Shedeur Sanders enjoyed every moment before, during and after his first NFL start. (Cleveland Browns)
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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
On an ordinary day, the story of the Browns’ 24-10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders might focus on Myles Garrett leading a 10-sack assault on quarterback Geno Smith with three of his own to push him to a record-pacing 18 through 11 games.
Or even on the contributions of the Browns’ surging rookie class, such as: Gage Larvadain’s 44-yard punt return to get things going, Quinshon Judkins’ two short TD runs on direct snaps, Isaiah Bond’s 52-yard reception, Dylan Sampson’s 66-yard catch-and-run for a TD, Harold Fannin’s relentless run after one of his four catches, and another 10-tackle day for linebacker Carson Schwesinger.
But this was no ordinary day, of course. It was Shedeur Sanders’ day. And he lived it to the fullest.
With his famous dad, Deion, aka Coach Prime, in attendance, Sanders, the last rookie to see the field in a starting role with the team mired in another losing season, shone like he said he would.
Sanders became the first Browns rookie quarterback to post a win in his first NFL start since Eric Zeier in the pre-expansion 1995 season. Thirteen others since had lost their first game, from Tim Couch to Baker Mayfield to Dillon Gabriel.
Sanders also led the Browns to their first win on the road after 13 straight losses since a win in Jacksonville in Week 2 of 2024.
Sanders not only snapped that streak, he did so by producing three of the longest pass plays of the Browns’ season. Though Sampson turned a short screen pass to the right sideline into the longest of those plays, Sanders made two dazzling plays that energized his teammates and put a totally different gloss on the rest of this season.
“He definitely brings a swag that all of us feed off of,” said Larvadain, whose play time increased partly due to the connection he and Sanders made in training camp and in post-practice “Hungry Dawg” periods during the season. “Makes it easier to play. Breeds confidence, you know what I mean?”
The first of Sanders’ vertical strikes came near the end of the first quarter when Sanders was flushed to his right by defensive end Tyree Wilson and tossed the ball on the run to Bond breaking behind cornerback Darnay Holmes for a 52-yard gain. Bond was tackled at the Raiders’ 2 to set up Judkins’ second TD.
On the sideline, Garrett couldn’t hide his excitement.
“He put it up and I’m like, ‘Who’s he going to?’” Garrett exclaimed. “And he dropped it in the bucket. There’s not many guys in the league can make that throw.”
That might be overstating it, but there hasn’t been a Browns quarterback all year to make that play.
On the other one in the second quarter, Sanders moved again to his right to avoid pressure and buy time for Jerry Jeudy to break across the middle about 20 yards downfield. Sanders laid it in perfectly, though Jeudy lost the ball when safety Jeremy Chinn tomahawked it out chasing from behind after a 39-yard gain.
Those two plays alone would stand as the Browns’ longest pass plays of the season if not for Sampson’s long run after his short catch.
“I think we saw a lot of what Shedeur does well on the field today,” said coach Kevin Stefanski. “To make that play off schedule when we were outmanned in protection, to get the ball down the field. So there's a lot that he's doing well, and there's a lot that he's working on, which is what I appreciate about young guys that want to get better.”
Nevertheless, Stefanski declined to say if Sanders had earned a second start Sunday at home against the San Francisco 49ers. Previously, the coach had said Gabriel would remain the starter when out of concussion protocol.
“Yeah, I'm not going to get into that,” Stefanski said. “Proud of him and proud of this offense, and there are a ton of things to learn from, but I'm just going to worry about today.”
Sanders, quite naturally, sounded like he intends to keep on the job.
He credited his faith in God and himself through the frustrating months not getting practice reps with the regulars on offense, and his “getting thrown in” against the blitzing Baltimore Ravens last week, for being ready when his moment arrived.
“Just because I wasn’t in the best situation, for me to be prepared to go out there and execute, like from a summer standpoint, that’s how life is,” Sanders said. “Everybody’s not in the best situation, but it’s no excuse. You gotta go out there and perform. Nobody cares if this is one week of practice. Who cares, you know? So a lot of people want to see me fail, and that ain’t gonna happen.”
Sanders corrected his habit of drifting backwards under pass pressure, played more confidently from the pocket, and was able to limit his mistakes to one interception. He connected on 5 of 9 passes to wideouts, and 6 of 9 to Fannin and Sampson. Overall, he was 11 of 20 for 209 yards and an 87.3 passer rating.
“In his first start, to go out there and be able to make some plays …” Stefanski said. “And like with all young players, these guys are learning. Every rep you learn from, and he'll learn from this game as well.”
The 14-0 lead in the first quarter – the Browns’ biggest all season that early in the game – enabled the defense to tee off on Smith, who added to his own problems by misfiring some open targets when he wasn’t picking himself off the ground.
Garrett didn’t get his first sack until the team’s fifth overall late in the second quarter. He was one of eight players to share in the 10 sacks of Smith, including 2 ½ by tackle Maliek Collins.
But Garrett took over in the second half and his three on the day upped his season total to 18, which broke the franchise record of 16 he set in 2021 and 2022. Garrett’s pace of 28 sacks in 17 games would shatter the league record of 22.5 held by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt.
“I kind of expect myself to continue to set the bar higher and higher,” Garrett said. “I’m chasing Mike [Strahan], chasing greatness. If God wills it. I'll go get it. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I want it to come in a win.”
Garrett has notched 13 sacks in his last four games. That’s quite a month.
But the day still belonged to Shedeur Sanders. He’s 1-0 with six games to play in a season that suddenly got a lot more interesting.