Welp, another season brings another set of disappointments and disasters for the Cleveland Browns. After months of uninspiring quarterback play from Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders was finally able to make his way to the starting role, but even that has now proven to be a tumultuous endeavor for Cleveland.
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The former Colorado Buffalo threw three interceptions throughout the Browns’ 31-3 loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 15, proving that he still has a long way to go before he can begin to solidify himself as Cleveland’s de facto QB1. According to the man himself, Sanders is still very much in “the learning and understanding phase of this game.”
He also refused to blame his veteran wide receiver, Jerry Jeudy, for causing one of those three interceptions, stating that “I’m not one to ever kick somebody when he’s down. He understands that was a big play..It’s going to happen… I’m sure he’s hard on himself, so there’s no need for me to be extra.”
Jeudy initially made headlines by lambasting Sanders on the sidelines a few weeks earlier after the rookie made an errant pass, so it’s nice to see that Sanders isn’t taking the opportunity to exact any kind of revenge.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear as if Sanders is the only one in Cleveland who is experiencing growing pains. Upon his arrival at the post-game press conference, the team’s head coach, Kevin Stefanski, admitted that he simply “didn’t coach well enough” to come away with a victory in Week 15.
Head hanging, as well as an admittance of shortcomings, have become the norm for Stefanski’s post-game interviews, and this one was no exception. After acknowledging the Browns’ “bad start,” as well as their inability to “get out of that” funk that they had created for themselves, the 43-year-old play caller simply asserted that “we have to learn from these” kinds of moments.
As far as his personal assessment of Sanders goes, Stefanski explained that it is “incomplete until I can look at it,” but he did ultimately suggest that “I know there are things that we can do better and I know there are things that he can do better, so we’ll look at it.”
Thankfully, Sanders has already been reassured that he will receive the last bit of starting reps that remain on the Browns’ regular-season schedule, so fans won’t have to worry about him being replaced after a bad performance. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that much will come from those opportunities.
The Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers await him throughout the next two weeks, and given the caliber of both of those teams, he doesn’t figure to have much success against either of them. There’s a relatively friendly match-up against the Cincinnati Bengals’ defense that is waiting for him in Week 18, and while that could result in him finishing the season on a high note, the underlying message here is that the only thing certain about Cleveland’s future is its uncertainty.
