Wednesday morning, Cleveland Browns defender Myles Garrett was scheduled to make his appeal of an indefinite suspension based upon hit actions during Thursday night’s brawl. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph, on the other hand, hasn’t been suspended for his role in the incident, but he has since made a statement. In his mind, he needs to do a better job keeping his composure.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Rudolph said that there was no excuse for his actions that led to Garrett ripping off his helmet and hitting him with it. The quarterback also said that he would accept any punishment handed down by the NFL.
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“As for my involvement last week, there is no acceptable excuse. The bottom line is I should have done a better job keeping my composure in that situation. I fell short of what I believe it means to be a Pittsburgh Steeler and a member of the NFL,” Rudolph said to the gathered reporters.
Mason Rudolph speaks about the way our game vs. the Browns ended. pic.twitter.com/cfw9XEgMq1
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 20, 2019
While a trio of players from this game in Maurkice Pouncey, Larry Ogunjobi, and Garrett have all been suspended, Rudolph avoided such a punishment. He is expected to be fined but has not received the amount just yet.
In addition to this comment, he also mentioned that his primary goal after taking the late hit from Garrett was to get the defender off of him. However, this was met with some skepticism by the media members, to the point that they said Rudolph tugging on Garrett’s helmet in what appeared to be an attempt to rip it off was counterintuitive to this explanation.
The Steelers QB opted to not address this side of the discussion. Instead, he simply pointed back to his earlier comment about getting Garrett off of him.
Rudolph somehow avoided sustaining an injury during this altercation with Garrett and the Cleveland Browns, and he will be expected to suit up and lead the Pittsburgh Steelers offense against the Cincinnati Bengals. Although this unit will be missing some key figures considering that Pouncey will be serving out his suspension while receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Dionte Johnson are in concussion protocol.
The Steelers hope to get these players back in the near future, but it’s unlikely that they will be active for Sunday’s game against Cincinnati. Rudolph will instead have to rely on depth players while he tries to lead Pittsburgh to victory. Just as importantly, his focus will also have to be on maintaining his composure during key moments.
Photo Credit: Justin Berl/Getty
