The Cleveland Browns offense and defense both fell short in the fourth quarter of their week five matchup in London against the Minnesota Vikings as they fell 21-17. Rookie QB Dillon Gabriel made the first start of his NFL career in the loss and played well for three quarters before ultimately coming up dry in the fourth.
Gabriel was the first person to blame himself for the Browns offensive struggles late in the game.
“Just got to convert,” Gabriel said. “There’s obvious times you’ve got to go make it happen, starts with me… you look at a lot of the third downs to extend drives, that’s where we can continue to help ourselves.”
“All the details come down to it,” Gabriel continued. “I think in any game you’re going to want four to five plays back. Of course, the result will feel different and maybe those four to five plays will feel different. That’s the game we live and play in, so got to be better in those four to five plays is what and why you continue to work as hard as you do.”
The rookie finished his debut start going 19-of-33 in the air with 190 pass yards and two touchdowns.
Browns Fall To 1-4 As Losses Continue To Stack
Cleveland’s best game of the season came in week three when it defeated Green Bay 13-10. Outside of that, it’s been nothing but disappointment for the Browns, who put together a good game on Sunday morning but fell short when it came down to crunch time.
In the fourth quarter, the Browns had four possessions that all finished with five or fewer plays, the first three ending in quick punts, while the fourth was an unsuccessful last minute push down the field.
Obviously extremely disappointed to not come away with a win there,” Browns HC Kevin Stefanski said. “We need to do a better job closing out and that’s an offensive thing, defensive, special teams, coaches, players, you name it. We’ve got to come away and be at our best in those moments and we were not and that’s the frustrating part for me.”
Carson Wentz led a 10-play, 80-yard drive in under three minutes in the waning fourth quarter that won the game for Minnesota. Before that final game-winning drive, the Browns had forced a fumble, a missed field goal, and a punt on the Vikings three previous possessions.
Gabriel’s Play May Be The Silver Lining
Although the Browns couldn’t escape London with a win, the silver lining in the loss was Dillon Gabriel’s play. It wasn’t perfect, but Gabriel showed a better performance than Joe Flacco had through four weeks, giving Cleveland something to build off of moving forward.
It may only be five weeks into the season, but this Cleveland team is clearly not playoff bound. Getting Gabriel as many reps as possible to allow him to develop with the Browns as they re-tool might be the key for the final 11 weeks of the season.
At the very least, they’ll get an idea on Gabriel’s potential as a long-term starter moving down the line.
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