The Browns fell short in overtime on Sunday, but head coach Todd Monken said he liked what he saw from quarterback Shedeur Sanders in New Orleans.
Sanders was 19-of-31 for 297 yards and two touchdowns, including a 39-yarder to tight end Harold Fannin that made it 23-22 in overtime. Sanders threw an incompletion on the ensuing two-point conversion, which allowed the Saints to escape with a win.
“I’m really proud of him and how hard he’s worked since I’ve been here,” Monken said. “He wasn’t perfect. I wasn’t perfect. But for a guy that really hasn’t taken snaps with the ones in, what, 10 weeks. When we announced it with two weeks left and we’re eight weeks into the season, so you’re basically two-and-a-half months where you’re basically running cards. To come in there and continue to battle, really proud of him.”
Sanders got the start after Deshaun Watson missed most of the week in concussion protocol and Monken was asked if he made a case for a longer run as a starter during the loss.
“How long has it been? Thirty minutes since the game ended? I’m not getting into quarterback,” Monken said. “If we want to talk about Shedeur, we can talk about Shedeur.”
Watson cleared the protocol on Saturday, but was inactive for Sunday’s game. The Browns will host the Texans next Sunday and more clarity about their quarterback plans should come in the next few days.
Texans Clips
The Texans might not be back, considering it was the Chargers they blew out, but they can’t be counted out just yet either.
Houston routed the Chargers 44-22 in a game that wasn’t that close.
The Texans have won three of their last four games, and they have the Browns, Colts and Ravens in their next three games. After beginning the season 0-4, Houston is 3-5. The Chargers fell to 0-8 and remain on track for the No.1 overall pick.
C.J. Stroud threw for 384 yards and five touchdowns, a 17-yarder to Xavier Hutchinson, a 63-yarder to Tank Dell, a 12-yarder to Kayshon Boutte, a 13-yarder to Nico Collins and a 63-yarder to Boutte. Boutte caught four passes for 125 yards, and Dell added four catches for 105 yards with the touchdown his first since December 2024.
Woody Marks ran 18 times for 70 yards.
The Texans outgained the Chargers 485 to 315.
Houston sacked Justin Herbert eight times, with Will Anderson, Sheldon Rankins and Jadeveon Clowney each collecting two sacks. Herbert injured the middle finger on his left hand on a sack by Logan Hall in the fourth quarter.
Herbert was 13-of-23 for 193 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Keaton Mitchell lost a fumble.
Herbert stayed in after his hand injury and threw a 58-yard touchdown to Quentin Johnston, ending a streak of 38 possessions without a touchdown. The Chargers’ previous touchdown came with 57 seconds left in the third quarter against the Broncos on Oct. 11 when Kimani Vidal scored on a 42-yard run in the 23-17 loss to Denver.
Ladd McConkey had back spasms in pregame warmups and didn’t play.
Justin Herbert took eight sacks on Sunday, with Sheldon Rankins, Jadeveon Clowney and Will Anderson contributing two each. It was a sack by Logan Hall with 14:12 remaining that the Chargers quarterback appeared to injure the middle finger on his left hand.
Herbert gave a stiff arm to Hall as he tried to get away before the 8-yard sack.
He got up looking at his left hand, which he had surgerically repaired in 2025 after breaking a bone in the back of his hand during a Week 13 game.
Herbert stayed in and threw a 58-yard touchdown to Quentin Johnston two plays later, ending a streak of 38 possessions without a touchdown. Their previous touchdown came with 57 seconds left in the third quarter against the Broncos on Oct. 11 when Kimani Vidal scored on a 42-yard run in the 23-17 loss to Denver.
Herbert did not return on the next possession, though.
He went to the sideline medical tent and emerged with a glove on his left hand, and, it appeared, a splint on his middle finger.
The Chargers did not provide an update on his injury, so it’s unclear whether Herbert left with his injury or because the Chargers were losing 41-15.
DJ Uiagalelei threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Derius Davis with 4:19 left.
The streak is over.
The Chargers went 37 possessions without a touchdown before Quentin Johnston scored on a 58-yard reception from Justin Herbert. It was the longest touchdown-less streak for a team — by possessions — since the 2024 Dolphins.
The Chargers trail the Texans 38-15 with 12:47 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Their previous touchdown came with 57 seconds left in the third quarter against the Broncos on Oct. 11 when Kimani Vidal scored on a 42-yard run in the 23-17 loss to Denver.
Herbert is 13-of-23 for 193 yards with a touchdown and an interception today.
The Texans have outgained the Chargers 460 to 240, with C.J. Stroud doing 21-of-34 for 384 yards with five touchdowns and an interception.
Nico Collins made one of the best touchdown catches you will ever see in the third quarter on Sunday.
