Report: NFL Films did not have any players mic’d up for Browns-Steelers game

Myles Garrett has accused Mason Rudolph of using a racial slur during last week’s ugly altercation between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers, but it may be difficult to find evidence that shows exactly what was said.

Garrett met with the NFL on Wednesday to appeal his indefinite suspension, and he told league officials that he lost his cool after Rudolph called him a racial slur. That immediately left some wondering if any players might have been wearing microphones during the game. Timothy Burke, who is an audio/video expert formerly of Deadspin, reports that no individual players were mic’ed up for the Thursday night showdown.

am hearing from two people who would know that NFL films did not mic up any players for this particular game, so ignore this (NFL Films mmmmay have exaggerated in the past their audio coverage of each regular season game)

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) November 21, 2019

There was a thought that the NFL would be able to check the audio from the game to determine what exactly it was that Rudolph said to Garrett. That may still be possible, but it won’t be as easy as it would have been if Rudolph, Garrett or another nearby player were wearing a microphone.

Rudolph has adamantly denied using any racist language, and his attorney called the allegation from Garrett worse than the act of clubbing the QB over the head with a helmet. Garrett has not yet made the accusation publicly, and he did not appear to hint at it immediately after the scrum.

Players on both the Browns and Steelers have said they did not hear Rudolph use a racial slur. Garrett’s indefinite suspension has been upheld by the NFL, so the league either doesn’t believe Garrett or did not feel being called a racial slur would excuse his actions regardless.