Myles Garrett plans on passing legend Clay Matthews on both Browns sack lists this season

BEREA — When the sound of Myles Garrett chants filled FirstEnergy Stadium last fall, it strengthened the bond between a football-crazed town and the All-Pro defensive end.

“I felt like I was really part of the city,” Garrett told the Beacon Journal on Sept. 16 at Browns headquarters. “I felt like Cleveland's very own at that moment. I'm just trying to be a figurehead to this city for a very long time. I've been doing my best to be in the community and be where I can be and be what I can be for this city.

“I know LeBron [James] was doing a lot, and I'm not trying to take the place of him, but I feel each city has someone or something they can rally behind. I feel like I can be that driving force for us, and I'm just trying to do that day by day.”

Garrett also has an eye on becoming the Browns' undisputed sack king.

Fans chanted Garrett's name on Sept. 26, 2021, when he set the single-game Browns record for sacks with 4.5 in a 26-6 triumph over the Chicago Bears in Week 3.

The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2017, Garrett conceded he had entertained thoughts of producing enough in the Sept. 18 home opener against the New York Jets to invoke more chants in his honor. He had one sack, but the game turned out to be a devastating 31-30 loss in which the Browns collapsed in the final two minutes. He was held without a sack Sept. 22 in their 29-17 win over the AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Then he suffered shoulder and biceps injuries Sept. 26 in a one-car accident and was ruled out for a 23-20 road loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Oct. 2. He returned Oct. 9 and played in a 30-28 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, but he failed to record a sack.

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Still, Garrett is on the verge of breaking a significant record. But context is necessary.

Garrett needs a half sack to tie legendary linebacker Clay Matthews Jr. for the most official sacks in Browns history. One sack would place Garrett atop the franchise's all-time leaderboard, with the next opportunity coming Sunday at home against the New England Patriots.

With Garrett's two sacks against quarterback Baker Mayfield on Sept. 11 in a 26-24 season-opening win over the Carolina Panthers, his career total increased to 60.5. The total rose to 61.5 after Garrett sacked Jets quarterback Joe Flacco a week later.

In a Browns uniform, Matthews had 62 sacks — with an asterisk. Because sacks were not an official NFL statistic until 1982, the ones Matthews compiled in his first four Browns seasons (1978-1981) are not counted in the record books.

However, Pro-Football-Reference.com has listed unofficial sack records since 2021, citing “decades of research by John Turney and Nick Webster” providing a “thorough accounting of the statistic all the way back to 1960.”

The unofficial sack count has Matthews with 13 in his first four seasons, giving him 75 as a member of the Browns from 1978-1993. He finished his career with the Falcons from 1994-96, notching 7.5 sacks with them.

To surpass the unofficial tally of 75 sacks for Matthews as a Browns player this season, Garrett would need 14 more sacks.

“I plan on getting them both this year,” Garrett said when told about Matthews' Cleveland sack totals of 62 (official) and 75 (unofficial).

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Furthermore, the unofficial list has Bill Glass as the all-time Browns leader in sacks with 77.5 from 1962-68. Matthews is second with 75, followed by Jerry Sherk (70.5, 1970-81), Walter Johnson (66, 1965-76), Paul Wiggin (1957-67, 60.5) and Garrett (60.5).

“I think you've got to give some merit to it,” legendary Browns left tackle and the team's former longtime radio color analyst Doug Dieken said Sept. 12 by phone about the unofficial sack totals. “Just because it wasn't recorded as a stat back then, it still happened. I'm glad somebody has researched it because there are a lot of guys who had great careers that are getting cheated.”

In a phone interview Sept. 16, Matthews showed he has a sense of humor about the discrepancy between sack lists, laughing and pointing out the RBI didn't become an official baseball stat until 1920.

“He'll pass everybody,” Matthews said of Garrett's place on the Browns' sack list, “so I'm not worried about it.

