Latest Thursday Night Football will be remembered for a long time, that’s for sure. The Cleveland Browns defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in a divisional matchup with 21-7. But that is not the most important thing from this one. The wild ending in which we saw complete chaos in the field of the First Energy Stadium is what everyone talks about.
Browns’ DE Myles Garrett hit Steelers’ QB Mason Rudolph in his head with a helmet! Following that, Pittsburgh’s center, Maurkice Pouncey, began hitting Garrett, and once he fell down on the ground, he continued kicking him.
It all started when Garrett took down Rudolph after one pass, and pretty roughly bashed him to the ground. The two began wrestling, and the QB tried to pull off Garrett’s helmet. But then the Browns’ DE grabbed the opponent’s face mask, and he got a hold on his helmet, which he later used to bash him.
After that is was all chaos.
“I’ve never seen that in my life,” Cleveland’s head coach Freddie Kitchens said. “It’s not good.”
Garrett admitted that he overreacted and that he feels sorry for what he did.
“What I did was foolish, and I shouldn’t allow myself to slip like that,” Garrett said. “That’s out of character, but a situation like that where it’s an emotional game, and I allowed myself to fall into those emotions with what happened.”
Meanwhile, Rudolph didn’t have any kind words for his rival.
“I thought it was pretty cowardly,” Rudolph said. “Pretty bush league.”
But that wasn’t all. Browns’ players injured two of the guests’ wide receivers. And they did that using dirty moves. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson had t go out for a concussion protocol and didn’t come back. Both of them received hits from their blind side.
Smith-Schuster was hit by Morgan Burnett and Greedy Williams helmet-to-helmet, but the officials didn’t call for any penalties. Meanwhile, after Damarious Randall struck Johnson, also helmet-to-helmet, Cleveland’s safety was ejected.
The Browns were better throughout the event, mostly due to Pittsburgh’s bad offensive performance, which was one of the worst this season. After losing James Conner because of his shoulder injury, the guests didn’t have any other options on the ground, leaving Rudolph to carry the attack all by himself. The youngster was harassed often, and in the meantime, lost control of the game. Rudolph threw four interceptions, had one fumble, and just one TD, ending the game with 221 passing yards, 23 for 44.
On the other side, Baker Mayfield was 17 for 32 for 193 yards and 2 TDs without picks. Nick Chubb added 92 rushing yards and eclipsed a 1,000-yard mark, while Odell Beckham Jr. had 60 yards in four catches.
The Browns (4-6) are now awaiting Miami Dolphins, and after that, going to a rematch with the Steelers on the road. They will miss Garrett, who will most definitely receive a suspension after tonight’s actions.
Pittsburgh (5-5) took one hell of a beating in this contest and lost two playmakers, Smith-Schuster and Conner. Mike Tomlin’s guys head for another divisional matchup against the Bengals in Cincinnati.
