Myles Garrett is on the precipice of making NFL history.
The Cleveland Browns defensive end has 22 sacks on the year, leaving him one away from breaking the league’s storied single-season record.
Garrett looked situated to set the record a week ago against the Chicago Bears, but he netted just a half-sack – which was credited after a review – of Caleb Williams in Cleveland’s close loss. Instead, the big breakthrough could come in Sunday’s game against Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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USA TODAY Sports will have live updates throughout the day on Garrett’s pursuit of history, so check back for all the latest on Sunday:
Will Myles Garrett set the NFL single-season sack record against the Steelers?
Garrett was held without a sack in his first meeting against Rodgers and the Steelers, marking just one of three instances in which he has been blanked this season. But Steelers coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged that replicating that effort in Cleveland will be difficult.
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“Myles Garrett has certainly been an issue for us in that venue,” Tomlin said. “I think he’s had five sacks against us in our last two trips, neither of which we won. And so we understand the gravity of what we’re going into and how they engineer victory and who’s significant in doing so. He’s at the doorstep of history, and so we certainly have respect for that.”
For his part, Garrett wasn’t concerned about eclipsing the record on Sunday.
“Pressure? Nah, no pressure,” Garrett said Dec. 26. “Like I said, it’s going down, so I’m not stressed or worried about if I’m going to get it. It’s just a matter of when.”
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Best images of the 2025 NFL season
Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa’s effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
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Best images of the 2025 NFL season
Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa’s effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
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Best images of the 2025 NFL season
Week 1: The New England Patriots’ Robert Spillane (14) and Christian Elliss (53) tackle Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer (87) during the second half at Gillette Stadium. The Raiders won the game, 20-13.
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Best images of the 2025 NFL season
Week 1: New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson (3) fumbles the ball on a tackle by Washington Commanders safety Will Harris (3) during the first quarter at Northwest Stadium. It was a rough Giants debut for Wilson (17 of 37 passing for 168 yards) as the Commanders won the game, 21-6.
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Best images of the 2025 NFL season
Week 1: Fireworks go off before the NFL Kickoff Game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field. The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles opened the season with a 24-20 victory over their longtime NFC East rivals.
Corralling Rodgers, the four-time NFL MVP, for the first time would be a fitting way to put himself over the top, Garrett said.
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“It would be special,” Garrett said. “He’s legendary himself and it’s a legendary record I’m out here chasing, so that’d be a great one to put a picture on the wall with.”
The Steelers will be without their top two receivers in DK Metcalf, who is serving a two-game suspension for his physical altercation with a Detroit Lions fan, and Calvin Austin III, who is out with a hamstring injury. Offensive guard Isaac Seumalo is also sidelined with a triceps injury.
But Rodgers has made life hard for all pass rushers, as his lightning-quick release – reflected by an NFL-best 2.63-second time to throw average, according to Next Gen Stats – has enabled him to be pressured on just 21.9% of his dropbacks, the lowest figure of all 33 qualified passers in 2025. On the season, he’s been sacked just 25 times.
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Could Myles Garrett set NFL career sack record?
While the single-season mark is well within reach, Garrett still has a way to go before he can reach Bruce Smith’s career tally of 200, which still stands as the league’s high water mark.
Yet toppling that sum isn’t a farfetched notion to Garrett.
“If I want to play that long,” Garrett said Dec. 26 when asked whether he could shatter the career record. “I think at the pace I am now, I can get it in like five years. I think five years is right at that time to think I’ll go and hang the cleats up. So I do think about if I can do it. And I think I’m only getting better, I think the numbers will only continue to look similar to how they are right now. So I’ll be knocking on his door pretty soon. I used to have the little graveyard that he did a couple years back, he had all these graves and everyone to show me up, but it’s OK, I’m going to catch him.”
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Smith has made it known he’s a big fan of Garrett’s.
“He is rare,” Smith told USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell earlier in December when asked about Garrett. “It’s the way he bends. He’s got the patented move where he gets off the line of scrimmage quicker than anybody, particularly for that size, when he gets in arm’s-length reach of an offensive lineman, he bends. He ducks under the stab of the offensive lineman, and he’s still able to get leverage. It virtually makes him unblockable.”
Who holds the NFL single-season sack record?
Hall of Famer Michael Strahan first set the record in the 2001 season. He was matched by Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt in the 2021 regular-season finale. While Watt had the benefit of an 18-week season, he only played in 15 games that year, missing two contests and part of another due to injury.
Myles Garrett stats, sack total
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Myles Garrett sack record: Stats, highlights, updates on Browns DE