Myles Garrett clearly expressed his feelings when he recorded three sacks in four plays in Week 9.
After dealing with many injuries, from his feet to his Achilles to his calf, Garrett had laboured through the first month or so of the Cleveland Browns season. On multiple occasions, Garrett was forced to spend stretches of games on the sidelines, either working out his ailments or taking a knee. He even spent some time in the blue medical tent—all three scenarios were uncharacteristic of Cleveland’s star pass rusher.
In Week 2, Garrett missed over 39% of the team’s defensive snaps. One week later, he missed nearly half of them. His availability took an uptick though as the season has drawn on, playing more than 80% of snaps in Weeks 7 and 8. Then over 77% in Week 9, where he pulled off that remarkable three sacks in four plays feat.
On a scale of one to 10, Garrett believes he was a six back in September. Two months later, that number has improved.
“Six to an eight,” Garrett said of where he is now. “It wasn’t a consistent six [back then]. It was up and down. It was definitely tough just because it was so inconsistent from play-to-play, day-to-day, with dealing with something or another. So glad I’m over the hill for the most part and could start playing some good football.”
The bye week also aided in Garrett’s recovery. And as he gears up for the second half of the season – which features eight more games, including four inside an always-physical AFC North division – he feels ready to contribute more of the performances that helped him earn Defensive Player of the Year a season ago.
The #Browns enter their Week 11 with #Saints receiving mostly positive injury news but will be without rookie Mike Hall Jr. https://t.co/T7nMjhFAUg
— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) November 15, 2024
“I want to make plays for my team,” Garrett said. “I want to win games, and I know that if I’m going out there and I’m feeling just good, if I’m feeling at least like myself, I can go out there and be a game-changer for us as a team. So we want to get back to that. So those four games, as disruptive as it was blocking kicks and making TFLs, I want to get the ball out; I want to get those strip sacks and just go set them back.”
Garrett is taking a one-game-at a time approach to what remains of the 2024 campaign. Right now that means focusing on the team’s Week 11 matchup with the New Orleans Saints.
Despite how much better he’s feeling at the moment, he knows there may be some lingering effects of his injuries to address once the season is over.
“Things are getting better, but still something to address in the offseason,” explained Garrett. Not looking too far into the future with all that, we got a game coming here soon, but that is further down the road.”
