Browns' decision to bench Shedeur Sanders on crucial play 'coaching failure,' ex-NFL star says
When Shedeur Sanders found fellow rookie Harold Fannin Jr. for the touchdown in Cleveland on Sunday to make it a 31-29 ball game, Browns fans were ecstatic, knowing a successful two-point conversation meant a tie game.
Sanders, who started the last three games for the Browns in his rookie season, showcased his late-game savvy and kept his team in the contest up until the final play.
But confusion, and bewilderment for some, was the reaction when Sanders wasn't seen under center on the two-point try. It was rookie running back Quinshon Judkins, who was in the wildcat formation as he does on occasion this season.
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The play ended up going unsuccessful, and the Browns fell to the Tennessee Titans with lots of what-if responses from experts and fans alike.
Robert Griffin III, the FOX Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback who spent the 2016 season in Cleveland, has been vocal about how the Browns have treated Sanders since taking him in the fifth round. After seeing head coach Kevin Stefanski's decision to go with Judkins in the wildcat over Sanders, he believed it was pure "coaching failure" on his part.
"You have to be in touch with what’s going on in the game, and the young man that gave you the best chance to win the game should’ve been on the field in the most crucial point of the game. He wasn’t and that’s a coaching failure on their part," Griffin told Fox News Digital after helping USAA gift two military veterans with new vehicles before the 126th Army-Navy game this weekend.
The Browns were in a massive hole with about six minutes remaining in the contest, staring at a 31-17 deficit after a blocked punt set up a Titans field goal.
Sanders, though, never lost faith and was able to get into the end zone for his first rushing touchdown on the ensuing drive to make it a 31-23 ball game. Then, after a three-and-out by the Titans, he went seven plays in 1:40 to eventually find Fannin for the score with 1:03 remaining in the game.
At that point, Sanders had totaled his fourth touchdown of the game and his third passing score. He was 23-for-42 for 364 yards with an interception as well.
Griffin said the two-point conversion play Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees had dialed up might have been the wildcat on the call sheet, but he thought they needed to look deeper into how they got to that point.
"I think, from a coaching standpoint, you look at it and say, ‘What are our best two-point plays? What have we practiced all week?’ Most coaches go into a game with two to three two-point plays, and they were just at the point where that was the two-point play that was next on the call sheet," he explained. "In that moment, I think you have to say to yourself this young man has four touchdowns, he’s led us all the way back into this game and kept us in this game. We should not be taking him off the field. That, to me, was where the mistake was.
"Every coach will tell you, ‘You go down your sheet, you call the play, and you live with it.’ But you have to be able to take the analytics out and say, ‘All right, this is the best thing we can do in this moment.’"
Stefanski has been criticized for his handling of Sanders since joining a crowded Browns quarterbacks room when he arrived in Cleveland. Throughout the season, as the Browns have struggled for consistency at the position with Joe Flacco traded and Dillon Gabriel not finding consistent results, the call for Sanders grew louder by the week.
Sanders won his first career start in Las Vegas, a 24-10 victory over the Raiders, and Stefanski gave him praise for getting better by the week. He also said what Griffin suggested this past weekend, as Sanders will remain the team’s starter the rest of the way.
But Stefanski’s decision on Sunday with the two-point conversion only added fuel to those who believe Sanders is being set up to fail with the Browns.
Griffin noted no coach should make gameday decisions based on outside noise, but after balling out, he’s confident that Sanders should’ve been in for that crucial play.
Sanders has four more games left in his rookie season, starting with the Chicago Bears on the road in Week 15.
HELPING THOSE WHO SERVE US
Griffin was back in Baltimore, where he spent the remaining years of his NFL playing career, to show honor through action in the tradition of the annual Army-Navy Game by gifting two recycled rides with USAA, the official Salute to Service partner of the NFL.
Cryptologic Technician Petty Officer First Class Jamil Lewis, who is currently serving in the Navy, and veteran Patrick Huber, a specialist of the 116th Infantry Regiment, Army National Guard, were both surprised by Griffin with the brand-new vehicle at Inner Harbor in front of the USS Constellation.
Griffin, who comes from a military family himself with his mother and father serving in the Army, has long enjoyed his partnership with USAA and couldn’t have been happier to help out with this.
"I’ve been so honored to partner with USAA. We’ve been partnered together for the last 13 years, and I’m a guy who likes to do genuine, authentic partnerships. Military brat, mom and dad both served in the Army. So, I’m a ‘Go Army, beat Navy’ guy — 31 years combined between them. To see the impact we’ve been able to make over the last 13 years, doing things to make our military members know they’re not forgotten, it does something for me," he explained. "If it’s doing something for me, it’s doing something for these families we get to impact, to make their lives a little bit easier. It’s not a free car. I say that because, yeah, they didn’t have to pay money for it, but there was sacrifice for us and our freedoms to be able to get this type of treatment. We want them to know that, ‘Hey, man, we appreciate you.’"
Griffin said that Huber, a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, made sure to take a crack at him during their time together about the Washington Commanders, who the Baylor product was drafted by.
And Griffin also loved seeing Lewis’ nine-year-old son, one of his five children, "going ballistic" when he realized what was happening.
"They got a free car to the point where, 30 minutes after the event, he’s still sitting in the passenger’s side seat," Griffin said about Lewis’ son.
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