Browns' star Myles Garrett: Lack of playoffs would be 'failure' despite personal 'success'

BEREA — The Browns, in all likelihood, aren't going to the playoffs. It would take a miracle for that to happen.

That doesn't mean they can't also ruin a few other teams' playoff hopes along the way.

"Oh, I'm still a spoiler," All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett said Thursday. "We're still a spoiler. It just spoiler, and we might get a cameo in a movie ourselves."

One such team the Browns (5-8) could play spoiler against is the Baltimore Ravens, who come to Cleveland on Saturday afternoon. The Ravens are 9-4 and tied with the Cincinnati Bengals for first place in the AFC North.

Although Garrett acknowledges the Browns are in a spoiler role, he's not surrendering the fleeting hopes of that miracle happening for his own team. He said after last Sunday's loss in Cincinnati that, "as long as the door's cracked," he would believe there was a chance to keep playing beyond Week 18.

That remains Garrett's mindset. However, he acknowledged that's the mindset regardless of whether the Browns are mathematically still alive or eliminated.

"I mean, guys still wanna win," Garrett said. "Guys aren't worried about the chances that we have to be in there. It's more about pride, and nothing's guaranteed. No one's job or a place here is guaranteed. You still have a lot of time to put things on film, good or bad. And so you don't have time to be messing around or giving less effort when next year there's always a new wave of people coming to take your job from the top down. Me to anyone else."

Garrett has spent the better part of the season battling an injury to his left shoulder, the result of a Sept. 26 car accident. That injury kept him out of a Week 4 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, and has left him in obvious pain after every game since then.

However, it hasn't prevented Garrett from still providing a dominant presence most games along the Browns defensive line. Despite having had just three sacks through the first five weeks of the season, he's tied with Dallas' Micah Parsons for third in the league with 12 sacks for the season, 2.5 behind co-leaders Nick Bosa of San Francisco and Matthew Judon of New England.

"I'd like to think that I'm in the thick of it and there's four games left and there's no reason why I can't be at the top of the sack leader board," Garrett said. "So I'm going keep on continuing to play at a high level, high effort and give the most to these guys. At the end of the day, whatever's said and done, I gave my all for my guys."

Garrett opened the season as the favorite for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, according to BetMGM.com. Parsons has since surpassed him in that regard, although Garrett remains among the top-five betting favorites.

The chances of Garrett winning that award and the chances of the Browns making the playoffs aren't quite the same. However, both still are listed as having a chance, which is all he wants, be it for the award or for the playoffs.

"I promise I won't make it a ritual to try and make that happen every year, but it would mean a lot," Garrett said. "I know our chances aren't completely zero to make the playoffs either. I heard a stat that our chances to make the playoffs right now are greater than the chances the Jets had to win with two minutes left in the (Week 2 Browns loss). So we have a chance, and as long as that's there I'm going to do all I can, my teammates are going to do all we can to secure a win one at a time and see where we're at the end the season."

Even with a win over Baltimore, the Browns could still likely be officially eliminated from playoff contention depending on what happens through the end of Sunday's games. That could make the last three games against the New Orleans Saints, Washington Commanders and Pittsburgh Steelers potentially all about pride and personal accomplishments.

Garrett heads into the stretch run only four off his single-season team record for sacks, which he set with 16 last season. That season ended much like this season is likely to end, without a trip to the playoffs.

However, Garrett was the leading AFC vote-getter at defensive end for the Pro Bowl entering Thursday's final day of fan voting. He's almost assuredly going to be chosen for his fourth Pro Bowl appearance, and a third consecutive All-Pro selection also seems likely to happen.

The yin and the yang for Garrett is that, for all of the personal success he's had, the season as a whole can only be a disappointment if it doesn't include the playoffs.

"Each person can say they had an individually great season depending on how you did, but as a team, no," Garrett said. "You fall short of the playoffs and you don't achieve what you set out to do, it's a failure. I mean, you can learn from it. I'm sure you can take something away, but if it's success or failure and that's the only two options we would've failed ourselves."

Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Myles Garrett see no playoffs as a failure even with personal success