Myles Garrett’s interview are making him look bad amid defensive struggles

Myles Garrett is again passing the buck for the Cleveland Browns’ recent string of struggles.

It’s hard to say Myles Garrett isn’t a good player, he clearly is. While he’s a mid-run stopper at best, his pass-rushing talents are very elite. The problem is, historically, he has been known to disappear for long gaps of time and he can’t accept responsibility when that happens. Now, people will point to him being double-teamed a lot, but as we all saw against the Los Angeles Chargers, teams will leave rookies alone on an island with Garrett to pretty good results for the opposing team.

So clearly Garrett isn’t taking advantage against good matchups, or simply can’t. His production has been called into question as of late. His individual stats are lackluster and the team he’s supposed to make a huge impact for is ranked 29th in the NFL according to PFF.

They’re only 15th in yards given up as a whole, but they’re 6th against the run and 4th in rushing touchdowns given up. When it comes to getting to the opposing quarterback specifically, the entire team is in the bottom 10 in the league. They’re 24th in sacks (8), they’re 26th in QB knockdowns (10), and they’re 27th in pressures, my least favorite stat (34).

Now, being 22nd in blitzing doesn’t help but then again, who do you have in the linebacking corp who can rush a passer? Garrett and to a lesser extent Jadeveon Clowney were supposed to bolster the pass defense. Clowney has been hurt, sure, but Clowney is always hurt. Garrett hasn’t looked good all year and that was before the car accident.

His lackluster play is one thing but he keeps putting his foot in his mouth when he talks.

Myles Garrett throws the team under the bus for his struggles

When speaking to the media, Garrett spoke about why he’s struggling, and shockingly enough, he alludes to the team scheme being the issue. Despite Garrett excelling in the scheme over the last few seasons.

"No, as far as playmaking, I’m not having as many opportunities to make as many plays as I want to. Their scheme, our scheme, whatever it is, you know, I’m not being the dominant force that I know that I can be. I know it’s a combination of things, and not all of them are in my control, so I can only play my position and play it to the best of my ability."

Garrett passing the buck is certainly one thing. Considering he matched up with a rookie in Jamaree Salyer. According to PFF, Garrett scored well on Sunday against Salyer, and Salyer scored very badly but Salyer didn’t let Garrett get to Justin Herbert once. Clearly PFF grades actions and not outcomes when it’s stuff like this. Made worse is that Salyer is a 6th-round pick and he managed Garrett all game.

Is Garrett too hurt to play? Or is this another one of his infamous stretches of unproductivity? Not counting 2019’s year-end stretch, Garrett has had three stretches in his career where he’s gone at least four games with just one sack. Once, he had a sack in just six games. Garrett is now sackless in two straight games, nothing to worry about, but it continues then what?

Garrett isn’t like other top-tier pass rushers, he doesn’t provide anything else to the defense. He has to get sacks, it’s all that he’s paid to do. If he can’t, then he provides no impact on the team. He’s doing harm to his league-wide reputation due to his lackluster play, but he’s also doing damage to his local fandom.

Garrett is making it hard to cheer for him this year. From taking shots at the fans after getting booed in the home opener to sounding like a child for saying he took it personally when the Chargers tried to close out the game in Cleveland on Sunday, to recklessly speeding all over the city over the last few years and nearly getting himself and a passenger killed due to it.

Garrett has got to get control of his life, his feelings, and his play because if the defense falls apart, there will only be so many scapegoats fans go through before they turn their sights towards the anchor of the defense.