The game of the year is upon as Shedeur Sanders takes the field for the first time as a starter in the NFL Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders , who share a 2-8 record with the Cleveland Browns .

Allow me that moment of levity after an intense week of discourse that dealt too much in the extremes. Sanders came into a difficult situation as a backup with no QB1 reps, played against a Ravens defense that decided to blitz the hell out of him and he performed poorly. All of those things can be true and it can simply be OK.

But as one source put it to me this week, after three straight practices for Sanders as the top QB and after a whole rookie season of work, "there are no more excuses."

There's cautious optimism in Cleveland for Sanders, the fifth-round pick who went from fourth

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