The Cincinnati Bengals and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase voiced frustration with the Cleveland Browns and NFL officials after play was halted following Myles Garrett’s record-setting sack.
Garrett took down Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow around 5:10 left in the fourth quarter on first down, setting the NFL single-season record with his 23rd sack of the season. Initially, the clock continued to run, but officials paused the game after the Browns poured onto the field to celebrate with Garrett.
Chase said after the game that the officials needed to throw a flag on the play.
“I didn’t know you could do that. I never knew you could let the whole team get on the field. That’s like me catching my 10th pass and the whole team running on the field. We’re going to get flagged,” Chase said. “You can’t do that. Congrats to him and everything but they got to call a flag on that play.”
Chase appeared to downplay the moment Garrett etched his name into the record books. The takedown pushed the Browns star past Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt, who had previously shared the NFL single-season sack mark at 22.5, giving Garrett sole possession of the record.
Zac Taylor: No Warning of Myles Garrett Stoppage
Bengals coach Zac Taylor was also heated over the stoppage. He said that despite having a long meeting with the officials ahead of the matchup, it never came up.
“I was never informed of that,“ Taylor said. ”They didn’t say one word. We meet with them in the 90-minute meeting before the game. They never said one word about that.”
Chase, like Taylor, said the stoppage put the Bengals at a disadvantage.
“We were trying to hurry up. We couldn’t hurry up. The refs were looking at us like we did something wrong,” Chase said. “I don’t know what was going on during that play.”
Chase is on a record-setting pace of his own and said he hopes the NFL would stop the game if he breaks a mark.
“They better stop the game when I do something on my back end,” Chase said. “That’s all I got to say about that one.”
The Bengals were forced to punt after Garrett’s sack, but Cincinnati answered on its next possession. Burrow capped the drive by finding Chase for a four-yard touchdown with 1:29 remaining. A failed two-point conversion, however, left the Bengals nursing a slim 18-17 lead.
Cleveland responded, with Shedeur Sanders guiding the Browns into field-goal range, and Andre Szmyt connecting from 49 yards as time expired to secure the 20-18 victory.
Browns DE Myles Garrett Credits Bengals After Record
With time winding down, things started to look grim for Garrett and his record chase, with a chance he’d be stuck at 22 sacks. But when he got a rare one-on-one matchup, he capitalized.
“It was everything I expected,” Garrett said. “It was so tough. I knew they were going to make it difficult, but (expletive), I don’t think I saw more than three singles on a real dropback the whole game. And I just knew that if I did, I have to make that moment count. And the feeling couldn’t be better.”
Even when Garrett didn’t reach the quarterback, his presence still tilted the field — something Burrow made a point to acknowledge afterward.
“He’s the focus of the game plan every time we play them,” Burrow said. “For the most part, I thought we were pretty good against him today. But you can see how impactful he is. We have no help on him one time and he gets one. He’s an elite player.”
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