Were the Pittsburgh Steelers more concerned about preventing Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett from making history than winning in Week 17?
After the Browns defeated the Steelers on Sunday, to a certain degree, Garrett made that claim.
“To an extent, I feel like, they were more worried about keeping me away from Aaron [Rodgers] than getting the win,” Garrett said to the media. “I think that’s what came back to bite them.
“They will have to fight it out with Baltimore next week. But, I’m just proud of the guys for fighting and getting this win. That’s the main thing. I’m always going to keep it that.”
Garrett entered Week 17 sitting 0.5 sacks shy of tying the NFL’s single-season all-time sack record.
The Steelers didn’t allow Garrett to register a sack. But pundits and fans on social media agreed with the Browns defensive end, arguing Pittsburgh prioritized preventing the record too highly.
Whether the record had an impact or not, the Browns didn’t give up a touchdown in Week 17, defeating the Steelers 13-6.
Myles Garrett Doesn’t Set Sack Record vs. Steelers
There are a couple different reasons why the sack record could have be important to the Steelers.
First, T.J. Watt shares part of the current record. Watt tied Michael Strahan’s mark of 22.5 sacks in a single season during 2021.
Garrett passing Watt’s record would be more ammo for Cleveland in the Garrett-Watt debate.
Secondly, if he reaches it, the record-breaking sack for Garrett could be replayed a lot over the next several years, or even decades. Rodgers may not have wanted to be part of that history.
Rodgers is already the most sacked quarterback in NFL history.
Tomlin and Rodgers both told reporters after Sunday’s loss that they weren’t concerned about the sack record. Tomlin made clear his team was concerned about slowing down Garrett because that was a key to winning.
“We didn’t do anything against Myles [Garrett] that we don’t normally do against Myles. The sack record is irrelevant,” Tomlin told reporters. “We’ve got to minimize him if we want to engineer victory.
The Steelers mostly achieved that. Garrett didn’t make much of an impact on the stat sheet. He finished Sunday with one tackle and one quarterback hit.
But with Garrett drawing multiple blockers and chips on nearly every play, the Steelers gave up two sacks to other Cleveland defenders. The Browns had seven tackles for loss in part because, at times, Rodgers delivered short passes behind the line of scrimmage rather than potentially being in a position to take a sack.
Steelers Suffer Embarrassing Loss vs. Browns
Cleveland entered Sunday with the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL. The Steelers were also without three of their top passing weapons by the end of the game — DK Metcalf, Calvin Austin III and Darnell Washington.
But Sunday was still a terrible loss, arguably the worst of the Tomlin era.
With a chance to win the AFC North against a 3-12 team starting a rookie quarterback, the Steelers didn’t score a touchdown.
In an incredibly hard-to-believe stat, Tomlin is now winless in his last five matchups against opponents entering a matchup versus the Steelers at least eight games below .500.
2020 — L at 2-10-1 Bengals 2021 — T vs 0-8 Lions 2023 — L vs 2-10 Cardinals 2023 — L vs 2-10 Patriots 2025 — L at 3-12 Browns
The Steelers recently ended conversations around Tomlin’s job security with a three-game winning streak. After Week 16, pundits argued that complaints about Tomlin in November were premature.
Well, if the Steelers don’t beat the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18, then it will become premature to have celebrated that three-game winning streak.
The Steelers must either defeat or tie the Ravens to win the AFC North. Otherwise, Tomlin will go a ninth straight season without a playoff win.
Myles Garrett Takes Dig at Steelers’ Week 17 Plan After Browns Upset Win