He’s now at 10 sacks for the season, one behind NFL leader Brian Burns of the Giants, and he’s already reached double-digit sacks for the eighth year in a row and has nine more games to work on lifting that season total into the pass-rush stratosphere.
And Garrett doesn’t give any offensive lineman a discount or a rest. While analysts note that his most productive pass rushes occur when he’s lined up on his right edge, across from the opponent’s LT, he moves to the left edge and sometimes to the interior of the DL to keep OCs and QBs guessing. Against the Patriots, he got his first 3 sacks of Maye off Cleveland’s right edge and the last two off the Browns’ left side.
So second-year LT Olu Fashanu will also be intricately involved in the Jets’ design for holding Garrett. But neither NFL neophyte flinched at previous tests. Membou, right out of the NFL gate, drew Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt in the season opener. Watt was held to no sacks and no QB hits by the rookie and his teammates on the right side of the line. And an independent sack analyst says that Fashanu and Membou have each yielded just 1.5 sacks so far.
Membou, who came to the Jets off his no-sacks-allowed final season at Missouri before being selected seventh overall in the April draft, said his body and mind are feeling fine coming off the bye week.
“I see a lot of improvement. I’m starting to get more comfortable week by week,” he said. What has improved most? “I would say my overall consistency and just my intellect of the game.”
And he’s ready to roll against Garrett. He boiled the challenge down to its basics.
“It’s definitely crazy going against a guy of his caliber,” Membou said. “I’m just going to have to be able to win my matchups.”
Aaron Glenn took a longer view of his offense’s challenge as the Jets attempt to secure their first two-game winning streak with AG as HC.
“You just take a look at their defense,” Glenn said. “They have some key guys in key positions that are playing at a high level for them. Obviously, the D-end, Garrett, he’s a really good player. The DB, [Denzel] Ward, damn good player. This is a sound, sound team that plays very aggressive, so we have to be on our P’s and Q’s when it comes to how we operate on offense.”