Shedeur Sanders' NFL debut certainly didn't go like he envisioned it. There was no Hollywood script. It was far from perfect timing for Sanders to play in a regular-season game for the first time. Cold off the bench, with limited reps working with the first-team offense, Sanders came in to relieve an injured Dillon Gabriel.
After completing his first two passes, Sanders was sacked on an all-out pressure by the Ravens. He fumbled, though the Browns recovered it. It was mostly all downhill from there.
Sanders threw a bad interception on the next drive. He ultimately completed just 4-of-16 passing for 47 yards and the interception. He made a couple of nice drives on the Browns' final possession of the game to give them a chance. He led the offense down to the Baltimore 25-yard line, but that was as close as they would get in a seven-point loss.
It wasn't a good performance by the former Colorado QB. But it's unlikely that anyone would have played well in the position that he was put in. But Sanders, ever blunt in his assessments, didn't pull any punches when he was asked how he thought he played.
"I don't think I played good at all," Sanders said.
Shedeur Sanders says he didn't 'play good at all' in NFL debut
It would be unreasonable under the circumstances for anyone to expect Sanders to play at a high level on Sunday. He's had virtually no reps with the first-team offense leading up to the game. He mentioned in the post-game that his throw to Jerry Jeudy in the fourth quarter was maybe the first time he'd thrown to Jeudy all year long.
The Browns haven't exactly been a shining example of development with quarterbacks. Calling their handling of Sanders "questionable" since drafting him in April would be kind. They haven't seemed to have any plan whatsoever for Sanders, and that came to a head on Sunday when Gabriel went down with an injury and the fifth-round rookie had to step in and play.
He wasn't ready for that moment. That's an organizational failure more than anything else.
The severity of Gabriel's concussion isn't yet known. He'll go through protocol this week, and if he's not able to go, then Sanders will make his first NFL start next week in Las Vegas against the Raiders.
That means, no matter what this week, Sanders will get some valuable first-team reps. Reps he should have been getting all along, in case this exact scenario played out.
Chances are, with added reps under his belt, he'll look a lot different next week.