Shedeur Sanders made his first start as the Browns‘ quarterback in Week 13 against the Raiders, leading the team to a 20-17 victory. Sanders connected with tight end Harold Fannin Jr. for a 17-yard gain during the fourth offensive drive, and later threw a 52-yard pass to Isaiah Bond. This set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Quinshon Judkins, giving the Browns a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Sanders also directed two fourth-quarter scoring drives, resulting in a 53-yard field goal by Andre Szmyt and a 66-yard touchdown reception by Dylan Sampson.
“First start for any young quarterback, you’re always going to make sure the operation is how you want it, and I thought by and large was good,” said coach Stefanski. “There’s things that we can clean up, and that goes on all of us as coaches, that’s the players, quarterback where we can clean up some of our operation. But I thought dialogue was really good throughout the day with him. And the big plays down the field, obviously that first one to (Isaiah Bond) was a very high degree of difficulty on that play.Are there things that he can do better? Absolutely, and we’ve already talked about that with him. He has the mentality that he will make the adjustments to the speed of the game, make the adjustments to what people are giving us to make those improvements.”
Sanders previously saw regular-season action in the second half of Week 11 against the ravens, completing 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards and one interception. He was officially named the starter for Week 12 on November 19, allowing him a full week of practice with the first-team offense.