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Myles Garrett makes it known 'I'm the No. 1 edge defender' in win over T.J. Watt, Steelers
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- Myles Garrett makes it known 'I'm the No. 1 edge defender' in win over T.J. Watt, Steelers
CLEVELAND — Myles Garrett was standing behind a lectern as he spoke late Thursday night. However, you could almost envision him sitting in a chair, a la Michael Jordan in "The Last Dance," and answering the question.
Was Thursday night's 24-19 Browns win over the Pittsburgh Steelers personal for the Browns defensive end?
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"Personal? You try to take things a bit personally," Garrett said. "Yeah. There's certain aspects to the game that you want to use as motivation, as newspaper materials they call it, or clipboard, whatever they call it. But you use that as motivation to go out there and play your very best and just try to make that as contagious as possible to men around you."
The seeds for those feelings were planted back in February. Specifically, they were planted on Feb. 8 , the night Garrett received his first NFL Defensive Player of the Year award at the NFL Honors show.
Before the show, the player who finished second to Garrett in the voting — Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt — posted on X, "Nothing I'm not used to." Those five words stuck with the Browns star, something that was evident Tuesday when he acknowledged those words hadn't been forgotten.
Two days later, Garrett showed just how personal he took them. He went out in the first half against the Steelers and sacked quarterback Russell Wilson three times, including a strip sack to help set up a field goal that gave the Browns a 10-3 halftime lead.
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It also gave Garrett a 3-0 edge in sacks on Watt, who was held sack-less in the game.
"I mean, I wasn't really looking at what he did," Garrett said. "I was really just focused on going out there and playing the very best ball I could. But, yeah, I wanted to make it known that I'm the guy, I'm the No. 1 edge defender. That was a statement I was intending to make, and I think I made it."
Loud and clear. And one more time after that, just for the folks in the back of the room.
Garrett's three-sack night was the second such performance in a three-game span. He also had three sacks — in a four-play span, no less — in a Week 9 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers before the Browns' bye week.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin told Pittsburgh reporters on Monday, in reference to Garrett's performance against Los Angeles , "We're highly familiar with that. I'd imagine the Chargers were less familiar because he took that game over a couple of weeks ago in a big way, but we know he's capable of that."
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Garrett decided to remind the Steelers just what he's capable of doing. The three sacks give him 12 career sacks, including three strip sacks, in 13 games against Pittsburgh.
So what exactly was the secret sauce for Garrett against the Steelers? That's not to be spoken about just yet.
"I actually can't tell you because it might be used against me next time," Garrett said. "We see [the Steelers] in two weeks. So let me go ahead and say it was tough, so let's just keep it at that."
Thursday's performance pushed Garrett's season sack total to 10, just 1.5 behind league leader Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals . It's the seventh consecutive season in which Garrett has recorded at least 10 sacks, something no one else in the NFL has done.
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The three sacks were among four the Browns recorded on Wilson. It's the third time in the last four games the Steelers quarterback has been sacked four times.
"He's one of one," said Browns linebacker Jordan Hicks , who had the other sack, of Garrett. "He's a monster. I've never been around, never seen anybody do the type of stuff that he does. So it's crazy how you look at it, and it's expected of him to have those type of games on these prime time. But you watch the film and he is dominating out there, so obviously great to have him on our side."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Myles Garrett makes statement in Browns win over Steelers, T.J. Watt
