Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett “day to day” according to head coach Kevin Stefanski
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Myles Garrett (shoulder) is “day to day” but should be good to go on Sunday, head coach Kevin Stefanski said on a media zoom call Monday.
Myles Garrett
-Robinson (concussion) remains in the league’s protocol, but Amari Cooper (rib) “should be ok,” Stefanski said.
Cleveland (7-4) faces the Los Angeles Rams Sunday at 4:25 p.m., wrapping up a 2-game road trip.
The Browns, who lost Sunday in Denver, are staying out west this week to practice at UCLA’s campus.
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How much is too much? Browns resilience will again be tested by more injuries
DENVER — Late in the fourth quarter on Sunday, the announcer in the press box at Empower Field at Mile High summed up the Browns day — and their season — in one announcement.
Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, out, head injury.
Defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, out, ankle.
Wide receiver Amari Cooper, out, ribs.
It’s rare when you get the trifecta of injury updates in press box announcements.
In the locker room after the game, Myles Garrett struggled to put his shirt on and did his postgame press conference wearing a sling and said he felt a pop in his left shoulder.
DENVER — Late in the fourth quarter on Sunday, the announcer in the press box at Empower Field at Mile High summed up the Browns day — and their season — in one announcement.
Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, out, head injury.
Defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, out, ankle.
Wide receiver Amari Cooper, out, ribs.
It’s rare when you get the trifecta of injury updates in press box announcements.
In the locker room after the game, Myles Garrett struggled to put his shirt on and did his postgame press conference wearing a sling and said he felt a pop in his left shoulder.
These injuries, of course, are all varying degrees of severity — Tomlinson seemed unfazed and Elliott didn’t appear to be wearing anything on the ankle. Cooper declined to speak to the media after the game, but X-rays on his ribs were negative.
Thompson-Robinson, on the other hand, might have to miss some time, putting the Browns in a position where they may have to start 38-year-old Joe Flacco who wasn’t even on the roster when Thompson-Robinson led a game-winning drive against Pittsburgh eight days ago.
“Injuries are a part of this game, obviously. We know that,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “You don’t want to lose any of your guys in-game, but that’s part of our jobs, overcoming those injuries.”
Winning in the NFL is as much about winning the battle of attrition as anything and the Browns have spent this season fighting an uphill battle in that regard.
“We haven’t had the best injury luck this year,” left guard Joel Bitonio said, “but we’re resilient as a group and we’re going to have 11 guys out there when it’s time to kick off next Sunday and we’ll be ready to roll.”
It started in the first two weeks of the season, when the Browns lost right tackle Jack Conklin and running back Nick Chubb for the year. Deshaun Watson hurt his shoulder in Week 3 and then, when he returned, hurt it again, this time requiring season-ending surgery. Left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. is likely out until at least Christmas.
Pending news on Garrett’s injury, the defense has stayed relatively healthy at the top, but safety Rodney McLeod was important as the third safety and Denzel Ward missed Sunday’s game in Denver. We’ll see about this Sunday.
There have been others. The next-man-up mantra of the NFL locker room has been tested in spades this season.
“We just take pride in being able to be deep in every position, be able to just put the next guy in without losing the beat,” defensive lineman Ogbo Okoronkwo said. “We all work really hard. We make sure we understand our assignments and not just in the first group, in the second group. Everybody’s trusted. Everybody is trusted to execute every call, so we don’t look at it as a loss. We just look at it as an opportunity for a young guy who hasn’t played.”
It’s hard to not look at the current situation and wonder, how much is too much? Are the Browns on the precipice of finding out?
Cooper is a player who rarely misses time — he finished last season playing through a core injury that required offseason surgery — so it would likely take more than negative X-rays to keep him out, but the wide receiver room is thin behind him and, if the injury slows him, it will be noticeable to the offense.
For as great as Cooper has been this season, the most concerning question is about Garrett. He’s arguably the most important player on a team that needs its defense to carry it to the postseason. Garrett is in the midst of a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber season, with 13 sacks and four forced fumbles. He is ninth among edge rushers in pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.
Garrett, like Cooper, plays through a lot, but, despite evidence to the contrary, he is human and can be slowed by injuries. Last season, it was the lingering effects of his car crash. In 2021, it was a groin injury. COVID-19 slowed him after Thanksgiving in 2020. If this defense loses its franchise player — the man Jim Schwartz was brought here to maximize — or doesn’t have him near maximum power, is that the breaking point?
Before Garrett was spotted in a sling and revealed he heard a pop, cornerback Greg Newsome II was asked about the mounting injuries, especially at quarterback.
“It’s tough for sure, but we’ve got a next man up mentality and that’s how we’ve always been,” he said, “and it sucks that that has happened, but we have had this happen the whole season so we kind of know how to adjust to it.”
Resilience is the word of the season for the Browns who, after all the injuries and all the quarterback shuffling and even after a loss to Denver, still control their own destiny. While the AFC North will be a climb — they are currently tied with Pittsburgh but behind them via tiebreaker, both a game-and-a-half back of division-leading Baltimore — the Browns sit sixth in the AFC playoff picture, a game ahead of Indianapolis, Houston and Denver.
While Denver holds a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Browns, the Browns have a win over Indianapolis in hand and face Houston on Christmas Eve. So this resilient group has managed to beg, borrow and steal its way right into the thick of things as the calendar turns to December. It has been an impressive job by the coaching staff and the players to keep this train on the tracks no matter who has played quarterback and no matter who has been missing.
Maybe Garrett’s injury ends up being nothing more than a scare and maybe Flacco still has something left in the tank and brings the Browns downfield passing offense to life — throwing to Cooper, who just took a bad hit and is able to continue to play at the level he’s played at all season.
The Browns certainly deserve those kinds of breaks after all they’ve been through this season on the injury front.
Their resilience will once again be tested as they are faced with more injury questions and more turnover. It’s life in the NFL. It hits some teams harder than others. For the Browns, it’s not so much the numbers as it as the quality of players they’ve lost. Now they await the status of another enormous name.
How much is too much? The Browns are hoping they don’t have to answer that question.
