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Browns’ Baker Mayfield calls Myles Garrett helmet swing ‘inexcusable,’ expects suspension

Myles Garrett is going to hear from the NFL front office this week, and we may not hear from Garrett for quite some time afterward. In what ended up being a hard-fought 21-7 win for the Cleveland Browns against the rival Pittsburgh Steelers on “Thursday Night Football, the final score is not the story of the game.

On a night where the Browns saw safety Damarious Randall ejected for an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit on wide receiver Diontae Johnson that caused a concussion and bleeding from his ear, along with JuJu Smith-Schuster also being knocked out with a concussion after two Browns defenders sandwiched his helmet between their own, it was the actions of Garrett, the Browns star defensive end, that truly has the entire football community in shock.

In the aftermath of a end-of-game sack of Steelers quarterback Mason RudolphGarrett snatched off Rudolph’s helmet and swung it at the quarterback’s unprotected head. A melee ensued.

Myles Garrett completely lost it during the Browns’ win over the Steelers on Thursday Night Football, and Will Brinson, John Breech, Ryan Wilson and Sean Wagner-McGough are here to break it all down on the Pick Six Podcast. Listen below and be sure to subscribe for daily NFL goodness.

Some will say Rudolph first tried to forcefully removed Garrett’s helmet, while others will say Rudolph’s hand was simply stuck from the tackle. No matter what your take on how the incident started, Garrett’s swing was dangerous and life-threatening, and he will no doubt face a lengthy suspension from the league.

Even his own teammates found it nauseating. Enter Browns QB Baker Mayfield, who pulled no punches when asked by Fox’s Erin Andrews immediately after the game what he thought about Garrett’s actions.

“I didn’t see why it started, but it’s inexcusable. I don’t care, rivalry or not, we can’t do that,” Mayfield said. “That’s kind of the history of what’s been going on here lately, hurting yourself. That’s endangering the other team.

“That’s inexcusable. He knows that. Well, I hope he does now. It’s tough. We’ll see.”

Mayfield was also blunt in that he sees a suspension coming for Garrett, which is a foregone conclusion at this point. The question is whether the suspension will be a few games, the rest of the season or perhaps even longer.

“The reality is he’s going to get suspended,” Mayfield said. “We don’t know how long, and that hurts our team. We can’t do that. We can’t continue to hurt this team. It’s inexcusable.”

Cleveland coach Freddie Kitchens took a firm stance as well.

“We don’t condone that,” he said in his post-game press conference. “Myles understands what he did wrong, all right? He’s got to maintain his composure. Just like he had to do at the start of the year. He had to maintain his composure. 

“We had 5 seconds [left] in the game.”

Kitchens also made it clear that, despite the dirty hits and helmet swing, he isn’t coaching it into the team’s culture.

“I never OK’d fights,” he said. “Did I want them to get after their ass? Yes, I did. But that’s not fighting, that’s not after the whistle. That’s between the whistles, yes. I never condone fighting on a football field because that’s penalties. I don’t coach penalties. I don’t coach false starts. I don’t coach, after the whistle, grabbing somebody’s face mask. I don’t coach that. 

“… I never in my life condoned a fight. That’s a penalty.”

What should’ve been a positive night for a Browns team that landed only its third win of the season — against a longtime foe at that — devolved into chaos.

Wide receiver Jarvis Landry summed it up in two words: “Disappointing. Embarrassing.”

The Browns can only wait to see what commissioner Roger Goodell decides to do, but they know it won’t be pretty.

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