On occasions, a single number tells all that needs to be said. Not a box-score stat or a season-long total, but one blink-and-you-miss-it measurement that captures just how different a player is from everyone else sharing the field. On Sunday in Cincinnati, Myles Garrett finally dragged Joe Burrow to the turf and claimed the NFL’s single-season sack record: 0.23 seconds.
It lasted just a fraction of a second, barely long enough for the eye to follow. But it was more than enough to rival the NFL record book and confirm what everyone watching already suspected. This man is operating on a different plane entirely than other players.
Myles Garrett Breaks a Wild Stat
According to ESPN writer Mina Kimes, citing Next Gen Stats, Garrett exploded off the line in just 0.23 seconds on his record-breaking sack.
To put that into context, Garrett’s average get-off this season, already the fastest in the league, is 0.70 seconds. This was the fastest get-off recorded on any sack by any player all season. As Kimes aptly put it: “Absolutely alien.”
She wrote on X, “According to @NextGenStats, Myles Garrett had a get-off of 0.23 seconds on his record-breaking sack. To put that in context, his average get-off is 0.70 sec, which leads the league. That’s the fastest time recorded by any player on any sack this year.”
According to @NextGenStats, Myles Garrett had a get-off of 0.23 seconds on his record-breaking sack.
To put that in context, his average get-off is 0.70 sec, which leads the league.
That’s the fastest time recorded by any player on any sack this year.
Absolute alien.
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) January 4, 2026
That alien-like burst arrived at the perfect moment. According to ESPN, going into the Cleveland Browns’ season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals with 22 sacks, Garrett was tied with Michael Strahan (2001) and T.J. Watt (2021) for the most in a single season since sacks became an official statistic in 1982.
For much of the afternoon, the record seemed to toy with him. He came close repeatedly, pressuring Burrow, bending the pocket, and forcing hurried throws. Earlier in the decisive drive, Garrett even lined up at defensive tackle and later blitzed from an off-ball linebacker spot.
It finally came with 5:17 left in the fourth quarter. Lined up wide, Garrett timed the snap perfectly, ducked past left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., and swallowed Burrow before the quarterback could fully reset.
Paycor Stadium erupted, despite being roughly 250 miles from Cleveland, as Garrett stood up, raised his arms, and briefly bowed with his hands together while teammates swarmed him.
That sack was Garrett’s 23rd of the season and the 12th time he has taken down Burrow in his career, the most sacks Garrett has recorded against any quarterback. The record-breaking play capped a season that had already felt surreal.
Garrett recorded at least a half-sack in nine straight games before the streak ended in Week 17, including a five-sack performance against the New England Patriots in Week 8, and a four-sack performance against the Baltimore Ravens two weeks later. In Week 14, he became just the 13th different player in NFL history to reach 20 sacks in a season.
Zoom out further, and the resume only gets brighter. Garrett is the first player ever to record at least 12 sacks in six consecutive seasons and the only player in league history with double-digit sacks in each of the past eight years.
Now with 125.5 career sacks, he trails only one player for the most through nine seasons since 1982, and he has already passed Reggie White for the most sacks by any player under the age of 30. Meanwhile, according to PFSN’s defense Impact metric, the Browns are sixth on the season with a score of 84.8 and a B grade.
