Dawgs By Nature
The NFL keeps all sorts of statistics. The league thrives on it, even the Cleveland Browns poor play since “The Return.” Future contracts are usually generated by pluses and minuses for each position and can add millions to a deal, or take them away.
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Then, there are the league records. Because an entity is so dependent upon numbers for just about everything, records set as a member of the NFL are just part of the allure.
In all sports, to own a record that is then etched into a book and stored there is an honor. Even if it sits for only one season, and then is broken, the former record-bearer has forever bragging rights that at one time, he or she had the record for such-and-such.
Some records will never be broken.
Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles and the record for 2,632 consecutive games played. Hockey’s 2,857 career points set by the “Great One,” Wayne Gretzky. “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s college career average of 44.2 points per game. The 23 gold medals Michael Phelps has won at the Olympics. Jerry Rice’s 22,895 career receiving yards. 100 points scored in a single NBA game by Wilt Chamberlain.
And the one record that appeared safe on the defensive side of the ball in the NFL was the record of 22.5 sacks in a single NFL season.
And here we are. On the cusp of that record being not only broken, but shattered like a pair of cops breaking a sovereign citizen’s car window.
Myles Garrett of the Browns has the opportunity to destroy the record held by Michael Strahan of the New York Football Giants, and then tied by T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He currently leads the NFL with 19.0 sacks.
At the rate he is going, he is set to finish the 2025 season with 27 sacks. Of course, Strahan’s record was broken in 2002, in the final game of the 2001 season. Teams played just 16 games back then. This means Garrett has an extra game in which to aid his journey.
Watt tied the record in the final game of the 2021 season. The Steelers finished 9-7-1 that year, meaning he also had the benefit of an extra game. Otherwise, he would not have tied Strahan’s record.
Garrett also leads the league in tackles for loss (28) and pressures (36). He is a good run defender and has only one missed tackle all season.
Garrett is well aware of the record. In each game, he wears tape on his wrists like most defensive and offensive linemen. On his wrist tape, he scribbles a number. That is his prediction for how many sacks he is expecting from that contest.
He recently said:
*“I don’t even think about (the record) as a want — I just think about it as something that I’m going to knock down. It’s already been written in my mind that it’s...
