Jared Verse needed 'conversation' with Browns teammates after body slam
· Yahoo Sports
BEREA ― Jared Verse went into the Browns' loss at the Pittsburgh Steelers knowing he was wearing a target. It was one he admittedly put on himself with his pre-game trash talk, but it was there.
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Sure enough, the Steelers took aim at the target. Pittsburgh guard Mason McCormick body-slammed Verse onto his head on the Steelers' first point-after kick with 8:02 remaining in the first quarter.
The action was enough to get Verse fired up. The reaction ― at least, his impressions of their reaction ― from his own teammates, though, had it's own impact on him.
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"I was really, genuinely upset about the game and the way things were moving, but at that point it became really deep," Verse said Nov. 5. "You're doing dirty s---. You're going to try to sweep my legs. I honestly could have put me in a position to not be able to finish the season, put me in a position to change my life in a very bad aspect. So that upset me. The lack of reaction by those around me upset me a lot."
Jared Verse admits he started verbal fire with Week 4, pre-game comments
Verse's comments about the Steelers, both immediately after the Browns' Week 4 win in Cleveland when he called the Steelers "dirty," and then in the run-up to the rematch, drew plenty of attention before the game, particularly from the Steelers. Pittsburgh defensive tackle Cam Heyward told Rich Eisen on Eisen's radio show that there were "words that were said and they will be addressed," referring to Verse.
While Verse stood by his words in the locker room after the loss, he saved some other words for when there were no microphones and cameras there. Those words were for his teammates, although it was far from a one-way conversation.
"That's a conversation that we've had," Verse said. "We've spoken about it. I've made my concerns known. I made my issues known about the situation, but also I didn't put them in a position to let them know that. I didn't let them know beforehand I was going to talk the way I talked to Steelers and the Steeler Nation or whatever they are. But I got to be better than that. I didn't do enough on my part and we all got to pick it up."
Jared Verse's Browns teammates say they didn't see the body slam
There's a legitimate question of just what Verse's teammates, at least those on the field for the PAT, actually saw on the play. Replays of the PAT and body slam appear to show Verse's teammates all looking in different directions, with seemingly none in the direction of seeing McCormick's slam of their teammates.
The closest player to Verse when the slam happened was defensive end Sam Williams, who appeared to be turning to watch the kick go through. There were a handful who had rushed up-field to try to block the kick, while many of the linemen were turning to watch the kick with their backs toward Verse.
There were also some, like linebacker Carson Schwesinger, who were on the sideline becaue they weren't part of the field-goal block team.
“Well, I mean, a lot of times there's a lot of stuff that goes on in the field that you don't see," Schwesinger said. "I mean, you asked me about it after the game and I still hadn't seen it at that point. So, obviously it's something if you see it, you go to his defense and something that you don't want to see in the game of football at all. And, so yeah, like I said, if that's something that I had seen, definitely would've been going to his defense.”
Verse pointed out that he stood up for teammate Derek Barnett when he felt like the Steelers went low on him on the very next Steeler field goal try with 3:27 remaining in the first half. While Barnett didn't seem to react too much, at least on the replay, there was clearly a post-play "interaction" between a handful from both teams.
The replay shows the officials stepping between Verse and at least one Steeler as the CBS broadcast went to commercial break.
"I lost it, because it was my brothers and my teammates," Verse said. "When you do something like that, it really upsets me very deeply. So, I could tell that from that point on, I was like, we have to do better. We have to get better on every aspect of the game of being mentally aware of, these are my brothers and we're not fighting for each other. We're just kind of focused on the one aspect of the game."
Jared Verse, key piece of Myles Garrett trade, has had disappointing start
The 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct on McCormick that Verse drew was arguably his biggest contribution in the 27-6 loss. He did have a hit on quarterback Aaron Rodgers on a second-and-8 incomplete pass from the Cleveland 8, which was his only listed pressure in the game, as well as an assisted tackle on the final play of the first quarter.
That kind of relatively quiet day, however, has been par for the course for Verse through eight games. The main piece of the return from the Los Angeles Rams in the Myles Garrett trade remains without a sack, while his other advanced numbers remain lower than normal.
Verse has been credited with six initial pressures, according to ESPN Analytics. His pressure rate (3.3%) ranks 185th out of 198 qualifying players, while his edge pass-rush win rate (10.8%) ranks 57th out of 58 qualifying players.
"I think I've not done myself a service in playing the way I want to." Verse said. "I think it's been a lot of attention that's been focused on me not doing enough on this aspect, that aspect. I don't think we've been getting enough third-and-longs for me to put myself in position to get the stats and stuff like that. But I think stats can be rather confusing for a lot of people."
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jared Verse needed 'conversation' with Browns teammates after body slam
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