The Browns have named Shedeur Sanders as their starting quarterback.
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The Browns have named Shedeur Sanders as their starting quarterback.
The Cleveland Browns are sticking with Shedeur Sanders at quarterback after his successful debut against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Sanders helped lead the Browns to a 24-10 victory, passing for 209 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He started in place of Dillon Gabriel, who sat out with a concussion. Gabriel has cleared concussion protocol but head coach Kevin Stefanski said the team is sticking with Sanders against the San Francisco 49ers.
“Shedeur will start this week. Obviously, No. 1 job of a QB is to win,” Stefanski said. “No. 1 job of a quarterback is to win,” Stefanski said. “So excited to get that first win under his belt. And then next thing is improvement. And that’s what young players do, certainly young quarterbacks do, you get one game better and that’s just from working at it. That’ll be our focus.”
Browns QB Shedeur Sanders Has Room for Improvement
The Browns had previously said that Gabriel would be the starter when he returned. However, Sanders’ solid outing and a notch in the win column had them reconsider the position.
“There’s things that we can clean up. 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 what people are giving us.”
Gabriel had gone 1-5 in his starts, passing for 937 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. What was missing with Gabriel was the downfield passing game. He averaged just 5.1 yards per attempt, which was near the bottom of the league. Sanders averaged 10.5 yards per attempt in the win against the Raiders. What helped his cause were completions of 52 and 66 yards.
Sanders did his job against the Raiders but admitted that there’s room for improvement. That will come with more reps and experience, which he had very little of heading into Sunday.
“I mean that truly and dearly and everybody starts at different places and like I say, just because I didn’t get the summer reps, just because I wasn’t in the best situation for me to be prepared to go out there and execute from a summer standpoint, that’s how life is,” Sanders said in his postgame press conference. “Everybody’s not in the best situation, but it’s no excuse. You’ve got to go out there and perform. There’s no choice, there’s no question. Nobody cares if this was one week of prep. Who cares?”
Shedeur Sanders Impressed Browns’ Veterans
Sanders earned the support of his veteran teammates, including Myles Garrett. His long ball to Isaiah Bond on the run in the first quarter had Garrett in disbelief on the sideline.
“He drops it in a 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,'” Garrett said. “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.”
The Browns and Sanders will host the 49ers on Sunday. Cleveland is a six-point home underdog for the matchup.