Hold Myles Garrett if he's close to a sack? No, but the Steelers do want to delay his historic chase.

Brian Batko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Dec 26, 2025

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt won’t play Sunday in Cleveland, but he’ll still be very much involved in the proceedings.

Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is chasing history — and Watt — in the form of the NFL’s single-season sack record. With 22 on the year, Garrett is a half-sack from tying Watt and Giants legend Michael Strahan for the all-time mark of 22 1/2 in a regular season and is a full sack from standing alone at the top (unless you recognize Al “Bubba” Baker from 1973, which is a story for another day).

“We better play well, better stay out of one-dimensional passing circumstances, and you still might not stop the bomb from going off,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of Garrett. “That's how impactful this guy’s play has been this year.”

The bomb going off is never good, but it’ll be even worse if it blows up Watt’s place in NFL lore. And there are some interesting parallels for Garrett’s hunt.

Brett Favre, whom Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers famously succeeded in Green Bay, infamously gave himself up for Michael Strahan to break Mark Gastineau’s record in 2001. In Watt’s record-tying 2021 regular season, two of those sacks came against Rodgers at Lambeau Field.

Or, imagine this scenario: Rodgers is replaced by Mason Rudolph for any reason — entirely possible if the Baltimore Ravens lose Saturday, allowing the Steelers to clinch the division — and Garrett secures the crown by bringing down the quarterback with whom he’s forever linked after his 2019 fit of rage helmet-swing in Cleveland.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of history between the two of us,” Garrett told Cleveland area reporters Friday. “Whether I get it against him or I get it against Aaron, it makes no difference to me. As long as it gets got.”

Garrett was not asked about something that was brought up during the Cleveland-Chicago game a few weeks ago. According to the broadcast crew that day, Garrett informed them in a pre-production meeting that Steelers players told him they’re “not allowed” to give him a sack, and “if I’m anywhere close, they’re instructed to take the penalty.” He added that “it’s been this way for a couple years now.”

That adds another layer of intrigue to this one. Several Steelers blockers who have been in the offensive meetings for multiple years denied that claim by Garrett this week.

“What do you think?” deadpanned tight end Pat Freiermuth. “Do you think that’s true?”

Freiermuth added that no, it’s not true. He gave Garrett kudos for being a game-wrecker and did allow that “we’re not trying to give him anything.”

Spencer Anderson, part-time left guard and part-time sixth lineman, was unaware of Garrett’s allegation that the Steelers would rather go out of their way to get flagged than let him get near their quarterback. He didn’t bristle at it, though.

“Oh, no, that hasn’t been talked about at all,” Anderson said with a laugh when learning of that comment. “That’s a funny idea, though.”

Anderson added that it’s “absolutely” a point of pride to not let Garrett get the record he covets. No team would want to be on the wrong end of that, and they wouldn’t want to be the one to give it up to Aidan Hutchinson, Micah Parsons or any other star edge rusher.

Garrett has racked up 18 sacks in his nine games since losing to the Steelers in Week 6, when he was held without one. He’ll see a different left tackle this time, and it’ll be his first time against Dylan Cook, a revelation for the Steelers since replacing Andrus Peat and Broderick Jones. Consider Cook another Steeler who has never been privy to The Garrett Rules.

“Not that I’ve heard,” Cook said with a smile. “We talk before it gets to that point a lot — chip help, taking the air out of it at tackle, knowing where help is. … Dan Moore would definitely know better than me.”

Moore is the Steelers left tackle who was charged with limiting Garrett for the past four seasons and is now with the Tennessee Titans. The Steelers always espoused belief in Moore, but with the caveat that they wouldn’t expect him to block Garrett 1-on-1 all day.

That’ll be the case for Cook, too. But the individual stakes for Garrett have never been this high. The Browns will have another game in Week 18, at Cincinnati, so this is his final chance to immortalize himself in front of his home crowd.

“Certainly, [Cook] is going to get help,” Tomlin said. “But, certainly, everybody has gotten help — and it hasn't slowed down the train.”

Injury report

Watt will miss another week while recovering from his lung incident, but outside linebacker Nick Herbig (hamstring) practiced in full Friday and will be back after missing the Detroit game. Starting safety Jalen Ramsey (illness) missed the last two days of practice, while starting guard Isaac Seumalo (triceps) was limited each day this week. Both Ramsey and Seumalo are questionable.

Wide receiver Calvin Austin III (hamstring), cornerback Brandin Echols (groin) and cornerback James Pierre (calf) have been ruled out.