This afternoon, Shedeur Sanders took his first-ever practice snaps with the Browns’ No. 1 offense ahead of his starting debut for Cleveland, announced earlier today. Sanders is the 42nd quarterback to start for the Browns since 1999.
Inside: Officiating controversy shouldn’t lead to a tush push ban and Mike Sando joins us to talk Giants’ first-round pick Abdul Carter. We’ve got a great story on the NFL’s kicking bonanza here.
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Pushing tushes isn’t the issue
Be warned, the next sentence may shock you: The NFL has an officiating problem.
In my mind, every few years, NFL officials meet in a dimly lit restaurant basement. These meetings are secret, and the code word “sabotage” is required for entry. The topic? How to ruin my Sundays. You see, nothing upsets me like poorly defined and inaccurately applied rules. It’s partly why I got two law degrees.
In these meetings, huddled around a circular table, officials decide one rule to sabotage until it’s changed or replay is added (again, these meetings exist only in my mind). A few years ago, they targeted the uncertain definition of a catch. Defensive pass interference followed.
Today, it seems they’re targeting the tush push. A mistaken or missed call appears nearly every time it’s run. False starts are the most obvious. See Exhibits A and B, C and D and E:
Philly got away with that one. Weeks later, when it was eventually flagged for a false start, officials were wrong.
Issues aren’t limited to pre-snap penalties, either. It seems officials’ pre-determined plan is to call the play dead whenever most convenient for the offense. At least three potential fumbles (Exhibit F, G and H) were nullified by officials, with one whistle coming after Jalen Hurts lost a fumble (yes, the whistle came after he fumbled). Philadelphia kept possession. This past Sunday, officials blew the play dead at the right moment, leaving the Steelers just shy of a first down.
Offense is short? Who cares! Put the ball wherever you like! Yup, Pittsburgh got that first down.
So how do we fix this? To be fair, it’s a tough play to officiate. It’s difficult to monitor in real time, as the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent admitted earlier this season.
So … make it easier on the officials? It might require effort, and maybe even cost the league some of its $20-plus billion in revenue, but don’t remove another play from the game simply because it’s difficult to officiate (the evidence around health concerns seems sparse, and ironic, coming from a team like the Bills).
Remember: Any ban would still allow for QB sneaks, as it would likely just prohibit teammates from pushing the ballcarrier from behind.
Instead, officials should review:
- When forward progress stops. It can’t be stopped if the QB is being pushed, but once the defender takes the ball, it’s stopped — and then the ball is returned to the offense? That can’t be right.
- Policing false starts. Three officials are tasked with monitoring the line of scrimmage for false starts: the line judge, down judge and umpire. Let’s add an expedited reviewer in the New York office and ask …
- How to utilize expedited reviews. An external, video-based review should be mandatory after every sneak play, given how often these issues appear. Good thing the league already has a system to do this. Just make it quick.
What do you think? Should the tush push be banned, could officials police it correctly or is it fine as it? Let me know here.
Over to Mike Sando, who kicks off our discussion about the 2025 rookie class with this year’s No. 3 pick.
Sando’s Pick: What’s up with Abdul Carter?
Shedeur Sanders isn’t the only NFL rookie in the news this week.
Giants fans will remember Abdul Carter’s first season for his offseason request to wear Lawrence Taylor’s retired No. 56, and for missing a November practice after falling asleep in the team facility.
Fans might be less apt to know during this lost Giants season that, through Week 11, Carter ranks No. 1 among 30 rookie edge defenders in quarterback pressures (35) and PFF pass-rush grade. Despite the Giants’ No. 29 ranking in defensive EPA per play, Carter’s having a much better rookie season than the headlines suggest.
But the rookie is fortunate the Giants refused to let him wear Taylor’s number. The fewer comparisons between the two, the better for Carter, who only has a half-sack through 11 games, with one start.
As a rookie in 1981, Taylor was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year, first-team All-Pro and a Pro Bowl selection. He unofficially had 9.5 sacks that season (sacks didn’t become an official stat until 1982). His coach that year, Ray Perkins, called Taylor “the best rookie I’ve ever seen at any position” and “the best linebacker in football” … all before December.
As for the unauthorized nap, which led interim coach Mike Kafka to bench Carter for a series against Green Bay on Sunday, that was nothing by Taylor’s standards, either. The hard-partying Giants legend once showed up for a team meeting in handcuffs, placing a jacket over his lap to conceal the hardware from coaches.
Back to you, Jacob.
Predictable debut for Sanders
A rookie fifth-round quarterback made his NFL debut on Sunday. Results were typical for players of that ilk, only this one saw much more press.
Thrust into action after starter Dillon Gabriel’s first-half concussion, Sanders immediately showed why he was a fifth-round pick. He struggled with pressure, accuracy and decision-making in the loss to the Ravens, finishing with two sacks, an interception and 4 of 16 completions for 47 yards.
“I don’t think I played good,” Sanders told ESPN, putting it mildly. He improved slightly as the game went on, and nearly had highlights. The NFL compiled each of his plays, which you can watch on YouTube here.
Gabriel remains in the concussion protocol, so Sanders will make his first NFL start against the Raiders this week. Maybe the practice reps and a game plan tailored to his strengths will help?
Probably not. Twenty-eight other fifth-round QBs have played an NFL snap since 2000. Only Mark Brunell — who completed 45.8 percent of his passes for 79 yards and took two sacks in his debut — had a career as a starter. Expectations are low, but eyeballs will follow.
2025 All-Rookie Team (Week 12)
Fair or not, Sanders was arguably the most well-known prospect of 2025. He’s certainly not the best. For the top rookies, check out Dane Brugler’s mid-season All-Rookie team, and I’ll note that the Giants’ fourth-round running back Cam Skattebo is PFF’s highest-rated first-year player. 👀
Here’s my All-Rookie team, with their PFF grades to the right.
One 22-year-old quarterback doesn’t qualify, but is struggling like a rookie. Amid his first season as an NFL starter, J.J. McCarthy’s situation is drawing surprising parallels to Bryce Young. Not ideal.
Extra Points
🏈 Go long. It took software engineer and Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey just three years to set an NFL record, with five field goals from 60-plus yards. The Athletic covered Aubrey’s remarkable story and the kicking revolution he’s set off. We’ll have more on that tomorrow.
👎 OUT. Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud will miss his third straight game with a concussion, so Davis Mills will start against the Bills on Thursday.
📊 2026 draft. Our consensus top-50 NFL Draft board combines rankings from a range of experts, which has three QBs in the top 10.
⭐ Unheralded Bear. As Derrik Klassen explains in his Quick Outs column, Chicago’s offensive line overhaul is the unsung hero of a revitalized Bears, where few are as impactful as center Drew Dalman.
▶️ Yesterday’s most-clicked: The Athletic’s Week 12 Power Rankings.
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