CLEVELAND, Ohio — Shedeur Sanders sat at his locker with his head down after the 23-16 loss to the Ravens, and Browns GM Andrew Berry leaned in to offer some words of encouragement and pat him on the back.
Sanders’ former Colorado teammate, Ravens punt returner LaJohntay Wester, had already done his part to console Sanders after the game when he sat with his head down on the Browns bench.
Once inside the locker room, Sanders addressed the team, and blamed himself for the loss. He had three chances to throw the potential gamewinning touchdown pass from the 25, but one was overthrown in the back of the end zone, and two were broken up, including a nicely-thrown ball to rookie Gage Larvadain in the end zone on third and 5.
“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,” Myles Garrett said. “It’s a team game, so we’re all in this together.”
Garrett urged the fifth-round pick to keep his head up. The Browns are going to need him, probably next week against the Raiders with Dillon Gabriel in the concussion protocol.
“I know there was one drive in which he kind of walked off and I saw him,” Garrett said. “He was putting his head down. I knew he was kind of thinking about, I know he wants to make the play. 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 was just trying to keep him to keep his confidence high and keep on chasing that standard which he set and we’re going to continue to support him.”
Sanders, who hasn’t gotten any reps with the starting offense, was pressed into service in the second half after Gabriel was ruled out with his concussion. He completed his first two passes, but then only two of his next 12 to go 4 of 16 (25%) for 47 yards with 0 touchdowns and 1 interception for a 13.5 rating. In six drives, he was also sacked twice and fumbled once, with Wyatt Teller recovering. He was almost intercepted on back-to-back to throws, but safety Kyle Hamilton failed to secure the ball. He was also flagged once for intentional grounding, and retreated twice under pressure for third-down sacks of 11 and 14 yards, with Teller bailing him out on the first one.
“I don’t think I played good,” Sanders said. “I don’t think I played good at all. I think there’s a lot of things we need to look at during the week and go and just get comfortable, even throwing routes with Jerry (Jeudy) and throwing routes with all those guys. So I think that was my first ball to him all year. No, but other than that, I just think overall we just got to go next weekend and understand so then we have a week to prepare stuff I like to do.”
He found out at halftime he was starting the second half and all he thought was, “It’s time for me to step up.”
With Gabriel in the protocol, Sanders has a good chance to start next week against the Raiders, and it should go more smoothly with a game plan designed for him, and with a week or reps with the ones. Sanders is a dropback passer, and Gabriel is more mobile.
“I think that’s true, probably of every backup,” Stefanski said. “That was a part of, earlier in the season with Joe (Flacco) as your starter and Dillon as your backup, there’s things that you’re going to lean into with a different player. So that’s no different for all of your players. You want to make sure that your players, particularly that position, have plays that they’re comfortable with. So, of course the playbook’s open, but there’s stuff that you’re going to make sure you call, that there’s a comfort level for your quarterback.”
Sanders wasn’t prepared to say he’ll play better under more favorable conditions, rather than getting thrown in cold with a game plan he didn’t touch.
“No, the most I could ask for is opportunity,” he said. “See, that’s an uncontrollable thing that I’m not able to control and that’s not nothing I should speak on just being the quarterback of this team and this franchise. It gave me opportunity. I ain’t do up to my expectation, enough to get us a win. So I just got to take that one to the chin.”
Sanders acknowledged it tough sledding, especially considering he was no longer just working with his Hungry Dawg pals, the young guys on the offense that he works out with every day, including after practice. He does sometimes run the scout team for the Browns starting defense, but it’s different than running the show.
“It was a rough day overall,” he said. “But the thing that I was excited about is just being able to get out there. It’s the first time I got hit since it’s just my last game at Colorado. So just having that feeling back is good and I feel fulfilled overall when it comes to being out there practicing, going in between the lines, seeing actually what it’s like.
