The Browns' quarterback fight is a cover story for 33 sacks

Cleveland's about to spend a week arguing about its quarterback. I spent my whole career standing in front of quarterbacks, and I think the town's looking at the wrong position.

Todd Monken named Shedeur Sanders the starter Friday for Sunday's game in New Orleans, with Deshaun Watson still in the concussion protocol and unable to take team reps. Monken hasn't even decided whether Watson would be active if he clears by Sunday. The debate writes itself from there, and NFL.com already laid out both sides. Sanders went 3-4 in seven starts as a rookie, completing 56.6% of his passes with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Watson has back-to-back 300-yard games this year and five game-winning drives, tied for the most in the league.

Then there's the number nobody wants to talk about over breakfast. Watson has been sacked a league-high 33 times in eight starts.

I'm not going to tell you all 33 of those belong to the offensive line. Sacks get split between the quarterback, the protection calls and the five guys up front, and anybody who says he can divide them cleanly from a box score is guessing. But I've sat in the film room the week after your quarterback spent the whole game on his back, and nobody in that room was debating who should take snaps. We were debating who missed the stunt. That meeting never makes the radio shows.

Look at Pittsburgh. The Browns gained 319 yards last Sunday and scored six points in a 27-6 loss. A team that moves the ball and can't finish usually has drives dying on third down, and third down is where a pass rush lives. Swapping the guy taking the snap doesn't change who's blocking for him.

Here's what I do like about Sanders, and it starts before he throws anything. When Monken talked about him Friday, the first things he praised were his confidence and how comfortable he looked getting guys in and out of the huddle and up to the line. Monken said getting to the line would be half the battle this week, and he's right. The Superdome is loud when you're the visitor. I played in a couple of domes where you could see the quarterback's mouth moving and hear absolutely nothing, and that's when a lineman stops trusting the call and starts guessing. A young quarterback who runs a clean huddle in that building is doing his line a favor before the ball's even snapped.

The other side has a point, and I'll give it to them straight. Watson's been good. Cleveland's 5-3, third in the AFC North behind Pittsburgh at 6-2 and Cincinnati at 5-2, and you don't hand a job away over one week of practice. Monken said himself that Watson couldn't do team reps, which is why Sanders is starting. That's about availability, and I won't pretend it's a demotion.

But that's exactly why Sunday's a fair test of the line and an unfair one for the quarterback. Sanders has thrown three passes all season. If he spends Sunday running for his life, the takes will be about a second-year kid who isn't ready, and the 33 will get quietly filed away again.

So here's my ask for Cleveland, and it's a lineman's ask. Before anybody grades Sanders on Monday, count the pressures. If a different quarterback is getting hit just as often, the Browns don't have a quarterback controversy. They have a protection problem they've been carrying since September, and no depth chart at that position is going to fix it.

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