The Cleveland Browns are currently in the midst of their latest lost season, one where fans have to work to find the joy amid the rubble.
It might be the rise of the rookie draft class, led on offense by
running back Quinshon Judkins and tight end Harold Fannin Jr., and on defense by defensive tackle Mason Graham and linebacker Carson Schwesinger.
Even though he is having a down season by his standards, seeing Joel Bitonio line up each week at left guard can have a soothing effect.
Maybe it is the anticipation of rookie Shedeur Sanders potentially receiving his first NFL start this Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, especially after a full week of practice reps with the starting offense!
One area that everyone can agree on is that it is a pleasure to watch defensive end Myles Garrett do his thing every week.
Following a four-sack performance on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, Garrett leads the NFL with 15 sacks, 10 of which have come in the past three games. The game marked the third time that Garrett has snagged four sacks in a game, and joins Hall-of-Famer Richard Dent as the only players in league history with 10 sacks in a three-game stretch.
Garrett is the first player since 1982 to have at least 12 sacks in six consecutive seasons, a streak that would be at eight if not for Mason Rudolph. Garrett is also the only player in NFL history with five consecutive seasons of at least 13 sacks, which breaks a tie with Hall-of-Famer Reggie White and T.J. Watt.
With seven games left in the season, Garrett has a chance to break both the official record for sacks in a single season, which is 22.5 and currently held by Watt (2021) and Michael Strahan of the New York Giants (2001), and the unofficial record of 23 set by Al Baker of the Detroit Lions in 1978.
Given that the Browns are 2-8 on the season, not everyone is excited about the prospect of Garrett breaking the sack record. While it is understandable that fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers do not need another reminder of how much better Garrett is than Watt, a surprising critic has emerged in the form of ESPN’s Jeff Saturday.
During an appearance on Get Up, Saturday said that it is “just awful that Garrett will break the record on the Browns. It hurts my heart to realize that there are going to be like eight people watching” when he breaks the record.
The other talking heads on the panel added their own brand of stupidity to the conversation, which denied Saturday an opportunity to explain what is so “awful” about the situation.
That leads to several unanswered questions:
- Is Garrett setting the sack record as awful as Saturday going 1-7 as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 2022?
- Is it as awful as Strahan being gifted the record in the final game of the season against the Green Bay Packers when Brett Favre took a dive so Strahan could get the sack?
- Is it as awful as Strahan setting the record in a season when the Giants lost five of their last seven games to finish at 7-9?
- Is it as awful as Watt co-holding the record despite the Steelers never winning a playoff game with him on the roster?
Garrett is averaging 1.5 sacks a game this season, which, if he can keep up that pace, means he would break the record in front of the home fans in Week 16 against the Buffalo Bills. That is just a few days before Christmas, so while Huntington Bank Field may not be full that day, there will certainly be more than eight people watching.
If that happens, hopefully the holidays won’t be ruined for Saturday by the “awful” idea of the game’s best defensive player achieving a historic season.
