Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders finally got his chance on Sunday against the Ravens, and while he wasn’t great, he did put the Brown in a position to tie the game late.
However, he and the Browns would fall short after two shots to the end zone and a pass to David Njoku would fall incomplete, and Cleveland would lose to the Ravens 23-16 at Huntington Bank Field.
Sanders started the second half after starter Dillon Gabriel left with a concussion. The fifth-round pick numbers weren’t spectacular as he finished the game completing only 4-of-16 passes for 47 yards and an interception.
After the loss, Sanders made it clear that he did not play his best on Sunday.
“I don’t think I played good,” Sanders said. “I don’t think I played good at all. I think it’s a lot of things, you know, we need to look at during the week and go and just get comfortable, even throwing routes, you know, with Jerry (Jeudy) and throwing routes with all those guys. So I think that was my first ball to him all year. But other than that, I just think overall we just got to go next week and understand, so then we have a week to prepare stuff I like to do.”
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski says that he has trust in Sanders, but knows that the rookie signal-caller would want to play better.
“Yeah, listen, we trust all of our guys. We trust our guys to perform. He’s no different. You know, and playing a backup quarterback role, as we’ve talked about over the years, that’s tough to come in there, but we trust him. I know there’s things that he’s going to want to do better, but that’s why we work.”
Following the loss, Sanders addressed the team, and Browns Pro Bowl DE Myles Garrett, who recorded four of Cleveland’s five sacks on Sunday, says the loss was not just on Sanders.
“I know he wants to make the play,” Garrett said. “He wants to have that game-changing drive because he feels like he has that ability, and we’ve seen it. So, don’t be discouraged from one drive or two drives – it’s a good football team over there. So, I’m just trying to keep him to keep his confidence high and keep on chasing that standard in which he’s set, and we’re going to continue to support him. He spoke after the game, and he wanted to pin it on himself and his performance, but we’re not going to allow him to do that. It’s a team game, so we’re all in this together.”
Sanders did not play well, but that’s not surprising. It was his first action in the NFL. If Gabriel is not out of concussion protocol, Sanders will have a whole week to prepare and get ready for the Raiders, which should help him play better.
The Browns are 2-8, and Sanders, who had a lot of success in college and is the son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, is not comfortable with losing.
“Losing isn’t something I’m comfortable with at all,” he said. “So, I just got to take this one, you know, I got to take this one. I got to decompress. I got to understand, like, you know, this really happened, you know, on my watch. I don’t like the feeling. And I know offensively, if I’m able to get out there and have an opportunity, I know that I’ll be able to take everything to a different level. Like I said, I still have the same confidence. I’m still me. I’ll never go anywhere. You know, just going out there, seeing daylight, that’s all I needed, you know, to see how they move out there.”
