The Perfect Situation
The Cleveland Browns entered the season caught in no-man’s-land. Expectations were higher than mediocrity, yet the team lacked a true identity. They drafted two quarterbacks in the offseason—Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders—hoping to spark something new, but still had an aging Joe Flacco on the roster. Flacco was ultimately named the Week 1 starter, with Gabriel backing him up.
However, Flacco struggled early. He started the season 1–3, throwing for only 615 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions. Something needed to change, and before the Browns traveled to London for Week 5, it was announced that Flacco would be benched in favor of rookie Dillon Gabriel to provide much-needed energy. Flacco was traded to the Bengals shortly afterward. But Gabriel didn’t provide the boost the Browns were hoping for, going 1–5 as the starter before leaving Week 11 with a concussion.
Photo Cred: NFL
He finished his run with just 818 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions. When Gabriel exited against the Ravens, Shedeur finally got his chance to take the field. Unfortunately, Sanders did not fare well against Baltimore’s defense. He completed only four of sixteen passes for 47 yards and an interception.
To give the quarterbacks some benefit of the doubt, Cleveland’s offense has offered very little help—no player has reached 700 rushing yards, and no receiver has eclipsed 500 receiving yards this season. With Gabriel still in concussion protocol entering Week 12, Sanders got the opportunity he had been waiting for. And this time, the Browns delivered, defeating the Raiders 24–10 for their third win of the season.
Stats Don’t Tell the Story
Shedeur Sanders ended the night 11-of-20 for 209 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. On paper, that’s a solid performance for a first career start—he even became the first Browns quarterback to win his debut since 1995. But digging deeper, and especially if you watched the game, the picture becomes clearer.
It wasn’t that Sanders lacked confidence in big downfield throws—it felt more like head coach Kevin Stefanski didn’t trust him to make them. The offense was built almost entirely on short checkdowns and underneath routes. Even his lone touchdown came on a 66-yard screen pass that almost any quarterback in the league could have completed.
Photo Cred: AP
That leads to the next point: Sanders’ stats were heavily inflated. In addition to the long touchdown screen, he had one more explosive play—finding fellow rookie Isaiah Bond on a broken play for 52 yards. While these plays count, the context matters: without those two “lucky” gains, Sanders would have been 9-of-18 for just 93 yards for the entire game. In fact, 146 of his 209 passing yards came after the catch, leaving only 63 air yards—an alarming total in today’s NFL.
Even though Sanders was understandably happy with the win, the Browns still have a long way to go before they can fully believe in him as the answer. The win also came against the Las Vegas Raiders, a team that entered the game with the same 2–8 record. If Sanders can deliver consistently against better competition, fans may slowly start to believe in the young quarterback.
With Gabriel cleared from concussion protocol heading into Week 13, Stefanski announced that Sanders will start again, this time against the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners are a much stronger opponent and present a far greater challenge. If Sanders performs well and leads the Browns to an upset, the league will take notice. Until then, Sanders looks to prove that last week’s showing was only the beginning.
