LAS VEGAS – On Sunday, longtime Cleveland Browns fan Austin Derricoatte will finally see what he’s been waiting for: quarterback Shedeur Sanders’ first NFL start.
For Derricoatte and the many other Browns transplants preparing to pack Allegiant Stadium as the Las Vegas Raiders play host to the Browns, the timing couldn’t be better. In an otherwise dismal season, the Las Vegas resident and his fellow members of the Vegas Dawg Pound again have reason to hope – because the rookie passer is finally getting his chance.
“I do have optimism around this, and that’s the general feeling of a lot of us,” the lifelong Browns supporter said. “To be honest with you, we waited a couple of weeks too long.
“He should have come in [and started] before now. Then maybe things would have been a little different, maybe a little further along, if he got his chance a little earlier. But he’s getting in now. They’re giving him his chance. This is it. And I’m looking forward to it.”
The Vegas Dawg Pound – the Las Vegas chapter of Browns Backers Worldwide, the official fan club network of the team – gathers at The Spot LV sports bar to cheer on the Browns on game days. But attendance (this season, the club has averaged 70 supporters per game) is expected to dip on Sunday.
With the Browns in town and Sanders at the controls on offense, many regulars and out-of-towners plan to trade bar stools for comfortable seats at the Raiders’ home field.
They’ll be in the house to support the Browns overall – and Sanders especially.
Once fourth on the Browns’ depth chart, the franchise’s fifth-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft has risen to the top of it. Rookie starter Dillon Gabriel is in the NFL’s concussion protocol, so Sanders – a son of Pro Football Hall of Famer and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders – moved up to get the biggest opportunity of his nascent career.
Derricoatte is here for it.
Like many in the Vegas Dawg Pound, he was born and reared in Cleveland. In Las Vegas since 2002, Derricoatte has endured the Browns’ many ups and downs – though mostly downs. As they prepare to face the struggling Raiders (2-8), the visiting Browns (2-8) have lost three straight and six of seven.
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Most notably, the franchise has been a quarterback wasteland: Sanders will become the 42nd quarterback to start a game for the Browns since the franchise returned to Cleveland in 1999. Nothing would please Derricoatte more than the Browns remaining stuck on that number – 42 – for a long, long time.
“We’ve taken so many shots at quarterback,” he said. “We’ve tried veteran quarterbacks. We’ve tried multiple rookie quarterbacks. It seems like we’ve tried everything.
“We’re still waiting for that one guy who can be the quarterback we need. And when you keep trying things and nothing seems to work it … it’s frustrating. If this could work, if he can show something, then that would be great.”
Count Deb Moyers among the hopeful. The president of the Vegas Dawg Pound sees something in Sanders.
“At this point, we’ll be optimistic about almost any change,” said Moyers, a member of the club since 2004 and its president the past six seasons. “And I’m a very realistic Browns fans. I don’t like to put my hopes up too high – but I’m always hopeful. We’re hoping that Shedeur can turn things around.”
After replacing the injured Gabriel in Week 11 against the Baltimore Ravens, Sanders failed to provide a spark.
Thrust into duty with 12:43 remaining in the third quarter after Gabriel suffered a concussion, Sanders struggled: He went 4 for 16 for 47 yards with an interception, was sacked twice and finished with a 13.5 passer rating. Baltimore won 23-16.
Of course, as Moyers correctly pointed out, that was last week. Browns fans are conditioned to look toward the future. Considering the team’s recent past, that’s the more prudent approach.
“Chemistry [after] working with the first team during the past week. That will be the key,” she said. “I’m really hoping that he got some chemistry working with them.
“But a lot of it will simply depend upon whether our offensive line gives him time to look down the field and throw. We really need him to have the time to try to do something.”
Karen Smith, the club’s vice president, agrees. But Smith also believes that Sanders possesses that “it” factor that could help him make magic where none has existed.
“I just feel like it’s because of his energy,” she said. “Some people just know what they are actually capable of doing, what they’re capable of accomplishing no matter the situation, and I feel like he’s one of those people. Knowing the fans like I know them, they will rally behind him. We’ve been waiting for him to get this opportunity.
“A lot of us feel like he is bringing a different energy. But it’s his first game in the NFL [as a starter]. He’ll probably have some jitters, some nerves. With a little help and a little time, and with the players and the upper-management people backing him, he should be fine. He could be a great asset to Cleveland.”
When the Browns play, Ryan Whelan has witnessed their fans’ collective hope manifest in both displays of joy and misery – again, mostly misery – at his establishment.
The owner of The Spot LV, the Vegas Dawg Pound’s gathering spot of choice, Whelan is not a Cleveland fan. He has, however, grown to admire the commitment of the team’s fans.
“These people are diehard, man. For a 10 a.m. [Pacific] game, some of them are here at 8 a.m. The first game of the season, nearly 200 people were in my restaurant. They’re super cool fans,” Whelan said. “All season long, I haven’t heard much grumbling, except when there are bad [quarterback] plays.
“Then you hear stuff about Shedeur. It’s like, ‘Why don’t we give this kid a shot?’ But they’re just really polite people. They treat my staff well. Not like some other teams. [Their] fans treat my staff [poorly]. But the Browns, their fans are just out to have a good time and hope that they win.”
Moyers, the club president, will keep her fingers crossed for a Browns W on Sunday – and the start of something big with Sanders.
“It’s just in our DNA to be hopeful,” she said. “We can’t help it.”
From northern Ohio to Las Vegas and everywhere in between, Browns fans are seeing a ray of hope. They’re counting on Sanders to make it shine even brighter.
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