CLEVELAND — There should be champagne and balloons and celebration.
Instead, even on the night when the Browns finally beat the dreaded rival Pittsburgh Steelers 21-7 in front of a national television audience, the game is scarred and marred by Myles Garrett.
The defensive face of this franchise got involved in an unbelievably aggressive, ugly, intolerant scene at the end of the ballgame when he went after quarterback Mason Rudolph. It was a hard rush, no doubt about that, but the aftermath almost looked criminal.
Garrett took off Rudolph's helmet and cracked him on the head with it, and that touched off a wild scene of kicking and punching and benches clearing. It was almost a riot-like scene, with eight seconds left to go in the game.
Myles Garrett now has an opportunity to not play for the rest of the season, as the NFL has to come down severely on the Browns defensive end. He was looking to become the league's defensive player of the year. Instead, the second line of his resume will read, "Was the main participant in an absolutely ugly scene in a game on Thursday night on national television when the Browns beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-7."
There's another part to the argument, too: Sometimes we have said the Browns have been undisciplined. Tonight, they were unruly at the end of the game, and the leader was one of their captains.
It was a bad Thursday for the Browns, even though they won. Imagine: Before the game, they had to cut wide receiver Antonio Callaway because he keeps failing drug tests, and now Myles Garrett gets involved in a scene that is probably the ugliest in decades in the NFL.
And the NFL, which is really trying to protect players from head injuries, just watched another player get hit in the head by another who cracked him on the skull with a helmet.
Absolutely disgusting, again, on a night where we should be celebrating.
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