Browns star Myles Garrett 'about it every single time' despite impact of injuries

CLEVELAND — Myles Garrett moved to the podium after the Browns' 21-15 loss to the New York Giants with a gait of a 95-year-old man, not the feared pass rusher wearing the No. 95 jersey.

The reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year walked gingerly, seemingly thinking about each step before he took it. Each one of them was accompanied by the facial expressions of a person who was feeling 1,000 nails in his feet as he walked.

Garrett had played through the pain in his feet the previous two weeks as well. However, whether it was the season-opening loss to the Dallas Cowboys or last Sunday's road win at the Jacksonville Jaguars, he never quite showed the outward pain he was carried the way he did after the loss to the Giants.

That's because, Garrett admitted afterward, the issues were running much deeper than just the most talked about feet in the NFL. He's scheduled for a MRI on Monday to determine the extent of the injury, or injuries.

"It's the foot, but like I said, it's more than just the foot," Garrett said. "There's multiple things going on. I mean, I think the foot's feeling good or feeling better. It's one thing or another, so it's kind of just feeding into each other right now. Nothing's sitting right because nothing has time to heal because I'm leaning on something else and I'm compensating here to make something hurt there. It's just been, like I said, a cycle."

The problem is it's a cycle Garrett is not able to get off of right now. Or, more specifically, the All-Pro defensive end doesn't want to get off of right now.

Garrett's history tells everyone it's going to take either an act of God — or, at least, the act of multiple medical professionals — to stop him from showing up on the field next Sunday when the Browns open a three-game stretch of road games at the Las Vegas Raiders. Seeing him play through extreme pain is something those who've watched him since the Browns made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2017 have grown accustomed to seeing.

There was a 2022 shoulder and biceps injury he suffered in a car accident. That only cost Garrett one missed game, and there are those who believe — based in fact or not — if that one game had been in Cleveland and not Atlanta he would've played.

Now, like 2022, coming out of Week 3 and heading into Week 4, Garrett once again shows no signs of giving into the pain. There's a mindset at the root of the mental cortisone shot he gives himself.

"Just hate losing," Garrett said of what helps him block out the pain. "There's just something that sits wrong within me more with losing than with dealing with any injury. So we always talk about it takes everything, you're willing to die for it, that yada, yada, yada, but when push comes to shove, when you're not feeling well, when you're sick, you're tired, you're hurting, you're injured and your back's against the wall, you got to look yourself in the mirror and be like, am I really about this?

"And I'm about it every single time. So if I have the opportunity, as long as they give me the green light, I'm going to go, and that's every time."

The thing has always been, when Garrett's on the field, he doesn't allow the pain to show in the way he plays. Even through the feet issues, and everything else, on Sunday there was little evidence of its impact on him between the whistles.

Garrett didn't have a sack in a game for the first time this season, but he still hit Giants quarterback Daniel Jones three times, and came close to at least another three. It was on one of those times he got close to Jones — with 10:01 remaining in the game — that everyone got to see the player who seems superhuman rushing the passer look, oh, so human.

While Jones was scrambling for a 5-yard gain after escaping the near-sack, Garrett was on his hands and knees behind the play. After a few minutes, he was helped to his feet and walked slowly, with the aid of medical personnel, into the blue medical tent on the sideline.

"A couple on the lower leg — I don't want to say injuries, but ailments on both sides," Garrett said. "So that was just a combination of those things. Lean on one leg, another one hurts, lean on one leg, the other one hurts. I mean, so just like I said, a combination, and I was going to get up from those things as best as I can. Wrap me up, tape me up. Let's go."

The last time the Browns played at home, against the Cowboys, they heard boos raining down on them early in the fourth quarter. Those boos were back Sunday, but as Garrett walked to the medical tent there was something else coming from the crowd.

A chant of "My-les Gar-rett, My-les Gar-rett." It was almost like throwing up the Bat Signal up for Batman.

"I felt empowered to continue to give my best for not only for my team but for the fans, for our organization," Garrett said. "And that's kind of things that you dream of, and it's not the situation we wanted to be in with the score, but with that kind of support behind myself and us, that's when you step up and make plays. And we made plays down the stretch, but we needed to make a couple more. But that's the stuff that you play for."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns star Myles Garrett 'about it every single time' despite impact of injuries