EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsNEW ORLEANS -- Browns coach Todd Monken said he was "proud" of Shedeur Sanders after his two-touchdown performance in Cleveland's 23-22 overtime loss to the Saints but refused to answer whether Sanders made a case to start at quarterback going forward.Sanders made his first start of the season as Deshaun Watson was inactive after missing two days of practice while sidelined in the NFL's concussion protocol. Watson returned to practice Friday and cleared the protocol Saturday, but Sanders took all the first-team reps in practice. Sanders completed 19 of 31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Browns on a late field-goal drive to send the game to overtime and connected with Harold Fannin Jr. on a 39-yard touchdown pass in overtime but his last-ditch pass on a 2-point try to win the game fell incomplete."I'm really proud of him," Monken said. "I mean, I'm really proud of him and how hard he's worked since I've been here. He wasn't perfect. I wasn't perfect. But for a guy that really hasn't taken snaps with the ones in what, 10 weeks, and we announced him with two weeks left, and you're eight weeks into the season, so you're facing two-and-a-half months, you're basically running cards to come in there and continue to battle, really, really proud of him."He's really mature. And I don't mean that in a negative way, [that] he was immature. That's unfair. That's not what I mean. What I mean is in terms of his work ethic, in terms of his diligence, in terms of what he will say to the coaching staff and ask the questions, his feedback, those are all the right steps moving forward as any young player, especially a quarterback."But when asked if Sanders made a case to start again, Monken said: "How long has it been? Thirty minutes since the game ended? I'm not getting into quarterback. If we want to talk about Shedeur, we can talk about Shedeur."Sanders, a 2025 fifth-round pick, served as the backup for the first eight games of the season after losing a quarterback competition to Watson in training camp. Watson led the Browns to a 5-3 record, in large part thanks to an NFL-high five-game winning drives but entered Week 9 with a 40.9 QBR that ranks 28th out of 30 qualifying quarterbacks. Sanders registered a 39 QBR against the Saints, his second-highest mark in a game in his career.After a slow start, Sanders heated up in the second half with a pair of 60-yard completions to rookie wide receiver Denzel Boston and then a 64-yard touchdown pass to KC Concepcion that gave Cleveland a 13-9 lead late in the fourth quarter. Sanders' two 60-yard throws doubled the amount Watson had in his first eight games."I would say I feel the best when a lot of pressure's on," Sanders said. "That's when I feel the best, honestly. And the Saints did a great job of, of course, their getback on tracks, third downs, and how they got to their scheme. But I think in my mind, I think about things like an algorithm, so it's not going to take me long, I would say, to figure what I need out and within the scheme of our offense and what we need to do to move the ball down the field and do what we have to do."Sanders also clarified pregame comments that he made Wednesday about the Saints defense in which he smiled when asked what he sees on film and said: "I've seen a lot. When I smile, just know that means something. I'm maturing. I'm maturing. Like, I could have given a decent answer, but now I'm just going to smile whenever it's just, like, some questions.""My intention when referring to the Saints' defense and how they are, I was never ever throwing a shot, especially [at Carl] Granderson. So I apologize if my words were taken out of context. So I apologize for that being taken out of context, but that's just how media is sometimes. But then also that's on me for not making it very clear. And I understand that."I never would talk down on anybody, on any person, because I understand how hard it is just to be in the league. I would say how hard it is to come to work every day and be able to callous your mind, callous your body throughout everything, when things are good, and things go bad. So I just want to make that clear at first. I was never speaking negatively about anybody or any defense."Granderson, who sacked Sanders twice, saw the pregame comments differently."I don't think we were motivated, though. I mean, we seen him chirping," Granderson said after the game. "So we just came into this game ready to play, won the game on defense. I think it's disrespectful for somebody to laugh at our defense, took us as a joke. So we went out there and balled out. They had 2.8 yards a carry and we stopped the run ... So we did our thing. Won the game in overtime, two-point conversion. So that was a good team win on defense."ESPN's Katherine Terrell contributed to this report.
