Shedeur Sanders: 'Got to Be Life-or-Death Situation' to Not Play Injured for Colorado

When it comes to injuries, it requires a lot to keep Shedeur Sanders off the field.

"What type of guy would I look like, leaving all 80 of us out there hanging?" Sanders told reporters after Saturday's 26-19 loss to Oregon State. "It's got to be life-or-death situation for me to just leave everybody hanging like that. The pain of not being there for them overrides the pain that's going through my body."

The Colorado quarterback was sacked four times and briefly exited in the third quarter.

The four times the Beavers defense got to Sanders is actually an improvement for the Colorado offensive line. The unit was surrendering an average of 5.25 sacks through eight games, the second-worst rate in FBS.

All of the punishment is adding up for Sanders. Colorado head coach Deion Sanders said Shedeur received a pain-relieving injection midway through a 28-16 defeat to UCLA on Oct. 28.

The trouble for Coach Prime and his staff is that there's no clear solution to improving the pass protection this season. He bluntly laid out his intention to target new offensive linemen in the offseason, but that won't provide any relief right now.

Taking offensive coordinator Sean Lewis off play-calling duties and promoting Pat Shurmur to co-offensive coordinator is unlikely to do much, either. Colorado's offense gained 238 yards against Oregon State, and the Beavers encountered little trouble getting to Sanders in the pocket in the first game with Shurmur in his new role.

As much as Sanders wants to be there for his teammates, playing through pain can carry consequences down the road, and the concern for the junior is he suffers an injury that's too serious for him to shake off.