Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about the accusations of Browns defensive end Myles Garrett against Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph.
You might have even seen Garrett's interview last week on ESPN's "Outside the Lines," which tried to paint Garrett as the victim in this mess, which resulted in the defensive end's suspension for bludgeoning Rudolph over the head with his own helmet.
The Steelers' reaction to Garrett's decision to again rake the coals on this, saying Rudolph used racial slurs against him, has been swift and steadfast. They believe Rudolph when he says he didn't say what Garrett claims. And they believe the NFL investigation into this was complete and also shows Rudolph is innocent.
Monday afternoon, the Akron Beacon-Journal went into full excuse mode for Garrett.
Releasing a story under the title "Ex-Browns GM John Dorsey says Myles Garrett told him right away Mason Rudolph used a racial slur," the story takes us through the excuses Garrett has used to try to dismiss his behavior in that game.
First, there's the contention that Garrett told both John Dorsey, who has since been fired, and teammate Larry Ogunjobi "right away" about the allegation. Dorsey, according to the story, confirmed via text he was informed right away, though he doesn't explain how quickly right away might be.
If that's the case, why didn't Dorsey mention it to anyone else in the organization? As Mike Tomlin said in his statement Saturday and reiterated again Monday in a live interview on ESPN, he knows plenty of people within the Browns organization, including owner Jim Haslam. Haslam, of course, used to be a minority owner with the Steelers.
Was Dorsey afraid Haslam would tell Steelers president Art Rooney II? If that's the case, why would that be an issue? What was there to gain by not telling your owner? Wasn't it a big enough deal that the league might want to know before the appeal?
It seems a pretty convenient oversight at this point. It is, after all, a very serious charge.
And if true that Garrett told Dorsey, it's no wonder Dorsey is no longer in charge of the Browns. That's a serious dereliction of duty.
• Garrett also contends that FOX Sports NFL Insider Jay Glazer contacted him the next day to ask about telling his side of the story.
This is where he loses all level of credibility.
“I think the next day (after the fight), I’d been reached out to by Jay Glazer, and he wanted to do an interview, and he wanted to get my side ’cause I had told the coaches immediately about what happened, I had told Dorsey and I had told Larry what happened and what was said,” Garrett said in a part of the interview on the "Outside the Lines" podcast.
“So they knew from that night. But I wanted the media to hear about it, whether it was through Jay Glazer or eventually through the aftermath of the meeting.”
So, Garrett basically admits it was his people who leaked the information from his appeals hearing.
So much for his statement the day after his appeal hearing that he didn't intend for this information to get out. He absolutely did, because he felt it would paint him as the victim.
• Garrett admits in the Beacon-Journal story that he initially agreed to do the interview with Glazer, but cancelled it when the Browns PR people advised against it. He wanted to talk about it.
Again, sound much like a guy who wanted to keep this hushed up?
• By the way, Tomlin doesn't have many media members with which he is close, but Glazer absolutely is one of them. If Glazer had an inkling Garrett was going to claim Rudolph used a racial slur, Tomlin would have known moments later.
• The thing that causes even more scrutiny is Garrett's apology to Rudolph Nov. 15, the day after the fight.
Statement from Myles Garrett: pic.twitter.com/txVA970CmW
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) November 15, 2019
In part, in a statement released by the Browns, Garrett said, "I want to apologize to Mason Rudolph, my teammates, our entire organization, our fans and to the NFL."
If Rudolph had indeed called Garrett a "dumb N-word," as he claimed on "Outside the Lines," why the apology that specifically mentions Rudolph? And if Dorsey knew what had gone down, as he now contends, why would he inform the Browns PR staff to have Garrett do so?
Sorry, it just stretches the imagination. This was an event that was shown on every news station in the world -- not just on sports channels. All 52 other players would have been asking Garrett what happened, not just Ogunjobi. Every coach on the Browns staff would have wanted to know why Garrett put his career at risk.
And yet we're to believe that, with the world looking at him as public enemy No. 1, Garrett told only Ogunjobi and Dorsey. He didn't explain what happened to then-head coach Freddie Kitchens or Haslam?
C'mon.
• Nobody out there would have looked any differently at Garrett had he just admitted he lost his head.
Rudolph, after all, did go after him after the two were initially pulled apart.
Continuing down this path, with a complete lack of evidence to support his claim -- the league, after all, looked into it -- doesn't paint him in a good light.
• Spare me the argument that Rudolph could have said it because he happened to like a Tweet or two from a conservative commentator.
Not to inject politics into this -- others have done so -- but just because you're a conservative doesn't mean you run around using racial slurs. That's a lazy and completely vapid argument.
If Rudolph used the racial slur which Garrett claims he did, that most certainly wouldn't have been the only time in his life he had used it. He didn't make it into his early 20s saving up his use of that word for this one event. And if he used it, even on occasion, he wouldn't have lasted long in organized sports, let alone football, where 75 to 80 percent of his teammates are minorities.
I've spent my entire life in locker rooms as both a player and in the media. I can honestly say there is less racism in locker rooms than in the real world. Teammates don't care what color, race or creed a teammate might be. They only care if they can or cannot get the job done.
• Kevin Colbert last week said all signs point to Ben Roethlisberger headed for a recovery.
Tomlin went one step further saying he "has no hesitation" saying Roethlisberger will be ready for the start of the season.
Roethlisberger will have a check up in Los Angeles with his doctor later this week -- the next of several he has had -- and is expected to be cleared to move onto the next step in his rehab. That would include starting to throw things.
It won't be a football, at least at first, but the doctors -- and hence the Steelers -- have a better idea of how his recovery is going than any of the amateur doctors out there -- even if you did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
• The fact Roethlisberger needs to be cleared to start building up to start throwing footballs now -- seven weeks after the end of the regular season -- makes Thomas Davis' statements on the NFL Network, that Roethlisberger could have been back at the end of the season and chose not to, even more laughable than Chris Canty's statement's last week.
Canty, of course, said while on an appearance on ESPN there were people in the organization hoping Roethlisberger does not return.
Davis' statement included this gem, "I know the quarterback, your elbow, that’s a little different, but we kind of heard that Ben could come back and play. The Steelers defense did a great job last year of keeping them in the playoff hunt, and he could’ve come back and he could’ve been a part of that playoff run, possibly, but he chose not to. I just think that he kind of looked at the roster and the way things started out last year and he kind of gave up on the team, in my opinion."
There are 10 months left, but that one should hold up as the dumbest statement of the year.
The quarterback, who has yet been cleared to throw a tennis ball, was somehow supposed to come back and play. What was he going to do, throw left-handed?
• Colbert's statement that he feels better about the upcoming season than he did a year ago makes a lot of sense.
The Steelers allowed an average of 18.9 points per game in 2019. And as Colbert noted, the Steelers are 121-20 in games started by Roethlisberger in which they allow 21 or fewer points.
The Steelers did that 10 times in 2019.
And that was before they played a schedule that was considered the second-easiest in the NFL, as they will do in 2020. At least based on last year's records -- for what that's worth.
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