“I know I’m made for it. I don’t think it was a doubt in my mind that that final drive was going to go down there and score. Things happened, we didn’t. I was just excited because I knew what I was going to be able to do out there. For the team, for the linemen, even getting snaps from Po (center Ethan Pocic), that was amazing. Going out there in a live game, being able to do that with him and the way the guys, the way O-line, running backs, receivers, defense like all rallied around, that’s all you ask for as a quarterback.”
Sanders, who hadn’t seen live action since his rough outing in the preseason finale against the Rams, took over at his 35 with 2:31 after Mark Andrews took a direct snap and sprinted 35 yards to the end zone to put the Ravens up 23-16. He found Harold Fannin Jr. for 25 yards over the middle, and then hit Jerry Jeudy with a 10-yard pass to the Baltimore 30 to convert a third and long. Sanders scrambled for 5 yards and then took his three shots to try to win the game.
The first was an overthrow to Isaiah Bond out the back of the end zone, and the second was a good throw to Larvadain that was broken up by cornerback Chidobe Awuzie on the left side of the end zone. The throw could’ve been a little more to the outside, but Awuzie made a great play.
“I think every throw is going to be complete until it’s not,” Sanders said. “I know Gage is a dog. I have the most reps with Gage out of everybody out there. We’re out there in ‘Hungry Dawgs’ going at it every day. So yeah.”
On the fourth and 5, the Ravens appeared to jump, but the refs missed it. Sanders, with Dre’Mont Jones bearing down, threw to David Njoku on the right sideline, but Roquan Smith broke it up. The Browns had two backup offensive tackles in the game at the time, with both starters leaving with injuries.
“Yeah, I thought they did (jump), but (they) didn’t call it,” Stefanski said.
Sanders acknowledged that working with the ones in live action was different than flourishing with his Hungry Dawg teammates in practice. On his second drive, he was picked off by Nate Wiggins on a pass intended for Jeudy, with linebacker Kyle Van Noy crushing him after the throw. Fortunately for him, Carson Schwesinger got the ball right back with a pick of Lamar Jackson on the next play.
“It’s different when there’s different body types going out there, different way how people get out of routes,” Sanders said. “Like what I seen on the pick initially was, I see his hips turn. So I’m like, OK, we’re going to be able to get out there. But at the same time, like, playing quarterback is extremely hard. So I like knowing every detail about my receivers. I like knowing the small things, what they’re good at, what they’re not good at. It’s like so many details that helps me play confident with those guys, and I know we’re at the bottom right now.
“This performance, everything, it will never be like this. I’m dedicated to being able to get those opportunities with those guys to have a relationship. I got a relationship with all the Hungry Dawgs though. We like clockwork out there. You just got to see, just got to see everything a little bit more, like how they come out of routes, do all different types of stuff.”
Stefanski explained why Sanders hasn’t gotten any reps with the starters in practice, just like he never did in training camp while he served primarily as the fourth-string QB. It was different than with Gabriel, who did get a few first-team snaps when Flacco was starting.
“I understand the question,” Stefanski said. “I would tell you; you’re always trying to get your starter ready to play and certainly, when your starter is a rookie, those are very valuable reps. When your starter, when your backup is a rookie also, you do everything in your power to get our quarterbacks as many reps as possible.
“Post-practice, after practice, extra meeting time. So that’s just part of how it goes. But the bottom line is we trust both of our players. We trust all of our players because of the work that they put in.”
Despite the big-time throw to Fannin and the fine toss to Larvadain that could’ve proved to be be the gamewinner, Sanders took no solace in the bright spots.
“Losing isn’t something I’m comfortable with at all,” he said. “I’ve just got to take this one. I’ve got to decompress. I’ve got to understand this really happened on my watch, so 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. That will never go anywhere.
“Just going out there seeing daylight, that’s all I needed to see how they move out there. You’re playing against a great defense. You’ve got guys from the Pro Bowl out there, so it’s exciting to see, okay, ‘this is what it’s like?’ Alright, this what it’s like. I’m excited for it so I’ve just got to take this one and build on it.”
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