It took a while for Shedeur Sanders to get going in his first start at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns this season. But once he did, he showed what he is capable of when he is at his best.
With the Browns playing their third straight road game and the New Orleans Saints coming off their bye week, both offenses struggled for much of the contest. In his first half taking over for Deshaun Watson, who was inactive coming out of a week in concussion protocol, Sanders managed just 38 yards on five completions.
Sanders did rally with two TD passes in the second half and overtime, which gave the Browns a chance to pull out a victory. But his final attempt on a two-point conversion was incomplete, and the Browns lost 23-22.
Despite that result, former NFL player Bryant McFadden praised Sanders’ first start of 2026 and touted his competitiveness.
“I thought he played really, really well. The thing about Shedeur Sanders, he’s a gamer. It can look ugly for a quarter, but he’s always competing, and he’s never uncomfortable. I love that about him. This team is still in that playoff territory, especially within the division. This was a very, very important game. I feel like he managed this system extremely well. You would love for them to be able to convert that two-point conversion. I, for one, was OK in the decision of Coach Monken to go for two and try to win it. All I thought that Shedeur Sanders played very, very well,” McFadden said.
“I thought he played really really well.. the thing about Shedeur Sanders is he’s a gamer.”@BMac_SportsTalk #Scoreboard pic.twitter.com/4MVTmxoKJv
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 8, 2026
It would have been difficult to say that if Sanders had finished the way he began. Cleveland managed just 80 yards of total offense in the first half and trailed 9-6 in the fourth quarter.
But from that point, Sanders was excellent. He connected with KC Concepcion on a deep sideline throw, and the rookie wide receiver took it the rest of the way for a 64-yard touchdown that was his first in the NFL and gave the Browns a 13-9 lead.
Later, Sanders stood tall in the pocket and delivered a 30-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy that set up a game-tying field goal late in the fourth quarter. Then, after the Saints scored a touchdown on the first possession of overtime, Sanders completed five passes before his short throw to Harold Fannin Jr. led to a 39-yard touchdown and an opportunity at a thrilling victory.
Sanders finished with 19 completions on 31 attempts for 297 yards, but as is usually the case with him, the stats don’t tell the whole story, and he did all you can ask by giving the Browns a chance to win the game.
NEXT: KC Concepcion Gets Honest About Scoring His First NFL Touchdown