The Texans wide receiver was tightly covered by Chargers cornerback Tarheeb Still when, in the front corner of the end zone, he somehow made a one-handed catch and got both feet in the end zone. Still immediately looked up to the replay board to see how Collins could have caught the ball.
The 13-yard touchdown has the Texans up 31-9 with 8:16 remaining in the third quarter.
C.J. Stroud has 286 passing yards and four touchdowns. His other scoring tosses covered 17 yards to Xavier Hutchinson, 63 yards to Tank Dell and 12 yards to Kayshon Boutte.
The Texans have outgained the Chargers 352 to 116.
The Texans have figured out how to fix their defense: Play the Chargers.
Los Angeles has now gone 34 possessions without a touchdown. It has not reached the end zone since Kimani Vidal ran 42 yards for a score with 57 seconds remaining in the third quarter in an Oct. 11 loss to the Broncos.
The Texans limited the Chargers to 98 yards and held them to only three Cameron Dicker field goals of 52, 33 and 43 yards. They sacked Justin Herbert four times, including two by Sheldon Rankins.
Houston leads Los Angeles 24-9 at halftime.
Kayshon Boutte caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Stroud with 31 seconds left in the half, completing a seven-play, 76-yard drive that might have been the deathknell for the Chargers.
The Texans have 267 yards, with Stroud going 15-of-24 for 230 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.
Texans wide receiver Tank Dell scored his first touchdown since the 2024 season, 687 days ago, with a 63-yard catch-and-run down the right sideline. Dell missed the 2025 season and six games this season while working his way back from a gruesome knee injury that ended his 2024 season.
Dell has two catches for 66 yards and Boutte two for 47. Woody Marks has 26 yards on seven carries.
Herbert is 9-of-17 for 63 yards, with one of his favorite wide receivers, Ladd McConkey, yet to play because of back spasms during pregame warmups.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is generally struggling this year. Historically, he struggles against defenses run by DeMeco Ryans.
Via NBC Sports research, Herbert is 0-3 for his career against Ryans as a head coach (twice) and as a defensive coordinator (once).
In those games, Herbert had three touchdown passes and six interceptions. Four of them came in the 2024 wild-card loss to the Texans.
The Chargers enter Sunday’s game on a 10-game losing streak. That’s one short of the franchise record, set in 1975 and matched in 2000. A loss today would drop the Chargers to 0-8 for the first time since 2000; that year, the primary quarterbacks were Ryan Leaf and current Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh.
And that’s not all of it. Herbert has gone nine straight games without multiple touchdowns. That’s the second longest streak ever for the Chargers; Leaf had 12 straight games without multiple touchdowns, from 1998 into 2000.
It’s the same story every year. Teams don’t make final decisions as to whether they’ll be buyers, sellers, or bystanders at the trade deadline until the last bit of hay is in the barn before the clock strikes 4:00 p.m. ET on the day the window closes.
As noted on Sunday morning by Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, the 2-5 Texans have received calls regarding teams that have interest in raiding the roster. The one name mentioned by Garafolo was veteran pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney.
The Texans, however, are waiting to see what happens today. A win over the Chargers in L.A. would move the Texans to 3-5. With a win in hand over the Jaguars and a rematch coming in Week 15, the Texans would still have a chance to catch Jacksonville for the AFC South crown.
A loss to the Chargers would change everything. Beyond falling to 2-6, the Texans will have lost to the lowly Chargers, this year’s official Sixth Sense team that doesn’t yet know it’s dead.
If the Texans lose, the calls will surely intensify — and G.M. Nick Caserio will have some decisions to make.
Clowney surely would welcome the chance to land with a contender. He picked the Texans in large part because he believed they could win the Super Bowl.
The Texans ruled out safety Reed Blankenship (hand/concussion) and running back David Montgomery (groin) for Sunday’s game against the Chargers.
Coach DeMeco Ryans said earlier in the week that Montgomery would miss his third consecutive game. He is week-to-week but has not practiced since his injury in Week 5.
Woody Marks has taken over as the team’s workhorse back.
Blankenship will miss his second consecutive game. He underwent hand surgery after the Week 6 victory over the Jaguars and still hasn’t cleared concussion protocol.
M.J. Stewart will again start opposite Calen Bullock.
Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (groin), defensive back Jalen Pitre (shoulder) and offensive tackles Braden Smith (ankle) and Blake Fisher (thumb) have no injury designation.
The Bengals have issued their injury designations for Sunday’s game against the Falcons in Madrid.
Cornerback DJ Turner did not receive one of those designations. Turner was out of practice on Wednesday with a heel injury, but he’s been a full participant the last two days and is set to play this weekend.
Safety Kyle Dugger will not play due to a quad injury. He has missed three of the last four games and did not participate in practice at all this week.
Defensive end Cedric Johnson is the team’s only questionable player. He moved up to full participation on Friday after missing practice Wednesday and being listed as limited Thursday with ankle and foot injuries.
