BEREA — The practice week is over, but as far as Myles Garrett is concerned, the Browns still have important work to do to get ready for the critical game Sunday vs. the Ravens.
After the Browns (6-6) finished their final practice Friday, the All-Pro defensive end was asked if the team worked with a sense of urgency and attention to detail this week coming off the bye.
“Not as much as I wanted to,” Garrett said. “But we still got another two days. Guys will sharpen up and we’ve got leaders that are on this team who will make them get prepared and get ready for Sunday, because it’s not end all be all today.
“But when the time comes, we need everybody on their p’s and q’s and ready because it’s win or go home right now.”
The Browns trail the Ravens (8-4) by two games in the AFC North and are on the outside looking in in the wild card race. They likely need to win four of their final five games to make the playoffs for the second straight year and would get back in the division race with a victory Sunday.
“I’m not going to sulk or sink my head,” Garrett said of being disappointed in the practice week. “I mean, guys go about things differently. It’s not only on us as players, it’s coaches, it’s everyone having a focus on the task at hand.
“I think we all have to look in the mirror and say obviously if we don’t win this one, there won’t be any postseason for us. We’ve just got to come together tomorrow, today in meetings and we’ll get right. We’ve still got another 48-plus hours.”
Garrett has taken on a growing leadership role and has been vocal about putting team goals ahead of individual ones. So he’s not focused on losing the NFL sack lead to Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt, who has 16 to Garrett’s 14. Watt left the loss to the Vikings on Thursday night with a groin injury, but it’s reportedly not serious.
“I know nothing matters if we don’t make the playoffs,” Garrett said. “I mean DPOY (Defensive Player of the Year) is nice, but I want to be remembered for bringing some Super Bowls here. I know Bake (quarterback Baker Mayfield) does and everybody else does.
“Individual glory, that will come and go, but the city will remember a Super Bowl. If I win DPOY and then we don’t win anything, then our names won’t go down and be remembered for anything.”
Garrett spent the bye in Arizona, where he visited a doctor and lay in the sun.
“Just tried to get some rest and recovery, get my mind off football for a little bit and then we get back, gotta turn it on and take that next step as a team and as an individual,” he said.
Garrett was a full participant in practice all week and not listed on the injury report but said the bye didn’t restore him physically.
“A little bit better. I was hoping a week would do me a little bit more, but not as much as I hoped,” he said.
Garrett hasn’t missed a game this season. He missed practice time before the Patriots game Nov. 14 with a foot injury and before the Broncos game Oct. 21 with knee and ankle injuries.
“Everybody’s said it, no one’s 100 percent by the end of the season or really midseason,” he said. “Just gotta be the best you can each week. You’ve gotta keep on trying to stack those days and recover and try to get back to where you were last week.”
Garrett sacked Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson in the 16-10 loss Nov. 28 and helped limit him to 165 passing yards, with four interceptions, and 68 rushing yards on 17 carries. It was Jackson’s worst performance in six starts vs. the Browns as he’s gone 5-1.
“We were able to get some pressure on him and get him moving but not going upfield,” Garrett said. “We prevented him from doing exactly what he wants, being comfortable and I think that was the toughest thing for him, not always having his go-to in 89 (Mark Andrews), who is a helluva player. But trying to put pressure on him and trying to take away that first read and that gave him a little trouble.
“We know how to attack them and if we play off the weaknesses and use our strengths, I think we can have a lot of success, even more than we had in the last game.”
