Shedeur Sanders made his first career start yesterday. His ascension to the top of the depth chart was made out of necessity, but his second start will come by way of a coaching decision. 
Kevin Stefanski said on Monday that Dillon Gabriel has cleared concussion protocol. Nevertheless, the Browns will give the nod once again to Sanders in Week 13. Cleveland won 24-10 in Vegas yesterday, and the team will give its fifth-round rookie at least one more look as a result.
“The number one job of a quarterback is to win,” Stefanski said (via ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi). “So, excited to get that first win under his belt. And the next thing is improvement, and that’s what young players do… You get one game better, and that’s just from working at it. So, that’ll be our focus.”
Gabriel’s concussion left him sidelined for Week 12, ending a run of five consecutive starts. The third-rounder was limited to the first half of the Browns’ game against the Ravens the previous week. That allowed Sanders to finish the contest in his place. During that time, Sanders completed just four of 16 pass attempts while being intercepted once and sacked twice.
A full week of practice with the starting offense – a first in Sanders’ case given Cleveland’s logjam at quarterback through training camp and the start of the season – resulted in increased expectations for his first career start. The Colorado product had an up-and-down day highlighted on one hand by a 52-yard completion to Isaiah Bond and on the other hand by an avoidable interception. Overall, Sanders went 11-for-2o passing for 209 yards, one touchdown and one pick.
Improvement on those numbers will obviously be a goal moving forward, and future opponents will in many cases prove to be more challenging than the Raiders. Cleveland’s next game will be at home against San Francisco. Sanders and the Browns will look to build off the momentum from yesterday’s contest in Week 13 and moving forward.
When asked if this is a permanent decision, Stefanski said his attention is only focused on this week. As a result, the door could be open to Dillon – who has posted only a 5.1 yards per attempt average while completing just 59.2% of his passes – returning to the QB1 spot. Much will of course depend on how Sanders fares this coming Sunday. A win against the 49ers would make him the first rookie Browns passer since Bernie Kosar in 1985 to begin a career 2-0.
The Sanders family is the Kardashian family of football.
The Sanders family has at least one really talented person in it, which is more than you can say for the Kardashians.
Fair enough point on talent.
Hahaahhah
I said it when it happened: this guy is going to be the biggest steal of the draft. He’s already starting and performed reasonably well, even for a rookie. When he matures he has a good chance of being very very good.
“biggest steal of the draft”??
You must have missed it? The only things he mentioned in his post game interview were HIMSELF and god. There’s no “I” in team!
The number of NFL fans who desperately want Sanders to fail is truly mind boggling.
The number of Sanders fans that have no reading comprehension is mind boggling. Nobody desperately wants him to fail. We just realize he’s not that good and is more concerned about himself and his image than carrying a team.