CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s time.
Shedeur Sanders will start Sunday versus the Las Vegas Raiders.
After Dillon Gabriel entered concussion protocol at halftime last week against the Ravens, Sanders saw action for the first time all season and played the entire second half.
Sanders will look to become the first Browns rookie quarterback to win in their career debut since the franchise returned in 1999.
Evaluating what to expect from Sanders is tedious.
He’s fresh out of college, played five quarters of preseason ball and just made his first regular season appearance.
We’re really only working with one half of play, in which he was sacked twice, and only completed 25% of his passes for 47 yards and one interception.
Nevertheless, we’ll use a variety of analytical data to deliver what can be expected come Sunday.
Handling pressure
When you have big defenders coming right at you, it’s not easy.
That was visible when Sanders had trouble handling the pressure, turning to his tendency to retreat and try to extend a play.
It didn’t work, and only gave room for more defenders to come get him.
Sanders spent the fifth most seconds in the pocket (3.21) among quarterbacks that played in Week 11, per Next Gen Stats. That’s a long time in the pocket without a decision made.
It further shows that Sanders has to get rid of the ball at a quicker rate.
What’s interesting is during his final year at Colorado, he took 3 seconds to get rid of the ball, per Pro Football Focus.
That nearly mirrored Flacco’s 3.01 seconds in the pocket during his magical 2023 run, which ranked seventh in longest average time to throw, per Next Gen Stats.
But let’s get one thing clear.
When mentioning Sanders has to get rid of the ball, it’s not just the typical call for returning to the basics as a quarterback. It’s about adapting to an offensive line at hand that, with all due respect, is depleted.
This unit enters Week 12 ranking 10th in sacks allowed (29) and seventh in sack yards allowed (206).
The offensive tackle position is the weakest link in this unit this season, from both sides. Three of the offensive tackles have allowed 20 or more quarterback pressures, per PFF.
Had Sanders gotten rid of the ball quicker on Sunday, even recording throwaways, the blame would’ve turned to the offensive line for not creating a long enough window for Sanders.
While they’re currently working things out to make for tighter cohesion come Sunday, Sanders has to be cognizant that his offensive line hasn’t been prone to blocking long enough.
So a decision must be made quick.
Ball protection
A lack of handling the pressure overlapped with Sanders’ turnover-worthy plays.
Sanders tied for second in most TWPs among qualifying quarterbacks that played in Week 11, per PFF.
Keep in mind, turnover-worthy plays is a PFF statistic that tracks how high a percentage of a pass has to be intercepted, or just how poor a job a quarterback does in taking care of the ball. It also includes fumbling.
The Week 11 rankings for TWPs, per PFF
The amount of turnover-worthy plays recorded by quarterbacks in Week 11, via Pro Football Focus.Pro Football Focus
You have the interception to Nate Wiggins, which looked a little high before getting hit hard by Kyle Van Noy.
That next series, Sanders made a quirky pass that was nearly intercepted by Kyle Hamilton.
What made him dangerous during his final year at Colorado was his ability to make clear-cut decisions with the ball and keep it out of harm’s way.
Finding a way to bring that over to the pros will help Sanders in the long run.
Deep-shot ability
Again, Sanders completed only four passes.
However, that came with a 7.7 completed air yard average, which was the fourth most among all quarterbacks from Week 11, per Next Gen Stats.
Shedeur Sanders CAY per NGS
The rankings for completed air yards from quarterbacks who played in Week 11, via Next Gen Stats.Next Gen Stats
That average was inflated by his 25-yard completion to Harold Fannin Jr. during their final drive.
But it was impressive.
Sanders had David Njoku open on a much shorter route, but went with a deeper shot to Fannin to move the offense past the halfway point.
A couple of his passes toward the end of the drive were 50-50 balls. From that spin-move-turned-deep-pass to Isaiah Bond, which was slightly off, to another pass nearly being caught by Gage Larvadain.
Sanders walked away with one deep completion, but showed why his arm strength was a topic of conversation ahead of the NFL Draft.
Deep pass efficiency hasn’t been a strong suit for Cleveland. Joe Flacco completed four of his 18 deep shots, and Gabriel completed only two of his eight attempts, per PFF.
Sanders has the ability to eclipse both quarterbacks in deep pass completions in one game.
It carries over from his days at Colorado, where he completed 34 of his 75 deep passes of 20 yards or more (45.3%), for 14 touchdowns and one interception, per PFF.
Efficiency is a must on deep shots for an offense that enters Week 12 last in yards gained per play (4.0).
Conclusion
The hype is high ahead of Sanders’ first career start in Sin City.
He’s displayed he has a feel for the game and an energy contagious to make everyone throw their wrist up.
Now, Sanders just has to get rid of the ball quicker, understand his offensive line better, and play his game.
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