The production of Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett will continue to be a highly discussed topic.

Surface level stats for a defensive lineman can be misleading, and while the position's nuances are esoteric in nature, fans will always find the box score to see if Garrett is making that impact. If the sacks aren't there, is he really making the impact we expected when he was taken first overall in the 2017 draft?

Luckily, we have other ways to quantify the impact of the player at the two different defensive line positions. Quarterback hits and pressures give us an idea just how well a player is impacting the play each snap. Sacks can be filled with variance at times, but getting there consistently tells you something about a player's effectiveness. In a day when some cited a lack of presence, Garrett was consistently winning his match-up.

#Browns Myles Garrett had 10 pressures on 22 pass rush snaps in the 2nd half vs the #Bengals. He won on 45.5% of his pass rushes. That's insane. — John Kosko (@JohnKosko3) November 27, 2018

I will admit, I too pondered just how effective Garrett was on Sunday against the Bengals because when you watch the game live you miss so many things.

The All-22 end zone view gives us a clear picture as to just how well a player performs along the offensive and defensive lines. The study of defensive ends boils down to winning match-ups. There are 10 other players on the field with duties and responsibilities that one simply can't control.

Garrett has no bearing on a quarterback releasing the ball within mere seconds of his initial drop. What the film can tell us, again, is if he is winning his match-up each snap, so when the quarterback holds the ball that split second longer he has a chance to make a play.

Let's look at his performance from a few angles.

Is he being held?

In short, yes. He uses the club to rip move often, and when he bends the corner he is being held by his neck and shoulders often. This was the case several times Sunday.

Example No. 1

Example No. 2

Example No. 3

Example No. 4

Example No. 5

Example No. 6

This one is a dominant bull rush but he is held on the shoulders and pulled down by Bengals left tackle Cedric Ogbuehi (No. 70).

Garrett was clearly held, by my count, on six of his 39 pass rush attempts. Nearly 16 percent of the time on Sunday he was approaching the quarterback only to be held without a flag call.

I think the lack of flags was due to game score (officials get tight with flags for the team blowing another out), but also due to the nature in which he turns at the top of his rush. It can be blind to see for some officials and I noticed they rarely had their eyes on him.

Often on holding calls, it has to be obvious and the quarterback moving around helps the eyes see the hold. Andy Dalton and Jeff Driskel both got the ball out quickly from their top foot of the drop. Officials have to be paying close attention. A few were more obvious than others. More of them have to be called.

Quarterback throw beating the pressure

There were several examples from Sunday's game where Garrett won against his match-up. but the ball was out before there was anything he could do about it. You have to isolate the match-up and trust the process by which results come from. He won early and often.

Example No. 1

This ball is out before Myles can get there. His right arm club to either swim or rip is deadly.

Example No. 2

Bull rush to swim, but the ball is out to a check-down running back quickly.

Example No. 3

When offenses call the screen game, they don't want their tackles being beat inside. Bengals OT Jake Fisher (No. 74) is beaten badly here, as Garrett stems outside and rips quickly to the inside. Just a step before the ball is out to the back on the screen.

Example No. 4

Another win with the slap/rip, but the ball is out quickly. If Dalton has to hold this ball at all, he is being engulfed off his left side.

Example No. 5

Myles stems inside and uses the bull rush to drive Bengals left guard Clint Boling (No. 75) and running back Giovani Bernard (No. 25) into Driskel's lap forcing an incompletion. This is dominant.

If he's being held with no call, how does he get home for a sack?

The only way he did so was by abusing Ogbuehi so badly off the snap that there was no chance to even hold him.

I genuinely believe it's a big reason Garrett gets called for offside once a game. He tries to get that perfect jump to defeat the holding calls he seems to rarely receive. The pressure begins to mount in his head about putting up the big time numbers and he gets caught leaning. If the holding calls would arrive, as they should, it would offset this issue.

Final Thoughts

We all want Myles to produce, I get it. We all want him to be the generational player he was billed to be leading up to that 2017 draft. Rest assured, he is on a great path.

His 10 sacks so far in 2018 have him in the league's Top 10, his three forced fumbles also rank in the league's Top 10, his 20 quarterback hits are sixth in the league and his 47 pressures rank fifth. He is still learning the position at this level, and the production will only keep growing as the Browns strengthen their defense around him. He needs a significant counter-move, and he would benefit from a spin move, but the status quo is fine as is.

Keep this in mind. Per snap, Garrett is on a higher percentage based production in sacks and forced fumbles at this point in his career than the NFL's elite names: Khalil Mack and Von Miller.

The pace by which Garrett is growing is enough to feel excited about and he is already a Top 5 talent at his position. A Pro-Bowl trip is likely this year, and many All-Pro awards are in his future if he can continue to stay healthy.

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