T.J. Watt started Sunday with his shared single-season NFL sack record at risk as his Pittsburgh Steelers faced Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns.
The Steelers held Garrett without a sack of Aaron Rodgers, and Watt’s record of 22.5 sacks that he shares with Michael Strahan remains intact with one game remaining in the regular season. But Steelers suffered a loss to the last-place Browns and squandered a chance to secure the AFC North title.
Garrett said after the game that he thinks the Browns prioritized their gameplan around stopping him over actually winning the game. He believes that it cost them in Cleveland’s 13-6 win as the Steelers failed to score a touchdown and didn’t score at all after halftime.
#Browns DE Myles Garrett on the #Browns win vs. the #Steelers:
“They were more worried about keeping me away from Aaron (Rodgers) than getting the win. That’s what came back to bite them.” pic.twitter.com/EOsLNkj9Oj
— Ashly Holder (@AshNoelleTV) December 28, 2025
“To an extent, I feel like they were more worried about keeping me away from Aaron than getting the win,” Garrett said. “I think that’s what came back to bite them.”
So what exactly does Garrett believed the Steelers sacrificed in order to focus on him? He pointed to Rodgers’ quick release and tendency to roll out away from him in addition to the Steelers lineup up players specifically to slow him down.
“They kind of fell under the same line of thinking that the Packers did,” Garrett said. “We’ll just throw everything at him. … That’s their M.O. But, of course they’re gonna throw even quicker when I’m lined up. On that side, they had a chipper there, sometimes two chippers.
“Getting it out quick, sometimes they were rolling away. They were doing a little bit of everything. I’ve come to expect that. I know they didn’t want me to be the one to break it against them.”
Steelers head coach heard the speculation and addressed it in his postgame news conference. He denied game-planning to keep Garrett from breaking Watt’s record.
Mike Tomlin said the #Steelers didn’t do anything they don’t usually do against Myles Garrett, regarding him chasing T.J. Watt’s sack record.
“We didn’t do anything against Myles that we don’t normally do against Myles.” pic.twitter.com/CeSuT7tBSi
— Alan Saunders (@ASaunders_PGH) December 28, 2025
“We didn’t do anything against Myles that we don’t normally do against Myles,” Tomlin said. “The sack record’s irrelevant.
“We’ve got to minimize him if we want to engineer victory. We did the same thing the last time we played him. I didn’t think that he had any sacks in that game either. So we didn’t take a different approach because of the gravity of the record. It’s just standard business when you’re playing these guys and him.”
The Steelers didn’t clinch the AFC North because of the loss. They’ll now face a winner-take-all game against the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday. The winner will win the division and its only playoff berth. The loser’s season will be done.
Garrett (22 sacks), meanwhile, remains a half sack behind Watt’s and Strahan’s shared record. He’ll have one more chance to tie it or break it in Cleveland’s season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.