Browns Admit to Regretful Move with Dillon Gabriel: ‘We Made a Huge Mistake’
The Cleveland Browns admitted making a mistake with Dillon Gabriel during a 27-20 loss to the New York Jets that put their rookie quarterback in a bad position.
Down just one score, the Browns faced a critical fourth-and-one in the second half. But instead of running the ball with Quinshon Judkins, new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees called a pass. Gabriel had some options but was ultimately sacked for a seven-yard loss that ended the important possession.
2 guys are open in the flat and Dillon Gabriel takes a sack on 4th down.
The Dillon Gabriel era is over. #Browns
“Look as a play caller, there’s always things you want back,” Rees said on Thursday. “Felt like we put our guys in position to have success throughout the game and then, when you do that and you don’t have success, you always look to why and what you can do during the week to help your players have that success. There’s going to be a handful of calls that you make that the defense won the rep, and that happens in football throughout a game.”
A reporter pointed out that Gabriel had an open option on the play, and Rees conceded again that they shouldn’t have put their rookie quarterback in that situation.
“Yeah, I should have run the ball,” Rees said. “I don’t want to get into the specifics of the play itself. You can freeze almost any play and say, ‘Hey, this guy’s open, this guy’s open.’ I want to make sure I’m putting our players in the right spot. I made a call, an aggressive one, it didn’t work and we got to move on to the next.”
Browns: Dillon Gabriel Grading Out Fine
The Browns’ offense showed some brief flashes of competency against the Jets. But overall, it was still a sloppy, inconsistent showing from the unit that is averaging just 16.2 points per game this season.
The results haven’t been there with Gabriel, who had a few costly misses against the Jets. Still, Rees said the issues haven’t stemmed from his decision-making or where his eyes are supposed to be.
“We always grade that part of them and he grades out pretty high,” Rees said. “Look, nobody’s going to bat a thousand. I don’t bat a thousand calling it. Nobody’s going to bat a thousand in really anything they do. But I would say he grades out where we want him. Dillon’s prep and where he is mentally for a rookie is really well beyond. He’s mature in that way and we want to make sure that those things that are happening during the week, we go ahead and execute them on Sundays.”
Browns Working on Getting Jerry Jeudy More Involved
One of the Browns’ objectives has been to get the ball to Jerry Jeudy more often. Jeudy was a Pro Bowler last season but entered Sunday’s matchup with just 22 catches in eight games.
While the Browns lost, they were able to get Jeudy more involved. He snagged a season-high six catches for 78 yards and his first touchdowns of the year.
“Jerry does a lot of things well, and I’ll just say we’re trying to put him in a position to do those things in the right spots, in the right moments,” Rees said. “And, you know, we talked last week, when you get your good players going early, usually helps them throughout the game. So, Jerry’s a very talented guy who’s worked extremely hard, and, you know, he put himself in that position to have success.”
Jeudy and the Browns face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Cleveland is a 9.5-point underdog for the matchup.
Analyst predicts Panthers-Cowboys game becomes Bryce Young-Dak Prescott shootout
The last time the Carolina Panthers got into a high-scoring shootout was their 2024 finale against the Atlanta Falcons. That one came out alright, but since then the Panthers have gone back and forth between blowing out bad teams and getting blown out themselves.
This weekend's matchup with the Dallas Cowboys might represent a change in pace, though. At least one analyst is expecting that game to turn into a duel between Bryce Young and Dak Prescott. Here's Andrew Buller-Russ at Sportsnaut predicting Young will out-battle Prescott thanks to a bad Dallas D.
"For momentary stretches, we see Bryce Young morph into an efficient quarterback who can march his team down the field. Last week he helped lead a 17-point comeback. This week, he’ll have to go back to being a high-volume passer to match wits with Dak Prescott‘s explosive passing attack. Yet, the Dallas Cowboys rank dead-last in passing yards allowed and yards allowed per pass attempt, so the Panthers have a big opportunity ahead."
This all sounds good in theory, but it's probably worth bringing up that the last time the Panthers played the Cowboys Young committed four turnovers and Carolina got beat soundly, 30-14.
That was a long time ago in football years, though. Young has since gone on a rollercoaster, incuding three great games to finish the 2024 season and some rough patches to start 2025. He has shown that he can still thrive, though - the comebacks against the Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins have proven that much.
Whether the Panthers actually go off on the Cowboys or not may have less to do with Young and more to do with their running game, which finally got going last week against the Dolphins. If Rico Dowdle can pick up where he left off, this Carolina offense is going to be much, much tougher to gameplan against.
