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When Shedeur Sanders found another rookie Harold Fannin Jr. to the touchdown in Cleveland on Sunday to make it a 31-29 ball game, Browns fans were ecstatic, knowing that a successful two-point call meant a tie game.
Sanders, who started the last three games for the Browns in his rookie season, showed his prowess in late games and kept his team in the contest until the final play.
But confusion and bewilderment for some was the reaction when Sanders was not seen under center on the two-point attempt. It was rookie running back Quinshon Judkins in the wildcat formation, as he occasionally does this season.
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Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) watches from the sideline late in the fourth quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 7, 2025. (Ken Blaze/Imagn Images)
The play ended up failing and the Browns fell to the Tennessee Titans with plenty of what-if responses from pundits and fans alike.
Robert Griffin III, a FOX Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback who spent the 2016 season in Cleveland, has been vocal about how the Browns have treated Sanders since taking him in the fifth round. After seeing head coach Kevin Stefanski’s decision to go with Judkins in the wildcat over Sanders, he thought it was pure “coaching error” on his part.
“You have to be in touch with what’s going on in the game, and the young man who gave you the best chance to win the game should have been on the field at the most crucial point in the game. He wasn’t, and that’s a coaching error on their part,” Griffin told Pakinomist Digital after helping USAA give two military veterans new vehicles before the 126th Army game this weekend.
SHEDEUR SANDERS ADDRESSES UNDERWEAR RUMORS AFTER VIRAL MOMENT IN BROWNS LOSS: ‘IT LOOKS LIKE THAT’
The Browns were in a massive hole with about six minutes left in the contest, staring at a 31-17 deficit after a blocked punt set up a Titans field goal.
Sanders never lost faith, however, and was able to get into the end zone for his first rushing touchdown on the ensuing drive to make it a 31-23 ball game. Then, after a three-and-out by the Titans, he went seven plays in 1:40 to eventually find Fannin for the score with 1:03 left in the game.
At that point, Sanders had collected his fourth touchdown of the game and his third passing score. He was 23-for-42 for 364 yards with an interception as well.
Griffin said the two-point conversion play Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees had called could have been the wildcat on the call sheet, but he thought they needed to look deeper into how they got to that point.
“I think from a coaching standpoint, you look at it and say, ‘What’s our best two-point play? What have we practiced all week?’ Most coaches go into a game with two to three two-point plays and they were right at the point where it was the two-point play that was next on the call sheet,” he explained. “At that moment, I think you have to say to yourself, this young man has four touchdowns, he’s led us all the way back in this game and kept us in this game. We shouldn’t take him off the field. That, to me, is where the mistake was.
“Every coach will tell you, ‘You go down on your sheet, you call the play, and you live with it.’ But you have to be able to take the analytics out and say, ‘Okay, this is the best we can do at this moment.’
Cleveland Browns’ Shedeur Sanders (12) and Teven Jenkins (74) celebrate a touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Stefanski has been criticized for his handling of Sanders since he came to a crowded Browns quarterback’s room when he arrived in Cleveland. Over the course of the season, as the Browns have struggled for consistency at the position with Joe Flacco traded and Dillon Gabriel not finding consistent results, the call for Sanders grew louder each week.
Sanders won his first career start in Las Vegas, a 24-10 win over the Raiders, and Stefanski praised him for getting better each week. He also said what Griffin suggested last weekend that Sanders will remain the team’s starter the rest of the way.
But Stefanski’s decision on Sunday with the two-point conversion only added fuel to those who believe Sanders is being set up to fail with the Browns.
Griffin noted that no coach should make game-day decisions based on outside noise, but after balling out, he’s convinced Sanders should have been on the decisive play.
Sanders has four more games left in his rookie season, starting with the Chicago Bears on the road in Week 15.
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HELPING THOSE WHO SERVE US
Griffin was back in Baltimore, where he spent the remaining years of his NFL playing career, to show honor through action in the tradition of the annual Army-Navy Game by gifting two recycled rides with USAA, the official Salute to Service partner of the NFL.
Cryptological Technician Petty Officer First Class Jamil Lewis, currently serving in the Navy, and veteran Patrick Huber, Specialist 116th Infantry Regiment, Army National Guard, were both surprised by Griffin with the brand new vehicle at the Inner Harbor in front of the USS Constellation.
Coming from a military background himself with his mom and dad in the Army, Griffin has long enjoyed his partnership with USAA and couldn’t be happier to help with this.
(Left to right) Mark Steiding of Kenwood Auto Body, NFL legend Robert Griffin III (RGIII), SPC Patrick Huber (veteran of the US Army National Guard), USAA Senior Vice President Rob Braggs and Dale Moss of NABC Recycled Rides pose at USAA’s Army-Navy Game NABC Recycled Rides Car De Gifting in Baltimore, De Gifting, Wednesday. 2025. (Edwin Remsberg)
“I’ve been so honored to partner with USAA. We’ve been partners together for the last 13 years and I’m a guy who likes to do real, authentic partnerships. Military brat, mom and dad both served in the Army. So I’m a ‘Go Army, beat Navy’ guy – 31 years old, seeing the impact we’ve made over the last 3 years. things to let our military members know they’re not forgotten, it does something to me,” he explained. “If it does anything for me, it’s to do something for these families that we’re impacting, to make their lives a little bit easier. It’s not a free car. I say that because, yes, they didn’t have to pay money for it, but there were sacrifices for us and our freedoms to be able to get this type of treatment. We want them to know, ‘Hey,'” he appreciated.
Griffin said Huber, a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, made sure to take a crack at him during their time together on the Washington Commanders, who the Baylor product was drafted by.
And Griffin also loved watching Lewis’ nine-year-old son, one of his five children, “go ballistic” when he realized what was happening.
“They got a free car to the point where 30 minutes after the event he’s still in the passenger seat,” Griffin said of Lewis’ son.
