🏈 Browns plan to start Deshaun Watson again over Shedeur Sanders

Did Shedeur Sanders do enough to get the Browns to rethink their quarterback decision? That is the question ESPN's Week 9 takeaways put to Cleveland on Monday, as Sporting News reported. A source told ESPN the same day that the answer, for now, is no: the Browns plan to start Deshaun Watson in Week 10 against the Houston Texans.

Monken has not confirmed it. Asked Monday about this week's starter, he said he wasn't ready to announce his decision, per ESPN.

What Sanders put on the board

Sanders started Sunday against the New Orleans Saints in place of Watson, who was inactive. The Browns lost in overtime. Sanders finished 19 of 31 for 297 yards and two touchdowns, ESPN reports.

It was a slow start, then a second-half surge. He hit rookie Denzel Boston on a 60-yard completion and found rookie KC Concepcion on a 64-yard touchdown that put Cleveland up 13-9 late in the fourth quarter, per ESPN. A late field goal drive sent the game to overtime. He then hit Harold Fannin Jr. on a 39-yard touchdown in the extra period, but his 2-point try to win the game fell incomplete.

"I'm awfully proud of him."

Todd Monken, Browns coach, quoted by ESPN on Monday

What Watson's numbers say

Watson led the Browns to a 5-3 record before Sunday, in large part because of an NFL-high five winning drives, ESPN reports. He also entered Week 9 with a 40.9 QBR, 28th of 30 qualifying quarterbacks. Sanders registered a 39 QBR against the Saints, his second-highest mark in a game in his career, per ESPN.

The deep ball is the gap. ESPN says Sanders' two 60-yard throws doubled the number Watson had in his first eight games. ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi also pointed to the other side of the ledger: a 31% success rate on dropbacks, the second-lowest mark of the season for Cleveland, and what he called notable operational issues.

The money and the discipline: not in the papers read

The guaranteed contract, the suspension, the settlements and the fine are the long record behind this quarterback story. None of those terms is stated in the two reports read for this piece, so they are not stated here. What is on record today is the depth chart: a reported plan, a coach who has not confirmed it, and one game of tape on the other quarterback.