Entering Week 18, Myles Garrett sits tied with Trey Hendrickson atop the NFL leaderboard with 14 sacks. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year has generated four consecutive seasons of 14-plus QB takedowns but has never led the NFL in sacks.
Heading into Saturday's showdown against the Baltimore Ravens, the Cleveland Browns edge rusher is more focused on getting a W and potentially ruining their rival's shot at an AFC North title than the sack crown.
"I mean, I'd rather upset them and mess up their playoff hopes," Garrett said Thursday, . "And if the sack title comes along with that, great. Definitely going to do what I can to be disruptive and take eight (Lamar Jackson) out of the game as much as possible. If that comes along with it, outstanding. But at the end of the day, I want to win."
The Ravens would clinch the division title with a win. A loss would give the Steelers a shot to retake the AFC North with a win in the later game.
With two sacks Saturday, the 29-year-old Garrett would tie his career-high with 16 (2021 and 2022).
Garrett has notched five and a half sacks against Jackson in his career. He said those are the hardest out of his 102.5 career sacks.
"Absolutely. It's not even close," Garrett said. There are definitely some other special cats at the quarterback position who are shifty. I mean, Pat (Patrick Mahomes) himself, he has great contact balance, but, I mean, Lamar has that. But he also has speed, he has quickness, is shifty, so he has that tremendous running ability, and he can also throw the ball pretty much anyone on the field right now."
Garrett sees Jackson's improvement as a pocket passer as a game-changer for the quarterback, making him much more dangerous for defenses. The pass rusher was asked if it was possible to take Jackson completely out of the game.
"Completely? Hell, no. The man's amazing," Garrett said. "A couple years back, you would say, 'Try to keep him in the pocket.' I think even beginning of the season we were like, 'Try to keep him in pocket, make him throw as much as possible,' and now you're like, 'S---, we don't know what to do.' He's been steadily growing year after year. He lost that baby weight. Now he's back to being lean and fast as hell. So now, whether he breaks the pocket or he stays in the pocket, you're going to have a rough day because he can do everything."
The Browns defeated Baltimore earlier this season in a 29-24 shootout. Jackson threw for 289 yards with two touchdowns and rushed eight times for 46 yards. Cleveland sacked the QB three times (none by Garrett). Jameis Winston threw for three touchdowns in the win. Bailey Zappe is set to start Week 18 for the Browns.
