A Hint of PrimeTime
At the 1:43 mark in the first quarter of Sunday’s Browns-Raiders game, with Cleveland facing a 3rd-and-8 from their own 45 yard line, Shedeur Sanders took a shotgun snap and quickly rolled to his right as a nearly free rush from Las Vegas’s Tyree Wilson was bearing down on him up the middle. As Sanders neared the sideline, he uncorked an easy flick of a pass down the field to wide receiver and fellow rookie Isaiah Bond, who had run behind his coverage and came down with a ball 45 air yards down the field, finally being brought down at the 1. Shedeur showed off a strong arm on the play, but also timing and accuracy on the run to hit a deep ball to Bond that felt like the missing link to making the offense work all season. I stood up on my couch and gave a hearty Ric Flair Woo. Deion Sanders smiled and screamed from the luxury boxes. Myles Garrett watched from the sidelines with his hand on his head in disbelief.
In his first career start, Shedeur Sanders gave us the Browns’ best offensive play of the season so far. It’s about time.
No, not about time Sanders starts. While he showed talent in college and in his first preseason game, last week’s relief effort of the concussed Dillon Gabriel showed the warts that contributed to his freefall in April’s draft. He was inaccurate, erratic in the pocket, drifting back under pressure, and threw a bad interception while getting hit that looked like it could only be thrown to the Ravens as Nate Wiggins was the only player in the area. The Ravens even mocked his “golden arm” celebration from the preseason when they got him for a strip sack. Gabriel was drafted ahead of him for a reason, and it was probably being more NFL game-ready than Sanders, even if the physical gifts and talent were at different levels. Shedeur is a rookie 5th-round pick who looked that part as opposed to a franchise-savior top 5 pick.
And then against the Raiders, growth. There was much ado about nothing discussions this past week about how Sanders was being treated unfairly for not getting practice reps with the first team all season. Well, that’s just how the NFL works for backups and third-stringers, and real ones know that. So the practice week after the Ravens debacle was an important time for him, and it seems Sanders made the most of it. He didn’t drift almost at all against the Raiders, even though he faced constant pressures and blitzes. Passes were delivered on time and (mostly) on target to Harold Fannin, allowing him to be the beast that he is after the catch. Shedeur’s first career touchdown pass came on a simple swing to Dylan Sampson that the running back took most of the 66 yards on foot for the score, but that similar pass had been a struggle for Gabriel in recent weeks.
As our own Gerbs said before the game, Sanders has a tendency to try some “backyard ball” as he falls back looking to chuck it deep and taking deep sacks. However, Sanders only took one three-yard sack in Las Vegas as opposed to two sacks for minus-27 yards against Baltimore. That kind of improvement is shocking in a delightful way for one week when the opposing team knows you are starting instead of just relief. Spare me the “Raiders are bad” qualifiers, Jamal Adams and Maxx Crosby are still dangerous defenders and Sanders didn’t let them dominate him. Kevin Stefanski rewarded his play by naming Sanders as the starter for next week, even though Gabriel cleared concussion protocol on Monday. If that’s not tangible improvement, I don’t know what is.
Postgame, Sanders talked about feeling “very relaxed” after preparing and studying for this game. Of people wanting to see him fail, he said, “It ain’t gonna happen.” He talked about being surprised at the how an NFL defense like the Ravens would come after him, but was “thankful for the experience.” He talked about Crosby being a “dog” on the defensive line, but also that Sanders himself “fear(s) no man.” He talked about being a 5th round pick being skipped by every team “at least 5 times.” He ended the presser by admitting he has a long way to grow, but the only way to go is up. It wasn’t “woke up feeling dangerous,” but the confidence in his performance and ability to improve was a swagger the Browns QB room hasn’t had with the media since Baker. Sanders was a welcomed word of enthusiasm Sunday.
It hasn’t been a good season for the offense, but especially the quarterbacks. Only the Jets have fewer passing yards and only the Titans have fewer passing touchdowns. The Browns have three wins, each orchestrated by three different starting quarterbacks. Joe Flacco is gone, but Gabriel may yet lead the offense again this year. The one thing Browns quarterbacks have been historically consistently great at is opening up chances for someone else to play. And yet, Sunday was a flash of potential for the one quarterback talking heads and fans alike have been at least curious to see. Maybe this looks silly by January or by the April draft or at the end of next week’s game, but Shedeur Sanders is ready for Primetime as a personality, and he might have the play to back it up.