Myles Garrett is closing in on the all-time NFL sack record this season. He has registered 20 sacks, just 2.5 behind Michael Strahan’s official mark. But with four games left, Von Miller believes teams will do everything they can to prevent Garrett from reaching the quarterback.
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To be fair, teams have certainly been game-planning against Garrett all season. Yet his combination of elite size, speed, and strength has him posting historic sack numbers, despite constantly being double-teamed.
But we’re talking about Miller here, who played 14 NFL seasons and even came close to the record himself. He knows what’s at stake and what teams can do. In 2012, Miller registered 18.5 sacks but ultimately faced the inevitable dark side of the league.
“If I know one thing about this league, we’ve got some haters in this league. And they’re paying attention,” Miller said on an episode of Free Range.
It’s not just in the NFL. In all sports, athletes and teams take pride in what they do. And that pride doesn’t easily allow others to break records on their watch.
That’s why Miller believes the Bears, Bills, Steelers, and Bengals will do whatever they can to keep Garrett from the record, even if it costs them a win.
“I think the closer he gets to it, the more and more attention that they’re going to pay to Myles Garrett,” Miller continued. “They’re going to be like, ‘We might lose the game, and we might get sacked, but we ain’t gonna let Myles Garrett do it.’”
That said, Miller still backs Garrett to break the record.
“I think he gets it,” he added. “I think he’ll have 23 sacks. Will it be 24 sacks? I don’t know.”
All in all, these were interesting comments coming from one of the best pass rushers ever. Miller finished his career 13th all-time on the sack list, and still has 13 more than Garrett. So, he should know better than anyone what it’s like to play when the opposing team is only gameplanning for one player.
But like we said, teams have been trying to stop Garrett all season. He’s simply unstoppable. That’s why he was handed a big bag of cash by the Cleveland Browns in the offseason, and that’s why he’s going to go down as one of the greatest to ever play in the NFL. This record would be another feather in his cap.
