Jared Verse said Thursday that the body slam was not what bothered him most. The Cleveland Browns edge rusher was angrier about how his teammates responded.
The slam came on an extra-point attempt in the first quarter of Pittsburgh’s 27-6 win at Acrisure Stadium on November 1.
Thanks for the submission!
Verse jumped to block Chris Boswell’s kick; McCormick cut his legs out and dumped him, and Verse landed near his head and neck.
•
McCormick was flagged 15 yards for unnecessary roughness, enforced on the ensuing kickoff.
Looking to predict NFL playoff Scenarios? Try our NFL Playoff Predictor for real-time simulations and stay ahead of the game!
“I’ll be quite honest with you, that was the play that made me kind of get really angry,” he said on Thursday.
“I was really, genuinely upset about the game and the way things were moving, but at that point it became really deep. You’re doing dirty (s–). You’re going to try to sweep my legs. That 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.”
Response on X was unforgiving. But the play’s aftermath inflicted a different kind of pain.
A fan wrote, “This guy went from being touted as a team leader to becoming locker room disruption.”
One fan said, “Get this guy off the team man. This is BAD.”
One X user tweeted, “He’s not built for the AFC North.”
“Not only did this guy sabotage the game beforehand for the Browns but now he’s letting it drag into this week, basically saying his teammates don’t have his back. Someone should tell him to shut up he’s compounding the problem,” tweeted another.
One fan said, “So, this guy has been awful, on and off the field.”
“He is all talk and no action. Now he is throwing teammates under the bus,” commented another.
Jared Verse has no sacks in eight games since arriving in the Myles Garrett trade.
Also read: “We love a confident Daddy”: Reporter leaves Jared Verse baffled with wild remark
Jared Verse cleared the air with Browns teammate
Jared Verse said on Thursday that he has spoken with his Browns teammates about their failure to react when McCormick threw him to the ground in Week 8.
“The lack of reaction by those around me upset me a lot,” Verse said in Berea, Ohio. “A similar play happened to Derek Barnett on I think the next field goal, and I lost it because it was my brothers and my teammates. And when you do something like that to him, it upsets me very deeply.”
“That’s a conversation that we’ve had and spoken about,” Verse said when asked whether he had confronted his teammates.
“I’ve made my issues known about the situation, but also I didn’t put them in a position to let them know beforehand I was going to talk the way I talked to the Steelers and Steelers Nation or whatever they are. I got to be better than that. I didn’t do enough on my part. We all got to pick it up.”
Coach Todd Monken’s response on Monday was that his players needed to “speak with your play.” Special teams coordinator Byron Storer backed Verse on the hit itself, drawing a line between blocking a kick and trying to hurt someone.
Edited by Prasen
