CLEVELAND, Ohio — The casual confidence is almost jarring. As the Orange and Brown Talk podcast hosts discussed Sunday’s Browns-Titans matchup, they casually predicted defensive end Myles Garrett would break the NFL’s single-season sack record this weekend — and nobody batted an eye.
That kind of prediction — at least four sacks — would normally be dismissed as hometown hyperbole, but when it comes to Garrett this season, the extraordinary has become expected. It’s no longer if he’ll break the record, but when — and this Sunday’s matchup against the league’s most-sacked quarterback presents the perfect opportunity.
“Is Myles Garrett going to break the NFL single-season sack record this weekend? Because he has a chance to,” Browns beat reporter Ashley Bastock said on the podcast. “It’s crazy that we’re saying that because he’s at 19, he needs four more to beat the 22.5 record that was set by Michael Strahan and matched by T.J. Watt. But Cam Ward is averaging about four sacks a game right now. He’s been sacked 48 times. It’s the most of any quarterback in the NFL.”
What’s most remarkable isn’t just that Garrett is challenging the record — it’s that he’s doing it with five games still to play. NFL sack records typically come down to the wire in Week 17 or 18, not in early December. Michael Strahan famously needed Brett Favre to essentially surrender to set the mark at 22.5 sacks. Garrett could surpass it before many teams have even started their holiday parties.
The situation has created a bizarrely confident atmosphere around the Browns, despite their disappointing 3-9 record. As host Dan Labbe noted, there’s something unprecedented about the way people are discussing a potential four-sack performance.
“We’re sitting here two, three days before this football game and we’re just kind of really casually saying, ‘Yeah, Myles will get four sacks on Sunday and break this record.’ And nobody is calling us out and being like, ‘You’re crazy.’ You’re predicting a four sack game for this guy. It feels so normal,” Labbe remarked.
The matchup couldn’t be more perfect for Garrett’s record-breaking aspirations. The Titans’ rookie quarterback has been sacked at least twice in every game, with multiple five and six-sack performances already on his resume. Ward has also lost six of his nine fumbles this season, making him particularly vulnerable to Garrett’s signature strip-sacks.
Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has made it clear he wants more than just sacks — he wants the strips too. Mary Kay Cabot noted that Schwartz “brought that up today, that he doesn’t want these guys just getting sacks. He wants the strips in this game.”
For a 3-9 team playing out the string, individual achievements like Garrett’s have become the rallying cry. As Labbe pointed out: “The one thing this defense can sort of cling to or the couple things this defense can sort of cling to is the sack record, getting Myles defensive Player of the Year.”
If you want to witness potential NFL history this Sunday, tune in to Browns-Titans. You might just see Myles Garrett accomplish something that typically takes a full season in just his 13th game — and based on the matchup, nobody in Cleveland would be surprised if it happens.
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