LAS VEGAS (AP) — Shedeur Sanders seemed to drop hints in the months leading up to the NFL draft that he would love to play in Las Vegas, whether by posting a video of himself driving by Allegiant Stadium or by chatting with Raiders and Aces owner Mark Davis at a WNBA game.
Now, the rookie quarterback will get his chance to play at Allegiant — for the visiting Browns.
Sanders will make his much-heralded first start when Cleveland takes the field in a matchup of 2-8 teams that otherwise would draw scant attention on a Sunday in late November.
The spotlight, however, is what Sanders is used to, and he leans into it like his father Deion Sanders did during his Hall of Fame playing days and now during an equally visible coaching career. The younger Sanders' bio on X simply reads, “LEGENDARY,” and if there was a place for him to show what the hype is about, this city of neon lights feels appropriate.
“I know our fans have a lot of expectations and hope, and I would be doing a disservice to myself and disservice to the organization if I didn’t feel like I am the guy,” Sanders said. “I’m doing everything I need to to prepare to be the best version of myself as possible. With the circumstances, everything got to be sped up and that’s great. I like pressure in life.”
He played for his dad the past two years at Colorado and before that for two seasons at Jackson State. Sanders, the Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Year last season, passed for 4,134 yards with 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2024.
Though he was projected to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft, Sanders slid to the fifth round, and the Browns also took Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel in the third. The Browns went into training camp with four quarterbacks, but eventually traded Joe Flacco to Cincinnati and Kenny Pickett to Las Vegas.
Gabriel became the starter leading into Cleveland's Oct. 5 game against Minnesota. The Browns are 1-5 in his starts, and he suffered a concussion against Baltimore, giving Sanders his first chance to play.
It wasn't pretty.
Sanders completed 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards with an interception. He also was sacked twice.
But now he's receiving a full week of preparation and — for the first time — snaps with the first-team offense.
“Certainly, you look at having a full week of prep, a full week of game planning, a full week of him being in the forefront of your mind as a coach and he knows that as a player, you hope that all those things benefit and come to fruition on Sunday,” Browns offensive coordinator and play-caller Tommy Rees said. “Expectations, I would say we try to limit those. It’s more about, ‘Hey, we’re going to pour this whole week into making sure that you feel comfortable and confident.’”
The Raiders don't have a lot of video on Sanders, which makes preparing for this game tricky. They are looking at his work at Colorado, where Sanders was accustomed to buying time to throw by scrambling in the backfield.
He tried to scramble backward against the Ravens, but took sacks that cost his team a combined 27 yards.
“All young quarterbacks think that's the move,” Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said. “He can do that, but the monsters are back there.”
Browns All-Pro pass rusher Myles Garrett has 10 of his league-leading 15 sacks in the past three games.
With a pair of sacks on Sunday, Garrett can join Pro Football Hall of Famer Reggie White (19) and Mark Gastineau (17 1/2) as the only players since 1982 — when sacks became an official statistic — with at least 17 through their first 11 games of a season.
Garrett, who has at least one sack in 74 career games, has sacked Smith once.
“He be putting up Madden numbers now,” cornerback Denzel Ward said. “So it’s definitely exciting to see. You can’t say enough things about Myles, but yeah, we just got to get some wins, though.”
Raiders coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly continue to defend their ultra-aggressive approach in Monday night's 33-16 loss to the Cowboys, noting Las Vegas moved the ball effectively.
The Raiders crossed the 50-yard line on five of their six first-half drives, but settled for nine points. They called 32 pass plays and three runs over the first 30 minutes.
“I thought if you look at the play-action passing game, we went up and down the field with it,” Kelly said.
AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy in Cleveland contributed to this report.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, right, sacks Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith (7) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) is pressured out of the pocket by Baltimore Ravens' Dre'Mont Jones (41) in the second half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/David Richard)
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) runs the ball in the second half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens in Cleveland, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s Cabinet has approved a proposal for 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, the far-right finance minister said Sunday, as the government pushes ahead with a construction binge in the territory that further threatens the possibility of a Palestinian state.