“What I'd really like to see him pass me in is his number of Super Bowls attended. Well, excuse me — attended and won. So if he can pull that off, I'd be satisfied.”

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Garrett isn't going to brush football history aside, though. He has studied Deacon Jones and developed a relationship as a rookie with Bruce Smith. Both NFL career sack lists are led by Smith (200, 1985-2003) and Reggie White (198, 1985-2000). Jones is third on the unofficial list (173.5, 1961-74), but he doesn't have a spot on the official list because his entire career predated 1982.

None of this is lost on Garrett, 26, as it relates to him chasing Matthews, 66, and even Glass, who died last year at the age of 86.

“I definitely respect [Matthews'] years before they recorded it officially,” Garrett said. “He still put that time and work in. He should be credited and respected for it. His record should be honored. I'm going to honor it, and the best way I can honor it is by beating it.”

Garrett called Matthews a “tenacious and relentless” player and marvels at his bloodlines. Among Matthews' relatives who made it to the NFL are his father with the same name, sons Clay III, who earned six Pro Bowls with the Green Bay Packers, and Casey, who spent four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, brother Bruce, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman, and nephew Jake, the Falcons' starting left tackle.

“His whole family was a generation of ballers,” Garrett said. “Him passing down that mindset really — the way they attacked the game, approached the game, the way he played it so tough and gritty, not afraid to get his hands dirty to get the job done — I think that's something that everyone needs to be a good player.”

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Garrett and Matthews have something else in common. They're among the most popular defenders in Browns history. The fan base has supported the Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy of Matthews, whom the Browns inducted into their Ring of Honor in 2019.

“Clay definitely belongs in the Hall of Fame,” said Dieken, 73, who had seven of his 14 seasons as a Browns player overlap with Matthews. “Every year, you see some guys that go in, and you say, 'I'd have taken Clay [instead].' One part of it is the longevity, and the fact that he wasn't a pass-rushing linebacker, but when they did rush him, he got to the quarterback a good percentage of the time.”

Rushing the passer wasn't the main job of Matthews, who racked up 16 career interceptions, including 14 with the Browns. He explained dropping into coverage proved to be his primary responsibility early in his career. He credited Lawrence Taylor with revolutionizing the sport as a New York Giants rookie in 1981 and compelling defensive coordinators to use linebackers more frequently as pass rushers.

The differences from era to era don't end with positions or roles. Offenses used to run the ball more, thereby limiting pass-rushing opportunities, and fewer games were played, especially during the heyday of Glass, whose career launched with the Detroit Lions in 1958 before he joined the Browns five seasons later. The NFL had a 12-game schedule from 1947-60, then 14 games from 1961-77, 16 games from 1978-2020 and 17 games beginning last season.

“You can't go apples to apples. You're going apples to oranges,” Dieken said. “Myles is an immense talent. If he continues the way he's going, he's obviously going to be the all-time [franchise sack] leader, but there is some fact and fiction there. The fact is, yeah, he's going to break the record. But the fiction is there are four years that [Clay's sacks] didn't register. Then you go to Bill Glass, and back then, you're playing 12 or 14 games. You're going to have the [sack] numbers, but you're not going to have an apples to apples comparison.”

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Toward the end of a lengthy conversation about Garrett and Matthews, Dieken laughed and said, “Either way, I'd take both of them on my team.” Dieken said Garrett is “a dominant player. He can power rush. He can speed rush. He can dip his body and put his ear in the ground as he goes around the corner. He is freakish.”

Without being asked, Matthews said he has thought about what it would have been like to be a teammate of Garrett, who tallied a career-high 16 sacks last season.

“I would have loved to have him play in front me,” said Matthews, who lives in his home state of California and follows the Browns from afar. “It would have made any linebacker's job a lot easier.”

Informed of the comment, Garrett quipped, “Hell, we'd both have more sacks.”

Official or unofficial, it would be hard to argue with Garrett.

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Myles Garrett chases official, unofficial Browns sack records