Shedeur Sanders made his highly anticipated Cleveland Browns and NFL debut last week.
With Dillon Gabriel in concussion protocol, Sanders entered the game in the third quarter. It was his first time playing with the first-team offense, and Sanders had mixed results.
Sanders struggled with his accuracy and holding the ball too long. But the Browns‘ offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said he was proud of Sanders’ debut.
“Look, I think it’s a hard position to be thrown into, obviously, but that is the life of being a backup quarterback in this league,” Rees said on Thursday. “So, a lot of guys have faced that, a lot of guys have played that role. Really proud of the way he fought. We had a chance there going into the last drive and had a chance to, really up until the last couple plays, to go ahead and either win the game or tie the game up at the very least there down the stretch.
“Had a shot there on the second-to-last play, and obviously the last play didn’t go our way for a couple of different reasons. But really proud of the way he fought. He stayed resilient, he stayed in the moment, gave us a chance to win the game at the end of the game, and we’ll look forward to coming through on those opportunities down the stretch.”
Sanders went 4-of-16 for 47 yards and an interception.
Browns OC Building Plan to Make Sanders ‘Comfortable’
With Gabriel still in concussion protocol, Sanders will make his first NFL start on Sunday.
With Sanders making his first NFL start, Rees said the Browns are creating a game plan to make the rookie comfortable. But the Browns’ OC has full confidence in Sanders heading into his first NFL start.
“Yeah, without getting into specifics, obviously. With any quarterback, with any player really, you want them to feel as comfortable as possible. For young players like Dillon (Gabriel) and Shedeur, that’s pulling from a lot of different avenues. That’s pulling from things that they’ve been comfortable with within your system, things that they like. So that’s our number one job, right?
“You want to make your quarterback comfortable; you want to call plays, you want to put in plays that breathe confidence into them as they hear them, as they call them, plays that they know they can make work. And then you press the guys around them to raise their level of play and play well, to continue to breathe confidence in the young players and in the young quarterbacks. So, that’s really been the motivation this week moving forward. Had a good first day of practice, had a good walk-through this morning, so continue to build off of that.”
The Browns will go on the road to play the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
Sanders Feels ‘Prepared’ for 1st Start
Although Sanders struggled in his first NFL game, he has plenty of confidence ahead of his first start.
Sanders feels well-prepared and is excited to get the chance to prove he belongs as an NFL quarterback.
“Yeah, mentally and emotionally, I’m in a great place overall. In life, there’s always going to be adversity. Things aren’t always going to go as planned, but I would say, I’m prepared for everything,” Sanders said on Wednesday.
The Browns are 3.5-point underdogs on Sunday against the Raiders.
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