LAS VEGAS — Myles Garrett had a historic outing against the Raiders on Sunday, but there was another Browns D-lineman who also excelled in the 24-10 win.

Maliek Collins, the 10-year veteran defensive tackle who is in his first season with Cleveland, finished with a career-high 2.5 sacks, just behind Garrett’s 3.0.

And while Garrett’s sacks brought him to a franchise-record-breaking 18.0 for the season with six games left to play, Collins’ 2.5 brought him to a new career-high 6.5 for the year.

It’s fitting that both reached milestones in this game, considering Garrett’s production this year wouldn’t be possible without the kind of interior pressure Collins is leading the way providing.

‘I’m looking forward to see how far he can take it with his season as well,“ Garrett said. ”Because him and Mase (Mason Graham) are running games at a high level, winning at a high level, and then whenever we can communicate and run games between each other or as a unit, it’s really become special very quickly.

“Just happy to see him doing his thing. He’s one of the most unique rushers I’ve had the privilege to be around with the combination of finesse and power.”

Collins was modest when asked about his accomplishment on Sunday.

“I mean sometimes that’s just the way the game goes, man,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t really feel like I had my best rushing day. It’s good to come out on the other side with some production.”

Humbleness aside, Collins has given the Browns something they’ve consistently searched for over the last three-plus seasons, since defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz took over with his attack-minded scheme: Consistent QB pressure.

Collins has also played with the Cowboys, Raiders, Texans and 49ers, and for most of his career has been in a similar attack-style system with interior rushers.

That experience has shown, and he’s also been key with helping Graham, Cleveland’s No. 5 overall pick, come along as the season has gone on.

“I mean, it’s always good playing with a guy like that,” Graham said. “I feel like just the way we practice throughout the week kind of just translates to the game and kind of all coming together now. Hopefully we can keep it going.”

The two are especially good at running twist stunts — two of Collins’ sacks came off them Sunday, and the duo split a sack off of one against Green Bay in Week 3.

Over Cleveland’s Week 9 bye, perfecting those became a point of emphasis, Collins said.

“We talked to each other over the bye week and talked about having better chemistry on those games,” Collins said. “I look at Denver a lot and I look at JFM (John Franklin-Myers) and Zach Allen and how they run their middle games. We talked about just having chemistry and you know, getting something out of it.”

As for Garrett, he sacked Raiders quarterback Geno Smith with 11:27 left in the fourth quarter for his 17th sack of the season. That play broke his own franchise record of 16, which he set in 2021 and then tied in 2022.

1/28

Cleveland Browns Defense vs. Las Vegas Raiders, November 23, 2025

His third was a strip-sack of Smith with 2:16 left in the game, and Collins recovered the ball. It was Garrett’s fourth multi-sack game of the season and third in the last four games. He has 14 sacks in the last five games.

But that production has been helped along by other guys on the D-line getting to the quarterback.

Against Smith and the Raiders on Sunday, Cleveland had 10.0 sacks (one shy of a team single-game record) split among eight different players. They also hit Smith 20 times. It was a performance that was dominant enough to get Raiders OC Chip Kelly fired in the hours after the game.

Garrett is still getting chipped, doubled, and tripled. But he’s still getting numbers because others like Collins and Graham are making quarterbacks think twice.

“He’s rushing his behind off,” Garrett said of Collins. “I think we’re playing off each other and we have great chemistry.”

On a day when Garrett set yet another record, Collins showed why Cleveland’s pass rush isn’t a one-man show.

Football Insider newsletter free trial: Take a minute and sign up for a free trial of our Football Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive content from cleveland.com’s Browns reporters.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.