Cardinals outside linebacker John Abraham thinks he can do something this year, at age 36, that he’s never done before: Get 20 sacks in a season.
“I’m shooting for at least 20 [sacks]. I always shoot high,” Abraham told ArizonaSports.com. “Shoot high, you might hit low, but at least you shoot high. Don’t bowl, you’ve got to shoot a basket. Shoot high, don’t bowl.”
Abraham’s career high is 16.5 sacks in a season, a total he reached in 2008 with the Falcons. It seems awfully unlikely that he’d be able to top that at age 36. Sacking the quarterback is a young man’s game, and the oldest player ever to record 20 sacks in a season was Michael Strahan, who did it at age 30.
On the other hand, all 11.5 of Abraham’s sacks last season came during an eight-game stretch in the middle of the season. If he could play like that for a full season instead of just half a season, he’d have 23 sacks, which would break Strahan’s NFL record of 22.5. Twenty sacks is a long shot, but Abraham still has a lot left.