To the surprise of no one – absolutely no one – the Browns announced on Thursday that it was indeed a high ankle sprain that rookie defensive end Myles Garrett suffered in Wednesday’s practice, and that he will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis.

Some estimates have him missing at least two games – Sunday’s regular-season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium and the match-up the following Sunday, Sept. 17, against the Baltimore Colts.

 

But no one knows for sure just how long that Garrett will be sidelined. Only time will tell.

 

In the meantime, the Browns have to figure out how to get along without the No. 1 overall choice in the 2017 NFL Draft. That will be hard, for he has been extremely impressive in the short time he’s been with the Browns.

 

So what will the Browns do? They will likely use a variety of players to fill Garrett’s shows, mostly Carl Nassib and Nate Orchard.

 

But more importantly, they will use just one coach, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, to figure out just how, exactly, to get by without Garrett.

 

Without question, this is why the Browns hired Williams, one of the best defensive coordinators in the league, in the offseason. This is why they pursued him and wooed him. This is why they wanted him on tdeir staff.

 

No, of course, they didn’t know they’d run into this particular problem. How could they foresee this? This is a nightmare of which they wanted no part. You don’t think about things like this.

 

But the Browns got Williams so that no matter what adversity came their way, they would have a man who could figure out a way – or ways, as it were – to deal with it.

 

What Williams will do is a mystery. But he will do something – he has to do something – to throw a curve ball at the Steelers and confuse them and keep them off-balance. This will all be interesting to watch and, obviously, will be one of the keys to the game for the Browns.

 

Yes, Gregg Williams could turn out to be the man of the hour. And if it did happen that way, then no one – absolutely no one — would be surprised.