CINCINNATI — The night before he made NFL history, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett had a dream that he fell short of the league’s single-season sack record.

Garrett, though, made sure that nightmare didn’t become reality.

With his sack of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s finale, Garrett reached 23 for the season, breaking the NFL’s single-season sack record.

The takedown in the Browns’ 20-18 victory pushed Garrett past the previous record of 22.5 sacks that was set by Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan in 2001 and matched by Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt in 2021.

For much of the afternoon, Garrett nearly brought down Burrow. Earlier on the drive when Garrett set the record, he lined up at defensive tackle and then blitzed as an off-ball linebacker. With 5:17 left, Garrett used his fastest get-off of the season — 0.23 seconds, according to NFL Next Gen Stats — and a deft swim move to get past left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and corral Burrow.

“It was everything I expected,” said Garrett, whose parents were in attendance to watch the record-breaking sack. “It was so tough. I knew they were going to make it difficult, but s—, I don’t think I saw more than three singles on a real dropback the whole game. I just knew that if I did, I’d have to make that moment count. The feeling couldn’t be better.”

It marked the 12th time he sacked Burrow in his career, breaking a tie with the Baltimore Ravens‘ Lamar Jackson for the most times Garrett has sacked a quarterback. Garrett also sacked Burrow last season to record his 100th career sack in Week 16 of the 2024 campaign.

As the crowd at Paycor Stadium — about 250 miles from Cleveland — erupted, Garrett raised his arms in relief before putting his hands together. Garrett jogged to the sideline to meet swarming teammates, who placed him on their shoulders.

“That’s history,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “He’s the sack king. That’s unbelievable. They’ve been playing this game for a long time, and for him to go get that in the circumstances, with the degree of difficulty in which he got it this season, is unbelievable. He’s the Defensive Player of the Year. You can make him the MVP if I had a vote. And I think the reaction of his teammates is genuine. That’s real. These guys care about each other.”

The 2023 Defensive Player of the Year and overwhelming favorite to win the award again this season, Garrett used a torrid stretch to rewrite the history books. Entering Week 18, Garrett’s 22 sacks were tied for the third most in a season by a player since 1982, when the individual sack became an official statistic. Garrett had recorded at least half a sack in nine straight games before his streak ended in the Browns’ Week 17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. That included a five-sack performance against the New England Patriots in Week 9, a career high for Garrett and a Browns record, as well as a four-sack showing against the Ravens in Week 11.

In Week 14 against the Tennessee Titans, Garrett became the 13th player to record 20 sacks in a season.

Garrett is the first player in NFL history to record at least 12 sacks in six consecutive seasons, and he is the only player to record at least 10 sacks in each of the past eight seasons. With 125.5 career sacks, Garrett has the second most by a player in his first nine seasons since 1982. Garrett, who turned 30 on Dec. 29, also passed Hall of Famer Reggie White (108) for the most sacks by a player under the age of 30. Garrett is also tied with Hall of Famer Dwight Freeney for 20th on the NFL’s career sacks list.

The No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL draft, Garrett has 10½ more sacks than the next-closest player since entering the league (Watt, 115). Garrett, a six-time Pro Bowl selection and four-time All-Pro selection, also leads the league with 33 tackles for loss.

Cleveland’s loss to the Titans in Week 14 eliminated the Browns from playoff contention. However, Garrett’s teammates and coaches rallied around his pursuit of history even in a lost season.

Before the season, Garrett signed a four-year, $160 million extension — then a record for a non-quarterback — as he and the Browns reconciled after he requested a trade in February. Such a contract came with even higher expectations for the preeminent pass rusher of his generation.

Garrett responded with his best season — and the greatest for a pass rusher.

“That’s the best defensive end of our generation,” said Brown, who has faced Garrett numerous times in the AFC North as a member of the Bengals and Ravens. “I got a ton of respect for him and his game and his approach.”

As Garrett wrapped up his postgame news conference, he quoted lyrics from Kanye West’s “I Wonder,” the song that played from his phone while he walked up to the lectern, to sum up his afternoon.

“Find your dreams come true,” Garrett said. “Been waiting on this my whole life, my whole football career. I knew I had it in me. I wanted that 25 [sacks]. They made it real difficult these last two games, especially, but really these last three. That’ll be the next journey, trying to go out there and get 25.”

New York Giants owner John Mara, who has been battling an undisclosed form of cancer for three months, was honored with a game ball after one of the team’s biggest wins of a painful season. 

The Giants got their first win against the archrival Dallas Cowboys since 2020. With a 34-17 thumping, the Giants finished one game better than their 2024 record. It’s also their first season since 2020 with wins against the Eagles and Cowboys.

Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger, who had a 29-yard touchdown reception, told reporters after the game how the game ball impacted Mara’s mood. 

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“[Mara] mentioned he’s jogging to his treatments now because of this,” Bellinger said. “He’s got to be the toughest guy in the locker room, regardless of what everybody else is going through. He’s resilient as a guy, and we respect him as our leader, our owner.”

Beating Dallas and other results around the NFL took the Giants (4-13) out of the running for a top-two draft pick. 

But Mara has repeatedly made it a policy that he demands wins over draft positioning as an NFL owner.

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Giants captain Andrew Thomas told The New York Post, “It’s a great feeling” of winning the game for Mara. 

“You can tell he cares about this place; there’s a lot of legacy with his family, it means a lot to him, and it’s not just his words, it’s his actions,” Thomas said. “He’s there; a lot of owners don’t commit that much. We definitely appreciate that. We want to win every game we play, and more importantly, we want to do it more consistently. That’s our goal, and I’m sure that would make Mr. Mara happy. We know he’s going through a tough situation, so we’re praying for him and hoping he can get healthy and come back out there with us.” 

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Mara and the Giants will now look ahead to finding a new head coach and making moves in the 2026 offseason. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Notre Dame transfer quarterback Kenny Minchey has committed to Nebraska, he told ESPN on Sunday.

The Cornhuskers secured their top target among transfer quarterbacks in Minchey, a redshirt sophomore with two more years of eligibility who moved on from Notre Dame in search of an opportunity to become a starter in 2026.

Minchey officially entered the portal Friday, the first day of the two-week transfer window in college football.

The 6-foot-2, 208-pound passer went through a close offseason competition with CJ Carr for the Notre Dame starting job that extended through preseason camp. In six appearances this season, Minchey was 20-of-26 passing for 196 yards and rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown.

Minchey, a former ESPN 300 recruit who was the No. 5 dual-threat quarterback prospect in the 2023 class, gives coach Matt Rhule and offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen a quarterback to build around in 2026 after two-year starter Dylan Raiola opted to move on via the transfer portal.

Nebraska started 6-2 in its third year under Rhule before Raiola went down with a season-ending injury in a 21-17 loss to USC. The Huskers lost four of their last five games to finish 7-6 as freshman quarterback TJ Lateef replaced Raiola and accounted for 1,024 total yards and nine touchdowns.