The Opening Drive 9/5: The Browns Need 95 to be at His Best in Week 1
Myles Garrett pops up on the late week injury report. His value is understated.
We got some real NFL action last night as the Eagles battled both the weather and a passionate Cowboys team to pull out a 24–20 win. The Cowboys fought hard and put real pressure on the Eagles, but it was abundantly clear they were missing their elite pass rusher. Micah Parsons changes everything for those around him on that Cowboys front, and without him they managed just one sack on Jalen Hurts.
All year, the Cowboys will be searching for pass rush consistency that doesn’t rely on pressure packages—leaving the second level and secondary exposed against elite passing offenses or mobile quarterbacks who can hurt you with their legs, as we saw last night.
On Thursday, the Browns were hit with some bad news. Myles Garrett missed practice with a hip injury. The specifics remain unclear, but his appearance on the injury report is notable. Given his remarkable consistency over the years, it’s easy to forget—or simply let it slip—just how destructive he can be.
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The thought about Garrett here is obvious—we all know he’s valuable—but some context helps. It’s easy to forget that when he entered the league, there were real concerns about his durability. He missed three games with a knee injury and a few more with an ankle issue in his junior year at Texas A&M, then suffered another ankle injury in his rookie training camp that caused him to miss the first four games of the 2017 season.
Since then, though, Garrett has rarely missed time. Outside of the final six games of 2019 due to the Mason Rudolph incident and his battle with COVID-19 in 2020, he has only missed three games because of injury. For a position as physically demanding as his, that makes him about as consistent as they come.
And when he’s not on the field, the impact is glaring. The On/Off Splits in the graphic below show just how much the Browns lose in both EPA and Success Rate without him.
As Joe Burrow noted yesterday, Garrett is so quick he’s usually in the backfield before the quarterback even catches the ball in shotgun. When you mix his anticipation with pure athleticism you get a rare combination of a player who wins however he wants based on the weakness of the opposing tackle, and often does it against multiple blockers. That consistent threat makes the pocket an uneasy place for the quarterback to try and deliver the ball accurately.
It’s a speed and power combination that requires those two bodies at all times to have a chance — especially on those predictable pass situations. The Bengals know this better than anyone with how well Garrett has played against them over the years.
The question for Garrett as he approaches 30 is how well he can stay fueled during these long NFL seasons. Over the course of his career he fades throughout the season. His sacks per game drop each month: September 1.27, October 1.0, November 0.8, and December–January 0.57 per game. Some of this is natural for defensive lineman with wear and tear late in years. Also, some of that data is in those seasons where the Browns chances have faded late. There’s always more context but it is a trend nonetheless.
We all expect him to go out and dominate early in the season, as he always has in Cleveland. Perhaps the hip issue is nothing serious and just needed a day off, but the alarm flags are raised. They absolutely need their game-wrecker in there and at the peak of his powers on Sunday for the Browns to have a chance. Fingers crossed.
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Browns Film Breakdown will return this afternoon with coverage from practice.
