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Joe Burrow tried his best to keep Myles Garrett from ruining his day. His time to throw in Week 18's showdown with the Cleveland Browns was nearly a half-second quicker than his 2025 average.
In the end, it didn't matter. No matter how quick opposing quarterbacks have been this season, Garrett has been quicker. On Sunday, that culminated with an NFL record. By slicing through the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive line and dropping Burrow behind the line of scrimmage, the future Hall of Famer put his stamp on a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber year.
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His 23 sacks are more than any other player in league history.
Garrett's march to the record was paused last week when Aaron Rodgers decided his 42-year-old body wanted no part of the All-Pro edge rusher. His time to throw was down to 2.39 seconds, lower than any quarterback in Week 17 aside from a 44-year-old Philip Rivers. Burrow tried to follow that blueprint; his time to throw dropped from 2.83 seconds across the first 17 weeks of the season to 2.46 Sunday. But that didn't matter when a 265-pound fairy tale monster found a way to teleport to the pocket in under two. Look at this get-off!
Look at this bend!
Garrett's 23 sacks pushed him ahead of Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt, who shared the official NFL record at 22.5. It tied him with Al Baker, who holds the league's unofficial record of 23 -- set in 1978 before sacks were counted on league stat sheets (Baker had 56.5 sacks in his first 47 games as a pro. Incredible stuff from a largely forgotten legend).
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: Watch Myles Garrett swarm Joe Burrow to break NFL sack record
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