Myles Garrett eyes a record-breaking sack when the Cleveland Browns host the Buffalo Bills, but reigning MVP Josh Allen stands in his way of NFL history
Myles Garrett has sacked a lot of quarterbacks in his nine-year career. His next sack will be one for the record books as he'll tie NFL's single-season sack record, shared by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt. Anything beyond that, would leave Garrett standing alone as the new single-season sack king.
With the Buffalo Bills traveling to Cleveland to face the Browns this weekend, reigning MVP Josh Allen stands between Garrett and the record, putting two of the best players in football on a collision course for potential NFL history this weekend.
Game recognize game.
"The guy's unbelievable," Garrett said of Allen on Friday. "What he can do at the quarterback position, with the ball in general, there's no one like him. So it'll be a fun matchup. He's winning MVP for a reason. So we'll have to stop him. We'll have to stop that running game. We'll have to try and make him one dimensional, but that's a hell of a dimension to have."
Allen certainly won't make it easy for Garrett to break the record against him. The 29-year-old is one of the best dual threat quarterbacks in football and this year, perhaps more than ever, he's had to do herculean things to help his team win.
Entering Week 16, Allen leads all QBs with 535 rushing yards and a whopping 12 rushing touchdowns. He's deceivingly fast for his size, and tackling his nearly 240 pound frame at high speeds is like trying to tackle a Mack truck. It's why numerous Browns players shared that they've been instructed to try to tackle Allen like he's Derrick Henry when he's on the move.
Those attributes will make Garrett's sack chase a little bit harder to attain this weekend. The Browns' star wouldn't have it any other way.
"It would mean a lot to get it against him because he's very special," Garrett admitted. "I have a lot of admiration for what he can do for football."
Allen, naturally, will do everything to avoid that. The Bills' franchise QB made it known earlier in the week that as much as he loves highlight tapes, he would prefer not be part of Garrett's, especially on a play that will be replayed for years to come by the NFL.
Football fans are plenty familiar with the clip of Strahan's anticlimactic sack against Brett Favre to first establish the record in 2001. It's a controversial clip, with many suspecting Favre took a dive to help his friend, Strahan, earn the single-season sack crown.
The style of play between Favre and Allen are eerily similar, but the similarities stop there. Whether the rumors about Favre's role in that play are true or not, Garrett isn't expecting similar treatment from Allen on Sunday.
"Not quite," he said when asked if he thinks Allen will lay down for him. "I mean, he's a gunslinger himself. So he's the kind of guy that I guess you would say Mike (Strahan) got those years ago," Garrett said. "So I think it's a bit of a funny comparison, because those guys have similar styles, and me and Mike have been compared before."
And so, the stage is set for a great cat-and-mouse game between two of the NFL's best to play out on Sunday. It may just produce an unforgettable NFL moment.