LAS VEGAS — Kevin Stefanski declined to name Shedeur Sanders as his starter for the 49ers game next week, but it’s a no-brainer to let him build on his momentum from Sunday’s 24-10 victory over the Raiders.
Granted, the Raiders are a 2-9 football team, but a win is a win, especially on the road where the Browns had lost 13 straight. They had also three straight overall this season, and defenders were getting increasingly frustrated by the lack of scoring week after week.
Sanders (11 of 20, 209 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 87.3 rating) certainly made his rookie mistakes, but he brought some pizzazz and flair, and most of all, some points. He threw the Browns three longest completions of the season, although the 66-yard TD pass to rookie running back Dylan Sampson that made it 24-3 was almost all Sampson.
But his 52-yard bomb to fellow rookie Isaiah Bond was a great play by Sanders, who rolled right to elude the blitz and fired the ball downfield to Bond, placing it perfect over his shoulder and leading him just enough that the Darnay Holmes had no chance at it.
“Yeah, that was obviously an outstanding play,” Stefanski said. “They were in a max look that we couldn’t block, and they had a free runner right there, and to be able to escape and find IB [Isaiah Bond] down the field, I mean, that’s a high-level play.”
When your star defender, Myles Garrett, is captured by the CBS cameras putting his hand on his head, widening his eyes, dropping his jaw and chest-bumping fellow edge Isaiah McGuire over the play, you know you’re onto something.
“He put it up, and I’m just like, ‘oh God, who is that even going to?” Garrett said after the game. “I wasn’t even looking down there to see IB. I’m just looking and I’m like, ‘oh God, please. And he drops it in the bucket and he reaches it out, and I’m like, ‘please just don’t fumble into the end zone.’ So he reaches out but he keeps possession, and I’m just like, ‘wow, there’s not many guys in league that can make that throw.’ So that was a hell of a throw. I hope he can continue to grow and develop from making plays like that and we’ll take it from there.’”
Garrett, who recorded three more sacks for a total of 18 to break his own team record of 16, has been so frustrated during and after games that he slammed his helmet to the ground during the loss to the Patriots and has vented after almost every loss. But when the offense makes a few explosive plays and punches it into the end zone like it did after Gage Larvadain’s 44-yard punt return and the Bond’s 52-yard catch, it energizes the other sides of the ball and everybody cooks.
The defense, buoyed by the rare lead, erupted for 10 sacks — one shy of the club record. It begs the question, what might the Browns have been capable of this season had they gotten some decent quarterback play to go along with their championship-caliber defense?
But Sanders breathed new life into the offense, even if he completed just over 50% of his passes and went three-and-out or less on most of his drives.
Arguably the best thing he did was push the ball downfield, which Dillon Gabriel has been reluctant to do at times.
It won’t be as easy against better defenses, but those chunk plays are what’s been missing from the Browns offense all season long.
“Obviously when you can make plays down the field, it opens up everything,” Stefanski said.
The 39-yard catch-and-run by Jerry Jeudy before safety Jeremy Chinn knocked it out of his hands for a lost fumble was a smart, patient play by Sanders, who rolled right, bought himself some time and calmly delivered the ball on the money.
Stefanski may not have immediately wanted to name Sanders his starter out of respect for Gabriel, who’s in the concussion protocol but could be cleared by the time the Browns return to the practice field on Wednesday. As it was, he practiced on a limited basis on Friday.
Gabriel was making good progress with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees calling the plays in his past two starts, but he was still inexplicably missing some of the layups and struggling to energize the unit.
Sanders, even though he’s still behind Gabriel in terms of the pre-snap process and operation of the game, plays with a natural feel and throws such an accurate, catchable ball that it makes up for some of his deficiencies.
The Browns simplified things for him, including having center Ethan Pocic slide the protections, but he handled the blitzes much better than he did the week before against the Ravens, and didn’t revert to his habit of retreating under pressure. He trusted the gameplan, stayed within himself and threw it away when necessary.
He still has a long way to go, and better teams who can get after the passer will give him far more problems than he faced in Vegas.
But he made enough improvement over last week’s debut against the Ravens to earn another start, and see if he can keep elevating his game. There might come a point this season where it makes sense to go back to Gabriel and get some more data points heading into the 2026, but for now it’s Sanders Time, and the Browns should keep his wrist pointing skyward.
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