The Cleveland Browns were hoping to come through with a big win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 6 NFL action. Unfortunately, that was far from being the case.
When all was said and done, the Steelers defeated the Browns by a final score of 23-9.
Dillon Gabriel made his second consecutive start for Cleveland. He didn’t have a very good game against the Pittsburgh defense. That has left many continuing to call for Shedeur Sanders to receive playing time in the near future.
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Throughout the course of the loss, Gabriel completed 29 of his 52 pass attempts for 221 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. He made some good plays, but the overall performance wasn’t impressive at all.
Following the game, head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked whether or not he had considered playing Sanders late in the game. He sent a very clear message that showed his level of interest in playing Sanders, at least for right now.
“No,” Stefanski said. “We were just trying to fight there till the end.”
Stefanski continued on, talking more about how the Browns need to support Gabriel more.
“He’s a tough kid. We’ve got to keep him clean. Obviously, when the game turns into how it turned a two-score game, you have to drop back, and that’s a tough team to drop back versus,” Stefanski said. “He kept battling. Wasn’t for a lack of effort by him or by anybody. Made some plays, but we just got to be better. I think you learn in every game, win, lose or draw. And obviously, we know this kid’s tough. We know he’s tough. He’s going to keep fighting. We just got to around him, make some plays. We got to coach him up.”
Those comments are not going to make a lot of Cleveland fans very happy. Already, there is a consensus surrounding the team that Gabriel is not the long-term fit the team needs. Sanders has a lot of supporters who want to see him play.
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Right now, there is no telling when or even if Sanders will see the field this season. More than likely, he will if things keep going the way they have.
Sadly, for those who want to see him take over next week, that doesn’t sound likely. Stefanski sounds set on trying to help the team get better around Gabriel and focusing on trying to help the rookie quarterback improve in the coming games.
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