Sunday’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium will be yet another edition of the Steelers -Browns rivalry. It will also be a chance to kick the T.J. Watt-Myles Garrett discussion into overdrive once again.
The last time the two teams met, Watt showed just how dominant he is, recording a sack, two tackles for loss and a fumble return for touchdown. That was also the game that Watt surpassed James Harrison for most sacks in Steelers history, taking down Deshaun Watson in the first half.
Garrett, on the other hand, was rather quiet in the Steelers’ 26-22 win, recording just one tackle and one quarterback hit as the Steelers largely negated him. That hasn’t slowed him down from having a remarkable 2023 season though as he finds himself in the Defensive Player of the Year discussion again and has an opportunity to put together a dominant day against the Steelers in an effort to try and overshadow Watt.
Both are elite players with different skill sets, yet they are consistently compared and debated about.
For former Steelers offensive lineman Max Starks, there really shouldn’t be a comparison. Appearing on the 92.3 FM’s Afternoon Drive in Cleveland Thursday, Starks said that Watt is the better player, doing everything defensively for the Steelers to impact games in a number of phases compared to Garrett.
“Yeah, so, I went through the stats and T.J. is a more complete player than Myles. Myles is great at stopping the run, affecting things in the backfield, but T.J. just enhances the entire defense, ’cause when he’s not causing a sack, he’s forcing flow to another teammate. Or if he’s not in on the play, somehow he’s going to get involved in the play,” Starks said, according to audio via 92.3 FM. “Like Alex Highsmith forces a fumble. T.J. Watt picks up and runs that fumble in for a touchdown, or he drops in the coverage and the quarterback doesn’t see it ’cause they’re expecting T.J. to rush, he picks off a ball for the interception. So like those are the different aspects where I feel like T.J.’s more complete.”
Those are some of the easiest ways to show that Watt impacts defenses more than Garrett. Watt is asked to do everything, from playing the run to dropping into coverage. Garrett is a great player in his own right and is strong against the run, but he’s known more for his pass-rushing prowess.
Watt should be too, though. He’s accomplished something only his older brother, J.J., and the late, great Reggie White have done, which is reach 87 or more sacks in their first 100 NFL games. Watt also is tied for the single-season sacks record with Hall of Famer Michael Strahan, whom Garrett is not. All the numbers point in Watt’s direction, yet there’ still an argument that Garrett is better somehow.
“And I think it’s easy just to look at a number and say, ‘Oh man, look at those sack numbers.’ But he’s also the second fastest in first hundred games of sacks. Like, he’s not gonna beat Reggie White, he just passed his brother. So when you look at just kind of how he outgains his production year in and year out when he is healthy, I think I have to say that he’s a more complete player even though Myles Garrett is a tremendous player,” Starks said. “Micah Parsons is a tremendous player. I think T.J.’s a little bit more complete of those three because he does more multifaceted things and like you said, he gets more people those stats as well. He helps, he’s a stat multiplier as I like to call him, when it comes to his team emphasis.”
That’s a great point from Starks. Year after year, Watt seemingly outperforms expectations. Even with all the double teams and chips he faces, he finds a way to get to the quarterback, make plays when he’s there whether it’s a sack or a forced fumble. He also takes a ton of attention away from teammates from opposing offenses, putting them in advantageous matchups.
That’s helped Highsmith develop into a standout pass rusher in his own right and has allowed Cameron Heyward to dominate in the trenches. Watt gets all the attention, and rightfully so, but he does so much for the defense that isn’t seen by the naked eye, either. The same can’t be said for Garrett, at least right now.
