One week after breaking out a hesitation crossover on a pass rush rep against the Cincinnati Bengals in a 24-3 win in Week One, Cleveland Browns star defensive tackle Myles Garrett is certainly feeling himself.
Speaking with reporters Saturday ahead of the Monday Night Football matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium, Garrett stated that he “might bring something new” out in primetime against the Steelers offensive line, one that struggled in Week One against the San Francisco 49ers.
“I might bring something new out. I might save it for the Bengals,” Garrett said to reporters Saturday, according to the official transcript provided by the team. “I’ve done it for years in practice. I’ve just never brought it out. I was like, this year I’m just going to have fun and we’re just going to bust out everything I’m doing in practice. So that was one of them days.”
It was definitely one of those days for Garrett. He moved all over the defensive front for the Browns and caused a ton of chaos for the Bengals’ offensive line.
Garrett will ride into Acrisure Stadium coming off of a dominant Week One performance against the Bengal as he put together a Pro Football Focus grade of 89.9 overall, registering a sack and recording an absurd 0.44 second get-off, which measures how quickly a player fires out of his stance.
Garrett, according to NFL researched Ben Fennell via Next Gen Stats, led the league in average get-off time last season at 0.69 seconds. Those get-off numbers match up with his rather freakish combination of speed and power at the defensive end position, making him a downright nightmare for offensive linemen, especially with defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz getting a bit more creative with the former No. 1 overall pick, moving him all over the formation to find mismatches.
The Cleveland star added six total pressures in addition to the sack against the Bengals, garnering a 90.3 pass rush grade. His six pressures and 23.1% pass rush win rate have him tied with T.J Watt and Dallas star Micah Parsons in that category for sixth in the league after Week One.
Playing freer and having fun under Schwartz could unlock a completely new level to Garrett’s game. He’s already arguably the best pass rusher in the game with a deep arsenal of moves that makes him nearly unblockable. He could find himself in line for a Defensive Player of the Year award and should be able to record his third straight 16.0-sack season for Cleveland.
Taking on an offensive line that needs to rebound in a hurry after a Week One debacle against the 49ers, don’t be surprised if Garrett reaches into his bag of tricks on Monday night in primetime in pre-snap situations before rushing the passer. He’s having fun. It won’t be much fun watching him have success against the Steelers offensive line on Monday night, if that happens.
