Browns defensive end Myles Garrett has sacked Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow plenty of times in his career.
But if Garrett brings down Burrow during Sunday’s season finale, it’ll be historic, as Garrett needs one sack to capture the NFL’s single-season record.
Garrett did not register a sack against the Steelers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers last week. Garrett remarked after Cleveland’s win that it appeared Pittsburgh was more concerned about not letting him get the sack record than winning.
Asked about his approach to facing Garrett in Week 18, Burrow noted there are situations where taking a sack might be his best option.
“Yeah, I’m certainly not going to overcompensate either way,” Burrow said in his press conference. “I’m not going to go out of my way to not let him get the record. And I’m not going to go out of my way to let him get the record either. I’m going to go and play football.
“There’s going to be situations that a sack is the best of the bad outcomes of that play, and maybe I take one. And there’s going to be other situations that I’m about to get sacked and I need to throw it away in that situation. Such a situational game that I don’t think you can go in thinking one way or the other. Every play is so different.”
Being divisional opponents, Burrow has a better idea than many other QBs what makes Garrett so effective.
“He’s more athletic than everybody else on the field — bigger, stronger than everybody else,” Burrow said. “He has a mindset that he’s not too high or too low at any point, which is pretty unique for a defensive lineman. I think he’s probably got a unique mindset as far as that position goes. But it’s one that you can appreciate.
“He’s a guy that I’ve kind of gotten to know over the years and I like him as a person. He takes his job very seriously and is a guy I have a lot of respect for.”
And if Garrett happens to bring Burrow down, he acknowledged that won’t be out of the ordinary.
“He’s gotten me a lot,” Burrow said with a chuckle. “He’s gotten me a lot.”
