Browns Myles Garrett reminds everyone he is the top dog

Cleveland defensive end used game against the Steelers to showcase why he is the league’s best defensive player.

It has been a weekly crapshoot for the Cleveland Browns during the first 11 games of the 2023 NFL season.

Some weeks the offense gets its act together only to see the defense stumble.

In others, the defense plays like a unit that can alter the course of a game, only to see turnovers and other miscues on offense lead to another defeat.

But there is one constant: the Browns have defensive Myles Garrett and the other team does not.

Garrett used Thursday night’s nationally televised game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to remind everyone why he is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Garrett had three sacks, three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble as the Browns picked up their fifth victory in the last seven meetings at home against the Steelers.

This was the first meeting between the teams since Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt threw a temper tantrum over Garrett being named the league’s best defensive player and Garrett was sure to use the opportunity to remind everyone who the top dog is (quote via a team-provided transcript):

“I was really just focused on going out there and playing the very best ball I could. But, yeah, I wanted to make it known that I’m the guy, I’m the number one edge defender. That was a statement I was intending to make, and I think I made it.”

Thursday’s game was the second where Garrett had three sacks, he also tallied three against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 9, making him the only player in the league with multiple games with at least three sacks. It also upped his total against the Steelers to 12 sacks in 13 career games.

Garrett’s big night gives him 10 sacks on the season, making him the seventh player to have 10 or more sacks in at least seven consecutive seasons since stats became an official stat in 1982. He is just the fourth player to have double-digit sacks in at least seven of his first eight seasons, joining Reggie White, DeMarcus Ware, and Von Miller, according to NFL.com.

Some may have forgotten how dominant Garrett can be, so Thursday night’s game was a reminder.

And if anyone, especially in Pittsburgh, still doubts who the No. 1 guy is on defense, they will have an opportunity to see him in person when the Browns face the Steelers again in two weeks.