Myles Garrett decided not to hold back.
Following his three-sack performance in the Browns‘ upset win over the Steelers on Thursday night, Cleveland’s All-Pro pass rusher directly addressed the obvious tension that exists between himself and Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
Watt publicly voiced his displeasure shortly after Garrett won Defensive Player of the Year over him in February. Garrett chose not to respond until after Thursday night’s game, a game in which Garrett thoroughly outplayed his counterpart and fellow former DPOY winner.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for him, a lot of respect for all of the guys over there … but I’m No. 1,” Garrett said after the game. “That’s from edge (rusher) No. 1, to Defensive Player of the Year, I’m the guy. That runs through me. There’s no other person being defended as I am or schemed or planned against like I am. Just goes to show … I’m gonna find a way.”
It’s hard to argue with Garrett after watching what he did on Thursday night. Garrett took over the game with three sacks in the first half, beating the Steelers’ offensive line in a variety of ways while leaving Steelers coach Mike Tomlin looking for answers.
“You know, we can’t do anything more schematically,” Tomlin said at the end of the first half. “We’ve just got to keep working, man. He’s a heckuva player. He’s getting through some chips and double teams, but we can help ourselves by staying on schedule, certainly.”
It should be said that the Browns use Garrett much differently than the Steelers use Watt.
While Garrett is constantly moved around the defensive line in an effort to catch offenses off guard, Watt is almost exclusively stationed on the left side of Pittsburgh’s defense. Yes, Garrett may attract more attention, but offenses always know where to expect Watt, who earlier this year became the second-fastest player to reach 100 career sacks (Garrett is now 1.5 sacks away from becoming the third-fastest player to accomplish that feat).
While the argument as to who is the better player persists, there’s no doubt that, on this night, Garrett was the best player on the field regardless of position. He finished the night with five tackles, three sacks and three tackles for loss while Watt posted four tackles and one TFL without a sack.