That brings the total number of new settlements over the past few years to 69, a new record, according to Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, who has pushed a settlement expansion agenda in the West Bank. The latest ones include two that were previously evacuated during a 2005 disengagement plan.
The approval increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50% during the current far-right government’s tenure. In 2022, there were 141 settlements across the West Bank. After the latest approval, there are 210, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group.
Settlements are widely considered illegal under international law.
The approval comes as the U.S. pushes Israel and Hamas to move ahead with the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which took effect Oct. 10. The U.S.-brokered plan calls for a possible “pathway” to a Palestinian state, something the settlements are aimed at preventing.
The Cabinet decision included a retroactive legalization of some previously established settlement outposts or neighborhoods of existing settlements, and the creation of settlements on land where Palestinians were evacuated, the Finance Ministry said. Settlements can range in size from a single dwelling to a collection of high-rises.
The ministry said two of the settlements legalized in the latest approval are Kadim and Ganim, which were two of the four West Bank settlements dismantled in 2005, as part of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. There have been multiple attempts to resettle them after Israel’s government in March 2023 repealed a 2005 act that evacuated the four outposts and barred Israelis from reentering the areas.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 war. It has settled over 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, in addition to over 200,000 in contested east Jerusalem.
Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement, including Smotrich and Cabinet Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force.
Settler expansion has been compounded by a surge of attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank in recent months.
During October’s olive harvest, settlers across the territory launched an average of eight attacks daily, the most since the United Nations humanitarian office began collecting data in 2006. The attacks continued in November, with the U.N. recording at least 136 more by Nov. 24.
Settlers burned cars, desecrated mosques, ransacked industrial plants and destroyed cropland. Israeli authorities have done little beyond issuing occasional condemnations of the violence.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, were killed in clashes with Israel's military on Saturday night in the northern part of the West Bank.
Israel's military said a militant was shot and killed after he threw a block at troops in Qabatiya, and another militant was killed after he hurled explosives at troops operating in the town of Silat al-Harithiya.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the Palestinian killed in Qabatiya as 16-year-old Rayan Abu Muallah. Palestinian media aired brief security footage of the incident, where the youth appears to emerge from an alley and is shot by troops as he approaches them without throwing anything. Israel's military said the incident is under review.
The Health Ministry identified the second man as Ahmad Ziyoud, 22.
Israel’s military has scaled up military operations in the West Bank since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
The top Catholic leader in the Holy Land visited Gaza’s only Catholic church and celebrated a pre-Christmas Mass on Sunday that included the baptism of a baby. Dozens of Palestinians gathered in the Holy Family Parish.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa is on his fourth visit to Gaza since the war began, and said the Christian community aims to be a “stable, solid reference point in this sea of destruction” as rebuilding slowly begins.
“It is different this time,” Pizzaballa said. “I saw the new desire for a new life.”
The Holy Family compound was hit by fragments from an Israeli shell in July, killing three people in what Israel called an accident and expressed regret over. The parish has served as a refuge for Christians and Muslims, sheltering hundreds of displaced people.
There was a mix of gratitude and grief as people at the church marked Christmas away from home. “They welcomed us with great love and respect,” said Nazih Lam’e Habashi, 78, who stays there with his family. “This is the third holiday we are marking since the war."
“God willing, life will improve," added 67-year-old Najla Saba.
Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
A nun holds a baby as she walks to attend Christmas Eve Mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, leads a Christmas Eve Mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, leads a Christmas Eve Mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, left, leads a Christmas Eve Mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinian mother of Ahmad Ziyoud, draped in the flag of the Islamic Jihad militant group, mourns during his funeral in Silat al-Harithiya, near Jenin, in the West Bank, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammad)
Palestinian men carry Ahmad Ziyoud, draped in the flag of the Islamic Jihad militant group, during his funeral in Silat al-Harithiya, near Jenin, in the West Bank, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammad)
