Stillman and the Sanders outplayed Ward take

[EC34]

Worth a discussion.

Titans played the second best defense in the NFL.  Browns played one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

Titans gameplan was to run at and underneath 95 until they were stopped. They were never stopped.

Browns couldn't get Judkins untracked consistently in the running game. Got down 2 TDs. Had to put the ball in the air.

Titans lack of WRs who can get open quickly forces team into a short passing game.

Browns with Jeudy and Bond have two guys who can take the top off of a defense - and both Judkins and Sampson are explosive in the short passing game.

Titans call a 'not to lose' game every week. I would love Stefanski in Tennessee as our HC despite the Browns record. Ward is handicapped from the start.

Wards mechanical flaw is that he will occasionally drop the elbow and still holds the ball too long.

Sanders flaws include the ball pat, consistently bailing out from the back of the pocket and holding the ball far too long.

This all being said, Sanders played much better than I anticipated he would while Cam played much as we have come to expect.

I think they both have NFL QB1 futures.  

If I had to redraft today, I would still take Ward.

 

Thoughts?

[OILERMAN]

The Browns will draft a QB if they’re in position 

[titansfan]

The Browns called the game like they had a QB that they dont fully trust. Sanders is a good pocket passer and has always been pretty accurate. In a clean pocket against man, he made some strikes early to his TEs and one to Jeudy. But most his big plays early were from his RBs. Only in the 4th quarter when down by two scores were the Browns forced to open it up against a soft and fatigued Titans defense. That's where he managed most of his stats.

 

The Browns will have a new franchise QB by 2027.

[IsntLifeFunny]

He definitely outplayed Ward. 

[scine09]

Ward left the field having thrown his last pass (a touchdown) with a 28-17 lead.  Sanders feasted against a tired, basically prevent defense late.  He also threw a bad pick to get the Titans back into it after they were basically dominating the game.

 

It's a lazy take, one filled with either agenda (Stillman) or people who didn't watch the game and looked at a stat sheet.

 

As far as the comparisons, whether one outplayed the other, who cares?  Let's let it simmer for a bit.  Is Sanders even the long-term guy in Cleveland?  It sounds like they could even go back to Watson next year.  There have been a million guys who have been able to hit wide open receivers against prevent and put up big numbers.  What's going to happen on those backpeddals when defenders are able to actually sack him?  Or when teams stop playing man and fool him with complex zone coverages?  I can't read any of this nonsense.  I already can't stand Sanders because of how good the media wants him to be.

[IsntLifeFunny]

5 minutes ago, scine09 said:

Ward left the field having thrown his last pass (a touchdown) with a 28-17 lead.  Sanders feasted against a tired, basically prevent defense late.  He also threw a bad pick to get the Titans back into it after they were basically dominating the game.

 

It's a lazy take, one filled with either agenda (Stillman) or people who didn't watch the game and looked at a stat sheet.

 

As far as the comparisons, whether one outplayed the other, who cares?  Let's let it simmer for a bit.  Is Sanders even the long-term guy in Cleveland?  It sounds like they could even go back to Watson next year.  There have been a million guys who have been able to hit wide open receivers against prevent and put up big numbers.  What's going to happen on those backpeddals when defenders are able to actually sack him?  Or when teams stop playing man and fool him with complex zone coverages?  I can't read any of this nonsense.  I already can't stand Sanders because of how good the media wants him to be.

What? Sanders outplayed Ward the entire game. 

[scine09]

Just now, IsntLifeFunny said:

What? Sanders outplayed Ward the entire game. 

I disagree.  I think it was even until Sanders started feasting against the Titans soft zone.

 

Let's not forget why the Titans got back into the game to begin with.  The bad Sanders INT.  He was awful in the second half until they were down 31-17 and the Titans were in soft zone.

[scine09]

Honestly when watching the game and how it was unfolding I knew this exact scenario would happen.  I knew the way that McCoy was running up the middle every play that he'd also take his foot off the gas on defense and the Browns would all of a sudden put up yards, something they could not do the entire second half until this happened.  Again, thankfully, he will not be the coach next year and hopefully someone who refuses to take his foot off the gas will be hired instead.  

 

McCoy should have let the offense continue to run the way it was with Ward playing as well as he had all game with the defense feasting on Sanders and the Browns offense.  It may have ended as a 35-17 final.  And this wouldn't even be a thread today.

Edited December 8, 2025 by scine09

[Mythos27]

Of course he outplayed Ward. He has a competent supporting cast. The Sanders talk has always been way too extreme in either direction mainly because people feel so strongly about his personality. He's looking like a middle of the road 1st year guy with bottom 12  tops starting potential. 

[TheChosenTitan]

He’s going against a top 30 defense with Njoku Fannin and Juedy. 

[Jamalisms]

Asked to do different things against entirely different defensive quality with an almost equally disparate supporting cast in the passing game. Not really worth much of a discussion.

 

Sanders probably isn't long for that job and Ward will be the Titans QB next year - both for relatively easy to discern reasons. Again, not worth much of a discussion.

 

It's Stillman, not worth much of a discussion.

[bondra316v2]

Judging Ward based on this season, let alone a game in CLE with a terrible OL, the worst WR room in the NFL and a patchwork coaching staff is pointless.  Having a discussion of this based on a Stillman comment is even worse.  All this season is about is surviving and getting to the offseason with ammunition to upgrade the roster.

 

If we're still having this conversation a year from now then odds are we're back in the QB market. 

[scine09]

2 minutes ago, Mythos27 said:

Of course he outplayed Ward. He has a competent supporting cast. The Sanders talk has always been way too extreme in either direction mainly because people feel so strongly about his personality. He's looking like a middle of the road 1st year guy with bottom 12  tops starting potential. 

You don't think he can even be a top 20 guy?  That's a bit harsh IMO.

[scine09]

There were some plays that Ward made that were absolutely unbelievable that either were incompletions or show up as like four or five yard gains.  There was that throwaway on that would be sack (lots of his incompletins were throwaways to avoid sacks, something he's improved upon as the season's gone on) and a dump off to I forget who, one of the TEs maybe when he was about to get sacked.  Yes, he missed a touchdown although I think he had to rush that as two guys were crashing down upon him.  But watch the games.  He actually played pretty well all things considered.

[TeamRamrod]

I remember another rookie quarterback taken outside the first round having a 4 touchdown game and making its fanbase think he was the guy….  

Edited December 8, 2025 by TeamRamrod