pressure off you? I know you’re all in it together but it was sort of expected to share that more guys were going to have maybe even double digit sacks. What impact is that having on the whole thing and maybe you in particular?
“That stuff is to the benefit of the team. That’s not for me. That’s what helps us win games. I’m not getting taxed to take away double teams from guys. I’m not getting taxed to help my numbers. This is for us to have a chance to win. All of this to say that we’re in this together. It’s not a matter of us trying to take pressure off. We’re trying to apply pressure to the quarterback and give our team the best opportunity to come out on the right side of the game.”
Yeah, and I guess that’s what I meant. I mean it just seems like it was supposed to be even or spread out in terms of a bunch of guys getting. Would it help a lot if in this stretch more people get to help?
“To help the team win.”
You guys talk about camaraderie and the morale and this team being high even through the losses and it not going the way you want it. How is that going to help you impact you guys as you face the Jags here at home? How does that come into play?
“The camaraderie is present, but we have to use that time now that we’re back here as a way that the focus is in. You’re around your home, everything that’s natural to your routine and things like that allow you to kind of get into your groove again. I feel like some guys, they didn’t really enjoy being away. We enjoy being with your brothers, and you enjoy spending time doing things and catching up. Those things can give you a boost getting to know each other, but that’s not never going to replace being your natural habitat and being able to play the game. As we mature and build more time with each other, that kind of stuff we have to do away with. We can’t allow road trips to get away from us for one reason or another. But being here, there are no excuses. It’s time to lock in. It’s time to focus up, and it’s time to turn these games.”
# # #
***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***