Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken did not name a starting quarterback on Monday for Sunday’s home game against the Houston Texans. Earlier in the day there were reports that Deshaun Watson would return to the lineup. Monken said his staff had not finished going through the 23-22 overtime loss at New Orleans, the game Shedeur Sanders started in Watson’s place.
“I really haven’t thought through it other than getting through this morning’s tape,” Monken said. “I just got done meeting with the guys. They’ll flush the game and then we’ll have a chance to meet offensively more extensively later today. We went through the tape, immediately had to break, go to personnel, then the team comes in, and we haven’t had a chance to circle back as an offensive staff.”
Todd Monken’s full Monday news conference. Video: Cleveland Browns on YouTube. Quotes are from Monken’s Monday and postgame news conferences.
“A player doesn’t lose or win a job”
Watson started the first eight games of the season and drove the Browns to the winning score in the fourth quarter of all five of their wins. He cleared the concussion protocol on Saturday but did not play in New Orleans, after missing the first two days of practice while in the protocol, and Sanders had prepared all week as the starter. Monken did not accept the idea that a quarterback can lose his job because of an injury.
“It’s week to week,” he said. “A player doesn’t lose or win a job — I don’t know what that means. Each week, we put the best players on the field that give us a chance to win.”
Browns players are off Tuesday, and the first full practice of the week is Wednesday afternoon. Monken said he does not feel he has to make a decision by Monday or early Tuesday.
“I’m awfully proud of him”
Sanders, in his first start of the season, completed 19 of 31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. The offense did very little for three quarters. In the first quarter the Browns had more penalty yards (25) than total yards (19). Then 197 of Sanders’ 297 yards came in the fourth quarter and overtime. He hit rookie Denzel Boston for 60 yards in the first half, put Cleveland ahead 13-9 with a 64-yard throw to rookie KC Concepcion, and, under heavy pressure from Chase Young, found Jerry Jeudy on the drive to the tying field goal. He was also sacked five times.
“I’m awfully proud of him,” Monken said. “It’s been 10 weeks since he had reps with the ones. I think it showed up, the reps that we gave him in camp. I thought he battled. I thought he showed composure in the pocket, getting to his check-downs at times. He made plays with his feet in escaping. He made the scramble play to Jerry. He made a big third-down conversion early and he made one right there in four-minute, right before the holding call that gave us a first down. So, that’s what you wanted to see.”
“There were moments I didn’t coach well enough, he didn’t play well enough,” Monken added. “But there were moments at the end of the game where he made plays, right? He got it in the players’ hands, did a really good job, was in command. … Does it give me confidence? From what I saw in the fall, you bet it does. It gives me more and more confidence that what I saw in the fall, there’s something to build on — for sure.”
Shedeur Sanders after Sunday’s overtime loss in New Orleans. Video: Cleveland Browns on YouTube.
The two-point call and what comes next
The game ended when Sanders threw incomplete on a two-point try after Harold Fannin Jr.’s 39-yard touchdown in overtime. Tytus Howard was also flagged for holding on the play. Monken explained after the game why he did not kick the extra point to tie. “You’re not going to get the ball back, probably, so you’re really saying tie or lose,” he said. “In that moment, I said, ‘Nah, that’s not me. So, we’re going to go for the win right here and it’s going to be win or lose.’”
The loss was Cleveland’s second straight and dropped the Browns to 5-4, a game and a half behind Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in the AFC North. They have played six of their first nine games on the road. Watson is in the final year of the $230 million contract he signed after his 2022 trade to Cleveland and has been sacked a league-high 33 times in eight starts. He has completed 65.5 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns and three interceptions.
“You are what your tape says you are,” Monken said of a team that has been flagged more than any other. He still sees a path. “We’re right there in the mix, and I do believe our best football is in front of us. We have our next four at home and a bye week. It’s all right there in front of us.”
No published comments yet. Start the conversation.