Browns teammate has interesting take on 49ers' approach against Myles Garrett

Shortly after the Cleveland Browns defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 17, Cleveland star Myles Garrett said that the Steelers were more concerned with preventing Garrett from getting the one sack needed to earn the single-season sack record than winning the game. According to another member of the Browns, the team has seen this strategy before.

During an interview with Andrew Siciliano, Alex Wright was asked if he agreed with Garrett's take. After pausing for a second, Wright said that he did.

"At first, it was like, 'OK, it's a cool game plan and stuff. But at this point, it's like, OK, now it's getting obvious,'" Wright said. "Like, at some point in time, you see players that's getting rid of the ball. It's like, as soon as they see 9-5, we don't care what happens with this ball. We're just gonna throw it."

Wright then discussed how the 49ers and quarterback Brock Purdy used a similar strategy.

"It was kind of the same as when we played the 49ers. With Brock, it was like, no matter what, 'If 9-5 gets back there, I'd rather you throw it out. We don't want no interceptions, we don't want any of that.' I feel it got real obvious."

When a defense has a player as good as Garrett, it's only natural that opposing offenses will take the "Make someone else beat us" approach. That said, there's one critical difference between the two games.

While the Browns pulled off a 13-6 upset over the Steelers in Week 17, the 49ers handily defeated the Browns in Week 11, winning 26-8. Purdy's stats in that game were relatively modest, as he went 16-for-29, passing for 168 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Purdy was also only sacked once in the game, with Garrett recording that sack.

The single-season sack record of 22.5 is jointly held by Michael Strahan (2001) and T.J. Watt (2021). Garrett enters Week 18 with 22 sacks, needing one sack to break the record. His final chance will come against the Cincinnati Bengals.