On Sunday, Myles Garrett made NFL history with his 23rd sack of the season, breaking the league’s coveted single-season record for most sacks.
When that happened, game officials allowed play to be paused for about a minute to allow Garrett to celebrate with his Browns teammates. The delay occurred at a critical moment late in the fourth quarter of a game between Garrett’s Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals, which Cleveland won 20-18.
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Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor was not satisfied with this. Neither is All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Taylor told reporters at the postgame news conference that the delay interfered with the Bengals’ rushing attack as they tried to tie the game after trailing 17-12 in the final five minutes of the game. The sack put the Tigers at 16 near midfield.
Taylor: ‘The referee just controls the ball’
“We have five minutes left in our season,” Taylor said. “We’re here fighting for our lives and no one ever told me we were going to stop the game. In a critical moment like this. The referees just said they decided they were going to stop the game. They said they were trying to do it as quickly as possible. I didn’t feel that way.
“We had no substitutes. We tried to keep the ball and play with the tempo, but the referee just kept the ball, so there was nothing we could do.”
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who was sacked by Garrett during the game, raised his arms in frustration after the game as officials seized the game ball instead of putting it on the next play. Meanwhile, Garrett was surrounded by his teammates to celebrate the achievement.
Why did officials allow the game to be postponed?
Taylor told reporters he contacted officials to try to find answers as to why play was paused to allow the Browns to celebrate.
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“Trying to get answers is not easy,” Taylor said. “They just said they made the decision as a staff to stop the game when it happened. I guess it doesn’t matter when it happens. They’re going to stop the game and let it happen.
“I was never told about it. They didn’t say anything.”
Jamaal Chase: Where’s the flag?
Chase, meanwhile, wondered why officials didn’t throw a flag in celebration when the players left the Cleveland bench to congratulate Garrett on the field.
“I don’t think they can,” Chase said. “I never knew you could get the whole team on your field — like I caught the 10th pass and the whole team was running down the field. People are going to get tagged. You can’t do that.
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“Congratulations to him and everything. But they have to raise the flag in this game.”
When told that Taylor said officials had been planning to stop the game to celebrate, Chase said he expected the same treatment for anything he accomplished in his career.
“Well,” Chase said, “when I do something on the back end, they better stop playing.”
What should officials do?
Few individual records in football carry as much weight as the single-season sack record. This is a huge achievement worth celebrating.
The Browns, meanwhile, had plenty of time and opportunity to celebrate. The Bengals had legitimate complaints about the game not being played according to normal game rules.