Shedeur Sanders benched amid boos before Browns star suffers horror injury with NFL refusing replays

It was always going to be a tough ask for Shedeur Sanders to get a victory over Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.

But on the first drive, the Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback looked wholly in command of his offense before another trademark implosion from his team.

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Going 5-for-5, Sanders found standout rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. for a 13-yard touchdown to put the Browns on the board first.

Cleveland entered the contest with the NFL‘s second-best defense in yards allowed per game with 279.1 (tied with the Los Angeles Chargers), behind that of only the Houston Texans (269.2).

With superstar Myles Garrett just one sack away from breaking the all-time single-season sack record, the Browns looked sluggish to start the contest, allowing running back James Cook to effortlessly rush the ball down the field.

In the Bills’ first drive, Cook racked up 67 yards, including a 44-yard house call, bypassing the entire defense.

With the score tied at 7-7, Sanders aimed to continue his perfect start to the contest, and would have succeeded if his teammate had done his job.

With the Browns in a 2nd & 13 at the Buffalo 31-yard line, Sanders opted for the short pass intended for another rookie in Quinshon Judkins, only for the running back to take his eye off the ball and see it bounce off his hands, resulting in an interception by Bills safety Jordan Poyer.

“Can’t wait for the media to blame this interception on shedeur sanders and not the running back,” one fan posted to X (formerly Twitter).

This take was met with mixed response, with fans divided over whether Sanders could have placed it better for his receiver.

“Nah 12 gotta put that one in front or on the numbers. NFL RB should still catch it though if it hits your hands. Equal blame to go around but it’s on Shedeur,” one fan commented.

“That’s on the running back not knowing how to sit in the soft spot.. also 2 plays later, Josh Allen threw the same pass but his receiver caught it.. we gonna skip past it cause they caught it tho right.. oh ok,” another argued.

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“Trolls gonna say it’s behind him like it literally doesn’t hit Judkins hands he made the right read btw,” a third wrote.

It was the second time in two weeks that Shedeur hit a teammate’s hands only to be picked off.

Ahead of kickoff, Sanders could be seen embracing his Hall of Fame father and NFL icon Deion, who was in attendance with his girlfriend and American socialite, Karrueche Tran.

His day got worse as he was seen leaving the field with blood pouring out of an injury on the little finger of his throwing hand.

With the Browns in a 3rd & goal situation, rookie Dillon Gabriel was inserted into the lineup, and immediately got sacked as the Browns had to settle for a field goal to cut the deficit to 13-10.

Boos rang out around Huntingdon Bank Field as fans appeared to think that Kevin Stefanski had taken Sanders out of the game for the play by choice.

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Sanders was able to return with a band aid over the end of his finger after his team settled for a field goal and saw the Bills score another touchdown.

Minutes later, the Browns suffered another blow as Judkins was twisted up in a tackle and appeared to have suffered a gruesome injury with NFL Network refusing to show replays.

He was immediately ruled out with what was described as a lower leg injury after leaving the field on a cart.

Sanders’ rookie season has been far from easy

Sanders spent much of his rookie campaign on the sideline.

After suffering an all-time draft slide down to the fifth-round and 144th overall pick, Sanders was listed as fourth on the quarterback depth chart.

In front of him was a 40-year-old veteran in Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and fellow rookie, Gabriel.

Pickett was cut before the 53-man roster was finalized and found his way to the Las Vegas Raiders as the backup to Geno Smith before finding himself starting due to a shoulder and hand injury to Smith.

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Flacco would feature in just four games before being traded to AFC North rivals Cincinnati Bengals in light of a turf toe injury to Joe Burrow that kept him out of much of the regular season.

With Stefanski having promoted former Oregon star Gabriel to become QB1, Sanders was named as the backup ahead of Bailey Zappe who was on the practice squad.

But after Gabriel – who is unpopular among the Dawg Pound faithful – suffered a concussion in the first half of the Browns’ Week 11 clash against the Baltimore Ravens, Stefanski had no choice but to turn to the former Colorado Buffaloes star.

Although his NFL debut against the Ravens was one to forget, and under-pressure Stefanski later admitting that he had planned to redshirt Sanders’ rookie campaign, the 23-year-old put on a show in his first career start.

In a 24-10 win over the Raiders, Sanders became the first Browns rookie quarterback in 30 years to win on debut, where he recorded 209 yards and a touchdown, albeit also firing an interception.

Whilst he has not been able to spearhead his team to any more victories since, with Cleveland entering the contest against the Bills with a 3-11 record, Sanders has shown glimpses of possibly becoming a very solid quarterback in this league.

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