CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Shedeur Sanders struggled mightily during Saturday’s 19-17 victory over the Rams in the preseason finale, while Dillon Gabriel made some noise for the QB2 job for Week 1.
Sanders, playing with third- and fourth-teamers, and was unable to build on his great debut in the preseason opener against the Panthers. He went 3 of 6 for 14 yards on his five drives for 14 yards (2.3 per attempt) and was sacked five times for 41 yards. He earned a 56.2 rating.
After his fifth drive, Sanders took a walk down to the close-side pylon and then walked back over to Kevin Stefanski on the sidelines, and said something to him. Stefanski shook his head and Tyler Huntley replaced Sanders, putting the gamewinning field goal by Andre Szmyt on the board as time
Visibly upset on the sidelines, Sanders wore a towel over his head, and was consoled by receiver Deandre Carter and cornerback Tony Brown, with whom he walked into the game.
Sanders eventually took the towel off, and walked over to check on on receiver Cade McDonald after he took a hard hit and walked to the locker room with trainers.
While Sanders struggled, Gabriel demonstrated he can handle backup duty against the Bengals on Sept. 7 if second-team quarterback Kenny Pickett still isn’t fully recovered from his hamstring injury by Sept. 7 when the Bengals come to town.
Playing with all the moxie and efficiency he did last week vs. the Eagles — minutes the two turnovers — Gabriel built on his solid debut in Philly during his two drives against the Rams, going 12 of 19 for 129 yards with one TD pass and no interceptions for a 100.5 rating. He put a field goal on the board on his opening drive, and a touchdown on the board after a textbook, 11-play, 86-yard TD drive.
Replacing starter Joe Flacco in the second quarter, Gabriel excelled on the two-minute, punctuating it with a 3 yard TD pass to fellow Gage Larvadain at the left side of the end zone. Playing with and against backups, Gabriel went 9 of 11 on the drive for 86 yards, completing passes of 11, 16 and 3 yards to Larvadain, 12 to Diontae Johnson, and 11 and 16 to Jamari Thrash.
The left-handed Gabriel put good spin on the ball, moved well on the keepers, and managed the game effectively. On his opening drive, he bootlegged left and found running back Ahmani Marshall for a 15-yard pass on the move. He also connected with tight end Blake Whiteheart on a 12-yard out, and rolled left to hit Thrash in the back left corner of the end zone, where he dropped the ball. He could’ve run it in himself, but showed faith in his trusted receiver.
“First of all, we have a lot of belief in both Dillon and Shedeur Sanders,” Browns GM Andrew Berry said on the Browns telecast. “Anoth of those guys have had an excellent preseason today. And a big part is like we measure and track everything in practice. You know, every throw, every decision, footwork, you name it. And we talk about the tangible progress that we’re seeing on a weekly basis. Now. Nothing is a substitute for competitive Game situations, you know, whether it’s in the preseason and then certainly the regular season. So with any rookie player, not just quarterbacks, there is a little bit of a leap of faith, but we’ve been able to see their progress in real time, which gives us the confidence for both guys.
Gabriel, who was replaced by Sanders at the start of the second half, went 9 of 11 on the drive for 86 yards, completing passes of 11, 16 and 3 yards to Larvadain, 12 to Diontae Johnson, and 11 and 16 to Jamari Thrash.
“It’s been great to see Dillon and Shedeur perform under the lights,” Berry said. “Those guys, they prepare their tails off. And I think the cooler part is in these uncontrolled settings in games, you see the playmaking come out. There’s always a quick whistle in practice for the quarterbacks that can’t get hit. And in these settings, it’s real football. And to see them be able to out of structure, that’s probably been the most encouraging thing.”
Unfortunately for Sanders, he reverted to some bad habits during the game and either drifted backwards on some of his sacks, or scrambled around too long when he should’ve given up on the play. He was “sacked” for 0 yards on his first drive when he was flushed out of bounds, and was strip-sacked on his third drive. In the fourth quarter, he retreated so far that he was sacked for a 24-yard loss. After that one, he walked over to the sidelines and knelt down for a long time, until guard Wyatt Teller encouraged him to get up. They’re the kind of negative plays the Browns have been working hard with him to eliminate.
On his fifth possession, he was sacked again, but then spun out of another sack and fired the ball over the middle to Trayveon Henderson, who dropped it.
All-in-all, it was a back-to-the-drawing board game for Sanders, who knows he has plenty of work to do. He ends the preseason the same way he came in — as the fourth-team quarterback, but he’s made great strides along the way.
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