Shedeur Sanders makes regular-season debut, struggles in loss to Ravens after Dillon Gabriel leaves with concussion

Shedeur Sanders’ first true NFL snaps didn’t go great.

Sanders came in to replace Dillon Gabriel in the second half of the Cleveland Browns’ 23-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday afternoon after Gabriel went down with a concussion. Gabriel did not come out with the team to start the second half at Huntington Bank Field, so the Browns had to turn to Sanders for the first time in the regular season early in the third quarter.

Advertisement

Sanders finished just 4 of 16 for 47 yards and no touchdowns, an interception and two sacks taken.

“I don’t think I played good at all,” he said, via The Athletic’s Zac Jackson.

He came out firing and hit Cedric Tillman for a 5-yard gain on his first official NFL snap. But the Browns’ drive quickly stalled out, and Sanders fumbled after Kyle Hamilton brought him down with a sack on third down.

The Browns recovered the fumble, but Hamilton and his teammates didn’t hesitate to troll the former Colorado star, who’s been a lightning rod for discussion, good and bad, since being drafted by Cleveland in the fifth round last spring out of Colorado.

It’s unclear when Gabriel went down with his injury, though the team quickly ruled him out in the second half. Specifics on his status moving forward aren’t yet known. He went 7 of 10 for 68 yards in the first half for the Browns, who couldn’t get much of anything going offensively early on. They still took a 16-10 lead into the locker room at halftime, thanks to three field goals and a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown from Devin Bush in the second quarter.

The rest of Sanders’ regular season debut didn’t go great. He threw an interception on their next drive right to Nate Wiggins.

Advertisement

The Browns ran the ball four straight times before Sanders took a sack on their next short drive, too, which gave the ball back to the Ravens and eventually set up a short field goal after a big 59-yard run from Derrick Henry. Then after another quick stop, the Ravens tied the game up with a 44-yard field goal from Tyler Loop.

Sanders and the Browns had to punt it away quickly on their next drive, too, and he got hit with an intentional grounding penalty. That eventually led to a 35-yard touchdown run from tight end Mark Andrews, which put the Ravens back in the lead for the first time all half. Andrews’ run was only supposed to convert on fourth down to keep their drive alive, but he managed to break through the Browns’ defensive front untouched.

Though he did manage to get them into scoring position inside the two-minute warning, Sanders missed several shots to the end zone and couldn’t convert on fourth down. That gave the Ravens the ball back for good and sealed their comeback win.

Cleveland fell to 2-8 on the season. Quinshon Judkins had 59 yards on 17 carries, and Tillman had 52 yards on three catches.

Advertisement

Lamar Jackson went 14 of 25 for 193 yards with two interceptions for the Ravens, who are now 5-5 on the year after winning four straight. Henry had 103 yards and a score on 18 carries, and Zay Flowers had 78 yards on three catches.

Sanders was only officially active for his first NFL game in Week 6 after a tumultuous start to his NFL career, which saw him slide down into the fifth round of the draft. The Browns took him after selecting Gabriel in the third round, too, and then Gabriel took over as the team’s starting quarterback after they traded away Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals. That moved Sanders to the backup role for the first time.

Advertisement

The Browns entered Sunday’s game having lost five of their last six, and Gabriel hasn’t been great in the starting role — though the team’s issues clearly go well beyond the quarterback position. Still, head coach Kevin Stefanski has been clear that he wasn’t ready to start Sanders over Gabriel even with their struggles offensively.

The Browns will take on the Las Vegas Raiders next weekend. If Gabriel is still dealing with his concussion, Sanders should be in position to get his first start at Allegiant Stadium. After a rocky pre-draft process, in which Sanders reportedly turned down certain teams because he wanted a clear path to playing time, and a very slow start to his career, he would finally get the opportunity to prove he was right all along.

But with how Sunday went for him, and how the team is already struggling, that’s an incredible amount of pressure to put on a rookie who has just half of a game under his belt.