It might finally have to be time for Shedeur Sanders in Cleveland.
Though the former Colorado star almost certainly isn’t capable of sparking a true season-altering comeback at this point with everything that has gone wrong already in Cleveland, but the team doesn’t really have anything to lose here.
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The Browns looked, well, awful on Sunday at Gillette Stadium. The New England Patriots, despite a historic outing from defensive end Myles Garrett, rolled to a blowout 32-13 win over the Browns to improve to 6-2 on the year. The Browns are now 2-6, and have lost four of their last five.
Dillon Gabriel struggled, too. He finished going 21-of-35 for 156 yards in the loss. While he threw two touchdowns, including an 11-yard toss to David Njoku in the fourth quarter to make the loss look better on paper, he had two back-to-back bad interceptions in the third quarter — both of which the Patriots turned into touchdowns. He also got called for intentional grounding in the end zone late in the fourth quarter in what could only be described as a mental lapse, which gave the Patriots an extra two points.
Gabriel, who the Browns took in the third round of the NFL Draft earlier this year, didn’t have any interceptions entering the game. The team keeps losing under his watch, too. Since he took over for Joe Flacco, the Browns are just 1-3. Their lone win in that stretch, a blowout over the Miami Dolphins last week, wasn’t really his doing. He managed just 116 passing yards on 13 completions in that game, while Quinshon Judkins ran in three touchdowns to carry the team.
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Now for Sanders, who has quietly been inching toward a starting role this season after starting out as the team’s No. 4 quarterback after falling to the fifth round of the draft. He opened the season as their third-string quarterback, and then moved to their backup after the team earlier this month.
in New England, though, due to a back injury. Sanders was able to practice normally all week, but his back locked up on Saturday. The team opted to have Bailey Zappe be their backup instead.
The timing here may be about as perfect as it could be, too. The Browns are entering their bye week, which would give Sanders two weeks to both get healthy with his back and prepare for what would be the first start of his career. They’ll also come out of the break to play the New York Jets, who only just now won their first game of the season on Sunday with a comeback victory over the Bengals. Of the teams in the league to test out a new quarterback on mid-season like this, it’s them.
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Now to Gabriel’s defense, it’s also very early in his career. He was great at both Oklahoma and Oregon, and he’s only had a few starts in the league in what is undoubtedly a tough situation. It’d be hard to find a rookie quarterback that doesn’t make mistakes or struggle at least a little bit early on. With a bit of time, he could very well turn into a solid NFL quarterback before his career is done.
But the Browns need something to change, and fast. If Kevin Stefanski doesn’t make a move and give Sanders the start in two weeks, and nothing gets better offensively or with Gabriel running the show, calls for a quarterback change are only going to grow louder and louder.
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