Steelers Now
Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett failed to set the NFL single-season sack record in Sunday’s 13-6 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Garrett came into Sunday’s game with 22.0 sacks. He needed one sack to surpass T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan for the single-season NFL sack record. Watt tied Strahan (22.5 sacks) for the record in 2021.
Despite coming up short, Garrett’s presence affected the Steelers’ offensive game plan. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was cognizant of Garrett all game. He did not want to be apart of NFL history.
Head coach Mike Tomlin downplayed the narrative that Garrett chasing the sack record was in the Steelers’ heads, however.
“We didn’t do anything against Myles that we don’t normally do against Myles,” Tomlin said. “The sack record’s irrelevant. We got to minimize him if we want to engineer victory. We did the same thing the last time we played him. I didn’t think he had any sacks in that game either. We didn’t take a different approach because of the gravity of the record. It’s just standard business when playing these guys and him.”
Former NFL tight end and Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe disagrees with Tomlin.
“Steelers more concerned about Garrett’s sack highlights and it showed. They lost, but at least Myles didn’t get a sack,” Sharpe wrote on X.
Many others shared Sharpe’s opinion on social media. It was a raging narrative from Sunday’s game.
Garrett was hoping to set the NFL sack record on Rodgers.
“It’d be special,” Garrett said on Friday. “He’s legendary himself and it’s a legendary record I’m out here chasing. That’d be a great one to put a picture on the wall with.”
Heading into Week 13, Garrett had a whopping 18 sacks.
Garrett had four sacks in the Browns’ Week 12 win over the Las Vegas Raiders and was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week. His 14 sacks in the five-game stretch surpassed Strahan’s 12 1/2 in 2001 for most in that span since stats became an official stat in 1982.
Garrett had a team-record five sacks in the Browns’ Week 8 game against the New England Patriots, passing Watt on the NFL’s all-time sack list. Garrett currently has 124 sacks, while Watt has 115.0.
Both selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft, the AFC North rivals have been compared to one another throughout their career. Each had seven sacks in their rookie years and Garrett was ahead by a half at the end of the 2018 season, but then Watt pulled away in a big way from 2019-21.
This season has been dominated by Garrett, however. Watt has only seven sacks this year.
Watt missed his third consecutive game on Sunday after he suffered a partially collapsed lung after undergoing a dry needling treatment session at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Dec. 10.
Garrett will have one last chance to break the single-season sack record next week when the Browns take on the Cincinnati Bengals.
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