Shedeur Sanders Camp Update — August 23: Eight Straight Completions to Open

Shedeur Sanders completed his first eight passes in his first NFL start Saturday and finished the half nine of 11 for 74 yards, a touchdown, and one interception, per Scott Petrak at BrownsZone. The details were better than the line. He hit Luke Floriea for an eight-yard touchdown on third-and-7 on the opening series, converted a third-and-15 to Floriea for 23, converted a fourth-and-2 to tight end Blake Whiteheart for 16, and drew two offside penalties with his cadence, per Kelsey Russo at the team's website. He took one sack all half behind a second-team line of KT Leveston, Zak Zinter, Luke Wypler, Austin Barber and Dawand Jones, per Russo. Even the interception was the forgivable kind — a throw for tight end Jermaine Terry, slightly behind him per Petrak, tipped at the second level by linebacker Joe Andreessen and caught by safety Damar Hamlin, per Russo. The score around him was ugly, Bills 31, Browns seven against Buffalo's backups, but his half was the cleanest football any Cleveland quarterback has played this preseason. Monken's review, per Petrak: "He plays with a certain amount of confidence, and he's gotten a lot better at getting rid of the ball."

The other half of the competition moved too. Deshaun Watson relieved him and went five of 12 for 35 yards with an interception, booed throughout by the home crowd, per Petrak — a reversal of the Chicago week, when Watson held the edge. And the deadline arrived: Monken, who Petrak reported Tuesday hoped to name a starter by Monday with Watson considered the favorite, said postgame, "At some point I'm going to have to decide, right? At some point we've got to get that guy the reps," with Petrak writing that Sanders' performance has given him more to weigh. Sanders' own temperature, from earlier in the week, per Petrak: "I don't really feel anxiety or any pressure." The blister on his throwing hand, last week's caveat, drew no new reporting; the pre-snap mess from the Chicago week did not repeat in any account we found.

Back in June we said the flashes were real and the job was the question — that the case required him to win a competition the reporting leaned against. This was the week the reporting stopped leaning.

The checkable things this week: the name Monken gives early in the week, and Sanders' role when the 53 is set Sunday, August thirtieth. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._