Shedeur Sanders’ breakout couldn’t hide the fatal flaw even Deion blasted

While it’s important to keep Sunday’s game in perspective — the Cleveland Browns did, after all, just give up 31 points and lose at home to the worst team in football — the buzz around rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders is now impossible to ignore.

The 3-10 Browns were among the NFL’s top Monday morning stories after Week 14, and what Sanders did — and wasn’t given the chance to do — in the fourth quarter against the Titans is at the center of it all.

This was Sanders’ best game, but context is needed beyond the box score. Yes, his 364 yards, four total touchdowns (three passing, one rushing), and 97.7 passer rating scream QB of the future for a Browns team that desperately needs one, but the performance of Sanders and the offense as a whole on Sunday was far from perfect.

The Browns opened the second half with the ball and a 17-14 lead at home, but couldn’t do much of anything on offense. Their first seven possessions of the half netted 80 total yards and averaged less than 3 yards per play; the results were four punts (including three in a row), an interception, a fumble, and a blocked punt.

Sanders deserves all the flowers he’s currently getting for sparking the team back to life midway through the fourth quarter, but Cleveland’s second-half slumber — and subsequent 31-17 deficit — against one of the worst defenses in football shouldn’t get lost in the madness of the game’s wild finish.

The brutal truth? Sanders helped create Cleveland’s problem with the type of decision he’s been trying to scrub from his game (but clearly hasn’t yet).

The decision Shedeur Sanders must eliminate if he wants to be the Cleveland Browns’ future

When asked about his crushing interception midway through the third quarter after the game, Sanders gave reporters a candid answer.

Just to set the stage, the Browns were still clinging to a 17-14 lead when, on second-and-20 from his own 45 yard line, Sanders decided to look for a spark. Instead of climbing the pocket, as he did a noticeably better job of Sunday compared to his first two starts, Sanders backed deeper into his drop to avoid pressure from Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. He was back around the 28 yard line — 17 yards behind the line of scrimmage — when he let a late pass fly over the middle into double coverage that was picked off by safety Xavier Woods.

It was the kind of rookie mistake you’d expect from a still raw talent that was drafted in the fifth round back in April. But Sanders’ mindset around that type of decision is far more telling. Here was his reaction when asked about it after the game.

“I feel we’re stagnant. I’m trying to get a spark. I’m trying to. That’s all it is… and I know my dad’s mad at me for that, for sure; I know the team, you know, everybody is. But I would say, as time goes on, those decisions and those things will slim down, and we won’t be in situations where I have that feeling — like I gotta make something happen.”

Sanders does have a point — the Browns’ offense was definitely stagnant over its first three possessions of the third quarter. The interception came following back-to-back three and outs.

But the Browns might have to rewire this “looking for a spark” thing, because 20 yards behind the sticks, from your own 45 yard line with a three-point lead at home, is definitely not the time to get a little reckless and look to make something happen.

It’s no wonder why Deion Sanders, Shedeur's Hall of Fame father, was apparently harping on Shedeur's mind-numbing interception, rather than his brilliant fourth-quarter rally. Even if the Browns end up punting again on that drive, they’re still up three points at home with their struggling opponent pinned deep in its own territory.

Shedeur has spoken often on trust this season, mainly as it pertains to his receivers. He’s now flashed some serious potential to be a long-term NFL starter, and he'll get a chance to keep proving it over these final four games.

But he’ll need to find a way to stop himself from going rogue at the first sign of trouble, and find the trust to stay within the offense, protect the football, and make the smart play — even if it sparks another punt.