Violence & Brawls ·
The Helmet Swing That Ended Myles Garrett’s 2019 Season
Garrett struck Mason Rudolph with the quarterback’s own helmet in the final seconds of a Cleveland win. The NFL upheld his indefinite suspension, then reinstated him in February 2020.
Cleveland was closing out a 21–7 win over Pittsburgh on Nov. 14, 2019, when Myles Garrett pulled off Mason Rudolph’s helmet and struck the quarterback on the head with it. The Browns defensive end’s swing, in the game’s final seconds, turned a confrontation after a pass into a brawl. The next day, the NFL suspended Garrett without pay indefinitely, ruling him out for at least the rest of the regular season and any postseason games.
The confrontation began after Rudolph threw a short pass and Garrett took him to the ground. Both players pulled at each other’s helmets. Garrett removed Rudolph’s; Rudolph then charged toward him, and Garrett swung. Rudolph avoided serious injury, according to an Associated Press account, but called the attack “cowardly and bush league” after the game.
Other players joined the fight. Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey punched and kicked Garrett, drawing a three-game suspension that was reduced on appeal to two games. Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi shoved Rudolph to the ground after the helmet strike and received a one-game suspension, which was upheld. The league’s ruling against Garrett cited fighting, removing an opponent’s helmet and using it as a weapon, along with unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct.
Garrett apologized the following day. “I lost my cool and what I did was selfish and unacceptable,” he said in a statement that also apologized to Rudolph, his teammates, the Browns, their fans and the NFL. Browns coach Freddie Kitchens met with him at the team’s training facility and said Garrett understood that he had let himself, his teammates and the organization down. The Browns’ owners called his actions unacceptable and apologized to Rudolph and the Steelers.
Rudolph offered his account on Nov. 20, saying he had objected to the way Garrett took him down and had been trying to get Garrett off him. “The bottom line is I should’ve done a better job keeping my composure in that situation,” he said. He was not suspended.
Garrett challenged the length of his punishment. During his appeal hearing, he alleged that Rudolph had used a racial slur before the brawl. Rudolph denied the allegation, and the NFL said it found no evidence to support it. On Nov. 21, appeals officer James Thrash upheld Garrett’s indefinite suspension. Garrett stood by his allegation but wrote that the alleged comment did not excuse his “lack of restraint in the moment.”
The suspension cost Garrett the final six games of Cleveland’s 2019 season. On Feb. 12, 2020, the NFL reinstated him after he met with Commissioner Roger Goodell, a condition the league had set for his return. Browns general manager Andrew Berry welcomed him back “as a teammate, player and person in our community.”