One of the storylines leading into Sunday’s game between the Browns and Steelers was that defensive end Myles Garrett would be facing Pittsburgh for the first time since he hit quarterback Mason Rudolph in the head with a helmet during a 2019 meeting between the teams.
Garrett said it wasn’t his focus going into the game and it wasn’t a focal point during the game either. The Steelers got out to a 24-0 lead and cruised to a 38-7 win that pushed anything related to last year even further into the rearview mirror.
Garrett was seen chatting with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin before the game and said the topic was the fact that Tomlin went to school with Garrett’s mom and uncle. Things didn’t get any more heated when he was interacting with Steelers players on the field.
“It’s a game to me. I didn’t go into last season, just about playing ball. With these guys, it was all love and it’s all football, just stays on the field and stays between the whistle,” Garrett said, via Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal. “There was respect during and after the game. There were no problems and there was no animosity.”
Garrett picked up a late sack to get to seven on the season, but his impact on the game was otherwise muted on a day that belonged to the Steelers.