Foxborough, MA – Despite a dominant individual performance by Cleveland browns defensive end Myles Garrett, the New England Patriots secured a 32-13 victory Sunday, a game that served as a valuable, if challenging, learning experience for rookie offensive tackle Will Campbell.Garrett recorded a career-high eight pressures, five sacks, adn a forced fumble, including three sacks and a strip sack against Campbell in 13 pass-rushing attempts.
The Patriots’ win,however,masked a difficult afternoon for Campbell against one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers. Garrett became only the fourth player in NFL history to lose a game despite recording five or more sacks, and the first to do so by a multiple-score margin. His early pressure forced New England to settle for three field goals in the first half, but a second-half surge led by quarterback Drake Maye and three touchdown drives ultimately swung the momentum.
“He’s a really good player,” Patriots quarterback Campbell said of Garrett.”he beat me a few times. It’s just part of the game. He gets paid a lot of money. He got me a couple times. I had to keep coming back and keep fighting. I’m just glad we got the win.”
Campbell largely held his own against Cleveland’s other pass rushers, allowing no pressures on 20 pass-blocking snaps. The Patriots hope Sunday’s contest will prove beneficial for the 21-year-old rookie, who is unlikely to face a talent comparable to Garrett frequently.
Garrett himself acknowledged Campbell’s resilience. “You want to set the tempo and the pace of the game,” Garrett said of Campbell. “He was able to be pretty firm in his stance and keep me from knocking him back,and just trying to hit him with different looks,try to keep him off guard. I watched a lot of tape of him versus Will Anderson, and I no he had a difficult time with Will, and I considered that in mind. I had to try to take some things out of his book and, you know, work them into mine to have success.”
Campbell and the Patriots will look to build on the win and lessons learned as they move forward in the season, with the defense playing a key role. “Defense made a bunch of great plays tonight,” Campbell said. “They’ve been playing their ass off, making it easy on us, giving us short fields at times. kudos to them, they’re playing really, really well.”
