The Cleveland Browns, despite a last-minute comeback effort from rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders and the offense in the fourth quarter, were unable to pull away with the victory on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, 23-20.

Sanders finished the contest completing 20 of his 29 pass attempts for 157 yards, while also throwing one touchdown and two interceptions.

The 2025 fifth-round pick got off to a hot start on Sunday, as he went five-for-five with 58 passing yards during the Browns’ first offensive drive. He capped off the run with a terrific 13-yard touchdown pass to fellow rookie Harold Fannin Jr. to give Cleveland a 7-0 lead to start the game.

However, Sanders’ success would be short-lived, and he was unable to find the end zone for the rest of the matchup.

On the Browns’ ensuing offensive drive, the rookie quarterback’s momentum was cut short after throwing his first interception of the contest when targeting running back Quinshon Judkins on a drag route.

Many fans were quick to blame Judkins for the turnover, but in reality, Sanders did not lead him on the pass. Since the ball was near the intended receiver's back shoulder, it’s clear that Sanders is the one to take the blame for the play.

After multiple stalled-out offensive drives, Sanders would throw his second interception of the contest earlier in the third quarter when trying to target Malachi Corley.

When the Browns call a bootleg, timing is key for a quarterback, especially when the quarterback is naked on the roll out. Instead of getting the ball out on time, Sanders hesitated, which gave the defenders extra time to bat the ball down at the line of scrimmage.

Despite the turnovers throughout the game, there were some positives from Sanders’ Week 16 performance.

One of my main concerns for the rookie quarterback heading into Sunday was his inability to take what the defense gave him. Fans saw glimpses of him being able to execute this in Week 15 against the Chicago Bears, but Sanders did a terrific job of this past week.

The Bills’ defensive game plan was simple on Sunday: have their entire secondary and linebackers shade over top/roll out Tampa 2, which forced the young playmaker to rely on the checkdowns for a majority of the game. Sanders realized this and did not try to play “hero ball,” which was exactly what he needed to do when facing this type of defensive style.

This also opened the door for Cleveland’s run game to have one of its best days on the ground, as the offense finished with 130 rushing yards with Buffalo’s linebackers playing with depth.

Unfortunately for Sanders, once the game got close in the fourth quarter, he tried to search for the big play on offense. He did not try to force any tough passes, but instead held on to the ball for too long. There were multiple times late in the contest where Sanders could have made a completion to move the chains, but did not look for the short and intermediate routes.

One play that stuck out to me was on 4th and 2 with five minutes left. Sanders faced some heat, but had Fannin open on the play.

Even though Fannin had a free release, Sanders' eyes were glued to the middle of the field. Since most of the receivers were covered, the ball needs to quickly be out to his tight end in the flat. Plays like this truly separate the average quarterbacks from the great quarterbacks, and will not help his case moving forward into next season.