Tag: NFL Awards Week 7

NFL Week 7 Awards: Myles Garrett’s greatness is being wasted on the Browns

Just imagine Myles Garrett’s dominance on a real NFL team.

Let’s make this simple. The Cleveland Browns are beyond fortunate they have a human magnet of goodwill and sheer power in the form of Myles Garrett. The prolific defensive end is at the hallowed point in his career where he seemingly controls the line of scrimmage with minimal effort, even though it’s readily apparent he’s just that dominant. He is a game-wrecker of the highest order.

Take his performance against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday as a perfect example. Garrett recorded nine tackles, two sacks, and two quarterback hits. Oh, and he even blocked a field goal by jumping over the blocking guard before Indianapolis kicker Matt Gay even had a chance to make contact with the ball.

This is beyond exceptional:

Better yet, look at how easily Garrett rips through the right side of the Indianapolis offensive for a sack fumble below. Once again, this is not normal athleticism for a man at Garrett’s listed height and weight of 6-foot-4, 271 pounds:

With the Browns’ elite defense carrying Cleveland to a 4-2 record, we are witnessing Garrett finally leaping to a true national platform. He’s long been one of the NFL’s more elite defenders since entering the league in 2017, but the Browns have mostly … stunk. Now that they resemble a playoff-adjacent team buoyed by its defense, it will be hard to argue against the four-time Pro Bowler earning his first career Defensive Player of the Year Award in the coming months. This is Garrett’s glorious moment, and he deserves every bit of the limelight.

But there’s still something that irks me, at least and only in favor of Garrett.

This Browns team should be ready to win and compete now. But I have doubts that if Cleveland sneaks into the playoffs, it’ll be able to make any noise. That’s because the Browns have no consistently good quarterback play. Deshaun Watson, once accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women in what the NFL would characterize as “predatory behavior,” is a financial albatross. When healthy, Watson is one of the league’s most inept passers. He almost singlehandedly drags down the ceiling of what Garrett’s accomplishments can achieve for the Browns. They have no legitimate chance of upending any of the AFC heavyweights with an efficient and ineffective signal caller like Watson. (If they ever turn to P.J. Walker, well, let’s be frank: he’s a backup for a reason, folks.)

And that’s just a real shame for someone as gifted as Garrett.

We are witnesses to him becoming another all-time defender right in front of our eyes. He deserves a real run at it — meaning, a shot at a championship — and he deserves a quarterback who can match his brilliance to get there. Maybe someday he’ll get one.

Elsewhere in Week 7 in the NFL, Lamar Jackson showed us why he has his slippery, magical reputation in the pocket. Meanwhile, Drake London literally went upside down in one of the week’s wackier plays and aftermaths. Also, I wouldn’t want to get on Jonathan Allen’s nerves tonight after what his Washington team just endured.

Let’s hand out some awards and wrap this chaotic Sunday up.