DE Myles Garrett (9.26.25)
What’s your golf game look like?
“Not like that.”
So you’re saying you would have made that?
“All I’m saying is when the pressure is on, you know who to call.”
Has there ever been a sport you’re not good at?
“Sport I’m not good at. Haven’t found it yet.”
Myles, Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said this week that he complimented your guys defense a lot but also said that you guys haven’t faced a running game like theirs. What are your thoughts on that?
“He’s entitled to his opinion. He hasn’t seen a defensive front like ours. He’s entitled to say what he wants. We have the pillars to see who’s right, and I think it’ll be a battle of ideologies, and I think our DC also had some things he said, and we have to be the ones to put it into action and so we have to meet and see who’s right.”
Myles, have you ever had an offensive lineman scream at his quarterback to run before Sunday?
“Oh yeah. Not the first time but the first time that it got caught on the mic so I had something to back it up.”
Myles, what does make their run game maybe unique from the ones you have seen?
“I mean I don’t take anything away from the offensive line. They are getting after guys, moving guys, and they like to be aggressive, and they stick to blocks and doubles happen, getting guys out the way as we saw in the Ravens game. And you know the diversity they have in the backfield with 0 (Jahmyr Gibbs) and 5 (David Montgomery) really makes it difficult to handle. One being a little more of a bruiser but still having speed and the other running hard but a majority big team.”
What about those two tackles? Is that as good of tandem as you guys have seen all year?
“Have I seen all year? On paper. But we got to go out there and show it. They might be able to say the same thing. Might be the two best ends that they’ve seen all year. But we’ve got to go out there and prove it. That’s what the game’s all about.”
It seems like this football team really reflects its head coach’s personality, I mean they bring so much physicality and intensity to the game. Is that what you guys are expecting from them and what you plan on outworking them on or outdoing them on?
“Yeah, it’s going to be a physical battle and we’re not unaccustomed to those kinds of matters being in the AFC North. So got to go in there with the helmet buckled and ready to go, that’s going to be a physical affair for the four quarters. You know, they said they’re not going to go away from the run, so we have to be able to force them to do that. So looking forward to it being as physical as they want to because they’re stubborn, they’re aggressive, they’re coach, he has that dog in the center, so we have to play a game they don’t want to play.”
I know you guys are always obviously trying to create as much pressure and wreak as much havoc as you can as a D-line, but when you have an offense like this one where (Jared) Goff just has so many skilled players around him that can make big time plays, how much more imperative does that pressure at the jump become for you guys?
“I mean, it’s huge. At the end of the day, they want to get out to their skilled players, and they have them well in all positions, so they’re going to want to get out quick. They don’t want to have to hold on to the ball because it’s not a good play for them if they don’t get it out to one of those guys who can make plays. So they’re going to get it out quickly as much as possible. So we have to frustrate them early, put hands on them, get pressure on them, knock down balls and stop the run game as much as possible.”
When you talked about a battle of ideologies, is it their physicality versus your physicality? Is that what you meant or was there something else scheme wise that you referred to?
“Yeah, I mean, they want to run the ball as much as possible and we love stopping the run. And our DC is very much stuck in his ways and wanting to be stubborn. And this is how we’re going to do things. We’re going to man up on the outside, and we’re going to get after guys with four and they want to get the ball up quick, want to get to their skilled guys, want to get to the perimeter. After that, they want to go downhill on you. So I think those two ideologies will come to a head this Sunday.”
Mason (Graham) and Maliek (Collins), their numbers kind of went viral for their pass rush rate against the Packers. When you’re playing and you’re seeing them succeed in that area, how does that help you? How does that help the rest of the defense and how can that carry over into this week and then even just the rest of the season?
“Well, it helps because they make plays. That helps everybody, you know, at the end of the day, we want to win. So whether it’s me, whether it’s Maliek, Mason or any of the guys, want to see any of us succeed and be able to get to the quarterback, making plays, getting the ball out, whatever it is, and you know, when you get down to the smaller details, it helps get chips, double teams off of myself, Zay (Isaiah McGuire), Alex (Wright) and all those guys inside. You know, you have to decide who you’re going to slide to, who you going to chip, you really have to pick your poison from that point. But you have to be consistent.”
Myles, Mason was drafted here to be disruptive, and he’s off to a good start. How impressed have you been with the impact he’s made, just even in the early season?
