After the Cleveland Browns escaped Las Vegas with a 24-10 victory over the Raiders on Sunday, head coach Kevin Stefanski did not want to name a starting quarterback at his postgame press conference.
Shedeur Sanders played fairly well, completing 11-of-20 passing attempts for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
During Stefanski’s press conference on Monday, the sixth-year head coach decided to commit to Sanders as Cleveland’s quarterback as the team begins preparing for the San Francisco 49ers.
“I thought communication was really good throughout the day with him,” Stefanski said. “He has the mentality that he will make the adjustments to the speed of the game to make those improvements.”
Prior to the game, Sanders declared his belief that he’s the franchise quarterback that the Browns have been searching for since 1999. Now, he will have the chance to prove it.
Rookie third-round quarterback Dillon Gabriel suffered a concussion during Cleveland’s loss against the Baltimore Ravens but Stefanski confirmed that he cleared concussion protocol. Stefanski would not comment on the Browns being week-to-week with their quarterback situation, telling reporters that he's only focused on the upcoming week.
Gabriel had five opportunities to be the starting quarterback of the Browns. With six games remaining on the schedule, Sanders will have plenty of opportunities to show Cleveland’s decision makers that he can be a solution at the quarterback position.
While Gabriel took care of the football, his physical limitations had hamstrung the entire offensive operation. Sanders is much more of a threat to beat defenses vertically because of his accurate passing ability. The Browns really liked Gabriel’s processing ability ahead of the NFL Draft.
However, it was actually Sanders that was efficiently scanning the field and throwing the football quickly in his first career start. It should be a point of emphasis for Sanders to throw the ball quickly to avoid sacks.
After the victory, Browns superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett approved of Sanders’ first start, declaring that not many quarterbacks in the NFL could complete the 52-yard pass to Isaiah Bond that the fifth-round rookie heaved in the first quarter.
Surely, Cleveland’s best player signing off on Sanders’ performance could have led to making an easy decision to switch quarterbacks.
During the week, Sanders admitted that being a backup quarterback was a strange situation for him and was unorthodox. But he found comfort returning to the team’s starting quarterback ahead of Cleveland’s victory against the Raiders.
“I’m not gonna lie. I felt very relaxed,” Sanders said. “Half of that comes from preparing, studying and knowing I got God on my side.”
The Browns will now have another week of preparation with Sanders at the helm ahead of their Week 13 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers.