Myles Garrett requested a trade from the Cleveland Browns right before last season’s Super Bowl. Then the six-time All-Pro defensive end made his way down Radio Row, vocalizing how the Browns’ trajectory didn’t align with his immediate desire to play for a contender.
A month later, Garrett reversed course and signed a four-year, $160 million deal with Cleveland. It was a deal that, at the time, made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, and it was an extension that Garrett claimed was about winning, not money.
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Two weeks into the 2025 season, Garrett’s Browns haven’t done any of that winning. The 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year didn’t hold back his frustration after a 41-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens Sunday.
“I mean, this s*** is embarrassing,” Garrett said, via Cleveland.com. “And we’ve got to be better on defense, we’ve got to be better as a team.
“They slowly chipped away. We did a solid job holding it to three when we could. And then eventually the dam broke and then they just did whatever they wanted, and we have to continue to play a 60-minute game.”
Cleveland limited Baltimore to a mere 10 points, 81 yards of offense and four first downs in the first half. The Browns froze a normally-overwhelming Ravens rushing attack. In fact, Baltimore’s 45 rushing yards on the day were its fewest in a single game that Lamar Jackson’s started at quarterback since he took over for Joe Flacco in 2018. Running back Derrick Henry mustered only 23 yards on 11 carries.
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The Ravens’ lone first-half touchdown was set up by a blocked Browns punt. In the third quarter, a Garrett sack — one of his 3.5 quarterback takedowns so far this season — played a part in the Ravens having to settle for a chip-shot field goal despite them originally reaching the 1-yard line. Baltimore’s only other points in the frame were ushered in by a 61-yard Nate Wiggins interception return that gifted Jackson and Co. with another short field.
It really wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Ravens pulled away. That’s when they scored 21 straight points. The second of their three consecutive touchdowns saw linebacker Roquan Smith record a 63-yard scoop and score.
Meanwhile, the Browns’ offense struggled to find the end zone for the second week in a row. Flacco didn’t return to his Super Bowl MVP form, or anything close to it, in his Baltimore homecoming. He was replaced by rookie Dillon Gabriel in the fourth quarter.
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Cleveland has issues up front, highlighted by the fact that it’s averaging 3.6 yards per rushing attempt through two games. And, most notably, it still has a quarterback problem — just like it did when Garrett inked his extension with the team this past spring.
But Garrett is still focusing on what he and his unit can control.
“At the end of the day, [if the Ravens] don’t score, they don’t win,” he said. “We have to continue to hold them to three points or zero points whenever we can, no matter if it’s backed up. Short field, red zone, we have to hold ourselves to that standard.
“We would love for [our offense] to put up six or seven every time they touch the ball. Realistically, that’s just not going to be the case. That’s not going to happen on any team. So we got to make up for that whenever we can. We got to take the ball away, which we didn’t do.”
