Oh, no, Cleveland! The Shedeur Sanders Saga along Lake Erie just went from Tebow Stage 1 (“His time will come!”) to Tebow Stage 2 (“Why is this guy playing ahead of him?”).
Like a rocket. A rickety one. The kind they used to let The Three Stooges pilot.
Now, full disclosure: The football wonks on the Grading The Week team are fans of Shedeur The QB. They think he’s been getting terrible advice and that he’s overplayed badly about six different hands since the start of the year. But they also think that there’s an NFL signal-caller there — somewhere.
They’re just not sure that somewhere is northern Ohio.
Shedeur and the Browns — C
Like Russell Wilson in New York, the Browns are ready to put their old horse, Joe Flacco, to pasture after a 1-3 start. Largely because their statuesque — in that he can’t really move — signal-caller threw for two scores against six picks.
Since Flacco is roughly 146 years old, this moment was a “when” and not an “if.” Here’s the part, though, that threw the internet, and Team Sanders’ media pals, for a loop: Rookie (and former Oregon star) Dillon Gabriel, who may or not may not be tall enough to ride the “Mind Eraser” coaster at Elitch Gardens, is now slated to start a Week 5 showdown with the Minnesota Vikings.
Bonus: The Brownies’ depth chart for the week features Flacco as their backup and kept Shedeur listed at No. 3.
And this is where it gets very, well, Tebow-y. Not in terms of style (Sanders can throw; Tim couldn’t, bless his heart), but … audience.
Essentially, you have a fan base, one that’s loudest online, that feels that the son of CU football coach Deion Sanders can do no wrong — no matter what evidence, on-field or off-field, is actually put in front of them.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have the Browns coaching staff, the Browns front office, and most NFL front offices — a collective that does not give two flips what the Shedeur stans on social media think.
Rex Ryan is a goof. But when he dogs Son of Prime on ESPN, he’s saying out loud what at least some old-money front offices and staffs probably think about Shedeur.
More disclosure: It probably doesn’t help Sanders win over the hearts and minds of the latter when he a) tells ESPN Cleveland that he can do “better” than some of the NFL’s current QBs one week, and then, b) silently mouths, or “mimes,” answers to reporters’ questions the next.
Nor does it help that Coach Prime admitted Shedeur asked the Eagles and Ravens not to draft him this past spring, citing concerns over playing time.
Fast forward to October. With Lamar Jackson hurt, Cooper Rush is starting behind center for Baltimore this weekend. Perfect timing? Not quite.
FanDuel network coming to Denver — B
Denver will apparently soon become one of the centers of the regional sports network business — or what’s left of it.
The FanDuel Sports Network, the remains of what were once the Fox Sports/Bally Sports regional networks, is planning on operating a centralized broadcast hub in the metro, as reported by The Athletic/New York Times earlier this week.
Production from five NBA franchises will be out of the Front Range: The Hawks, the Thunder, the Grizzlies, the Timberwolves and the Spurs. Local NHL telecasts for the Wild, Hurricanes and Predators will also be produced from here.
By our math, that means at least 20% of the league’s local NBA broadcasts will soon either be produced in Denver or have Denver-based production help. And the Front Range will be the production home of 13% of the NHL’s local broadcast feeds. As the GTW crew features more than a few former cable TV subscribers in its ranks, this is one item they’ll be keeping a curious eye on.