CLEVELAND — Myles Garrett told everyone it wasn’t him against Cincinnati Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson in the season opener. That’s because that competition, while not a rout, certainly seemed like a decision in favor of the Browns’ star defensive end.
The competition that matter the most to both ended up going in favor of Hendrickson. Or, specifically, Hendrickson’s team, as the Bengals left Cleveland with a 17-16 opening-day win.
“It’s tough,” Garrett said afterward. “We would’ve loved to have played the first half how we played the second half. I think that would’ve really put the game away much sooner. Kind of similar to how we did it in ’23.”
Two years later, it felt an awful lot like that day, at least defensively. Burrow was limited to just 113 passing yards — the third-lowest of his career — and Cincinnati was held to just 141 total net yards as an offense.
Garrett sacked Burrow not once, but twice, and on back-to-back plays in front of the Dawg Pound. That was part of a run of three consecutive sacks, the third of which came from Isaiah McGuire, which helped give the Browns a chance with 6:56 remaining.
“You kind of get into his zone,” Garrett said. “It’s hard to explain for myself. Then I feel like I kind of started a domino effect and everybody else wanted to get in on the party. Zay [Isaiah McGuire], Mason [Graham], those guys started collapsing the pocket and getting busy themselves. So I’m happy to see them get rolling.”
Garrett’s two sacks gives him 11 of Burrow in his career. It also gives him 16 career sacks against the Bengals.
Beyond the sacks, Garrett also had four tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and five total tackles.
Hendrickson, meanwhile, had just one sack of Browns quarterback Joe Flacco to go with one tackle for loss, three quarterback hits and three total tackles. However, his sack put the Browns in second-and-16 from their own 25, with the subsequent play being a pass to wide receiver Jerry Jeudy that bounced off his hands and into the hands of safety Jordan Battle for an interception.
It was those kind of plays from the offense — on top of Andre Szmyt missing both a point after kick and a 36-yard field goal — that left Garrett and his team on the losing end.
“We got to do it all together, and it’s got to be a bit of a tit for tat,” Garrett said. “Offense goes and it makes plays in a long drive, we got to get a three and out, get their defense back on the field while they’re tired and allow them to make plays again and keep on putting points on the board.”
