BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Myles Garrett has taken the recent, yet frequent, drug tests from the NFL in stride.
Garrett has even joked on social media about no longer going sleeveless on game day to avoid them.
While he’s felt the random screening process has been anything but, he’s not ready to officially complain, yet.
“If I get one after this game, then I'll talk to a union rep,” Garrett said Friday. “But if they cool down, you know me.
“They just wanted to make sure I was human and that's OK.”
Garrett was asked what goes through his mind when he gets the wakeup text informing him the league would like a blood or urine sample.
“Nobody else like this? Nobody else?” Garrett said. “Khalil [Mack] never wears sleeves. I know he's not tested four times out of like five games. It's kind of like as a joke, but I think long-sleeved Myles is a better rusher anyway.”
As a result, sun’s out, guns out is no longer Garrett’s policy.
“Done. Outta here,” Garrett said.
Garrett, who leads the NFL with 9 ½ sacks this season, has been more frustrated with the lack of holding calls he’s been drawing this season despite replays showing him being frequently held, turned and even steered by the facemask with few flags thrown.
So, how can he beat the holds without hoping the officials do their jobs?
“Just gotta win,” Garrett said. “I know once you're the higher tier, I know AD [Aaron Donald] deals with it, I know T.J. [Watt] deals with it, I know Khalil [Mack] deals with it. So I gotta do the same thing. I've got to find a way to win.”
Garrett looks to beat some more holds and inch closer to his goal of registering at least 20 sacks in a season Sunday afternoon in what is expected to be Ben Roethlisberger’s swan song in Cleveland – at least as a Steeler.
Roethlisberger has tormented the Browns over the years by winning 23 of 27 meetings, including a tie, since Cleveland made the fatal mistake of passing on him in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft in favor of Kellen Winslow Jr.
Garrett hopes to return the favor by terrorizing Roethlisberger on Halloween.
“Hell, I have to send him off, right?” Garrett said. “If it is, he’s left a huge legacy in Pittsburgh and here, so I’ve got to make sure he doesn’t leave with a win. But got to respect what he’s done and the greatness that he’s had on the football field.”
Roethlisberger was bequeathed his own gravestone in Garrett’s now famous front yard quarterback cemetery Halloween display.
Bills Hall of Famer Bruce Smith one-upped Garrett’s with one of his own – a headstone for every quarterback sacked throughout his career.
“You know, he didn't have to go over the top like that,” Garrett said. “I was just trying to get some motivation for the season, put a couple of guys that I got or want to get. He put everybody. We know you got like 150 guys on there, you don't have to flex on us like that.”
