Jared Verse said Thursday that he spoke with his Cleveland Browns teammates about not coming to the defense after Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Mason McCormick tackled him on a tackle on Sunday.
“It’s a conversation we’re having and talking about,” Verse said. “I expressed my issues with the situation, but I didn’t put them in a position to let them know in advance that I’m going to talk to the Steelers and Steelers Nation the way I’m going to talk or whatever. I’ve got to be better than that. I didn’t do enough on my end. We all have to take it.”
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McCormick was penalized 15 yards during the Steelers’ 27-6 win after catching a leaping Verse and throwing him to the ground. Later, he said he did not know who the football player was.
“I just felt somebody jump and we were told to put the jumpers hands down and that’s really it,” McCormick said.
“To be honest with you, it was this game that really pissed me off,” Verse said. “I was already upset about the game, the way things were going, but that’s when it got deeper. You’re doing dirty things, you’re trying to sweep me off my feet. To be honest, it could have put me in a situation where I wouldn’t be able to finish the season, it could have put me in a situation that would have changed my life in a very bad way, and that pissed me off.
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“I was really upset that the people around me didn’t react. They were focused on the game and everything like that, but Derek Barnett had a similar play on the next goal and I lost it. Because these are my brothers, they are my teammates, and when you do something like that to them, it really upsets me. … These are my teammates, we’re not fighting each other.”
There was tension between Verse and the Steelers entering the game after the Browns’ defense called Pittsburgh’s fumble the last time they met in Week 4. He also said in the days leading up to Cleveland’s Week 9 matchup, “Pittsburgh is going to do ours.”
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After the game, Verse said, “I’m very upset about it, and if it wasn’t for football, I would have done it differently,” “To do something like that, I can’t respect it.”