Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett said he felt like the Pittsburgh Steelers were more focused on preventing him from setting the single-season sack record than winning on Sunday.
Garrett entered Week 17 with 22 sacks — one shy of breaking the NFL record of 22.5 shared by Pro Football Hall of Fame member Michael Strahan (2001) and Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt (2021). Pittsburgh held Garrett without at least a half-sack for the first time in more than two months, but lost the game, 13-6.
With a win, the Steelers would have clinched the AFC North title. Now they face a winner-takes-all regular-season finale at home against the Baltimore Ravens.
Garrett, who had 18 sacks over his previous nine games, faced constant double-teams on Sunday. He finished with a lone tackle along with a quarterback hit and was asked if he felt like Pittsburgh placed extra emphasis on preventing him from setting the record.
“To an extent. I feel like they were more worried about keeping me away from (quarterback) Aaron (Rodgers) than, you know, getting the win, and I think that’s what came back to bite them,” Garrett said. “So, they’ll have to fight it out with Baltimore next week.
“But I’m just proud of the guys for fighting and getting this win. That’s the main thing, and I’m always going to keep it that.”
Rogers threw for 168 yards while averaging only 4.3 yards per attempt and failed to throw a touchdown. However, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said there was no more focus placed on Garrett than in any other meeting between the team.
“We didn’t do anything against Myles that we don’t normally do against Myles,” Tomlin said. “The sack records are irrelevant. We got to minimize him if we want to engineer victory. We did the same thing last time we played him. I didn’t think he had any sacks in that game either. And so, we didn’t take a different approach because of the gravity of the record. It’s just standard business when you’re playing these guys and him.”
Garrett was indeed held without a sack at Pittsburgh in Week 6, the most recent game in which he had failed to register at least a half-sack until Sunday. The Steelers have now posted two of the only four games in which Garrett has not had a sack heading into the Browns’ season finale at Cincinnati.
“Four more quarters, 60 more minutes. However you want to draw it up, it’ll get done,” Garrett said.
