Browns WR Refutes Shedeur Sanders vs. Dillon Gabriel Locker-Room ‘Division’
Now that we have, finally, seen the Cleveland Browns debut of quarterback Shedeur Sanders, such as it was, the issue of which player should be running the show for the team in the near future probably should be settled. With Sanders completing four passes on 12 attempts, throwing an interception and taking two sacks in less than one full half of work, it appears that neither Sanders nor
After the 23-16 loss to the Ravens, perhaps it should be Bailey Zappe time.
Alas, the Browns will move forward picking between the two rookies, with Gabriel now in concussion protocol and Sanders ready to start against the
Browns Have No ‘Division’ on QB Choice
That question was put to third-year receiver Cedric Tillman, the reliable Browns target who has been on the IR for four weeks with a hamstring injury and had missed much of the Dillon Gabriel-Shedeur Sanders drama. In Week 11, Tillman caught the best throw of the day from Gabriel, a 26-yard strike in the seam, and had earlier caught a 21-yarder.
He also caught the first pass of Sanders’ career, a five-yard check-down in the third quarter. On Monday, Tillman was diplomatic when answering whether there was locker-room tension over whether Sanders or Gabriel ought to be the starter.
“No, I don’t think there is any division,” Tillman said.
He then wanted to clarify, in case his use of the word “think” left a bit of doubt. “No, ” he emphasized, “there’s not division. I don’t want to say, ‘think.’ There’s not any division.”
Shedeur Sanders-Dillon Gabriel Debate a Browns ‘Coach’s Decision’
One of the Sanders-Gabriel issues that has also swirled around the Browns has been the way the team has set up its practice routine since the trade of Joe Flacco a month ago, which sees Gabriel get the first-team reps, with Sanders limited only to second-team reps. That means that his debut on Sunday marked the first time Sanders had played with the first-teamers.
Tillman was asked about that, too, but recognized the potential for getting entangled in a verbal trap. Laughing, he said, “That’s coach’s decision. Coach’s decision.”
Surely, though, it would benefit Sanders to get some run with the first team? Said Tillman: “I think it would help, obviously, getting reps with the 1s and stuff like that. I guess we’ll just see how the week goes.”
Shedeur Sanders Competitiveness Left Impression
Despite the unimpressive numbers in his Browns debut, Sanders impressed Tillman with his ability to fight through adversity and keep the team in the mix despite the difficult situation.
“He’s a competitor,” Tillman said. “Obviously, playing with him, that was the first time. So that was cool. But I see him every day, how he works and stuff like that, how he prepares. So it was cool being out there with him, seeing him be a competitor. So it was good, I am looking forward to it.”
But Tillman was clear: For him and other Browns players, whomever the coaches choose to put on the field, their job is the same.
“Rather is Dillon out there or Shedeur, we’re gonna do our jobs out there to execute, to help those guys out,” he said. “Rather it’s Dillon or Shedeur, it’s the job of the other guys on the field to help those guys out and to make plays.”
Seahawks Catch a Break with Positive Injury Updates
The Seahawks were breathing a significant sigh of relief Monday as imaging results on the knee of left guard Grey Zabel showed no significant injury, coach Mike Macdonald said during his regular day-after-game meeting with the media.
Zabel, the 18th overall pick in the April NFL draft who has started every game, departed in the fourth quarter with an injury suffered on a 1-yard touchdown run by Kenneth Walker III that cut the score to 21-19, which turned out to be the final score of the game.
“Really fortunate,” Macdonald said. “We avoided a significant injury, which is really positive.”
Macdonald indicated there was still a chance Zabel might miss a game, something that will become clearer as the week progresses.
“I’d say the word I heard (about his prognosis) was day to day,” he said. “You know how that goes — could be day to day, could be a week, could be more than that. But nothing significant, which is a huge positive.”
read more rams 21, seahawks 19
Zabel was replaced for the final series — which consisted of 10 called passes — by second-year player Christian Haynes. It was the first action of the year for Haynes, who had been on IR until Saturday with a pec issue.
“I thought he did a good job,” Macdonald said. “There’s some things he’s going to clean up and he’ll do that.”
Macdonald also praised the play of Olu Oluwatimi, who filled in at center for Jalen Sundell, who was placed on IR on Saturday after suffering a knee injury against Arizona.
The Seahawks started the same five for each of their first nine games of the season before Sundell went down and Oluwatimi played against the Rams.
