Berea, OH (92.3 The Fan) – Enough is enough.
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett has had it with the officiating this season and calls consistently not going the Browns’ way.
“If I get fined, so be it,” Garrett said. “Something needs to be said if it keeps on going this way, this route, where it seems like we keep on getting the short stick.”
Garrett’s frustrations boiled over Friday afternoon but had been stewing since the end of the 38-14 loss to the Chargers that saw Garrett leave the locker room at FirstEnergy Stadium immediately after the game.
“[I was] Frustrated that we get our ass kicked on the ground, they ran wherever they wanted to, people were missing tackles and we didn’t have any way to stop plays that should be 3- or 4-yard gains if that. and then the holding calls,” Garrett said.
Garrett was especially angry that the officials did not flag Chargers left tackle Russell Okung for a false start with 51 seconds left in the half that allowed Philip Rivers to throw a 29-yard touchdown to Tyrell Williams for a 21-3 lead.
“He’s moved, nobody else has moved and the ball hasn’t moved, so it’s kinda textbook,” Garrett said. “The flag should be up. So I moved forward because he moved, it’s like I’m on a string. If the ball beats him, we’re going with the ball. If he moves before the ball, I’m going with him. And so it’s kind of like a signal. That if he moves and if I don’t move, he might get the benefit of the doubt. But when I move as well, it’s kind of a hey, come on, you should see this. They didn’t.
“I don’t understand how you don’t see it, that’s his job is to look down the line and see when people are jumping offside or false starting, but I’ve got to keep on finishing the play.”
Although the Browns lost by 24 and that play put them down 18, it was a big no-call in Garrett’s eyes.
“It’s momentum. Momentum matters in the game. No doubt,” Garrett said. “And a six-point turnaround, a seven-point turnaround like that where it could’ve been a sack or maybe a forced fumble if you keep on playing, or just a no play at all, to a touchdown, that’s a huge difference. There were a couple missed calls like that, and that’s not on Okung, he’s just doing his job. It’s on the ref and to him to have that kind of integrity to call that play when it comes.”
The lack of quality officiating is become a theme this season for the Browns. Almost weekly there seems to be a controversy with a call or no call with he most egregious errors coming at Oakland in a 45-42 overtime loss that saw a potential sack-fumble scoop and score blown dead prematurely and a controversial replay re-spot of a first down in the final minute to a fourth down to give the Raiders the opportunity to tie the game.
“If I look back at it, and see how much they affected the game, they should come into play when it’s needed,” Garrett said. “There have been multiple times this year where like the forced fumble against the Raiders, or just other plays where they should’ve stepped in or haven’t stepped in when they’ve been called to and they need to be better in stepping in and doing their job.”
Garrett’s point is simple, teams haven’t had problems beating the Browns the last few years, but this season when they are trying to get back on track and be as competitive as the rest of the league is, they also don’t need the officials getting in their way.
“Do your job just like we need to do our job,” Garrett said. “It’s easy to say ‘well, if the guy didn’t run up and down, you don’t need that call,’ but you call that fair for either side. If it’s holding, call holding. If it’s a false start, false start, whether it’s us or them. There was one point where it was like eight calls to one I believe? Or seven calls to one. If it’s holding for them, if they’re grabbing us, if they’re turning us, if they’re trying to pull us out of a gap whether it’s a run play or a pass play, it needs to be called.
“There’s no excuse for us. We need to get their hands off of us and we need to play ball, because we know they’re not going to get those kind of calls, but at the end of the day, if they see it, they need to pull the flag out.”
