Shedeur Sanders, offense seek sustained success in his final start of rookie season

BEREA — Shedeur Sanders opened the 13-6 win over the Steelers last week with his best stretch of play in six NFL starts.He found Jerry Jeudy on three in routes and a hook, Cedric Tillman on a corner route for 42 yards and Isaiah Bond on a cross. He started the game 10-for-13 for 156 yards and a touchdown.Myles Garrett again voted Browns' player of year, Joel Bitonio wins another 'good guy' award"It felt good there off the jump," coordinator Tommy Rees said Thursday. "Felt like all of our guys were in the right spots. It feels like we had a little bit of momentum here, did not sustain it throughout the game, obviously as a group — not just singling out Shedeur. But I thought he made really good decisions, made a couple high-level throws there."The Browns took a 10-0 lead after the first quarter then didn't score again until a fourth-down stop by the defense gave the offense the ball at the Pittsburgh 20-yard line in the fourth quarter for a field goal that made it a seven-point lead. Sanders finished 17-for-23 for 186 yards, a touchdown, two interceptions, two sacks and a 75.6 passer rating and called the win "bittersweet" due to the late offensive struggles.As Sanders prepares for his final start of the season Sunday in Cincinnati — the last chance to prove he should be the starter in 2026 — he had an item added to the top of the to-do list after improving in several other areas.Browns QB Shedeur Sanders on what he wants to show in finale. pic.twitter.com/u2KRDTbZ0u— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) December 31, 2025https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"Just stay consistent, taking what they give me," he said. "Whenever we get off rhythm, get back on rhythm, get back on track. And I think that's the next part of my game I'm trying to evolve is whenever it's either we're stagnant or some adversity comes and being able to get back on track."Notes: Myles Garrett limited in practice with hip injury but expected to play vs. BengalsA pair of interceptions against the Steelers halted momentum.Coach Kevin Stefanski called the first unlucky, as Sanders was hit from behind and the pass ricocheted off a helmet at the line of scrimmage. The second was a questionable decision by Sanders, as late in the play he threw a downfield jump ball for Jeudy that was picked by safety Kyle Dugger."That's a big thing with playing the quarterback position, there's going to be plays that are right on the border of you're trying to make a play," Stefanski said. "You don't want to press, but there's some throws you see in the NFL … where that's a fine between, 'Hey, are you forcing that ball? Are you trying to make a play?' That's learning moments for Shedeur where there's going to be times and there were times in that game where he made plays off-schedule. Just understanding when it's time to live to fight another day on a second down and get us to a third-and-manageable. Those are all plays that just add up as you add more of these games to your repertoire and they add up in terms of your decision-making in total."Denzel Ward calls Kevin Stefanski 'great coach,' says players shouldn't listen to rumorsSanders' ability and willingness to attack downfield have added juice to an offense that lacked explosive plays with veteran Joe Flacco and rookie Dillon Gabriel at quarterback. All seven of the team's completions of at least 40 yards have come from Sanders.Rees stressed the decision-making when taking those shots."'Do we have the look that we want to take the explosive against or do we not?'" he said. "And when we don't, so much of that at the quarterback position is solving the problem and making the right decision."He's created plays, a lot of quarterbacks create plays off script, and you got to find the balance of, 'all right, is there something here off script or is it time to take our loss?' And sometimes a gain of zero is OK in this situation, but those are all moments that we continue to teach off of, and it's our job, my job as the coach to make sure during the week we're getting him to understand and getting all of our players to understand, this is what we're trying to attack and these are the problems we have to try to solve."Sanders said after the game he likes to throw the ball down the field and give his guys a chance in a one-on-one matchup. Rees said finding the right situation is important."It's just decisions within myself," Sanders said. "I got to be able to take the proper, necessary risk and even whenever you go through your progressions and the checkdown isn't there, then what? So that's kind of where I feel like the strides have been made from getting through the reads, getting to the checkdown. Now the biggest jump I'll say for me is that I plan on showing and plan on improving is when there is no play and I can't get out of it, I can't run, what I'm going to do with the ball."While it's not a slam dunk argument, Sanders has made a strong case to be the starter heading into 2026. The numbers aren't good — 2-4, 57.4 completion percentage, 1,289 yards, seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 68.5 rating — but the development has been obvious in less-than-ideal circumstances. He's trying to convince whoever's making the decisions in April not to draft a quarterback in the top 10."I can't think about what other people's opinion or what they view me as," Sanders said. "I know the teams that we go against, I know they definitely respect me in the passing game for sure. But I can't be accountable for somebody else's decisions."Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said he's liked what he's seen of Sanders, including how he's handled being "certainly under the microscope more than any other fifth-round pick that's ever been in the history of football." Bengals coach Zac Taylor has been impressed with Sanders going back to his college days."He elevated a program. He certainly helped bring a lot of eyes to Colorado, because they did some great things when he was there," Taylor said. "For him to come into the league and as a rookie have success was really impressive. We've got a tough task in front of us and he's done a really good job. He's got confidence and he's obviously got a lot of reps under his belt now and he's made a lot of plays for these guys."Rees wants to see Sanders and the offense string together those plays."When you start a drive with an explosive like we did on that second series (the throw to Tillman), that breathes a lot of confidence into the group, that breathes a lot of confidence in the quarterback, and usually when you have an explosive your percentages of scoring on that drive go up astronomically," Rees said. "Want to continue to have confidence, and a lot of the messaging with Shedeur throughout … when we play like that, you're breathing confidence in the entire group, and we're going to continue to call it in a way where we're breathing confidence into you, and allowing you to lead the offense and continue to push the ball to the areas of the field that we need to."The post Shedeur Sanders, offense seek sustained success in his final start of rookie season first appeared on BrownsZone with Scott Petrak.