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When Shedeur Sanders stepped onto the field for the Cleveland Browns’ game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Browns right guard Wyatt Teller realized: “I think I have heard his cadence like, two or three times.”

Sanders practiced it once for his linemen before entering the second half of the game after Dillon Gabriel sustained a concussion. But a display of on-the job learning unfolded.

There was Sanders’ acclimation to the speed of the NFL game — at least 10% faster than practice, Sanders thought — and there was Sanders’ acclimation to a group of receivers.

That turn of the hips by receiver Jerry Jeudy? Sanders misinterpreted how Jeudy was angling to run his route. He threw anyway, and the Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins picked Sanders off.

“I think that was my first ball to him all year,” Sanders said of Jeudy after the Browns’ 23-16 loss. “We need to look at [it] during the week and go and just get comfortable, even throwing routes with Jerry [Jeudy] and throwing routes with all those guys.

“I like knowing every detail about my receivers.”

Backup quarterbacks thrust into action, however, do not.

A firestorm ensued when the Browns admitted Sunday that Sanders’ game-time action was his first-ever chance to work with Cleveland’s first-string offense. Through offseason activities, training camp and 11 weeks of game prep, Sanders had not taken a snap with the ones.

As with most conversations surrounding Sanders’ play or words, responses came fast and furious.

One camp argued: How could the Browns deny Sanders first-team snaps when his chance to play at some point this season seemed a matter of if, not when? These critics decried a reckless decision, some even claiming the Browns intentionally interfered with their rookie’s development. 

Inside NFL circles, a second camp countered: Second-team quarterbacks don’t get first-team reps during the season. The Browns’ management of the snaps would have been normal if the starter were a veteran, and all the more so to maximize the development of fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, whom the Browns drafted in the third round before taking Sanders in the fifth.

“No backup I have ever been with gets first-team reps during the season if the starter is fully healthy,” an AFC offensive assistant with more than a decade of NFL coaching experience told Yahoo Sports. “You just have such a limited amount of reps in-season.”

A second AFC offensive assistant agreed, then added: “and sometimes less than 20 scout team reps all week if they’re the three.”

While the debate lost control quickly, the reality remained: Sanders played his first NFL game without direct experience with teammates, and now he is preparing for a game under different circumstances. With Gabriel still in concussion protocol, head coach Kevin Stefanski announced Wednesday that Sanders will start on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders.

The preparation will change. And the results?

“I’m truly excited,” Sanders said, “knowing that I have a piece in the offense and a say so.”

Practice reps matter, especially for a young QB

Trailing by seven points with 1:08 to play against the Ravens, Sanders dropped back and fired a 25-yard pass to the left corner of the end zone.

Rookie Gage Larvadain was there. And Sanders threw an accurate enough pass for Larvadain to nearly grasp it before Ravens cornerback Chidobe Awuzie’s coverage and successful swipe kept Larvadain from securing the ball.

The result of the play was no different than the 11 non-intercepted incompletions Sanders threw on a 4-of-16 day. But the visual was. Sanders didn’t hang in the pocket as long as he had on other balls that ended up more errant from their targets. He seemed to know where he would find his fellow depth man in Larvadain, who caught a nearly 40-yard pass from Sanders on a June minicamp day before racing the remaining 40 yards to the end zone for a 7-on-7 touchdown.

Chemistry between the two had developed already in June, and still more now. Can Sanders find that with his first-team teammates?

“Seeing how they come in and out of routes, seeing the structure of the O-linemen, seeing a set — just having a feeling,” Sanders described why this week’s practices will help him. “I’m more of a feel type of person. So that’s how I learn. That’s how I do everything. I’m not a ‘I’m just watching, it’s going to happen.’

NFL coaches would argue all players, and especially backups, must learn from more than just their physical reps. Film sessions, conversations about routes and mental reps on the sideline must contribute to a player’s development. But there are understandings that arise in practice, especially for young quarterbacks. Patriots second-year quarterback Drake Maye’s receivers laud how he corrects and tweaks their routes in practice so by game day they know what he expects of them.

Scout-team work involves imitating a lineup drawn on a card and playing free rather than running the prescribed play call, Sanders said. And while teams don’t change their playbooks based off a personnel change in season, they do alter which concepts are emphasized — an intention easier to act on for players expected to start.

“You get your starter’s favorite plays, your get your backup’s favorite plays,” Stefanski said. “You’re well aware of that.”

And yet, the Browns’ top offensive mind agreed that preparing for a specific week’s opponent makes a difference — a task that scout-team players balance with preparing their own teammates.

“I always point out to the quarterbacks that every week you’re facing a defense that oftentimes has completely different rules than the defense you just played,” Stefanski said. “Whether it’s how they play their Cover 3 or some of your blitz protection calls can vary week to week.

“You want to make sure that all the concepts are things that he feels confident in. Obviously, having been around him over the months, you get a good sense of the things that fit his eyes, so to speak.”

