In Week 12, the Cleveland Browns will head out west to take on the Las Vegas Raiders. The game will naturally garner gobs of attention as the lightning rod that is Shedeur Sanders makes his starting debut in the NFL. While the matchup is positive for the rookie, there is another battle that will take place on the field that is likely to yield particularly troubling results - if you're a Raider fan.
The Raiders have allowed Geno Smith to be sacked a collective 31 times, which is fourth-most in the league. They've had trouble containing all kinds of pass rushers from strictly EDGE players, like Harold Landry (2.5 sacks, Week 1), Josh Hines-Allen (1.5 sacks, Week 9), and Nik Bonitto (1.5 sacks, Week 10), to blitzing linebackers like Bobby Wagner (2.0 sacks, Week 3). On Monday night, Smith was brought down for a sack and a half by newly minted Dallas Cowboy Quinnen Williams. Suffice to say, they have had trouble protecting the quarterback from all areas.
Browns d-line should feast against beat-up Raiders' front
I'm sure you can see where this is going, but get this. The Raiders had been short their best offensive lineman - left tackle Kolton Miller - since he suffered a hairline leg fracture and high ankle sprain in their Week 4 contest against the Bears. The bad got worse when those cursed Raider ankles struck again, this time to their right guard, Jackson Powers-Johnson, in Week 10. Both players are on injured reserve and won't suit up against the Browns.
PFF has given the Raiders' right tackle D.J. Glaze an uneven pass block grade (63.2, 49/76 offensive tackles) so far this season, and Miller's replacement - Stone Forsythe - on the other side has struggled as well (58.1, 58/76). The Raiders replaced Jackson Powers-Johnson in the startling lineup by kicking center Jordan Meredith out to guard and putting Will Putnam in his spot. Putnam's Monday night performance garnered a particularly grotesque 10.3 pass block grade. Ten point three.
It seems safe to say that the Browns are catching the Raiders at precisely the right time. It's like entering the lion's den wearing a gazelle costume. Oh, and the lion is named Myles Garrett. There's only one way this situation could end.
Myles Garrett has been blazing a trail to yet another Defensive Player of the Year trophy. Through ten games, he's racked up 15.0 sacks and 22 tackles-for-loss, both lead the league. He is on pace to break the all-time single-season sack record of 22.5 set by Michael Strahan in 2002 and tied by T.J. Watt in 2021. If Garrett is able to maintain this breakneck pace, he would finish with 25.5 sacks. And for anyone wondering (I was) whether there would be an asterisk because of the 17th game, here's the answer: he would break the record with 24 sacks if he keeps this pace through 16 games.
Sunday's contest has a high likelihood of being one of those games that will be highlighted in the annals of Myles Garrett's career when it's all said and done. For all the heartbreak that the 2025 season has provided Browns fans, Myles Garrett's road to the record books is a welcome and necessary distraction.