Browns' Joel Bitonio Squashes Rumors Surrounding Viral Video

A video went viral following the Cleveland Browns blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. The video showed the Browns guard on the ground and quarterback Deshaun Watson reaching out to pull him up.

It appeared that Bitonio slapped his hand away and refused his help. On Wednesday, the 11-year veteran put all of those rumors to bed.

“Truthfully, I didn’t even know Deshaun was there,” Bitonio said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I was just trying to roll over. I think when I went to bring my hands up, I ended up swatting his hand away. I didn’t know it was a thing honestly until after the game. A few people texted me about it. “

Browns Hall of Famer Joe Thomas’ initial reaction was that big guys are like “turtles” and have to roll over to their hands and knees and push themselves up. This is the same way Bitonio explained it as well.

“If you watch the rest of the game, there’s times where I’m helping Deshaun up,” Bitonio continued. “When we scored a touchdown, I celebrated with Deshaun. There’s no animosity there. I just was too big to get helped up, and I truly didn’t even know it was him there. I was just trying to roll up and ended up slapping his hand.”

And now that all of those rumors have been put to bed, Bitonio and his linemates need to focus on protecting Watson who was under siege the entire game on Sunday.

“He’s tough, he took a lot of hits,” Bitonio said. “He wants to be out with us and I hate seeing him get hit like that. We don’t want him to get hit like that, but he kept getting up and he kept going and he kept working.

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“I’m sure he’s beat to crap right now, which we don’t want to see, but he kept getting up. He kept fighting and that’s all you can ask of your quarterback.”

The Browns travel to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET.