Myles Garrett had quite the day on Sunday. The future Hall of Famer recorded five sacks against the New England Patriots, setting a new Cleveland Browns single-game franchise record. After the game, though, he didn’t gloat about the achievement. Instead, he was frustrated. Why?
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The Browns are simply not a good football team once again this year. They’re 2-6 heading into their bye week and have looked abysmal all season. The one player who has continued to stand out is Garrett, who’s having another stellar campaign. His five sacks on Sunday gave him 10 total on the year, tied for the most in the NFL.
Despite the legendary performance this week, Garrett was left visibly frustrated because of his team’s 32-13 loss. Fans saw him spike his helmet on the sideline as the final seconds wound down. Then he went to the media after the game and said this:
“I would throw the whole performance away for a win,” a frustrated Garrett told CBS Sports.
Even though the anger about the loss was visible, the edge rusher remained professional and didn’t throw anyone under the bus. It’s what he’s been doing his entire career in Cleveland. In his nine NFL seasons, Garrett has only been on two Browns teams with a winning record. Not to mention, he endured a 0-16 campaign in his rookie year.
When former NFL great Cris Carter got around to talking about the Brown’s performance on Sunday in his most recent podcast, he commended Garrett’s behavior for obvious reasons, calling it extremely professional.
“It takes unusual sports character to be one of the most elite at your job and go do your job at an elite level, and not complain about the subordinates that you gotta get on the bus with,” Carter began on Fully Loaded.
It certainly takes a lot of mental fortitude to stay as restrained as Garrett has over the years. This past offseason, that frustration seemingly got the best of him, and he requested a trade. But Cleveland answered his requests by offering him a contract he simply couldn’t refuse. So, he signed a four-year, $160 million extension that temporarily made him the highest-paid non-QB of all time.
Now, Garrett may be somewhat regretting not switching teams. It’s the same story we’ve seen for years with the Browns: he delivers incredible performances, yet everyone around him continues to fall short. Carter, in particular, targeted the starting quarterback for this week’s worst performance.
“We watched a legendary performance by Myles Garrett yesterday, but we had to watch a dirtbag performance by a quarterback, because they’re on the same team,” Carter later said of Dillon Gabriel.
The Browns’ rookie quarterback definitely had a tough time on Sunday. He completed 21 of 35 passes for just 156 yards, throwing two touchdowns but also two interceptions. They were his first touchdown passes since his debut against the Minnesota Vikings.
Regardless, Carter hasn’t been impressed with Gabriel and has been saying for a while now that the team should give Shedeur Sanders a shot.
“It’s hard for me to believe that Shedeur Sanders is not better than what we’ve seen from Dillon Gabriel… There must be something going on behind the scenes,” said the former wide receiver.
Who knows when we’ll get to see Shedeur play? It certainly feels like something is going on behind the scenes. Whether it’s a power struggle between the GM and coach or a prior commitment they made to Gabriel, something has to be happening.
Sure, Gabriel is a rookie. But he has moments that are simply awful. On Sunday, that moment came when he took a safety for intentionally grounding a pass in the end zone.
So, why not throw Shedeur in there to see if it rouses up some excitement? Maybe it’ll get Garrett to reinvest in the team. All we know is that something needs to change in Cleveland because they look like the bottom-feeders of the NFL for a second straight season.
