THE SACK THAT GOT AWAY

Here's an excerpt from my latest TribLive.com column:

As for ways to discredit Myles Garrett’s newly-set single-season NFL sack record, it’s pointed out that:

• T. J. Watt played 15 games when he set the record in 2021. Garrett played 17 this season.

• The season was 16 games when Michael Strahan set the record in 2001. Strahan said Garrett holds the 17-game record, but Strahan still owns the 16-game mark. (Strahan didn’t mention him and Brett Favre conspiring to cheat Mark Gastineau out of the milestone when Favre laid down to gift Strahan his record-breaking sack.)

• Reggie White had 21 sacks in 1987 while playing just 12 of 16 games.

• Deacon Jones had 26 sacks in 1967 when the NFL played a 14-game schedule. But sacks weren’t an official stat then.

But the record is most sacks in a season. With no disclaimers. It can’t be redefined.

Garrett holds the record. He got 23 sacks. A half-sack more than Watt and Strahan.

To read the entire column, click HERE.

But wait! There's more!

Minnesota's Jared Allen had 22 sacks in 2011. But he would have had 23 had a Week 10 sack of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers not been reviewed by the NFL and reclassified as a "team sack." (Rodgers muffed a snap, fell on the ball and Allen fell on top of Rodgers.)

"I had 23 quarterbacks on the ground that year," Allen said. "And they took it away from me."

If you'd like to drill down even deeper, Watt played 616 snaps when he set the record. Strahan played 567 snaps when he set the record. Garrett played 437 snaps when he set the record.

The record is most sacks in a season. Leave it at that.