LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 The last time Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders was inside Allegiant Stadium, he and his Pro Football Hall of Fame father answered similar questions during Big 12 Media Day about whether they felt pressure to perform at a higher level than their peers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHas it changed?\u201d Sanders asked when he was reminded of that day in 2024 after he won his first NFL start on Sunday. \u201cI\u2019m not gonna lie, I felt very relaxed. Very relaxed. And half of that comes from preparing, studying and knowing I got God on my side.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo throughout all that, I had no worries. I didn\u2019t feel nervous or anything before the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
With his dad, Deion \u201cCoach Prime\u201d Sanders, in attendance, Sanders made some big plays the Browns had lacked in the passing game while completing 11 of 20 attempts for 209 yards with a touchdown and an interception. That was plenty for the Browns and their fearsome defense in a 24-10 over the Las Vegas Raiders.<\/p>\n
Myles Garrett had three of the Browns\u2019 10 sacks, a defensive performance that took the pressure off Sanders and helped him end a 17-game losing streak by quarterbacks making their first start for the beleaguered franchise.<\/p>\n
This time last year, Sanders was a Heisman Trophy candidate during his final season playing for his father at Colorado. Projected as a first-round NFL draft pick, he fell to the fifth round, and he spent most of this season at the bottom of the Browns\u2019 depth chart. He had a rough NFL debut the prior weekend in relief of fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, who left with a concussion midway through the Browns\u2019 loss to Baltimore.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a backup and everything, sometimes you have to compromise your personality and change the way you do things, to never step on anybody\u2019s toes,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cThe fact that I got an opportunity, and I was able to show the organization, show everybody who I really am, it\u2019s truly exciting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was off balance for a little bit, the past couple of months of my life, but it was different. But I\u2019m thankful to be back where I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where Sanders will be next week is unclear for now. Coach Kevin Stefanski wouldn\u2019t name a starter for next Sunday\u2019s game against visiting San Francisco, but he was happy that Sanders was able to communicate what he saw on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll our quarterbacks do a great job in-game, having those conversations that you\u2019re having throughout the week as well,\u201d Stefanski said. \u201cThese guys are doing a nice job telling us what they\u2019re seeing. I think that\u2019s so important because they have a better angle than we do on the sidelines. So he did a nice job. I thought he saw clearly. With young players, are there going to be things that he can do better? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether he continues as the starter or not, Sanders gave himself and the Browns some hope for the final six weeks of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people wanted to see me fail, and it ain\u2019t going to happen,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cIt ain\u2019t going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/p>\n
W.g. Ramirez, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 The last time Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders was inside Allegiant Stadium, he and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-302962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}