Shedeur Sanders won his first NFL start for the Cleveland Browns on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 12 and spoke after the game like a man who has no intentions of surrendering the QB1 spot moving forward.
Sanders finished the day 11-of-20 passing for 209 yards, one TD and one INT. He took just one sack and ended the game with a 87.3 rating.
“Being a backup and everything, sometimes you have to compromise your personality and change the way you do things to never step on anybody’s toes,” Sanders said. “So the fact that I got an opportunity and I was able to show the organization, show everybody, who I really am — that was truly exciting. I was off balance for a little bit the past couple months, my life, it was different. But I’m thankful to be back where I am.”
As for the Browns’ position on Sanders moving forward, head coach Kevin Stefanski was non-committal one way or the other following the game.
“I’m proud of him. Proud of this offense,” Stefanski said. “A ton of things to learn from, but I’m just going to worry about today.”
Stefanski said following last week’s contest that Dillon Gabriel would return to the starting lineup when he was healthy enough to do so, though that wasn’t Stefanski’s line Sunday. And it may be difficult for Cleveland to bench Sanders after he played the way he did and led the team to just its third win of the year.
Shedeur Sanders Refers to Future in Cleveland as ‘Dangerous’
GettyQuarterback Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns.
Sanders again addressed the fact that he had just one week of practice with the first-team offense before making his initial start on November 23, which ended in a 24-10 victory over Las Vegas — a franchise to which analysts tied Sanders ahead of April’s draft, but which chose to trade for veteran Geno Smith rather than select Sanders as its quarterback of the future.
“I think I showed a couple of great pieces. There’s some things I wish I could get back,” Sanders told CBS Sports sideline reporter Tiffany Blackmon. “But man, a win is crazy. It’s amazing, you know, after one week of practice. … So imagine, you know, what a full offseason look like. It get dangerous.”
But Sanders also acknowledged during the postgame press conference that no one was going to, or should have, felt sorry for him — regardless of how his professional football career began or what his circumstances were coming into his first start.
“Everybody starts in different places. And just because I didn’t get the summer reps, just because I wasn’t in the best situation for me to be prepared to go out there and execute … that’s how life is,” Sanders continued. “Everybody is not in the best situation, but it’s no excuse. You gotta go out there and perform. There’s no choice, There’s no question. Nobody cares of this was one week of prep. Who cares? A lot of people wanna see me fail, and it ain’t gonna happen.”
Shedeur Sanders Said Failures Against Ravens Prepared Him to Win in Las Vegas
GettyQuarterback Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns.
Sanders’ performance on Sunday was night and day compared to how he played during his first real action last week against the Baltimore Ravens.
Sanders took the field in the second half after Gabriel left the game with a concussion, which also kept him sidelined on Sunday in Las Vegas.
“I’m not gonna lie, I felt very relaxed,” Sanders said. “And half of that comes from preparing, studying and knowing I got God on my side. So throughout all that, I had no worries. I didn’t feel nervous or anything like that before the game.”
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