Zac Taylor was upset about the game being stopped to celebrate Garrett’s sack milestone
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Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was not happy when NFL officials stopped play to celebrate Myles Garrett’s record 23rd sack of the season in the team’s 20-18 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
Taylor was upset about the stoppage, which came late in the fourth quarter with more than five minutes left, saying after the game that he was never told that game officials planned to stop the game if Garrett hit a touchdown to become the NFL’s single-season sack leader.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Myles Garrett (95) sacks Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) during the fourth quarter at Paycor Stadium. The game set a new NFL single-season record for Garrett. (Joseph Maiorana/Photography)
“There are 5 minutes left in our season. We are playing for our lives out here and I have never been told that we will stop the game again at such a critical time,” he told the media after the game. “And the management just said they decided to stop the game and said they tried to do it quickly – I didn’t hear that.”
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The Bengals were already officially eliminated last month after a 24-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15. Still, Taylor said the team was playing to win.
“We didn’t calm down. We’re trying to be on the ball and play with tempo, and the referee just held the ball so we couldn’t do anything. And I’m yelling at Joe. [Burrow] to enter the ball. We didn’t give up, we’re leaving and we couldn’t play.”
Taylor said in a meeting with representatives before the games began, he was “not informed” of their plans.
Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns is carried by teammates after the sack during the fourth quarter of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Jan. 4, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
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“Trying to get an answer was not easy, they just said that they decided as a team to stop the game if that happened, I think it doesn’t matter when it happened, they just stopped the game and let it go.
“I was never informed about that. They didn’t say a word.”
Garrett entered the game one sack shy of the 22.5 mark, shared by New York Giants great and Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and Pittsburgh Steelers star TJ Watt in 2021.
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor speaks at a news conference after the NFL game against the Cleveland Browns in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
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With minutes remaining in the final game of the season, Garrett saw his opportunity with Burrow on first-and-10 at the Browns’ 45-yard line.
“It’s everything I expected. It was very difficult. I knew they were going to make it difficult,” Garrett said. “I don’t think I saw more than three singles in a real back-to-back all game. And I just knew that if I did, I had to make that moment count. And the feeling couldn’t have been better.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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