Carter Hwang

Period 3

11/15/19

Trowbridge

Myles Garrett and the NFL Massacre

Thursday night, the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers played each other. Division rivals, who have a long and harsh history. The Cleveland Browns have been struggling all year, not living up to their pre season expectations. The Pittsburgh Steelers, to everyone’s surprise, have done well for themselves, despite losing two of their three top players. The game was set to end with the Browns winning by a lot. Typical Thursday night game. Not so fast. Myles Garrett, with all 6 foot 4, 271 pounds of shredded steel, takes off dinky little Mason Rudolph’s helmet and swings it, connecting with Rudolph’s head. The benches clear, people are curb stomping, punching, you name it. It is pure chaos. Leaving the fans and audience with one question: What went wrong?

If you have not seen this disturbing, yet miraculous video, here it is: https://youtu.be/vmVkbdSFCaU With all of my years of watching and playing football, I have never seen a fight grow to this magnitude. With something so drastic happening, I am curious and want to get to the bottom of this. While I am not defending Garrett, I will say no man acts like this without being provoked. But I will get into that later. To start, I want to explain the history between these two NFL teams. The Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers have been division rivals of the AFC North for many years. These two football teams do not like each other, no wait, they DESPISE each other. They have both been through many scraps and fights, but none to this magnitude. Only a few years ago, Steelers Wide Receiver and Punt Returner Antonio Brown, jumped up and stuck his cleat right in Cleveland Browns’ punter Spencer Lanning’s face. Here is a picture of this here: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Farticles%2F2195710-antonio-brown-reportedly-fined-for-cleating-punter-spencer-lanning-in-face&psig=AOvVaw1SWMf-tEx6FSS-IVVwcAfx&ust=1573956510207000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCKCg0IfT7eUCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD The two ball clubs are known for having a long, grueling, and violent history.

Now to Myles Garrett. While Myles Garrett seems mean just based off of his humongous 6 foot 4 271 pound build, he actually, believe it or not, has a soft side to him. He often recites poetry and does yoga. I found a video of him reciting poetry here: https://youtu.be/ahSig5NeU_E As you can see, he is not as mean and intimidating as he seems. While he writes and recites poetry, and also does yoga, these activities could not keep his inner peace long. Although Myles Garrett has a soft side, that does not prevent players from calling Garrett out as a dirty player. In an NFL.com article, the reporter asked about the notion of him being a dirty player, where Myles Garrett simply responded, “That is not me” While this is funny and extremely hypocritical, it is important to point out there is a notion of him being a dirty player around the league. While none of his actions before even come remotely close to his actions Thursday night, it is safe to say Myles Garrett is known to break a few rules and deliver a few cheap shots or low blows. While it is surprising Myles Garrett went to such high levels of anger and frustration Thursday night, it is not surprising however, that he did a dirty play.

Now it is time to get to the bottom of this horrid play. There is no way a man acts with such emotion, such rage, such anger, without being provoked. For somebody to take off a helmet and swing it on another player’s bare head, must have been going through some stuff or was told some stuff. Mind you, no more than 4 or 5 games ago, Mason Rudolph was carried off the field because of a horrible play that caused injury to his head. Myles Garrett is not dumb, he knows this, and yet, he still swung a helmet on Mason Rudolphs bare dome. In my opinion, the NFL is handling this matter greatly. They suspended Maurkice Poncey, Pittsburgh Steelers lineman, 3 games for throwing several punches and even curb stomping Myles Garrett. Most importantly though, they suspended Myles Garrett indefinitely. This is the right move. No matter what, Myles Garrett should be suspended. But, the NFL needs to get to the bottom of this. They need to see and hear both sides of the story, along with other players that were on the field that night. Hear what Mason Rudolph has to say and what Myles Garrett has to say. Interview cameramen with the boom microphones that pick up audio, referees, surrounding players. Anyone who can make sense with this. Then, based off of all of the evidence, slap Myles Garrett with any suspension that they feel is appropriate. This is the right way to do it.