Cleveland Browns: 3 keys to victory against the Bengals

Don’t rely on Myles Garrett to apply pressure

Myles Garrett has been struggling for a bit now. This goes beyond no training camp and beyond the helmet incident last year. Garrett told the media that he had been contemplating retirement after attacking Mason Rudolph with a helmet last year. Garrett claims that he heard a racial slur, but no one, not even the Cleveland Browns, can support his claim. Garrett then revealed that he wants to sit down with Rudolph to clear the air. Garrett also said the whole situation had him contemplating retirement.

Then he got a $100 million contract. Fourth highest in the league. Then he didn’t retire.

The problem with Garrett isn’t that this all happened. While it remains arguably the worst moment in NFL history in decades, his play had been suffering before his reputation got murdered. Going back into the midway point of his 2019 season, Garrett was a different player than how he started out. Garrett’s first three games saw him register six sacks. His next seven games he registered just four. In his last four games, he only had one.

Not just that, but Garrett was getting gashed in the running game. Often times out of position or getting bull-rushed into the ground. Something was wrong then but no one seemed to notice it. Then, Baltimore happened, and everyone started pointing out that Garrett was a non-factor. The truth is though, Garrett hasn’t been a real factor in any game over his last five or six.

There might still be a desire to retire from Garrett. The Browns know that he hasn’t been the best version of himself in a while, and if you solely expect Garrett and Olivier Vernon to get to the quarterback, you’re going to be sorely mistaken. The Browns need to attack with a heavy dose of blitzing and try to stunt their way into the backfield.

After all, if Week 1 was a window into the season, then Larry Ogunjobi is going to have his work cut out for him.