NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
When Shedeur Sanders found fellow forward Harold Fannin Jr. for the touchdown in Cleveland on Sunday to make it a 31-29 game, Browns fans were thrilled to know that a successful two-point conversation meant a tie game.
Sanders, who started the Browns’ final three games in his rookie season, showed his late game savvy 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 try. It was rookie running back Quinshon Judkins, who was in the wildcat formation as he is on occasion this season.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PK Press Club
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) looks on from the sidelines late in the fourth quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Huntington Bank Field on December 7, 2025. (Ken Blaze/Imagn Images)
The play ended up failing and the Browns fell to the Tennessee Titans with plenty of what-if answers from pundits and fans alike.
Robert Griffin III, the FOX Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback who spent the 2016 season in Cleveland, discussed 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 wild game against Sanders, he thought it was a pure “coaching failure” on his part.
“You have to be in touch with what’s going on in the game, and the young guy who gave you the best chance to win the game should have been on the field at the most crucial time of the game. He wasn’t and it’s a coaching failure on their part,” Griffin told PK Press Club Digital after helping USAA gift new vehicles to two military veterans before the 126th Army-Navy game this weekend.
SHEDEUR SANDERS RESPONDS TO UNDERWEAR RUMORS AFTER VIRAL MOMENT IN BROWN’S LOSS: “IT LOOKS LIKE THIS”
The Browns were in a huge hole with about six minutes left, with a 31-17 deficit after a blocked punt set up a Titans field goal.
Sanders, however, never lost confidence and managed 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 Titans three-and-out, he went seven plays in 1:40 to finally find Fannin for the score with 1:03 left.
At that point, Sanders had totaled his fourth touchdown of the game and third passing score. He was 23 of 42 for 364 yards with an interception as well.
Griffin said the two-point conversion play Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees put together may have been the wildcat on the call sheet, but he thought they needed to take a deeper look at how they got to that point.
“I think, from a coach’s perspective, you look at that and ask, ‘What are our best two-point plays? What have we practiced all week?’ Most coaches approach a game with two or three two-point plays and they were just at the point where it was the two-point play that was next on the call list,” he explained. “At this point, I think you have to say, this young man has four touchdowns, he took us all the way in this game and kept us in this game. We shouldn’t run him off the field. That, to me, is where the mistake was.
“Every coach will tell you: ‘You take your sheet down, you call the play and you live with it.’ But you have to be able to pull out the analytics and say, “All right, this is the best thing we can do right now.”
Shedeur Sanders (12) and Teven Jenkins (74) of the Cleveland Browns celebrate a touchdown in 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 joining a crowded room of Browns quarterbacks upon arriving in Cleveland. Throughout the season, as the Browns struggled for consistency at the position with Joe Flacco traded away and Dillon Gabriel failing to find consistent results, the call for Sanders grew louder by the week.
Sanders earned his first career start in Las Vegas, a 24-10 victory over the Raiders, and Stefanski praised him for improving week by week. He also said what Griffin suggested last weekend, since Sanders will remain the team’s starter for the remainder of time.
But Stefanski’s decision Sunday with the two-point conversion only fueled those who think Sanders is doomed to failure with the Browns.
Griffin noted that no coach should make game decisions based on outside noise, but after playing, he is convinced that Sanders should have participated in that crucial play.
Sanders has four games remaining in his rookie season, starting against the Chicago Bears on the road in Week 15.
Bundle FOX One and FOX Nation to stream the entire FOX Nation library, plus live FOX News, Sports and Entertainment at our lowest price of the year. Offer ends January 4, 2026. (Fox One; Fox Nation)
HELP THOSE WHO SERVE US
Griffin was returning to Baltimore, where he spent the final years of his NFL playing career, to show his honor through action in the tradition of the annual Army-Navy game by providing two recycled rides with USAA, the official Salute to Service partner of the NFL.
Cryptology Technician Petty Officer First Class Jamil Lewis, who currently serves in the Navy, and veteran Patrick Huber, a specialist with the Army National Guard’s 116th Infantry Regiment, were both surprised by Griffin with the newest vehicle at Inner Harbor in front of the USS Constellation.
Griffin, who comes from a military background himself with his mother and father serving in the military, has long valued his partnership with USAA and couldn’t have been happier to help.
(L-R) Mark Steiding of Kenwood Auto Body, NFL Legend Robert Griffin III (RGIII), SPC Patrick Huber (US Army National Guard Veteran), USAA Senior Vice President Rob Braggs and Dale Moss of NABC Recycled Rides pose at USAA’s Army-Navy Game NABC Recycled Rides Car Gifting in Baltimore, MD, Wednesday, December 10, 2025. (Edwin Remsberg)
“I was very honored to partner with USAA. We’ve been partners for 13 years and I’m a guy who loves building real, authentic partnerships. The military kid, mom and dad both served in the military. So, I’m a ‘Go Army, beat Navy’ guy – 31 years combined between them. To see the impact we’ve been able to make over the last 13 years, doing things to let our military know they’re not not forgotten, that’s something for me,” he explained. “If it does anything for me, it’s doing something for the families that we can influence, to make their lives a little easier. It’s not a free car. I say that because, yes, they didn’t have to pay any money for it, but there were sacrifices for us and our freedoms to be able to have this type of treatment. We want them to know that, ‘Hey, man, we appreciate you.'”
Griffin said Huber, a longtime Dallas Cowboys fan, made sure to criticize him during their time together about the Washington Commanders, by whom the Baylor product was drafted.
And Griffin also loved watching Lewis’ nine-year-old son, one of his five children, “go crazy” when he realized what was happening.
“They got a free car so much so that, 30 minutes after the event, he’s still sitting in the passenger seat,” Griffin said of Lewis’ son.
