Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns will play the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18. The Browns are already out of the playoffs, and a loss will improve their position in the upcoming draft, but their star defensive player is still eyeing a win.
Garrett has 14.0 sacks this season and is tied with Trey Hendrickson for the most sacks in the league. Instead of winning the first sack title of his illustrious career, the Browns defensive end is more motivated to ruin the Ravens’ playoff path.
Myles Garrett Makes Intentions Clear for Week 18 vs. Ravens
With a win against the Browns, the Ravens will clinch the division title and the third seed in the AFC. However, if they lose and the Pittsburgh Steelers win against the Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore will miss out on the division title and start the playoffs on the road as the fifth seed.
Garrett knows the importance of the Week 18 matchup and is looking forward to pulling off an upset against the Ravens.
“I mean, I’d rather upset them and mess up their playoff hopes,” said Garrett, per NBC’s Pro Football Talk. “And if the sack title comes along with that, great. Definitely going to do what I can to be disruptive and take No. 8 out of the game as much as possible. If that comes along with it, outstanding. But at the end of the day, I want to win.”
Garrett won the Defensive Player of the Year award last season, and a sack title this season will be a great accomplishment for him. The Browns’ star is in the eighth season of his career and is on a trajectory that could lead to Canton.
Heading into Week 18, the Browns possess the third overall pick. They are still in the race to get the first overall pick, and a loss on Saturday would be much better for the franchise’s future. But, at the same time, denying the Ravens a division title and a tougher path to the Super Bowl will be much more cherished by the team’s players.
Lamar Jackson Is on a Losing Streak Against the Browns
Jackson is having another great season and has a chance of winning back-to-back MVP awards. He is 7-4 against the Browns as a starter but has lost the last two games.
The Ravens lost 29-24 to Cleveland in Week 8, which was one of the season’s biggest surprises. Jackson finished that game with 289 passing yards and two touchdowns, completing 60.5% of his throws.
In 11 games against the Browns, Jackson has thrown for 2,102 yards, 16 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. He has a passer rating of 97.8 and averages 191.1 passing yards per game and 61.27 rushing yards per game.
Overall, he is PFN’s runaway leader in QB+, a proprietary grading metric. From PFN analyst Ben Rolfe, “The MVP debate regarding Jackson will be intriguing. His QB+ number is one of the best we have seen since 2000 and is better even than his incredible 2019 MVP season. He leads the league in EPA/DB (0.33), nYPA (8.6), and TD/INT rate (9.8).”
The Ravens quarterback knows how challenging games against divisional opponents can be, so he needs to be at his best. Starting the playoffs on the road will be tough for Baltimore, and if they finish as the fifth seed, they’ll have to go through the Houston Texans in the Wild Card.
Being the third seed is way better for the Ravens. If the current seedings hold, they’ll have to face the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card round.
Jackson and Co. have already defeated the Bills 35-10 and the Chargers 30-23 this season, so they’ll be much more confident about facing them instead of the defending Super Bowl champions.