If anyone expected Myles Garrett to try to make amends with the Pittsburgh Steelers and coach Mike Tomlin on Sunday afternoon, they were disappointed.

Garrett did speak with Tomlin prior to the start of the Steelers’ 38-7 victory against the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field, but the conversation was not about the defensive end’s helmet-swing last year that landed him a six-game suspension.

“Talking to him had nothing to do with last year,” said Garrett, who put his arm around Tomlin during their chat. “Him, his brother, my mother and my uncle all went to school together in Virginia, so we were just talking about that. I made a little joke about some phone games they had been playing, and that was it.

“He said, ‘Good luck, live your life, have fun and tell your mother I said hello.’”

It was Garrett’s first game against the Steelers since the ugly incident at the end of the Nov. 14 matchup at FirstEnergy Stadium when Garrett removed Mason Rudolph’s helmet and swung it at the quarterback, hitting him on his unprotected head. Garrett, who was suspended indefinitely, alleged a few days later that Rudolph used a racial slur to incite the skirmish, a claim that Rudolph and Tomlin denied on several occasions.

Garrett finished with four tackles and a sack of Ben Roethlisberger in the first half Sunday. Rudolph played the final two series in relief after the Steelers had built a 31-point lead.

Garrett remained on the field after the game and spoke with several Steelers players. Rudolph was not among them.

“It is just a game to me,” Garrett said when asked if the game helped him move past last year’s incident. “It’s just about playing ball. With these guys, it was all love and it is all football. It just stays on the field and stays between the whistle. We did not have any problems. There was respect during and after the game.”

The Steelers spent the week leading up to the game downplaying the matchup against Garrett, who entered as the NFL’s sacks leader. Tomlin called it “low-hanging fruit” and a “reality-TV storyline” that he had no interest in rehashing.

“It was way calmer than everybody expected,” said rookie guard Kevin Dotson. “It was nothing like we were just out there brawling, fighting and thinking about last year. Last year is last year. We can’t do anything about anything that happened last year.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)