Shedeur Sanders announced his presence to a national TV audience with a simple six-word bar before the Cleveland Browns had even kicked off a Week 12 matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders. 

"I'm who they've been looking for."

He spent the next 60 minutes punctuating that declaration with a first-career start that should leave Browns fans putting those 2026 QB big boards on ice, for now at least. Sanders completed 11-of-20 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown. He tossed his second career interception in the second quarter, a pretty egregious one at that after he didn't see Raiders DE Charles Snowden drop into coverage late and threw it right to him. 

Those things happen to rookie QBs. What's more important is that he shook it off and made sure it was his only major blemish of the day. What stood out most from Sanders' performance can't be found in a box score. It was the way the offense seemed to function with him under center. 

In a season where points have been hard to come by, Sanders led four different scoring drives to produce Cleveland's second-highest point total of the season. The offense also jumped on the Raiders early, putting up 14 points in the first quarter for the first time since Week 17 of 2023.

That's different. 

There was also that eye-popping play to Isaiah Bond that setup the second touchdown of the game. On third-and-eight, with 1:41 to go in the first quarter, the Raiders brought some pressure up the middle and quickly flushed Sanders to his right. 

The rookie QB kept his eyes down field and found enough space to launch the ball 45 yards to Isaiah Bond who had slipped behind the defense and was streaking toward the sideline down near the Raiders 10. It was s dot, and Sanders stood in and took a big hit afterwards as well.

Explosive plays, in with this Browns offense?

That's different too. 

Bond was tripped up at the one, but one one play later, Quinshon Judkins punched it in for a two-yard TD. 

Myles Garrett's facial expression on the sideline spoke for everyone who was watching the play in person or on their television at home. It was the longest pass play of the season for the Browns, at the time. Sanders finished with the three longest pass plays of the season when it was all said and done. 

Garrett's look was more than warranted. For most of the season, the Browns have turned offensive football back to the stone age, with how atrocious they've been. Everything wasn't a struggle the way it had been in the previous 10 games and for one week at least, it looked like Cleveland was playing football in the year of our lord 2025. 

It's not a coincidence that Sanders was under center to oversee it. He punctuated his day with a 66-yard screen pass touchdown to fellow rookie Dylan Sampson. It doesn't much matter that Sampson did most of the work, it all counts the same. Sanders did was he was asked to do in the structure of the offense, but took his shots as he could. 

It worked. And there was a noticeable juice to the offense that simply hadn't been there before.

Yes, yes, the Raiders are bad. No, it wasn't a perfect performance. Sanders' is a rookie. He'll still go through plenty of growing pains. Sanders' became the first Browns QB to win his first career start for the Browns since 1999. The previous 17 were all o-fer.

He's earned the right to try and make it two in a row. He earned the right to keep the starting job moving forward.

Kevin Stefanski said he's going to think about it. But the truth is, there's nothing more to see from Dillon Gabriel right now. There's plenty more to see with Sanders. 

The decision is obvious.