Browns illustrate how Myles Garrett is on doorstep of franchise sack record

Myles Garrett has been a constant force for the Cleveland Browns this season.

The Cleveland Browns have had, well, a fairly disappointing 2021 campaign. The team has had its share of injuries, and Baker Mayfield, for one, has had a litany of them himself.

Even still, for Cleveland to be 6-6, drama aside, after how the team went 11-5 last season and made the Divisional Round of the postseason, it’s been far from stellar. Worse yet, the Browns mustered just 10 points in Sunday night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, a game in which the defense forced four turnovers that they got only three points directly off, as DPD’s John Suchan emphasized. That was just the latest for an offense struggling to find its rhythm.

Now, the defense has had some rough outings, too. That I’m not completely absolving; nobody wants to relive that 45-7 loss to the New England Patriots a few weeks back.

That being said, a silver lining to a season full of inconsistencies has been the play of guys such as Denzel Ward, when he’s been in there, the same for rookie Greg Newsome II, along with Jadeveon Clowney. We know what Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has done when he’s been healthy, too; that Baltimore game was a reminder of it.

But generally speaking, the clear standout performer in many games for Cleveland, to nobody’s surprise, has been their superstar pass rusher in Myles Garrett. And as the Browns recently pointed out on Wednesday, Garrett, who has 14 sacks through 12 games and is tied with Reggie Camp (1984), is one sack away from setting Cleveland’s single-season sack record.

Myles Garrett has had a special season for the Browns, as this recent tweet from the club illustrates.

Garrett has been one of the few constants for the Orange and Brown this season, and on the year, has had those aforementioned 14 sacks through 12 games (Camp took 16). This was the play on Baltimore’s first drive where Garrett hit that mark, which was unreal, too.

He is currently leading the NFL in sacks and could have a real case, depending on what shakes out, for Defensive Player of the Year. Garrett has had those sack splits, now putting him at 56.5 through 63 career games played (with 61 starts).

In addition, he’s had 43 pressures this season, and is on pace for a career-high clearly in that metric. Plus, he’s had a career-best in terms of tackles for loss (15) and he’s nearly there regarding quarterback hits with 28 and tackles with 42 already.

Now again, the Browns have not had near the season they had last year, for a variety of reasons, and head coach Kevin Stefanski, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, and Mayfield, among others, deserve their share of criticism. Others on the defensive side, at least to some extent, have had their ups and downs, too, to that point.

As we alluded to, however, Garrett is on the doorstep of setting the single-season sack record for Cleveland, and he seems to very well be named an All-Pro for the second consecutive campaign.

It’s becoming more and more apparent that despite some uncertainty within the team’s future outlook, the team knows what they’re getting from him game-in and game-out. The dude is truly a game-wrecker, and he sets the tone for the defense with his generational skill set, and ever-evolving pass-rushing repertoire.