Ten sacks!

Yes, 10 sacks!

That’s 10, as in one more than nine, and one less than 11.

That’s 10, as in a perfect 10.

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The more I think about the Browns recording 10 sacks in Sunday’s 24-10 — it wasn’t nearly as close as the final score might seem to indicate — manhandling of the host Las Vegas Raiders, the more incredible it seems, the more I am impressed and the more I have to pinch myself to believe that it really happened.

It’s not at all that the Browns defense is incapable of harassing opposing quarterbacks to a great degree. This defense is really, really good, one of the best units in the NFL and one of the best in team history. It is FANTASTIC! It’s just that to do it to the tune of 10 sacks is just off the charts. That’s 2.5 sacks per quarter. If a team gets 2.5 sacks per game, it’s pretty good.

End Myles Garrett, the Pro Football Hall of Famer in waiting, had three of the sacks, which is very believable considering how good he is (Myles Garrett Shirt on Amazon). But what really stands out is that his teammates combined to get seven sacks. Wow! He has some talented company. Trying to I don’t care if it was accomplished against a Raiders offense that can’t get out of its own way. That’s a professional team. Those guys are being paid.

A sack is the most influential play in the game other than scoring. It results in huge losses of yardage, all but killing drives. It takes an offense out of its rhythm not just on that possession but on the remaining possessions of the game as well. It intimidates offenses. The more it happens, the more the intimidation. And when then number of sacks approaches 10, the intimidation turns into outright fear. The Raiders might as well have just punted on first down.

It was so bad that Las Vegas head coach Pete Carroll fired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who, of course, was the OC for the Ohio State Buckeyes during their run to the national championship last season.

It wasn’t Kelly’s fault. He wasn’t blocking. He was just drawing up, and calling, plays. Nothing works when you are getting run over at the point of attack.

Just ask Raiders quarterback Geno Smith, who, after one particularly brutal series, could be seen on TV — with lip-reading — saying to someone on the sideline, “Every time I go back to pass, they’re all over me.”

Indeed.

Especially with the time of year it is, the only thing I can remember like it was the 1962 Thanksgiving Day game at Tiger Stadium when the Detroit Lions, led by Alex Karras and Roger Brown, sacked Green Bay quarterback Bart Starr 11 times in a 26-14 victory that was the Packers’ only loss all year on their way to winning their second consecutive NFL championship. It was after that game that Packers head coach Vince Lombardi made it clear to league officials that he didn’t want his team playing the Lions on Thanksgiving anymore.

But back to the Browns in that what happened against the Raiders is, yet another example of why the club must at least retain, if not promote, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz following the season. Good DCs are hard to find. Great ones are even harder.

Steve King

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