Sanders completed his first two passes but finished with four completions from 16 attempts for 47 yards.
He was sacked twice, threw one interception and his quarterback rating of 13.5 was the worst on debut since Brandon Weeden, a first-round pick by Cleveland in 2012.
Sanders did scramble for a first down and on his sixth and final possession, he made two passes to help get the Browns in position to win the game, but the drive ended with three straight incompletions.
As the fourth-choice quarterback, Sanders did not practice with the Browns’ first-teamers during training camp, and he didn’t have any snaps with them after becoming the back-up either.
“I mean, he looked like a back-up rookie quarterback that hadn’t taken any reps with the starting offence,” said Oyefusi.
“It wasn’t the debut that he or his fans had hoped for. But you have to contextualise it. He’s playing a really good Ravens defence, and the Browns’ offensive line has struggled all year.”
A quarterback’s snap cadence is what they shout at the line of scrimmage, which tells their team-mates when they want the ball to be snapped to start the play.
Cleveland guard Wyatt Teller admitted after Sunday’s game that the Browns’ offensive linemen had to learn Sanders’ cadence at half-time.
NFL analyst Phoebe Schecter added: “A 25% completion rate makes you feel bad about it, but I think there’s a lot of hope for this young man.
“He hasn’t had the opportunities to mesh or gel, so you can’t put it all on him. I would actually point towards head coach Kevin Stefanski, who’s been in charge of the reps and what his rookie experience has been like.”
