Shedeur Sanders reveled in his first locker room press conference as starting QB on Wednesday. (TheLandOnDemand)
brought to you by Kaz Company - call 216-901-9300
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
LAS VEGAS, NV
Four downs on Browns (2-8) v. Las Vegas Raiders (2-8)
First down: It’s showtime!
We pause now from this dreary, awful, mind-numbing, knitting needles-to-the-eyes Browns season for what everybody’s been begging for: Shedeur Sanders’ NFL starting debut. After waiting until the fifth round to be selected on the third day of the 2025 draft on April 26 … after waiting for 10 weeks to experience his first real game in a relief role … after waiting for 11 weeks to take his first meaningful practice reps with the starters, Sanders steps onto the stage for the first time in the most appropriate venue, amid the lighted fountains and roulette-wheeling casinos on the Vegas Strip. Sanders becomes the 42nd Browns quarterback to start a game in the expansion era, the 13th in six years of head coach Kevin Stefanski, and the 14th Browns rookie since 1999 to try to win his first NFL start. Starting with Tim Couch and ending with Dillon Gabriel, 13 have gone up and 13 have been knocked down with losses. If Sanders breaks that trend, for at least one day he will live up to his self-ascribed brand as “legendary.”
Second down: Down go the narratives.
Until now, Sanders has been depicted by his thousands of followers as a franchise savior-in-exile, a quarterback destined to be a star only to be sabotaged by the very team that saved his epic fall on the third day of the draft. Stefanski has been accused of keeping him off the field for personal reasons, not even showing the courtesy of mentioning him by name in interviews. On the contrary, Stefanski and his coaches have gone out of their way to meticulously work with Sanders on the obvious weaknesses in his game while also trying to prepare Gabriel to quarterback the team from week to week. With Gabriel felled by a concussion, Sanders’ turn has come up – much more prematurely than the team planned – and coaches have worked feverishly to tailor a game plan to make Sanders comfortable. “It’s gonna be fun going out there doing what I got to do and the fact that we are up against time, we are up against growing real fast,” Sanders said. “So that’s what’s exciting. That’s what is the rush that everybody feels. That’s the excitement. That’s when everybody going to be in a stadium lit to understand how quickly it’s going to take for us to have success. And I truly believe it won’t be long.” Think about this: In a Browns season so devoid of big plays on offense and excitement on the field, nobody enjoys the spotlight more than the one player who’s the last to step into it. “I think it’s going to be exciting,” Sanders said. “I know a lot of you’all going to be there. I know you can’t miss it. You cannot miss this moment. It’ll be definitely exciting. We going out there with a purpose, going out there mentally ready, no distractions, no anything, and I’ll be excited.”
Third down: Myles’ momentous journey.
When he set aside his very public campaign to be traded and took the bag of dough ($160 million) to stay with the Browns, the fear was that Myles Garrett would plod through another season with the feigned interest of a disgruntled player trapped in his team’s losing ways. Instead, Garrett has played the game with a ferocity unseen even in his best moments previously. Garrett seems obsessed with doing whatever he can to produce team wins. The fact his team isn’t following his relentless effort doesn’t take away from the fact Garrett is producing a truly historic season. His 15 sacks and 22 tackles-for-loss lead all pass rushers and put him on pace to shatter the NFL sack record of 22.5. At this rate, Garrett would tally 24 sacks in 16 games (the season length when Michael Strahan established the record) and 25.5 in 17 games (in which T.J. Watt matched the record). “I think it's cool to see what he's doing," said linebacker Carson Schwesinger, who is the odds-on favorite to win defensive rookie-of-the-year honors. “It's pretty crazy to be able to watch that, and it's like you see some of the stat lines and it's almost just normal, which is crazy because it's not normal to see that. And then being out there and playing with him and everybody else we have out there, we're making a lot of plays on defense.”
Fourth down: Oh, yeah, the Raiders.
The Raiders seem like a sideshow in their own $1.9 billion Allegiant Stadium off Dean Martin Drive about 1 mile from the thriving casinos on Las Vegas Boulevard. They’re suffering offensive doldrums (30th in yards, 31st in scoring) due to offensive line inadequacies, which have resulted in a gruesome season for 35-year-old quarterback Geno Smith, who is tied for first with 13 interceptions and fourth with 31 sacks. After a trade of WR1 Jakobi Meyers, Smith’s weapons are limited to second-year tight end Brock Bowers (39 receptions, 455 yards, 3 TDs after dealing with a knee injury for four games), rookie running back Ashton Jeanty (554 rushing yards, 3.7 average, 4 TDs + 3 receiving TDs), and receiver Tre Tucker (38 receptions, 502 yards, 5 TDs). Defensively, Sanders will have to avoid the mad pursuits of edge rusher Maxx Crosby (6 sacks, 14 TFLs, 12 quarterback hits) and interior lineman Jonah Laulu (4 sacks, 6 TFLs, 7 QHs).
The pick: Browns 16, Raiders 13.
My record: 5-5.