Pro Football Focus found Myles Garrett, but risk their credibility in the process

Pro Football Focus loves themselves some Myles Garrett, even when he doesn't show up for work. Despite a pedestrian showing in the Browns loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, PFF expects those of us who watched to believe that wait, actually, Garrett played quite well!

On Sunday, I wrote about how Garrett belonged on the back of a milk carton after disappearing in Pittsburgh. I still have yet to find him, though PFF apparently has. Garrett didn't have a single sack, only one pressure and two assisted tackles. Yet, PFF initially graded Garrett's performance at 89.5, which was higher than both TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith. He's since been lowered to a 77.5.

PFF tried to explain away its Garrett confusion, namely by focusing on his pass rush win rate against the likes of Broderick Jones and the Steelers offensive line. In theory, this explanation makes sense...until forced back to reality. Jones is one of the worst offensive linemen in the NFL by PFF's own metrics. He also held Garrett to just one pressure thanks to some help from Darnell Washington and the Steelers new strategy up front, which involves a number of heavy sets.

Pro Football Focus exposed by Myles Garrett grade

As always, Pro Football Focus does a great job sounding like the smartest experts in the room. Yet, where they're lacking is context. Sure, the Steelers devoted multiple blockers to Garrett's side in hopes of scheming against the Browns pass rush. It worked to perfection. That's the point. Garrett is far from the only pass-rusher who receives this treatment on a weekly basis. In the past, it hasn't mattered, as Garrett has found his way into the backfield with little to no restraint. In fact, this was arguably Garrett's worst performance of the season when factoring in quarterback pressures. To date, he's had at least two in every game this season. Where was that in Pittsburgh?

Yet, what annoys football fans the most about Pro Football Focus's reasoning is that they're arbitrary. PFF took the Steelers gameplan against Garrett into account when grading him, but when the likes of TJ Watt or even Micah Parsons are forced to face the same reality, they aren't given the benefit of the doubt. Do we really believe Watt wasn't facing double-teams courtesy of the Browns offensive line? That's just how this business works.

PFF doesn't have an anti-Steelers bias, but like most of us, they are in favor of being right. If PFF deems Garrett a better pass-rusher than Watt – a reasonable argument on the surface – the stats will back that up, no matter what circumstances the two players face on a weekly basis. Heck, that same pass rush win rate PFF was touting in its explanation (which occurred before they lowered Garrett's grade, I mind you) cost Watt the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2023.

Analytics has a place in football, but not when it ignores the obvious

I am not some anti-analytics pundit. PFF is a valuable resource in the game today, and provides us another metric to differentiate the good from the great, and so on. For anyone who watched the entirety of that Browns-Steelers game, however, there's little doubt Garrett was dominated at the line of scrimmage. Sure, you can credit the Steelers scheme for that, but Garrett ought to be held accountable as well. That's just how professional football works – poor play has consequences, even if it wasn't entirely Garrett's fault.

To make matters worse, PFF graded the Steelers pass blocking (much of which included blocking Garrett) as just a 28.9. That's their lowest grade of the season. Broderick Jones received his worst grade of the year as well, which is tough to achieve given the very low expectations I have for him to begin with. In Week 1, Jones allowed three sacks against the Jets and got a grade of 46.8. Against Garrett, he allowed just one pressure (with some help from his friends) and graded out just above 11. Someone make it make sense!

If PFF's copout is that the Steelers strategy was so great that each of Garrett's reps should be weighted on a lower scale, then why don't their grades reflect it?

Being the smartest person in the room is convenient, but everyone has a bias. PFF's is towards Garrett and a flawed statistic.