Shedeur Sanders threw for 297 yards and the Browns are still right to sit him

The Browns are going back to Deshaun Watson against Houston, and they're right to, even after Shedeur Sanders threw for 297 yards in New Orleans. I know how that sounds the morning after the most fun a Cleveland quarterback has had all season. Hear me out, because the case for Sanders rests on the wrong number.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported Monday that Watson will start in Week 10. Watson cleared the concussion protocol Saturday and sat Sunday, and Fowler called the return the expected move once he was cleared.

Sanders earned the noise. He went 19 of 31 for 297 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-22 overtime loss. After a slow start he hit rookie Denzel Boston for 60 yards, threw a 64-yard touchdown to rookie KC Concepcion for a fourth-quarter lead, led a field goal drive to force overtime and found Harold Fannin Jr. for a 39-yard touchdown late in the extra period. Then his 2-point pass for the win fell incomplete. That's a real game from a kid who, by his coach's count, hadn't had three days of practice with the starters.

Here's the number nobody's yelling about. ESPN had Sanders at a 39 QBR for the afternoon, the second-best game of his career by that measure. Watson came into Week 9 at 40.9, which ranked 28th of 30 qualifying quarterbacks. Strip away the highlights and Sunday's starter and the regular starter graded out almost exactly the same. The yardage told you Sanders can throw it a long way. It didn't tell you he played better than the guy who's been there.

The best argument for Sanders is the explosive plays, and I'll concede it straight up. ESPN noted his two 60-yard completions doubled what Watson had in his first eight games. That's not a small thing. It's the most damning fact about Watson's season, and if I were Todd Monken it would keep me up at night.

But Watson has Cleveland at 5-3 in the games he's started, with an NFL-high five winning drives. Cleveland beat writer Mary Kay Cabot pointed to those drives as what keeps the Browns in playoff contention. Monken, for his part, called Sanders' game something with "a lot to clean up" and "a lot to build on." A coach who believes he's in a race doesn't hand the offense to a guy who's going to need a week of cleanup, not on the strength of one afternoon that ended in a loss.

I've sat in enough press boxes to watch a crowd fall for the backup after one big Sunday. Sometimes the crowd's right. Usually it's just bored with the starter.

So give Watson Houston, and make it a real test. If the Browns come out of that game with nothing over 40 yards through the air and another QBR in the low 40s, there's no case left for him except the five fourth quarters, and those don't carry over forever. At that point the quarterback who just showed he can push the ball downfield should get the next start, and Monken shouldn't wait for another bad week to make that call.

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