“I thought Olu did a tremendous job stepping in, being ready to go (and) decisive with his calls,” Macdonald said. “Again, things that we need to clean up as a front as an offensive line, but it’s not for lack of effort and we’ll get those things fixed. We’re just continuing to grow. You see a lot of great things.”
Macdonald says Darnold needs to get to next play
Macdonald said his review of Sam Darnold’s four interceptions against the Rams revealed the quarterback was at times trying to make a play where there wasn’t one to be made. And the lesson in that, Macdonald said, is being OK with taking a sack or an incompletion and moving on to the next down.
“The majority of them came late in downs where we just need to get to the next play,” Macdonald said. “Sam has played on time and in rhythm a lot this year and he’s made a lot of plays for us doing that. He’s also made a lot of plays off-schedule. You don’t want to take the playmaker out of him, but you also understand when we need to be able to get to the next play versus putting the ball in jeopardy down the field.”
Two of the picks came as Darnold was getting hit on third down, notably his final one when Darnold leapt in traffic to throw a pass over the middle to tight end Elijah Arroyo that was picked off by Darious Williams. Darnold acknowledged on that play he was trying to avoid taking a sack and moving out of field-goal range — the play snapped at the L.A. 36.
The two others came on first down.
Darnold has 10 interceptions for the season as well as 14 overall turnovers.
Macdonald and players vehemently defended Darnold following the game, notably linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who used colorful language to indicate that he thinks anyone questioning whether Darnold should be the team’s QB is, well, mistaken.
Macdonald said that Jones “speaks for the whole team. I think that’s the way everybody feels.”
Macdonald said neither he nor Darnold nor the rest of the team planned to spent much time wallowing in Sunday’s loss, turning the page to this week’s game at Tennessee by Monday afternoon.
“We fell short yesterday — there’s no other way to slice it,” he said. “The Rams, they won the game. They won it fair and square. They played better than us and coached better than us and that’s what happens. It’s a tough one. But all these losses, you can’t let them beat you twice. You’ve got to go back, take it on the chin, got to move forward, you’ve got to learn from it and that’s what we’ve done today.”
Macdonald laments lost seconds on final drive
The Seahawks were unquestionably up against it when they got the ball back at their own 1-yard line with 1:41 remaining and one timeout left, trailing 21-19.
They almost overcame that, using 10 plays to move to the Rams’ 43 where a 61-yard field goal by Jason Myers came up short and to the right as time ran out.
Macdonald said in reviewing the drive that he wished the Seahawks wouldn’t have used as much time as they did on the first play, a 4-yard pass to AJ Barner.
Barner broke to the sidelines on the play but was tackled just in bounds and the clock kept running. That also meant Barner had to run a ways to get back to the huddle.
The next play didn’t snap until 1:16 was left, the most time that elapsed on any play of the drive.
“We needed to be able to improve on that,” he said.
Macdonald also noted the big decision on the drive was whether to call a time out when the Seahawks picked up a first down at their own 26 on a play that snapped with :40 remaining. They decided to keep the timeout and the flexibility of being able to use all the field. But 18 seconds elapsed before another play got snapped.
Macdonald said the team needs to work on being in such situations on the road and with the challenge of having to use a silent count.
Macdonald added he knew there was risk in time running out before they could have gotten a chance at a field goal when they ran a play with five seconds left.
A quick out pass to Rashid Shaheed gained 6 yards to the L.A. 43 and the Seahawks were able to get a timeout called quickly.
“About as thinly as you could slice it,” he said.
Myers had hit a 61-yarder at SoFi Stadium in 2020 and a 57-yarder earlier in the game, so the Seahawks felt it was realistic he could make the kick.
“We were right at the line (to make the kick) if not behind it,” Macdonald said. “So we didn’t exactly put (Myers) in a great position right there. But to his credit he’s going to go out there and give it his best. … In my experience, if he hits it clean, we’ve got a chance. It’s right at the edge of the line. It’s probably better odds than throwing up a Hail Mary.”
Knight in concussion protocol
Macdonald said linebacker Tyrice Knight, who left the game with a concussion after making a tackle on a kickoff in the first quarter, remains in the concussion protocol.
“Saw him today; he’s in good spirits,” Macdonald said. “But he’s in it. So we’ll see how he passes all the hurdles (during the week). … Honestly don’t know how long it’s going to be.”
