Even though they’ve only won six football games since September of 2024, the Cleveland Browns’ defense still looks as ferocious as ever ahead of their Week 13 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. Myles Garrett and co. were able to sack Geno Smith a whopping 10 times in Week 12, and with Shedeur Sanders having rejuvenated their offense a bit, they’ve effectively put Brock Purdy on notice.
Advertisement
According to Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot, there isn’t “an offense in the NFL right now that wants to face Myles Garrett and this Cleveland Browns defense.” In noting that Cleveland’s season sack total of 42 is the second largest of any team in the league, as well as the fact that the 29-year-old pass rusher is creeping up on the single-season sack record (22.5 sacks by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt), Cabot suggested that Garrett is “going to make life really difficult on Brock Purdy on Sunday” and that he may just be able to “pressure him into a few interceptions and help the Cleveland Browns win this football game.”
Seeing as Purdy was coerced into throwing three interceptions against one of the more lackluster units in the league, the Carolina Panthers, there’s a very real chance that the added pressure from Garrett could be enough to force a similarly bad performance on Sunday afternoon. The last time that the 49ers’ QB1 threw at least one interception in back-to-back games came during Weeks 16 and 17 of the 2024 regular season.
Cabot also noted that the team’s defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz, believes that Garrett should be considered not just for the Defensive Player of the Year award, but also for the regular-season MVP award. Of course, the latter is almost impossible given the amount of value that winning team records hold with voters, but Garrett is certainly a lock to take home the second DPOY trophy of his career.
At -1000 odds, he’s currently the runaway favorite to win the award, as the next closest player, Micah Parsons, continues to be a +500 underdog despite his 2.5 sack performance against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day. Although it is worth noting that Parsons is currently fetching better MVP odds than Garrett over on FanDuel.
The Browns will be reprising their role as underdogs against the 49ers this weekend at Levi Stadium, but Cabot is forecasting a low-scoring affair that ultimately sees them winning in spite of the struggles that the rookie Sanders will likely endure. “Even though it is Shedeur Sanders’ second start and it could be a long afternoon for him, I’m picking the Browns 20-19.”
That may not sound like the most exciting game of the weekend, but it doesn’t sound like the kind of gritty, methodical game that the Browns tend to enjoy. Sprinkle in the mix of excitement and chaos that Sanders is bound to bring to the contest, and that should be enough to make this one palatable for fans, regardless of whether or not Cleveland actually wins.
