Lamar Jackson doesn’t just play football, he makes it look like a cinematic masterpiece. He was selected 32nd overall by the Baltimore Ravens in 2018, with lightning speed meets laser-like accuracy. With 22 MVPs more than 10,000 yards thrown and 4,000+ yards rushing, Jackson is more than just a dual threat; he’s a defensive coordinator nightmare. Be it spraining ankles or setting records, Jackson does not play; he sets records. “I don’t just want to win games,” Jackson once said, “I want to leave defenders wondering what hit them.” Yet Jackson didn’t back down when asked which defensive end makes the most of a mess.

Beware-It Garrett

“Myles Garrett,” he yelled not one, but three times as if calling a pass-rush demon. If Lamar Jackson called Garrett the most dangerous defensive end he’s ever faced, it wasn’t hysteria — it was statistical reality. “He’ll do some stuff like…I don’t know if it depends on how he’s feeling. He looked bigger this year. He looked like he picked more weight.” “Bruh, he’s doing it on purpose,” Jackson kept saying as Garrett proved he could play you one trick and blow your plans with the next. Garrett on the field sags entire offensive game plans. He has 90+ career sacks, 25 forced fumbles, and 175 quarterback hits in his four years in the NFL, with nearly 15 sacks per season over the past three seasons. Only in 2023, he had 16 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and 58 pressures, making him a Defensive Player of the Year.

But the killing factor of Garrett is not his number, it’s how he gets there. Garrett is also in Pro Football Focus’ top 3 pass rushers in pass-rush win rate every season since 2020. He had an all-time pass-rushing win percentage of 25% on 2024 snaps — meaning one in four passes were passed to him by his blocker. Add that to his 97.5 grade in run defense and Garrett is an absolute nightmare on every down.

Garrett doesn’t only put up numbers against worse teams, either. Garrett has recorded 6 sacks, 10 TFL, and 14 POM in two of their meetings so far against Jackson and the Ravens. It is his shadowing of Jackson on zone reads that works well, Garrett keeps quarterbacks to less than 2.8 yards per carry when they try to get near his side (a testament to his speed and football brain).

For instance Week 3 2024: Garrett was sacked for 3.5 sacks, 2 TFLs, and a forced fumble in a dominating showing against the Titans. He also covered at safety for a few plays, so he is versatile. Or flash back to 2021, when he had 4.5 sacks in one game against the Bears, and broke their offense like a piata. These aren’t isolated performances: they’re a series of monopolizing successes, so how does their journey of destruction equate together?

Clash of Titans: Heartfelt Moments in the Battle of Greats

NFL games provide us with blips of cosmic genius but the few flashes of humanity make it worth the watch. Cleveland’s Myles Garrett had a touching conversation with Baltimore’s rookie tackle Roger Rosengarten at a Browns-Ravens game. When Rosengarten nervously asked Garrett for a jersey swap, calling himself a “nobody,” Garrett’s response was pure class: “Hey, you’re in the league, y’all winning games, y’all looking great, you ain’t never a nobody. I got you.” Moments like these grow legends bigger even as they wrangle in the game. In the words of Garret “Lamar is a special talent. You can’t predict him. You can’t stop him, but you better be ready for anything.”

As legends go, Garrett and Lamar Jackson changed the DNA of the NFL in their own respective ways. The Browns’ a-ha quarterback Garrett has been one hell of a defensive machine since his rookie season with 91 sacks, 25 fumbles, and a knack for rupturing teams. He is the kind of guy who shuts down teams with his disruptiveness, four consecutive double-digit sack seasons (14 in 2021 and 18 in 2023) landed him Defensive Player of the Year honors. And. And Jackson, the Ravens’ brash QB, has made his own path with more than 12,000 passing yards, 4,500 rushing yards, and a season that defined dual-threat QBs. Garrett scares QBs, and Jackson scares whole defenses.

They weren’t all roses on the NFL cake, either. Jackson was not thought to be a QB but convinced skeptics with 101 touchdowns, a 64.3% career completion rate, and 20+ fourth-quarter comebacks. Garrett, meanwhile, battled off early nagging injuries and suspension in 2019, and recovered and ruled, averaging close to a sack per game. They have both shown resilience is just as important as skill, and grit will enthrall your team and fans.

It’s a good-for-you contest between the Ravens and Browns, but it’s those kinds of plays like Garrett saying those few words to Rosengarten that tell us the game has heart. Garrett and Jackson are remaking the sport of their respective professions, but they also tell us that greatness on the field doesn’t preclude humility and fair play. It’s not only football when these two collide; it’s talent, fair play, and unflinching humanity that attracts audiences year after year.