Browns' Myles Garrett Ejected After Striking Mason Rudolph With Steelers QB's Helmet
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
With only eight seconds to play in the Browns’ 21-7 win over the Steelers, Cleveland defensive end Myles Garrett planted Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph into the FirstEnergy Stadium Turf. Following a brief tussle with the Steelers’ quarterback, Garrett ripped Rudolph’s helmet off and swung it at him, striking him in the head.
Multiple players threw punches in retaliation and three, Garrett included, were ejected from the game.
“That’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen on a professional sports field,” FOX announcer Joe Buck said on the broadcast.
“It’s inexcusable,” Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield told FOX’s Erin Andrews following the game. “I don’t care rivalry or not. We can’t do that.
"The reality is he’s going to get suspended, we don’t know how long, and that hurts our team."
Rudolph stayed in the game, taking Pittsburgh’s final snap of the contest.
"Where did it cross the line? Maybe where he took my helmet off and used it as a weapon," Rudolph told reporters.
“I’ll keep my thoughts to myself, you saw what happened at the end," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of the brawl after the game.
Following the game, Garrett refused to discuss what set him off.
"A win’s a win. I don’t think it’s overshadowed by what happened in eight seconds,” he told reporters in the locker room. "...It’s going to come back to hurt our team. The guys who jumped in the scrum, I appreciate my teammates having my back, but it shouldn’t have gotten that far. That’s on me.”
All players involved in the incident are going to be under review by the NFL for possible suspensions, according to the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
The longest suspension for a singular on-field incident in NFL history is the five games that Albert Hanyesworth got in 2006 for stomping on an opposing player's head.
