Both the Steelers’ T.J. Watt and the Browns’ Myles Garrett enter Week 12 looking up in the sack standings. Watt is sitting at 7.5 through 10 games while Garrett has 7, both trailing Trey Hendrickson’s 11.5. A total of six players have 8 or more sacks, a place Watt isn’t used to being on such lists.
While Steelers LT Dan Moore Jr. has made significant strides this season that doesn’t mean he gets his own island like Jermaine Eluemenor against Watt. Myles Garrett is always a problem, not just for the Steelers, even if the raw statistics don’t always show it. And Mike Tomlin isn’t about to hand the Browns an easy key to affecting the game.
“I don’t know that we view that as a one-on-one matchup, to be quite honest with you”, Tomlin said of the Steelers’ strategy against the Browns standout. “And it’s no slight against Dan Moore. It’s just the talent level of Myles Garrett.
“I think you identify any tackle and match him up with Myles Garrett, it’s not possible that he’s going to get home, it’s probable. Certainly, Dan is going to have his opportunities to be matched up against Myles, but I doubt that it’s going to be in one-on-one circumstances, particularly in one-dimensional passing moments”.
Myles Garrett did have one of his best games against the Steelers the last time they played, with Moore playing every snap. He recorded two sacks and three quarterback hits, his second career multi-sack game against the Steelers.
In 12 career games, Garrett has nine sacks against the Steelers. He has 36 tackles with 10 for loss, 19 hits, two passes defensed, and three forced fumbles. But the Steelers are still 7-4-1 in those games, 4-2 over the past six.
The Browns play Garrett on both sides, even if he most often plays on the defensive right side. Most of his battles with the Steelers come facing Moore, but that isn’t always the case. Given his growth, it should be interesting to see how Moore handles him tonight.
It will also be interesting to see how the Steelers use Moore while facing Garrett. The Browns traded Za’Darius Smith earlier this month, so they may pay even more attention to Garrett. That might also mean that the Browns move Garrett around more. But in one game since the trade, Garrett took all of his pass-rush snaps from the defensive right side. He also had just three pressures on 24 rushes.
Although he didn’t finish the week there, Myles Garrett did spend some time on the injury report leading up to tonight’s game against Dan Moore and the Steelers. While he didn’t record a stat last week, he had a three-sack game the week before. Either way, the Steelers must come prepared to see his best.
