The Opening Drive 11/24: Myles Garrett and the Push For History
Not a week will go by where we don't recognize the special season 95 is putting up.
During tough NFL seasons, we hunt for silver linings. We are unfortunately accustomed to this as fans of this organization. Luckily, the Browns are giving us a few of them this season. The rookie class is the main one, but the other is that we might just get to see some history made from one of the best to ever suit up at the position. Following yesterday’s dominance, including 11 pressures and three more sacks, Myles Garrett is now at 18 sacks on the season. That number alone breaks his own franchise record of 16 he set in both 2021 and 2022 but that pales in comparison to his recent heater and the bigger numbers looming.
Garrett’s stretch of dominance here is also where things get mind-blowing and I wrote on how he’s been able to do it against all odds last week. He faces fewer “predictable pass rush snaps” than anyone else in the league since his arrival and he is overcoming those same odds this year. For more context, no player had ever had more than 12 sacks in a five-game span, or more than 17.5 in the first 11 games of a season, but that is where Garrrett sits right now but he has bigger goals in mind.
“Chasing Mike, chasing greatness,” Garrett said following yesterday’s win. “If God wills it, I’ll go get it. Hopefully, sooner rather than later. I want it to come in a win. I want to have a chance to play some games in January and February. We gotta win out. Hopefully, things go our way. It would be great, but we have a lot more pressing things to do.”
Garrett has his eyes set on the NFL’s single-season record of 22.5, shared by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt and Garrett wants to make sure he sets the mark in the same number of games as Strahan. There will be no asterisk.
“That’s the thing I’m most excited about,” Garrett said. “That puts a smile on my face. The franchise record, I kind of expect that of myself. I continue to set the bar higher and higher.”
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We all have a firm understanding of where the Raiders offensive line is currently, but this sort of performance from Garrett is still something that makes you sit back and awe. He aligned in various roles and it didn’t much matter where because he was going to get pressure to Geno Smith. Here’s a look at all 11 of the pressure Garrett put on tape.
It was nice to see Garrett and the defensive line able to rush more from those predictable sets — something the Browns have had the least amount of opportunities to do this season. “Being able to just pin your ears back and hunt, we live for moments like that,” Garrett said. “I’m so proud of how all of our guys rushed and us putting together a historic day.”
He was also quick to praise his teammates and it doesn’t feel like that is generic. The Browns have surrounded Garrett with exceptional talent across the board and the interior pressure is really starting to stand out on a snap-by-snap basis. “My guys are helping elevate me to another level,” Garrett said. “I couldn’t do it without them. They’re winning rushes. They’re getting pressure from the middle, keeping them from stepping up. They’re winning on the edge and keeping him contained, and they’re making my job a lot easier. So, there’s no way I’d be able to get to this point and excel at this level without everything that they’re doing. And like I said, I’m very proud of them.”
But, as a general reminder, it isn’t just pass rush where Garrett impacts the game. He has the league’s second most tackles for loss on rush plays as well. He also has PFF’s second-highest run defense grade in the league.
This is a part of his game he has refined over the years and he continues to impact how teams run the ball and even how to impact it when they run away from him.
Just a reminder about how special of a season we are seeing from Garrett and how we might never see something like this again. Sure, we all want it to be during a dominant team season where the Browns are winning the division and more, but we can’t let that distract us from greatness. He also plays two of the league’s longest “time to throw” passers in the immediate future. This could all happen very quickly.
The NFL will have a real decision to make here on how they view defense success versus how they view team success. It is rare to award DPOY to a player whose team isn’t winning a high rate of games but what Garrett is doing here will force them to adjust. Let’s hope he can keep things rolling.
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