Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders made his NFL debut in the second half of Sunday's 23-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The fifth-round pick out of Colorado gave himself poor marks for the day.
"I don't think I played good," Sanders said, via ESPN. "I don't think I played good at all. I think there's a lot of things we need to look at during the week and go and just get comfortable with even throwing routes with [wide receiver] Jerry [Jeudy] and throwing routes with all those guys. I think that was my first ball to him all year. But other than that, I just think overall, we just got to go next week and understand, so that we have a week to prepare stuff I like to do."
Sanders took over at halftime after fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel exited due to a concussion. Gabriel was ruled out in the third quarter.
Sanders went 4 of 16 passing for 47 yards with an interception for a 13.5 passer rating. It marked the lowest passer rating by any player with 15-plus pass attempts in their NFL debut since Browns QB Brandon Weeden (5.1) in Week 1, 2012.
A 25.0 percent completion rate is tied with Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw for the third-lowest by any QB in their debut since 1970 (min. 15 pass attempts). Only Denver's Scott Stankavage (22.2) in 1984 and Detroit's Jeff Komlo (23.8) in 1979 had a worse completion percentage in their debuts, per NFL Research. Any list led by Stankavage and Komlo is a bad one to be on.
"I think you've seen, it was just rough, overall," Sanders said. "It was a rough day, overall. But the thing that I was excited about is just being able to get out there. This is the first time I got hit since my last game at Colorado. So, just having that feeling back is good, and I feel fulfilled overall when it comes to being out there, practicing, going in between the lines, seeing what it's actually like.
"I know I'm made for it. I don't think there was a doubt in my mind that that final drive, [we were] going to go down there and score. Things happened and we didn't, but I was just excited because I knew what I was going to be able to do out there."
The rookie struggled with his processing and too often bailed backward out of the pocket or fell backward on his throws, resulting in off-target tosses. He was sacked twice while averaging 2.9 yards per attempt.
Getting tossed into the fire is no easy task for any quarterback, particularly one who has gotten so little run with the starters in practice. The hope is that with more seasoning, Sanders can even out the rough spots.
"We trust all of our guys," Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. "We trust our guys to perform. [Sanders is] no different. And playing a backup quarterback role, as we've talked about over the years, that's tough to come in there. But we trust him. I know there's things that he's going to want to do better, but that's why we work."
After an interception and two first downs on his first five drives, Sanders showed some life on the final possession, hitting fellow rookie Harold Fannin Jr. for 26 yards and Jeudy for 10 to get into scoring range, but a 5-yard scramble and three consecutive incompletions left the comeback bid short.
Stefanski said that if Gabriel clears concussion protocol, the third-rounder would resume his starting role. If not, Sanders will get the start in Week 12 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Bailey Zappe, signed to the practice squad, is the other QB option with Deshaun Watson remaining on injured reserve.
