1 week ago
7
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders was thrown into the fire in his NFL debut, had a horrific performance, and was one of the reasons why his team blew a lead to a division rival. Skip Bayless liked what he saw.
The former Fox pundit recorded a nearly 15-minute long rant and posted it to his X account - going to bat for the rookie out of Colorado.
Never mind that Sanders was brought into the game with a 16-10 lead to replace an injured Dillon Gabriel and somehow could not provide any offense as the Browns gave up 13 fourth-quarter points to lose 23-16.
Sanders only completed 4-of-16 passes for 47 yards while also tossing an interception and getting sacked twice. He logged a horrid QBR of 2.4 and a just-as-bad passer rating of 13.5.
Yet, Bayless still had praise for the son of Deion Sanders and said there were 'flashes of brilliance' in Sanders' game.
'Man, Shedeur Sanders finally got his shot when I least expected it,' Bayless said to open his video.
Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders had a bad debut after being subbed in at halftime
Despite his bad numbers, Sanders was praised by Skip Bayless, who saw 'flashes of brilliance'
After admitting he was more focused on Seahawks-Rams and Chiefs-Broncos, Bayless said he was loosely paying attention to the Browns game until Gabriel was taken out.
'What a rough spot this was. I'll be up-front with you, I'll be on the record with you, if you just glance at the numbers... the haters are gonna be out in full throat. They're gonna be howling at the moon tonight,' Bayless remarked.
While Bayless said he 'can't defend' Sanders' paltry stats and blowing a lead, he added, 'Shedeur got his shot and I saw flashes of vintage Colorado, Jackson State Shedeur Sanders. I believe in this kid with all my heart and soul, I believe in his poise, I believe in his accuracy, I believe in his makeup, I believe in his toughness.
'I just believe in his 'it' factor in playing the hardest position there is to play in sports. But you won't see the position get any harder than it was for him getting thrown into the fire with Dillon Gabriel's game plan against the Baltimore defense when they are desperate to pull out a win on the road against a bad Cleveland team.
'And yeah, in that last-ditch drive, I saw flashes of Shedeur's 'it' factor.'
While Bayless had plenty of praise for the two throws Sanders made on that final drive - a 25-yard gain to tight end Harold Fannin and a 10-yard strike to Jerry Jeudy - the former pundit shrugged off the five incomplete passes the young gunslinger threw in his team's last chance.
Bayless offered excuses for the last three incompletions to Isaiah Bond ('it was his first target of the day'), Gage Larvadain ('a better receiver would've won the hand fight'), and David Njoku ('Njoku looked like he got both hands on it').
Sanders had a QBR of 2.4 and a passer rating of 13.5 as he completed four passes in the loss
'I saw flashes of brilliance. I saw flashes of Shedeur - who should have been starting from the start,' Bayless said.
Sanders is far from the only reason the Browns lost. The Cleveland defense may have sacked Lamar Jackson five times, but they also allowed 351 yards of offense from Baltimore.
However, Cleveland only managed 187 offensive yards as Sanders' drives ended with four punts, an interception, and a turnover on downs in the final drive.
The Browns fell to 2-8 on the season with the defeat. Cleveland will travel to play the Las Vegas Raiders.
