Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett picked up a helmet on Sunday, but this time he didn’t hit a Pittsburgh Steelers player over the head with it like he infamously did to Mason Rudolph in 2019. He just simply handed it to Steelers right tackle Broderick Jones.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk asked Garrett about the moment after the game and Garrett said Jones joked, “If anyone shouldn’t have that helmet, you shouldn’t.” Garrett replied to Jones, “Hey, I’m just trying to be helpful.”
Outside of the humorous moment, Garrett had a banner day — recording two sacks, two tackles for loss and three quarterback hits. He was all over the field and was a handful for left tackle Dan Moore Jr. to handle.
Not this time Myles Garrett pic.twitter.com/zIqvLG7wJH
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) November 19, 2023
It’s been nearly four years since the Steelers-Browns brawl in Cleveland that included 33 fines worth $732,422. Myles Garrett was suspended for the rest of the season and his claim that Rudolph called him a racial slur was unfounded after an investigation by the league. Rudolph vehemently denied the allegation.
Rudolph and Garrett have both made amends since the ugly scene. The two talked things out following the Steelers-Browns Week 17 game in 2020.
“Onward and upward,” Rudolph wrote via Twitter after the game along with posting a photo of himself with Garrett after the game.
“Myles came over and said ‘Good game’ in the postgame,” Rudolph told reporters. “That’s all it was. I told him ‘Good luck,’ and have a lot of respect for him.”
So the situation is water under the bridge now, but it’s still often talked about amongst players. Recently Steelers defensive end Larry Ogunjobi appeared on his teammate Cam Heyward’s podcast, Not Just Football With Cam Heyward, and they talked about the moment. Ogunjobi was on the Browns then and he almost went at it with Heyward during the brawl.
“Half of us get ejected, Cam comes up like, ‘Man you want to go?’ I’m like, ‘What’s up?’ Cam’s like, ‘See me after the game,'” Ogunjobi recalled. “They were taking us off the field, the crowd is going crazy. I’m just standing up for my teammate. I get to the locker room and do the interview and this is funny. I get to the little friends and family area and my dad looks at me, he’s like, ‘Son, why?'”
After one year with the Cincinnati Bengals, Ogunjobi signed with the Steelers in June of 2022. One of the first things he did was clear the air with Heyward and Rudolph.
“It’s how I knew this is the type of person you are, you were thinking about signing with the Steelers and we were talking and you’re like, ‘Bro, I just want to clear the air.’ I could care less about that now, it’s behind me,” Heyward shared.