Shedeur Sanders stepped into the Cleveland Browns’ lineup in Week 12, and delivered a 24-10 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. It was a historic win, as Sanders became the first Browns quarterback since Eric Zeier in 1995 to win his first career start, and the first since the franchise relaunched in 1999. Previously, Browns quarterbacks were 0-17 in their first career starts.
Sanders completed 11 of 20 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception. His first career touchdown was a fourth-quarter swing pass out to fellow rookie Dylan Sampson, who ran 66 yards for the score. Myles Garrett and the Browns defense was the main reason the Browns won their third game of the season. After all, they recorded 10 sacks in a game for the first time in franchise history since 1984. But, Sanders managed the game and escaped Sin City with a W.
When Sanders spoke with CBS Sports’ Tiffany Blackmon after the game, he was understandably excited. He admitted that the past six or seven months had been hard on him after falling in the draft and ending up third string on the depth chart, but that he didn’t feel any nerves prior to kickoff.
“I think I showed a couple of great pieces, and there’s some things I wish I could get back,” Sanders said. “But man, a win is crazy. It’s amazing. You know? Off of one week of practice. This is one week of practice! So imagine what a full offseason look like! It get dangerous!”
In his postgame press conference, Sanders said he was “very relaxed.” That was because he prepared as well as he could, and knew that he had God on his side.
Not only was Sanders relaxed, but he was also confident. He told reporters that he was aware of the copious amount of detractors as one of the more polarizing players in the NFL. But, he wasn’t going to fail.
“A lot of people want to see me fail and … it’s ain’t gonna happen. It ain’t gonna happen,” Sanders said.
It’s true that Sanders was not the MVP of this game, and that his lone touchdown pass was thanks to Sampson’s ability after the catch. However, Sanders did make an impressive throw downfield to fellow rookie Isaiah Bond in the first half to set up Cleveland’s second score of the game.
As you can see from the video below, even Garrett was impressed.
“I’m just like wow,” Garrett said. “There’s not many guys in the league that can make that throw. So that was a hell of a throw. I hope he can continue to grow and develop from making plays like that and he’ll take it from there.”
While Sanders was solid in his first career start, it’s unclear if he did enough to steal the starting job from Dillon Gabriel, who is currently in concussion protocol. When Browns coach Kevin Stefanski was asked if Sanders would start next week against the San Francisco 49ers, he said he wasn’t “going to get into that.”
“Proud of him, and proud of this offense and there are a ton of things to learn from, but I’m just going to worry about today,” Stefanski said, via ESPN.
Sunday was a win for the Browns in more ways than one. But it’s fair to say there’s a bit of a quarterback controversy brewing in Cleveland.
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