CLEVELAND, Ohio — Can Myles Garrett win the battle of the 95s between him and Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones on Sunday?
If so, the Browns will have a good chance of winning the game, and his path to Patrick Mahomes — and 100 career sacks — got presumably easier on Saturday.
The Chiefs ruled out starting left tackle D.J. Humphries (hamstring) on Saturday, meaning it might take a village to stop Garrett from getting the half-sack against Mahomes he need to hit the coveted milestone.
If for some reason the Chiefs keep him from taking down Mahomes — who’s been sacked the second-most times in his career at 35 — next in line at Bruce Smith and Lawrence Taylor, who are tied for fourth in 115 games.
Even though Garrett should easily hit and surpass the mark on Sunday, his Chiefs’ equal Chris Jones hopes it doesn’t happen.
“Myles (Garrett) is amazing,” Jones told Chiefs reporters on Thursday. “(He) won Defensive Player of the Year last year, was well deserved, and have a lot of respect for his game. Yeah, I have much respect for him, and hope he has no success against us.”
Like Garrett, Jones admitted that bragging rights for best defensive lineman on the field is always a powerful motivator.
“Anytime you get on the field as a competitor, you want to outdo anyone you get on the field with a few competitors,” Jones said. “So I think that aspect speaks for itself. But I happen to hope he has no success.”
Thanks to constant double-teaming, Jones has been held to only five sacks this season, but left guard Joel Bitonio, who’s questionable with a back injury, knows what he’s up against.
“Yeah, he’s dynamic since and he’s probably up there if not the best D-tackle in football,” Bitonio said. “He’s big. He’s strong. But what makes him different than other D-tackles is he can turn the corner. He’s shifty. He’s athletic. If you set him, he’s going to take the inside and he lines up everywhere. He’s not just one position. H lines up left, right, defensive end. He’ll stand up sometimes. Just a dynamic player. They’ve done a good job of blitzing away from him, too, so if you’re like, ‘Oh, let’s just slide to Chris Jones,’ they’re going to be like, alright, we’ll bring four to the other side. And it makes it difficult to just key on what they’re doing.”
With the Chiefs going to Plan B at left tackle, possibly sliding guard Joe Thuney over, Garrett also has a chance to seize the lead I’m the NFL sack race. He’s currently tied for second at 11 with Denver’s Nik Bonitto, but only 1.5 shy of leader Trey Hendrickson.
But Mahomes will do his best to keep Garrett from wrecking the game.
“Yeah, he’s (Garrett) is just really good,” Mahomes said. “He’s pretty much good at everything. Just finding ways to get the ball out of my hands whenever he’s rushing and then whenever we need to take shots down the field, just having extra ways to manipulate – either me manipulate his pass rush or have help with other – two people blocking him and stuff like that. They have a good defensive team. They have a good football team in general but especially their defense. It will be a great challenge for us, and we’ll have to go out there and play our best football to win.”
May the best 95 win.
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