Myles Garrett finally held in check in frustrating loss to Bills

For Myles Garrrett and the Cleveland Browns, history will have to wait.

Sunday’s tight, 23-20 loss at home to the Buffalo Bills had a little bit of everything, but in the end it was mostly more heartbreak (and frustration) for Cleveland.

The Browns watched rookie Quinshon Judkins get carted off with what looked like a significant leg injury late in the second quarter. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders also sustained a nasty pinky injury during the first half, but was able to return to the game for Cleveland's next drive.

As for the frustration? That would be the day for Garrett and Cleveland’s defense, which for the third straight week struggled to stop the run. With the Bills averaging over 7 yards per carry on the ground for the majority of the game, Garrett and the Browns’ pass rushers didn’t have many opportunities to get to quarterback Josh Allen and affect the passing game. 

In fact, had it not been for a major gift on a touch sack that was initially credited to Mason Graham, Garrett barely would have been listed in the final box score.

He finished the game with one tackle, zero tackles for loss, and one half-sack — though, if you watch the play, Garrett applies pressure and sends Allen retreating towards his own end zone, but he never actually touches the QB.

In the end, there wasn't much to add up for Garrett, who officially moved one sack shy of breaking the NFL's single-season record, but was rendered mostly invisible for 99 percent of the game.

Myles Garrett’s quiet day comes at worst possible time

Garrett entered the game with 17.5 sacks over Cleveland’s last eight games, and 21.5 overall on the season. His early Christmas gift from the official scorer aside, Garrett’s streak of at least one full sack in eight consecutive games was snapped against Buffalo.

There was a second, seemingly untouchable NFL record within reach for Garrett entering Week 16, but it just got a lot harder. Garrett entered Sunday with 32 tackles for loss — a stat recorded completely separately from sacks that’s more focused on rushers and receivers taken down behind the line of scrimmage. J.J. Watt holds the single-season record with 39 TFLs during the 16-game 2012 season, per Pro Football Reference.

Garrett failed to gain ground in that department. He finished with zero tackles behind the line of scrimmage for just the third time this season, and saw his eight-game streak of at least one TFL snapped against the Bills.

The off-day came at a brutal time, too. The Browns defense only really proudced two negative plays and failed to force a turnover in a game they lost by a field goal.

There’s still time to catch Watt, but Garrett will have to go off, and would almost certainly need all 17 games to get there. The focus entering Cleveland’s Week 17 home game against Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers will be getting Garrett the one sack he now needs to break the NFL’s official single-season mark of 22.5, held currently by Michael Strahan (2001) and T.J. Watt (2021). 

Garrett’s dream scenario would be to clinch the record at home, in a Browns win. Next week’s game against the 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers, in game No. 16 of the season, now feels like the ideal spot.

Sunday’s showdown with the 10-4 Bills and reigning league MVP would have obviously been even sweeter, but this a rare game to forget for Garrett during what has been a brilliant 2025 run.