BEREA, Ohio — Myles Garrett didn’t want to see Za’Darius Smith get traded, but once he saw how happy Smith was in Detroit, he had to concede it was the best thing for him.
“Well first I’d like to say I’ve never seen a man smile so much, going to a new place,” Garrett said with a smile of his own. “My man was cheesin’ from ear to ear when he was on TV, but happy to see him feeling good, feeling like himself and being positive. As far as the guys we have here, have a lot of confidence. Isaiah (McGuire’s) been studying behind us, Ogbo (Okoronkwo’s) been watching us and developing on his own and coming into his own.
“So we’re glad to see him out there and getting those chances to develop into the player we know he can be, and Ogbo, he’s been consistent since he’s been here. He’s been a threat and he’s been that sixth man, really, off the bench and now he’s really going to get an opportunity to show what we can really do on a more consistent basis.”
Garrett — the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year — knows that he might be called on for more reps with Smith gone, beginning Sunday in New Orleans. Smith was the Browns’ second-leading sacker behind Garrett’s 7.0. with 5.0.
“At this point we’ve got to go with the devil you know,” Garrett said. “If I’ve got to stay in for longer stretches, that’s fine by me, improve my cardio or be prepared to play more snaps, do what I got to do, but we got to find a way to win.”
Healthier than he’s been all season with nagging foot and Achilles injuries, Garrett recorded three sacks of Justin Herbert in four plays against the Chargers — which could be an NFL record. It followed a four-game sackless drought that ate away at him.
“Absolutely. I want to make plays for my team,” he said. “I want to win games, and I know that if I’m going out there and I’m feeling just good, if I’m feeling at least like myself, I can go out there and be a game-changer for us as a team. So we want to get back to that. So those four games, as disruptive as it was blocking kicks, making TFLs, I want to get the ball out, want to get those strip sacks and just go set them back.”
He’s never had such a torrid streak in the NFL, but recalls such outbursts earlier in his career.
“I think it was one time, two times in college and one time in high school,” he said. “I had nine sacks in high school. Then, I think, Nevada, maybe UTSA. I know Nevada for sure. Yeah, I’ve some sacks in my life.”
But it’s a little different in the NFL, no?
“For sure,” he said. “In college, they’re like, shoot, we’ll just keep on singling him, or we’ll chip him for the entire game. In the pros, they’re like, no, for the entire game, we’re not going to let you get that opportunity. But they have a lot of confidence in their tackles, for good reason. We just have to take advantage of those opportunities.”
He likened it to getting on a run on the basketball court.
“Yeah, very similar,” he said. “You get those one-on-ones and sometimes it’s not quite clicking, it’s not quite there, and at that moment I was just ready to seize them. I was feeling good really early. So some opportunities came and kind of just line up.”
Does it amaze him that a coaching staff would try to single-block him for a stretch of time?
“I’m not going to say it amazes me,” he said. “You have, I don’t want to say a lot, but if you have a solid amount of really good tackles who are athletic, great with their hands, good feet and can do a great job. Most guys are leaner. I feel like there are some outliers on defense and outliers on offense, and I feel like I’m one of those. I know I’ll get a little bit less singles than most other guys, but when I do, I’m going to make the most of it.”
After the trifecta on Herbert in the first half, the Chargers got smart and put extra bodies on him. They shut him down the rest of the way, just 1.5 shy of his own club record.
“A couple of (former teammates) thought I was going to break the record, so got to live up to that next time,” he said. “I’ve got to keep that going for the whole game. But after that little stretch, they made sure to go back to the status quo and got to take me out.”
It helps that Garrett has gotten healthy over the past few weeks after dealing with the nagging foot and Achilles injuries early on that threatened to cost him some time. He often limped to and away from the interview podium after games early on.
“I would say from a six (out of 10) to an eight,” he said. “It wasn’t a consistent six. It was up and down. It was definitely tough just because it was so inconsistent from play to play, day to day, with dealing with something or another. So glad I’m over the hill for the most part and could start playing some good football.”
The bye week helped, but Garrett noted that he might have to address his foot issue in the offseason, which stems from his two surgeries as a middle-schooler to correct his flat feet. For now, perhaps he’ll be able to finish a season stronger than he started it for once. Last season, he wore down at the end, nothing one sack in his final six games.
“Not looking too far into the future with all that (injury stuff),” he said. “We’ve got a game coming here soon, but that is further down the road.”
The renewed spring in his step hasn’t been lost on defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
“It’s good to see him just being healthy and looking like himself again,” Schwartz said. “He went a few weeks where he just didn’t look 100% like himself. I don’t want to speak for him and his health, but I think you could see it. He was trying to push through things, but he’s starting to get a little bit better as a team. We’re getting a little bit better, and it’ll be good to see us close to full strength as we go forward to the second half.”
He was happy to see him get the hat trick after the frustrating drought, where he’d often just miss the takedown.
“He’s such a game changer and people — they started taking care of it after those couple series right there,” Schwartz said. “Myles is just an incredibly talented guy that can completely change games. And again, we’ve talked about it, whether he’s having the production or he’s setting a table for other people, he still affects the game.”
Okoronkwo wasn’t surprised by the triple-whammy. He watched Garrett sack his way to NFL Defensive Player of the Year last season with two and three blockers hanging on him almost every play.
“Myles is the best defensive player in the world, so when you don’t put four players on him to block him, then that’s what happens,” he said.
Garrett knows that job No. 1 on Sunday will be to stop Alvin Kamara, who leads the Saints in rushing and receiving.
“I wouldn’t say he’s in a league of his own in that department because you’ve got C-Mac (Christian McCaffrey), and both of those guys are similar in their roles, being so integral to the offenses and being just very dynamic,” he said. “So I think he’s a very special player and I won’t take that away from him. We’ve just got to be aware of him, where he’s at at all times. He can run the ball, throw the ball, catch the ball, he can do pretty much anything on the offensive side. So someone has to be accounting for him every time he steps on the field.”
Garrett is determined to end another drought this week: the interception one. The Browns are tied for last in the NFL with only one pick, and that came in Week 4 by Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who’s on IR with a neck injury.
“I think we’re pretty damn good up front,” Garrett said. “If (Schwartz) wants takeaways, we can get them in other ways. So if I’ve got to start dropping back and catching picks myself, we’ll figure it out. But we’re going to start taking the ball away.”
While the team he plays for is mired in a 2-7 slump, the one he part-owns, the Cavs, have won 13 straight to tie the club record. They’re the sixth team in NBA history to start 13-0 or better.
How long can they keep it going?
“I mean, I haven’t seen anyone that can stop them yet,” Garrett said. “So I think as long as they want to.”
Has he started a sack streak of his own?
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