Browns
Browns fifth-round QB Shedeur Sanders picked up the win in his first start in Week 12 with 209 yards passing and a touchdown. In a year where he’s had little reps working with starters as he refined smaller details behind the scenes, Sanders doesn’t want the excuses and looks to prove his haters wrong.
“Everybody starts at different places, and like I said, just because I didn’t get the summer reps, just because I wasn’t in the best situation for me to be prepared to go out there and execute from a summer standpoint, that’s how life is,” Sanders said, via ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi. “Everybody’s not in the best situation, but it’s no excuse. You got to go out there and perform. There’s no choice and no question.
“Nobody cares if this was one week of prep. Who cares? A lot of people want to see me fail, and it isn’t going to happen.”
Sanders spoke on the fanbase embracing him and expressed gratitude for getting an opportunity to show what he can do.
“I’m just thankful to be out here, have an opportunity, be able to go out there and play, go out there and start,” Sanders said. “You don’t know how surreal that feeling is, knowing that you have the responsibility of the Browns organization on your shoulders, having all the fans, everybody in here arguing with each other online and everything.”
“Everybody has their differences about me. It is what it is, but I’m just thankful I’m here before you all today, and hopefully we cleared a little stuff up. But a real long way to go. It’s allowing me to grow, and I know it’s only one way and the only way is up.”
Ravens
The Ravens won against the Jets in Week 12, but they only had 72 yards of offense in the first half and trailed 7-3. Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson isn’t looking to blame their offensive struggles on his lower-body injuries and believes he needs to be better.
“No. No, I don’t think that at all,” Jackson said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “I feel like we just need to execute a lot better. We get in great field position, but we’re not putting points on the board. That has nothing to do with an injury. I’m out there, so I feel like I should still be able to do what I do.”
Steelers
Steelers TE Darnell Washington, who’s mostly been utilized as a blocker, could be more of a threat in the passing game, according to HC Mike Tomlin.
“You know, I don’t know that he’s physically gotten better,” Tomlin said, via PFT. “We might just be discovering him. Some of the freakish things that you see him do in stadium I saw him do on Georgia tape. Some of the freakish things that I’ve seen him do this year I saw him do last year. He had a unique run after, certainly, the other day that kind of ignited our collective offensively and defensively. He had a similar play, I remember, in Indianapolis last year when we were kind of, you know, running in place offensively and he made a play and it kind of ignited us. He’s a special athlete. He has unique talents. He’s certainly a tough guy to deal with in one-on-one tackle circumstances, and it makes him a force to be reckoned with.”
- Steelers CB Jalen Ramsey was fined $14,491 for unsportsmanlike conduct (other).
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