Like many positions in the NFL, one or two mistakes over the course of 60 or 70 plays can make or break a day.
The stats from the first meeting between the Browns and Steelers in Cleveland show Myles Garrett recorded six tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles in what was a very good game for the top pick in the 2017 draft.
Because of that, many people assumed Garrett had his way with Steelers Pro Bowl offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva. In fact, even after that game, a 21-21 tie in the regular season opener, Villanueva -- as he often does -- shouldered some of the blame.
“I came up short,” Villanueva said at the time. “He’s a really good player, but I’ve got to block him so it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to block him. He was getting off the ball pretty fast. He was timing it well.”
But the perception -- even Villanueva's own -- after that game was not the reality. And none of it will matter one bit when the two square off again in a key matchup Sunday at Heinz Field when the Steelers (3-2-1) host the Browns (2-4-1).
"I think Myles Garrett is a very good player," Villanueva told me. "There were a couple of unfortunate plays. It was not my responsibility to block him. The stats are very misleading when it comes to my performance. I’m not saying those few plays where he really got me didn’t happen, but it’s not like he’s a specific player that I have to redeem myself against. I just have to try to do my best, knowing that this is always going to be a very tough matchup."
A look back at the game shows Villanueva was tasked with blocking Garrett either one-on-one or with help 37 times in that game. Garrett clearly beat Villanueva just twice.
Unfortunately for the Steelers, both were impact plays.
The first was a sack on the first play of the second quarter on which Villanueva rode Garrett far behind Ben Roethlisberger, only to have Garrett chase Roethlisberger down from behind after four seconds.
The second was a forced fumble in the fourth quarter in which Garrett hit James Conner from behind after Villanueva pushed him to the outside. It was a good hustle play from Garrett, who took advantage of Conner being forced to stop moving behind the line of scrimmage.
But the immediate response by many is to look at Garrett's stats from that game and think he owned Villanueva. That includes, specifically, a fourth quarter sack and fumble on which the left tackle's job was to block down, with right guard David DeCastro sealing Garrett on the backside of the play.
The two sacks recorded by Garrett in that game are among his seven thus far this season, which is tied for fourth in the league. He's also forced three fumbles. Those are the kind of disruptive plays expected from the No. 1-overall pick in a draft.
What isn't expected is for players such as Villanueva to make it to where he is.
He did three tours of duty in Afghanistan after graduating from Army and didn't earn his way onto the Steelers roster -- after being released by Philadelphia -- until he was 26 years old.
Players with his backstory aren't supposed to make it. Players with his backstory aren't supposed to be voted to the Pro Bowl, as Villanueva was a year ago. They aren't supposed to consistently hold their own against players such as Garrett.
But Villanueva's fear of failure drives him and keeps him grounded.
"I think it’s the same thing as jumping out of airplanes when you’re in the military," he told me. "The day you have no fear of jumping out of airplanes is the day something’s wrong. I think as a football player that is undrafted, you always have to understand that it’s not always the things that you’re doing, it’s the things other people are doing to help you become who you are."
It's why he's always his harshest critic, even when things aren't necessarily his fault.
"I think he’s always going to be hard on himself," DeCastro, Villanueva's closest friend on the team, told me. "I do the same thing. You’re going to look at the bad plays. He’s not going to change. He’s always been hard on himself and that’s what’s gotten him to this point from all the places he’s been through in life. That’s how he works."
Villanueva has allowed just two sacks this season as part of a unit that has given up just nine. They expect to win and dominate the line of scrimmage in every game.
Coming off a Pro Bowl season -- one in which some felt he made it simply because of the national anthem protests and what he stood for -- Villanueva wants to prove he belongs among the best in the league at his position.
He wasn't about to think he had made it simply because he had gotten the accolades.
"I just think I’m very realistic," he told me. "The media hype is going to happen and it creates bubbles about people’s personalities and their ability to play that aren’t reality. The easy thing is to believe the hype. The reality is to actually look at the game for what it is.
"Those statistics are very misleading. A lot of time the quarterback gets rid of the ball very quickly, the receiver makes a great play and the defenders don’t get to the ball. A lot of it is watching the tape and figuring out how you’ve been playing. In my case, there are a lot of things I can do better, just like every season. You’re trying to find that perfect game, and you’re probably not going to play it."
Probably not. But that doesn't keep Villanueva from trying.
Players use whatever they can as motivation to compete and play at this level. For Garrett, it's probably wanting to live up to being the top pick in a draft. For Villanueva, it's proving to himself over and over again he not only belongs in the NFL, but deserves to stay.
"That motivating factor of getting beat, that’s what motivates all of us," DeCastro told me. "What are you going to do beforehand to prevent that? He’s a guy that watches a lot of film, a lot of tape. It’s pretty impressive how quickly he picked it up, coming from his background."