Browns DE Myles Garrett earns AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his monster game vs. Colts

cleveland. com BEREA, Ohio -- Myles Garrett hurdled the rest of the defenders in the conference Wednesday to earn AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors for his monster game against the Colts. He joined kicker Dustin Hopkins as two Browns players with AFC Player of the Week honors.

Hopkins defended his Special Teams crown from last week with a second straight eye-popping performance, going 4 for 4 on his field goals, including three of 50 yards a more. The 50-palooza included two 54-yarders and a career-long 58-yarder. He also set an NFL record for five games with a field goal of 50 yards or longer.

As for Garrett, he strip-sacked Gardner Minshew twice, batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage, and hurdled the Colts right guard to block a field goal. His huge plays led to 17 of the Browns points in their 39-38 victory. Garrett’s two sacks left him with 7.

5 on the season for third in the NFL. He’s firmly in the conversation for his first NFL Defensive Player of the Year award and will nail it the elusive award if he keeps up like this. Against the Colts, Garrett recorded nine tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, one pass defensed and one blocked field goal at Indianapolis.

Both his forced fumbles were recovered by Cleveland and resulted in 14 points, including one recovered in the end zone for a score, while his blocked field goal led to a Browns field goal. His performance marked the fourth time in Browns history that a player recorded at least two sacks and two forced fumbles in a single-game and the second time Garrett has accomplished the feat (2018) along with Mark Word (2002) and John Thierry (1999). Garrett, who has 82 career sacks and turns 28 years old later this season, surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famer Reggie White (80 sacks) for the most NFL sacks by a player prior to his 28th birthday.

This marks Garrett’s third career Defensive Player of the Week award and first since Week 3 in 2021. This is the second time that the Browns have had two AFC Player of the Week winners in the same week, joining LB Pepper Johnson (Defensive) and PR Eric Metcalf (Special Teams) during Week 8 in 1994. .