CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The San Francisco 49ers bested the Browns in a 26-8 outing on Sunday, and one of the main objectives to make that happen was simple: contain Myles Garrett.
The Browns star edge rusher entered Week 13 with a league-leading 18 sacks, 13 of which came in the previous four games.
On Sunday, the 49ers offensive line held Garrett to one sack on quarterback Brock Purdy.
A majority of Garrett's one-on-one matchups came against All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams.
They have played each other twice, but there's such a level of respect between the two players that Williams gave Garrett maybe the best compliment he could've given him.
"(Myles is) one of them players, he's the best to ever do it," Williams said after the game.
Garrett's the man. Every offensive line knows this and must create a gameplan to stop him, or at least limit him.
By each series on Sunday, you saw the 49ers offensive line keeping track of where Garrett lined up. Sometimes even pointing his way to remind each other where No. 95 was.
Whether it was a one-on-one matchup or a double-team effort, San Francisco knew who they had to contain to make a win attainable.
"You have to be aware when you see (Garrett)," right tackle Colton McKivitz said. "We had some protection stuff built into where we weren't following him. But you know, we had a pretty good idea of where he was going to line up."
There was a certain cohesion between the offensive line and quarterback Brock Purdy.
The line did their job in sustaining their blocking and giving Purdy enough time to find his target. Purdy, for his part, did a good job with his timely passes and keeping Garrett starving for a sack all game.
"We did a fantastic job up front protecting Brock (Purdy). We limited (Garrett) to one (sack). I mean you want it to be zero, but he's a great player," McKivitz said. "He's having a record year, hope he gets it."
Long before his sole sack, Garrett had some close calls to grabbing it:
- During the final play of the first series, on a third-and-9, both Williams and George Kittle doubled on Garrett. Williams held on long enough, but his feet moved to a 90-degree angle which gave Garrett space to disrupt Purdy's pass.
- During the second series on a third-and-8, Garrett was close to Purdy before he completed a 12-yarder to Christian McCaffrey.
- That fourth series on a second-and-9, Garrett got past McKivitz and was close to Purdy, before he got rid of it for a 14-yarder to Kittle.
- There were a couple close calls during the sixth series, especially on the second-and-6 where Purdy was moving back and retreating from Garrett chasing him. Purdy threw it away, and Garrett conversed with him before giving him a fist bump.
You punch through something long enough, you'll eventually break through it.
The longer Garrett battled with the 49ers offensive line, the closer he got to the pocket and to sacking Purdy.
It was inevitable.
On a third-and-4 in the beginning of the fourth quarter, Garrett got his sack after pulling off his infamous 'euro-step' move to get by Williams.
This gives Garrett a league-leading 19.0 sacks on the season. And when Williams was asked if Garrett's potential record-breaking season surprises him at all, he chuckled.
"Not at all. Not surprised. Not one bit," Williams said.