“He’s looked good, he’s looked good. Each game he’s really taking a step, whether that’s looking a little bit better with his move, with his progressions, or just having attention to detail with the play. Looking forward to what he’ll do this game because they take pride in their run game, and we have to be physical on the inside, and if they want to bounce it outside, me and Zay have to be there.”
How can interior pressure disrupt the pass game differently than pressure from the edge?
“I mean, edge rushers get a lot of glory for coming off the edge, getting strip sacks, but quarterbacks hate inside pressure more than anything. Not being able to step up and step into their throws, getting in their eye line, those things are more frustrating than us. We can have a great game, get the ball out, get sacks, but if they do that, they’re applying constant pressure that keeps them completely frustrated the entire game.”
How does their capacity to go for it on fourth down, aggressiveness that Dan Campbell has, how’s that changed your approach? Like yesterday, Jim Schwartz mentioning third and 10, you give up seven, eight yards on third down, punt team is coming out, you can live with that, but you can’t do that to Detroit.
“It doesn’t change my mindset. At the end of the day, we’re trying to get them off the field. Whether it takes three downs, four downs, three and out, we take the ball away from them. At the end of the day, we’re on the field until we get them off of there. So, their choice to decide what number that’s going to be.”
Three of your first four games here, you’re going to be facing elite pass rushers. You start with Trey Hendrickson, Micah Parsons, now Aidan Hutchinson. Do you take each of these matchups as an opportunity to solidify that you are the best defensive player in the league?
“Well, I’m not matched up with those guys. The matchups are with the tackles in there. They’ve been touted early on in last year for the success that they’ve had. I take pride in coming out on top of those matchups, and we have to dominate there on the edges if we want to as well as inside.”
Did you see that shot that Quinshon (Judkins) got off on Micah last week?
“I’ve been there.”
Can you just address though, he obviously likes to play a physical-branded game and just in general how this rookie class is played. We’ve talked about Mason, Q, Carson (Schwesinger) right on down the line how good this young group has been for you guys?
“They’ve really come on quick, at least in my opinion. You don’t want to rely too much on rookie’s making plays so early on. You can’t tell someone you’re too young to make plays or it’s not your time yet, and you got to put them in there when the time calls. We knew we had to allow them to get in there, and step up and make plays right away, because they were ready to do it and they’ve shown that it was not only what they did in the meeting room, but going right onto the field and making an immediate impact. It’s really special watching them work. From Quinshon, to Carson, to Adin (Huntington), to Mase, those guys have shown improvement so quickly, and been so thorough on their work and their details. It’s really nice to see how much they’ve grown in this short of a time, from offseason to now, and how much they’ll continue to grow if they choose to follow the work as they have now.”
Myles, along those lines, how much more confident does it make you about this team future? I know it’s just three games in, but how much more confident does it make you about the team’s future, seeing that you have so many young guys who are stepping into a big role soon?
“I mean I’ve always been confident. It’s just a matter of consistency, not losing it when the rough time comes. You lose a game you should have won, or maybe have a two-game skid like we had earlier. You know, guys keeping the faith, remaining focused and coming together instead of separating when the times get rough, and obviously many hints of that this year.”
Myles, Joel (Bitonio) was extra emotional last week, probably because he didn’t know until Sunday morning he could play. You two have been here the longest, so I just want to ask you what you appreciate about Joel as a teammate?
“Appreciate that he’s the same guy every day. He’s always helping out however he can with offense, he speaks up when he needs to, he’s never shied away from sharing his opinion. I mean, he just comes to work, he never complains, and he just gets out there. Whenever his number is called, he steps up. He makes the plays that we need to, whether that’s going a block an edge rusher that’s coming down, or highly touted three technique. He doesn’t run away from those matchups, he doesn’t shy away from it, he looks forward to those kinds of things because he knows he’s one of those guys as well.”
Myles, as a leader of the team and someone who we see motivate the guys before games and stuff like that and give that sort of the little pre-game thing, does it make your job a little tiny bit easier when you have something like this where John Morton kind of throws down the gauntlet for you?
“Does it make it easier?”
To get the guys fired up for a game like this. You’ve got to go against a team that scored 90 points in the last two weeks. I mean, does it make your job easier?
“I mean, no. Well, they scored 30 in the last, how many games they’ve averaged. At the end of the day, those are the last three games. They have to do that on Sunday, and that’s not guaranteed. They have to show up and be those same guys, you know, when the time calls at 1:00pm, and we have to show them that they can’t do that.”
# # #
***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.***