Myles Garrett not satisfied with tying sack mark after Browns’ loss

On Jan 9, 2023

PITTSBURGH — Myles Garrett said last month that individual successes would only carry him so far. The Browns defensive end still felt like a season without the playoffs would be a failure in his mind.

Garrett didn’t change his tune on Sunday, despite tying his own single-season franchise sack record in the third quarter of the Browns’ season-ending 28-14 loss at the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I’ll tell you, the next two weeks I’m probably going to be frustrated as hell, watching somebody else live those dreams and those goals that you want to achieve whether it’s individually or as a team going on to win those big games and go to the Super Bowl,” Garrett said after the Browns finished 7-10. “I mean, it’s frustrating to watch and whether they’re friends or former teammates or not, you know, you still feel it in the back of your head and the bottom of your heart knowing that you know, wanna be there. You wanna be doing those things, you wanna be making those plays.”

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Garrett brought down Steelers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett on a third-and-9 play from the Cleveland 10 with 9:44 remaining in the third quarter. It gave the Browns All-Pro defensive end 16 sacks for the season, matching the record he set last season.

The Steelers, though, managed to get a Chris Boswell field goal on the next play, increasing their lead to 13-7 with 9:04 remaining in the third quarter. They pushed it out to 20-7 before the Browns managed to get a Deshaun Watson-to-Nick Chubb touchdown pass to pull within six with 10:11 to play.

The problem, though, was one that plagued the Browns throughout the season. The defense could not get the ball back for its offense with the game still within one score.

Instead, Pittsburgh marched 75 yards in 14 plays, with Derek Watt scoring — one play after a third-down pass interference penalty on the Browns — on a 1-yard run with 4:37 remaining. Pickett added a two-point conversion pass to Dionte Johnson to push the Steelers’ lead back out to double-digits at 28-14.

“I mean, they made some big plays,” Garrett said. “They’re running the ball very well. That (pass interference) penalty killed us as well. It seemed ticky-tacky at best, but we can’t hope that the refs are going to be for us or against us. We gotta play the game regardless of the outcome of what they do and keep it out of their hands.”