Things went from bad to worse for Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders following his rocky NFL debut.
Sanders stepped in for Dillon Gabriel during the second half of Sunday’s 23-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. His first regular-season action didn’t go well. Sanders completed just four passes for 47 yards and threw an interception.
“I don’t think I played good,” Sanders said after the game. “I don’t think I played good at all. I think there’s a lot of things we need to look at during the week and go and just get comfortable with even throwing routes with [wide receiver] Jerry [Jeudy] and throwing routes with all those guys. That was my first ball to him all year. But other than that, I just think overall, we just got to go next week and understand, so that we have a week to prepare stuff I like to do.”
After the game, Sanders had to deal with an incident at his home, which was reportedly broken into during the game. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk first reported the break-in, adding that it’s “unclear at this point whether anything was taken, and no potential suspects have been identified.”
The incident is part of a larger trend across the league, with several NFL stars recently having their homes targeted while they were on the field or out of town for an away game. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, and New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan have all dealt with similar mid-game break-ins in recent months, raising growing concerns about how these robberies are being coordinated.
Sanders didn’t sugarcoat his performance against the Ravens, acknowledging he fell short. Still, he welcomed the chance to get back on the field and expressed confidence he can rebound quickly.
“I think you’ve seen, it was just rough, overall,” Sanders said. “It was a rough day, overall. But the thing that I was excited about is just being able to get out there. This is the first time I got hit since my last game at Colorado. So, just having that feeling back is good, and I feel fulfilled overall when it comes to being out there, practicing, going in between the lines, seeing what it’s actually like.
“I know I’m made for it. I don’t think there was a doubt in my mind that that final drive, [we were] going to go down there and score. Things happened and we didn’t, but I was just excited because I knew what I was going to be able to do out there.”
The Browns are expected to start Sanders on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders with Gabriel’s status uncertain, per Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com
“Browns Shedeur Sanders is expected to start Sunday’s game in Las Vegas with Dillon Gabriel in the concussion protocol. Barring something unexpected, Sanders will make his starting debut, becoming the 42nd Browns starter since 1999,” Cabot wrote on X Monday afternoon.
Earlier on Monday, Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski stopped short of naming Sanders the Week 12 starter, saying he’d have a clearer picture by Wednesday once the team knows more about Gabriel’s status.
“We’ll work through that the next couple days and this week,” Stefanski said. “I’ll update you guys Wednesday as we get into Vegas preparations.”
The Browns are 2-8 after their latest loss and have not won a game since Oct. 19 when they downed the Miami Dolphins 31-6.
The New England Patriots aren’t led by Bill Belichick or Tom Brady anymore but if a time traveler from 2007 glanced at the 2025-26 standings they’d certainly think that was still the case.
After thumping the New York Jets 27-14 in Week 11, New England is on to Cincinnati to face the Bengals who will be without multiple top playmakers.
Quarterback Joe Burrow has been dealing with a serious turf toe injury that’s kept him out several weeks and now wideout Ja’Marr Chase will miss the Week 12 clash due to suspension. The four-time Pro Bowler was disciplined by the league for spitting on Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey mid-game on Sunday.
That’s a mighty lucky break for the Patriots who have seemingly not played many challenging opponents so far this year. It’ll be one less serious threat for the New England secondary to worry about while on the road.
At 9-2, the Patriots top the AFC East division and are inching ever closer to clinching the No. 1 seed in the conference playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Their resurgence, which includes an eight-game winning streak, has come with the obvious return of the franchise’s haters, claiming the Pats are overrated.
This time, those haters may have a point. Through 11 games, the Patriots have only played three teams that are currently in the playoff picture. They beat two of them, to be fair, but the rest of the schedule is rather lacking in serious competition.
Quarterback Drake Maye has benefitted from that schedule the most. His 2,836 passing yards lead the league and he’s third in passing touchdowns (20). Playing against soft secondaries certainly helped in padding those stats.
They look poised to reach 11-2 by their Week 14 bye by way of a heavily handicapped Cincinnati team and a New York Giants squad that can’t seem play more than three quarters of football.
By that time, with four games remaining, the Patriots may have clinched a playoff spot or will certainly be on the cusp. Two of those final games are against playoff contenders (Buffalo and Baltimore) but they finish the year off with rematches against the Jets and Miami Dolphins.
That means less than a third of New England’s schedule was against playoff contending teams. If there’s any argument to be made for an overrated team in the AFC, the Patriots fit the bill.