Silver And Black Pride
Week 12 pits a couple of 2-8 teams against each other with the Las Vegas Raiders hosting the Cleveland Browns. To preview the matchup, Silver and Black Pride reached out to our friends at Dawgs By Nature, and Chris Pokorny was kind enough to answer a few questions about the Browns for Raider Nation.
Q: What are the expectations for Sheduer Sanders in his first NFL start? I know it’s a small sample size, but what did he show during the preseason and coming off the bench for Dillon Gabriel last week?
A: The expectations are very low. I think there’s the natural hope that with Shedeur Sanders getting first-team practice reps this week for the first time all season, that he’ll be a little sharper in knowing where to go with the football at a faster pace.
But last week was the same thing he showed in the final preseason game: even though he has a good arm and some good mentality of reading plays, everything looks too slow to process at the NFL level. And then, when he faces pressure on third down, he drifts backwards and the play leads to an automatic 15-yard loss every time, hurting field position.
I think it’s difficult to just correct those things in one week. However, I’m sure Sanders and the coaching staff are well aware of those issues, so it’s up to them to craft some type of game plan that fits his strengths as he is right now. The encouraging thing is that Sanders has his eyes looking more downfield than Dillon Gabriel, where everything seemed like 3-yard routes if we were lucky.
Q: Quinshon Judkins is the only rookie running back to record more rushing yards than Ashton Jeanty, 620 to 554, so far this season. What has Judkins brought to the Browns’ offense?
A: Quinshon Judkins has that natural mixture of vision, cutting, and power to where you know he’s going to be one of the top running backs in the league. The only thing holding him back is how bad our offense has been, including the offensive line and the passing game. He’s made the most of poor/slow blocking, and teams knowing they can load the box against him.
If the blocking was average or the passing game was somewhat decent, I think Judkins would be shredding any defense he faced for 100+ yards each week. He’s also a fine enough receiver, at least in the short passing game (we haven’t seen him targeted on downfield routes).
Q: Everyone knows that Myles Garrett is an elite pass-rusher, but he’s been on an unreal run even for his standards with 10 sacks in the last three games. What’s been different about these last three weeks compared to the rest of the season? Any suggestions on how to slow him down?
A: The best way to slow Myles Garrett down is to still commit extra blockers to him. I know that’s challenging to do when the Browns’ defense...
