Myles Garrett, Mason Rudolph speak on field after last season's helmet brawl: 'Onward and upward'
The moment didn’t last long, but Mason Rudolph and Myles Garrett spoke briefly before leaving the field at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland on Sunday afternoon.
The two, who were involved in a wild brawl in which Garrett swung a helmet at Rudolph’s head last season, appear to have both put it behind them.
Here's a photo of Myles and Mason meeting up after the game from @JD_Kuntz pic.twitter.com/CXAAv3yyfT
— Dan Labbe (@dan_labbe) January 3, 2021
“I just told him, ‘Good game,’” Garrett said after the Browns’ 24-22 win over the Steelers, via Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot. “‘Hell of a game, and we’ll see ya next week.’”
Mason Rudolph and Myles Garrett’s wild altercation
Garrett was suspended indefinitely by the league after he grabbed Rudolph’s helmet, pulled it completely off and then swung it at Rudolph’s head in the final seconds of their matchup in 2019.
Garrett’s swing missed — which likely spared Rudolph significant injury — but the action sparked a massive brawl.
Browns DE Myles Garrett uses Mason Rudolph's helmet as a weapon to strike him over the head #PITvsCLE pic.twitter.com/dayFzHrt0l
— Kevin Boilard (@KevinBoilard) November 15, 2019
Garrett was suspended six games, the longest for a single on-field act in league history, before he was reinstated last February. He later accused Rudolph multiple times of calling him a racial slur, which Rudolph has denied. The NFL also said there was “no such evidence” that Rudolph called Garrett a slur on the field.
Rudolph went 22-of-39 for 315 yards through the air with two touchdowns in the loss on Sunday, and nearly brought them out of a 24-9 hole in the fourth quarter. The Browns, thanks to the win and a successful stop on a two-point conversion, clinched a playoff bid for the first time since the 2002 season. They’ll get a rematch on Jan. 10 with Pittsburgh, where Rudolph will likely be replaced by starter Ben Roethlisberger.
Even though their conversation was extremely short, Rudolph and Garrett seem to have moved on from last season’s incident. Rudolph even put up a photo on social media of their handshake.
“That’s all it was,” Rudolph said, via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “I told him ‘Good luck,’ and have a lot of respect for him.”
More from Yahoo Sports:
