CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Myles Garrett was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week following his 4 1/2 sack performance against the Bears in a 26-6 victory.
It was another line on what is becoming quite the resume for the 2017 No. 1 overall pick.
Garrett broke Andra Davis’ franchise record of 4.0 sacks in a game set in 2003.
“I didn’t even notice he had 4 1/2 while we were playing until they showed it on the big screen,” safety Grand Delpit said. “He’s a monster, he’s a monster, I love to have him on my team.”
In addition to the sacks, Garrett added seven tackles – four of them for a loss.
“Myles plays every down with a great motor and plays come to him because of that,” Delpit said. “That’s inspirational for me, see the way he works, see what he puts into his craft and see how plays come to him. If everybody has that mentality, then we’re going to be great.”
As important and impressive as Garrett’s sacks were, his leadership continues to be just as valuable.
“I think it definitely resonates with us,” defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. “You know, it's cool when you have a young guy like Myles who's coming in, who's a great Hall of Famer already—crazy because it's what his sixth year?—You know what I mean, doing big things. But, you know, when he can get the group together and call us up because he feels like we need to do something, I think it's just seeing him grow into his leadership role, into his captain role, you know? So I think he's doing a great job.”
Last week leading up to the game with Chicago, Garrett called upon his defensive teammates to make more plays with the attention he'd been commanding from opposing offenses.
It was a point he drove home during a special film session following practice last Thursday and reinforced while speaking with reporters on Friday.
“It opens up a lot of one on ones, and we have to capitalize on those one on ones,” Jackson said. “It just puts fear in the offense’s heart. Those tackles that see him, they are probably turning to those guards, ‘Hey, I need some help.’ Then you have a JD [ Jadeveon Clowney], myself, Malik McDowell or Jordan [Elliott] down there, they have to kind of be careful of that because we are very good rushers in our own right. It creates stress for the O line, but then it opens up things for us where we can go out there and work our individual attributes and really go out there and win our one on ones.”
Pro Football Focus credited Garrett with eight QB pressures, a sixth QB hit and two hurries, earning him a 90.0 defensive grade.
“He’s just huge. He’s all muscle,” running back Nick Chubb said. “You see him with a shirt off, he is like defined everywhere. He’s just a freak.”
In the win over Chicago, the Browns established single-game team records for allowing 47 net yards and 1 passing net yard. Cleveland’s defense totaled nine sacks and held the Bears to 1-for-11 on third downs.
This is the second time Garrett has won Player of the Week honors. He won it in Week 4 last season.