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All-Pro pass rusher Myles Garrett isn’t thinking about possibly being a Most Valuable Player candidate with his Cleveland Browns at 7-3.
“I just want to continue to help my team however I can,” Garrett told Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk shortly after Cleveland earned a gritty 13-10 home win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon. “Make plays when we need them, do my assignment, execute, be there for my guys, support, lead, and have fun. All that goes together and having fun is — there’s no greater fun than winning and I wanna be a key part of that.”
The Browns lost star running back Nick Chubb to a season-ending knee injury in Week 2, and it was learned last week that Cleveland starting quarterback Deshaun Watson won’t play again during the campaign due to a shoulder injury. Rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson started under center for Cleveland against Pittsburgh, but the Browns are expected to add veteran Joe Flacco to their active roster as soon as this coming Sunday’s game at the 5-5 Denver Broncos.
ESPN stats show that Garrett ended the weekend leading the NFL with 13 sacks on the season. Meanwhile, Cleveland’s defense is surrendering a league-best 243.3 yards per game.
As of Monday afternoon, oddschecker listed Garrett as the overall betting favorite at +120 odds to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award for this season. The 27-year-old was a +18,000 underdog to earn MVP honors at that same time, and he declined to campaign for himself while speaking with Florio after Sunday’s victory.
“I let my game speak with all that,” Garrett explained. “I’m not worried about all the votes and where the awards go. At the end of the day, our goal is to win it all, is to win that Super Bowl. If anything else comes with that, that’s the cherries on top, but looking forward to continuing to try to win this division and bring a championship to Cleveland.”
Florio pointed out that New York Giants legend Lawrence Taylor is the last defensive player to win MVP, and Taylor accomplished that feat for the 1986 season. It’s too early to say if Garrett will receive some MVP votes, but it sounds like he’s focused on chasing a different trophy he hopes to hoist come February.
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