CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s hard to describe exactly what it was like when Shedeur Sanders came running onto the field on the Browns’ opening series of the second half.
It was unexpected — they hadn’t yet announced Dillon Gabriel was in concussion protocol.
It got a raucous reaction from the crowd — a few had been chanting for Sanders.
This isn’t really about Sanders, though. We’ll have a week to talk about Sanders with the real possibility of him starting next week in Las Vegas.
This is about a team that is somehow, even in its darkest times, never boring. They delivered on that in a 23-16 loss to the Ravens, falling to 2-8 on the season.
Certainly not a boring 2-8.
Think about it: they lost the game on a 35-yard run by someone who lined up at quarterback and it wasn’t Lamar Jackson, it was tight end Mark Andrews.
They had a game-tying touchdown in the arms of wide receiver Gage Larvadain but Ravens cornerback Chidobe Awuzie ripped it out.
This was a disorienting three hours of football at Huntington Bank Field. It was a Christopher Nolan movie — or at least made anyone watching feel like they just watched a Christopher Nolan movie.
Browns fans know this drill. Division games are weird and they’ve watched AFC North teams come to this stadium and lose games they have no business losing plenty of times.
The Ravens lost one of these last season. So did the Steelers.
Baltimore escaped this one, but barely.
Sanders getting his first game action is going to get the headlines but the real story of this game for the Browns was, once again, their defense.
Myles Garrett had four more sacks. Devin Bush had a pick-6. Carson Schwesinger intercepted a tipped pass.
There was another weird touchback when it appeared the Browns had a punt downed at the 1-yard line, like what happened in London.
There wasn’t a moment where it felt OK to take a breath. There was barely time to figure out exactly what was happening.
In the end, any slim hope the Browns had to at least make it to the “In the Hunt” graphic in a few weeks is gone. This season is fully about finding out about young players and the immediate future is likely about Sanders.
It was a tough result for however many people decided to show up for this game, but they would have to admit they had a pretty good time.
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