Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders Shrinks vs. No. 18 Kansas State

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders came out in this 31-28 loss to No. 18 Kansas State looking conservative in the first quarter, and he remained that way throughout the first half.

What I mean by conservative is he threw a bevy of short passes. To his credit, he did attempt two throws into the intermediate route level (11-19 yards) and two deep shots (19+ yards) in the first half. Sanders looked hesitant to pull the trigger overall and took some sacks. He was also tentative on a couple of other plays when he took off and ran taking what the defense gave him on the ground.

Sanders was in his shell from the start and didn’t even begin to come out of it until the 4th quarter.

WATCH FULL GAME HERE

3rd quarter

The Colorado quarterback found himself down 21-7 with 6:55 to go in the 3rd quarter when the drive started.

The Buffaloes didn’t have the ball much at the beginning of the second half.

Sanders did manage to chip away at the defense with more short passes and was able to get his team into the end zone to cut the lead to 21-14.

Bad decision-making in the 4th quarter

Kansas State went ahead 24-14 and that’s when Sanders started making some poor decisions. He averted disaster by trying to flip the ball away on what would’ve otherwise been another sack.

On the same drive, he followed it up by throwing one of the ugliest interceptions I’ve seen.

👀

At first glance, it looked like a kick return the way the intercepting corner brought it out by the end zone.

WHO WAS HE THOWING TO?

Later in the 4th quarter, with 1:48 to go, down 31-28 on 3rd down, Sanders threw to a target short of the sticks with an apparent receiver open just beyond the first down marker. That brought up 4th down and Sanders’ pass fell incomplete. Game over.

Sanders became conservative with the game on the line.

Any other concerns?

Yes.

Sanders showed a pervasive tendency to ‘pat the ball‘ before throwing.

Why is that a big deal?

It’s a bigger deal in the NFL because quarterbacks who pat the ball pre-delivery tip defensive backs off that they are about to throw and what direction they are committing to throwing, which gives them extra time to break on passes and attempt to defend them.

NFL takeaway

Sanders shrunk against the highest-rated opponent Colorado had faced this season. I know. I’ve evaluated the previous games against NDSU, Nebraska, Colorado State, Baylor, and UCF.

Zero interceptions. Zero pass breakups. Those were two good things. It was also positive he didn’t get in the press for the wrong reasons. He didn’t flex his watch either in his one.

I admire his toughness (six sacks) and resilience, but am concerned about his conservative approach to a tougher opponent and the hesitancy he showed in the pocket several times. I also liked how he tended to go through his progressions and throw to his second read more, but I didn’t like how he went back to locking in with his targets more in the 3rd and 4th quarters when the pressure was on to perform.

It just was not the same eyes downfield aggressively attacking secondaries Sanders I had seen at various points of the season against Kansas State.

Sanders went 34 out of 40 (85%) for 388 yards with three touchdowns and that one bad-looking interception. Those stats sound WAY better than the game film looked. Sanders benefitted from a lot of yardage being picked up after catch by his targets. He had 10/40 targets to the intermediate to deep route levels that I charted.

Sanders looked very average against Kansas State from an NFL perspective.

That doesn’t bode well when it comes to thinking of him competing at the next level.

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock, and has written for Sports Illustrated (Lions, Jets, and 49ers), NFL Draft Diamonds, and Yardbarker, as well as a featured guest on ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. Follow on Twitter @firstroundmock.