What to expect from Sanders vs. Raiders

The Raiders’ defense may give Sanders different looks than he experienced against a Ravens team that pressured him on 52.4% of throws, most in the league in Week 11, per Next Gen Stats.

That pressure did not seem to tint Sanders’ confidence nor willingness to throw. “Conservative” does not describe the statistical data from Sanders’ debut. Rather, Sanders threw into tight windows 43.8% of the time, more than any other quarterback that week. 

In comparison, through eight games with six starts, Gabriel threw into tight windows 16.3% of time, confirming one AFC assistant’s description that Sanders is “much more of a risk-taker” than Gabriel.

While the Browns’ offense has stagnated through the year, Gabriel has completed 59.2% of his 184 attempts for 937 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions.

Sanders will look to improve upon his 25% completion rating in his debut, also looking for some safe and quicker throws than he found on a day in which he averaged 3.21 seconds to throw (Gabriel had averaged 2.61 seconds against the same Ravens D in the first half).

“It’s like so many details that it takes for me to feel my best and play my best,” Sanders said. “I’m doing everything in my power and the team’s doing everything to help me get prepared.”

Sanders’ first start will come against a 2-8 Raiders team that has struggled to play complementary football but has performed better on defense than offense.

The Raiders rank 24th in points allowed, 17th in yards allowed and 18th in defensive EPA, per TruMedia. The Raiders’ offense ranks 30th in both points and yards, managing just 15.5 points and 269 yards per outing.

The Browns may not need a crazy scoring spree to win in Vegas and break their 13-game road losing streak. But they likely will hope their offense minimizes mistakes as their defense looks to feast on a Raiders offense that struggled Monday to handle a Cowboys defense that was previously much maligned.

Sanders knows he can’t just ask to play alongside his depth chart teammates to increase his comfort. But he hopes his comfort will grow with all of his teammates, and that success will soon follow.

“I just like new challenges, so it’s gonna be fun,” Sanders said. “The fact that we are up against time, we are up against growing real fast [is] what’s exciting. That’s what, you know, is the rush that everybody feels. That’s the excitement. That’s when everybody’s going to be in the stadium, lit, to understand how quickly it’s going to take for us to have success.

“I truly believe it won’t be long.”

Kansas City Chiefs rookie left tackle Josh Simmons was away from the field for the second season in a row, this time for a very different reason.

Last fall, a torn patellar tendon cut his Ohio State career short. This time around, he missed four games with the Chiefs because of an undisclosed family matter.

Hours before a Week 6 game against the Detroit Lions, Simmons flew home to San Diego, with the team citing a personal reason for his absence. He didn't return to the Chiefs' facility until Nov. 3, during Kansas City's Week 10 bye. Simmons didn't divulge what exactly he was dealing with over that 22-day span.

"I kind of want to keep that in house, all due respect," Simmons told reporters Wednesday, three days after he made his on-field return in a Week 11 loss to the Denver Broncos. "It's kind of just something I want to keep inside."

Simmons later noted: "Obviously, family is the biggest thing Polynesians lean on, so when you get in that, it just makes everything a lot better."

The Chiefs drafted the 22-year-old Simmons with the No. 32 overall pick in this year's draft after trading with the Philadelphia Eagles to move one spot back in the opening round.

Perry Knotts via Getty Images

While Simmons was coming off a season-ending injury at Ohio State, his athleticism impressed the Chiefs. He turned heads in mandatory minicamp and then earned the starting left tackle job in training camp, beating out Jaylon Moore, whom the Chiefs had signed in free agency to a two-year deal worth $30 million.

Simmons started the first five games of the season. Tasked with protecting the blind side of three-time Super Bowl champion and two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes, Simmons gave up just one sack, according to PFF.

Although Simmons said he was absolutely ready to play this past weekend, he was responsible for four pressures and two penalties and admitted Wednesday there was a "a little bit" of rust.

It's important to note, though, that he had to go up against Denver Broncos edge rusher Nik Bonitto, who is third in the league with 9.5 sacks this season.

"For being away for a few weeks here, I thought he did a nice job," longtime Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said of Simmons, via ESPN. 

"He's got to clean up a couple of things with the penalties. But his effort, his attitude and everything was great. He was able to keep everything focused back to the football part of it."

The Chiefs were supportive of Simmons taking the time he needed away from football. He started his news conference Wednesday by thanking the organization as well as the Kansas City community.

"The time I was away from the team showed how much love this team and city has for me, and I can't wait to give it back to them," he said.

Simmons explained that he had access to gyms and his playbook while he was out west, so he was staying proactive in preparing his body and mind as the Chiefs continued what's been an uncharacteristically trying season following their third straight Super Bowl appearance.

He called his communication with the team "very transparent, especially at the end." Simmons said he had an itch to get back to the Chiefs and fight for his teammates, who he said were checking in on him through this process.

He was asked if he anticipates being with the team from here on out.

"Absolutely," Simmons said. "I will be here for the rest of the season with the Kansas City Chiefs."