Minnesota Vikings vs. Cleveland Browns Preview & Prediction | PFF

Moving to Sunday morning, the Vikings once again on uh international grounds. This game in London. And this game got a lot more interesting because as of this morning, they’re playing the Browns and now they are playing Dylan Gabriel. You know, it’s it’s kind of funny, Dalton. I wrote an article yesterday which was going to get published today and it got published this morning and and the article topic was all around when is the right time for the Browns to go to Dylan Gabriel or Shidor Sanders and I sort of laid out the timeline of like okay I think that’s actually coming not this week but the next week I was like ah they’re not going to do it in an international game they’re not going to give a rookie his first start with an international game with with so many variables with travel and rest time change all that kinds of stuff but I did say that it would probably come over the next couple of weeks and I laid out why that made sense. Well, we put that article out and I believe it was 10 minutes later the news came out that Dylan Gabriel was starting that game. Uh, but I think the logic of a lot of what I was talking about with Dylan Gabriel and why it does make sense for them to make the change uh still stands. So, I’m curious uh what are your thoughts here on the Browns offense making that change to Dylan Gabriel as we preview them versus the Vikings here? So, I think the idea with Gabriel, to me, the biggest problem with this Browns uh offense is obviously the passing game in general. And the two biggest things are one, the offensive line having the third worst pass blocking grade in the league. They’re just a mess, especially at offensive tackle right now. And two, Joe Flacco under pressure just gives you no answers at all, and the release is a little bit slower when it comes to, you know, just his delivery and and look, he’s a 40-year-old quarterback. Everything just moves a little bit slower. You can see that on the field with Flaco. I think with Dylan Gabriel, what I’m looking at is a maybe a little bit more of a chance to give you more mobility than Flaco, but b a quicker release and just getting the football out of his hands, right? The one thing he did the best in the preseason was get rid of the ball 2 and 1/2 seconds or less. He had a 90 passing grade. He was 20 of 22, 214 yards, a 122 passer rating. I think this is going to be the big thing, right? when the Pack or sorry when the Browns want to get in obvious passing situations, you’re looking at a guy who wants to get rid of the football. I think that’s the reason he ended up QB2 over Shadur Sanders is that Shadur was better beyond that 2 and a half second mark. He was improvising a lot. But Dylan Gabriel right now with this offensive line, he has to get the football out of his hands. I think he’s going to be able to do that. He showed he could do that in the preseason. and his biggest obstacle is going to be working around this pass protection, especially against a Brian Flores defense that gets so creative with its blitz packages. Yeah, and and I agree completely and what what I laid out in that in that article um outside of just the timeline, which I do think that it makes sense because they have the Pittsburgh Steelers next week and then they’re hosting the Miami Dolphins and then I cannot remember who is after that, might be the Patriots, but then they have a by-week in week 10. It’s like, okay, that’s a natural reassessing point. Okay, are we happy with Gabriel or whoever they were going to go with with their new starting quarterback? It obviously is Dylan Gabriel. I said in the article I had Shadur Sanders rated much higher than Dylan Gabriel on my big board. I know that you love Sanders as well. You had him QB1 in last year’s draft. Did Wait, did you have him QB1 or you have QB2? I don’t want to put words in your mouth. They’re very close with Cam, but I had Sanders one. Yeah. So, you had Sanders one and and so like we both liked Sanders a good amount more than we liked Dylan Gabriel. But the fact of the matter is the way that Sanders plays currently is he likes to hold the ball on a little bit a little bit more. He plays better under pressure than Dylan Gabriel did at least like throughout the preseason. Uh and even going back to their last year at college to be honest. And playing under pressure bodess well for a struggling Browns offensive line. I mean Browns have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL right now. They’ve given up the most total pressures with 77. They’ve given up the highest pressure percentage and they have I think it’s the third highest pass blocking grade as a team at 40.3. I know the 40.3 number is correct. I just can’t remember where it was in the rankings. So, you have to sort of look at this equation and say Sanders plays better under pressure, but Dylan Gabriel gets the ball out of his hands a little bit quicker. I think the way the Browns offense is currently constructed, you would lean towards Gabriel being the better play given how the offensive line is struggling because you do have players that you could get the ball into their hands pretty quickly. Isaiah Bond is one of them. Harold Fannon Jr. is certainly one of them. Uh Dylan Samson out of the backfield. All of these are good quick hit options where there’s playmaking ability to be had after the catch. And so I do agree with going with Gabriel first. We figured that they would, right? because Gabriel is the third round pick. Shadur was the fifth round pick when it was all said and done. So clearly they had Gabriel higher on their big board. But we’ll see what ends up happening in this game. I think a lot of people would look at this and I think Cleveland just has an overall um negative narrative to them just because they haven’t won as a franchise in a long time. Sorry to our our producer Tyler who had to listen to that. But I’m about to give you some praise here. I set it up like that on purpose because the Browns have one of if not the best defense in the NFL. They also have the best defensive line right now in the NFL or at least the best pass rush grade through first through the first four weeks. 90.3 pass rush grade and Dalton. The reason why that matters in this game specifically is the Vikings pass block grade last week against the Steelers 62.2. They gave up 14 total pressures. Ryan Kelly’s in concussion protocol. Brian O’Neal’s got a knee injury that’s weak toe. Donovan Jackson’s already on IR right now. They are struggling on the offensive line. And a big reason why I was bullish on the Vikings going into this season is because in theory when they were fully healthy, they had a good unit. They’re not fully healthy at all whatsoever. And so instead, we just are much closer to the picture they were last year. Albeit the team succeeded. The offensive line, especially the interior offensive line, was a tough scene for them. Now you’re going up against Mason Graham, Malik Collins who’s having an unbelievable year or start to the year as a pass rusher. Miles Garrett speaks for himself. Isaiah Maguire, like they can get after the quarterback. And so I did not really know where to go here, but I’m taking the Browns. I’m going to take the Browns 20 to 17 with this one being a close one. I I just It’s not even necessarily a Dylan Gabriel thing. I don’t believe in Dylan Gabriel as much as I believed in say like the Jackson Dart upset call that I had last week for the Giants, but I just wonder if that defensive line is too much for what the Vikings are going to want to try to do on offense. And I got I have too much respect for what the Vik the the Browns, excuse me, are doing on the defensive side of the ball. No, I think it makes a lot of sense. Don’t worry here. You’re actually not alone with this prediction. I’m going to take the bait. Also, I’m going to I’m going to take Dylan Gabriel to get a win in his first. I’ve got it even lower scoring than you do because I think look the the Vikings they’ve had a hard time not just pass protection they’ve had a hard time running the ball too. Two of the last three weeks they’ve been under 80 yards rushing. So that’s that’s the offensive line and the effect that it has. Obviously Aaron Jones is still out. But I think Dylan Gabriel and the Browns a big thing is going to be can they finish drives because Gabriel has generally played a lot better between the 20s than he has in the red zone throughout his college career. Certainly I have the Browns 16 to 13. I think this one’s going to be ugly. You’ve got two really good defenses and I think an X factor could be Quinchan Judkins for the Browns in their run game. He’s looked really good through his first three games. The Vikings have been vulnerable in run defense in their two losses this season. I’m going to take the Browns in a lowscoring one as well. Okay. Well, I don’t know if I should feel good or bad about that with with both of us taking the Browns. It’s like, oh, okay. All right. in in one sense I’m not alone and then I’m wondering okay are we are we looking at things you know two rosecolored glasses with what could be for the uh for the Browns here but uh I do I I think that this sets up to I I think the Vikings deficiencies are really going to hurt him this week and we’ll see how those backup offensive linemen are able to step up against a really really tough Yes.

PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Trevor Sikkema preview the matchup between The Minnesota Vikings and the Cleveland Browns.

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17 comments

  1. Good luck CLE stopping the Edge pressures. Judkins will probably rip off one huge run and at most there will be one big pass play so I can't see CLE scoring more than 17 pts. Vikes win 20-17. Gabriel sacked at least 3 times. EDIT: you are correct about MIN injuries/O-line so it could easily go the same way but in CLE favor. SKOL Vikes!

  4. This smells like a GM move, maybe backed by the owner. The Browns camp is split between Stefanski, Dillon is his guy and Berry/Haslam, Shadeur is there guy. I think the Berry/Haslam camp made the call to start Dillon because it's a short week plus all of the other factors that go into playing a game in Europe against one of the most creative DC's in the game, Brian Flores and then come back to play in Pittsburgh against another one of the best defenses in the league. They're trying to set Dillon up to fail. You couldn't design a tougher first 2 starts for a rookie. I hear comparisons of the 2 rookies in Cleveland and wonder what analysts are looking at. In the preseason Gabriel was much better than Shadeur under pressure. All I hear are excuses for why Shadeur's was poor in preseason. Even his big game against the pathetic Panthers he made 5 good throws out of 2 dozen drop backs. Dillon was consistently good in his 2 preseason games and Shadeur's game against the Rams would have gotten him cut by 30 other NFL teams. The Browns schedule is too heavy, so by the time Shadeur gets his chance it'll be against easier competition. Even throughout college Dillon was much better and he played much better competition. Shadeur played backyard football that doesn't translate to the NFL no matter how much analysts try to say he played in an NFL style offense. Of course you fail to mention Shadeur has lost the practice squad battle to Bailey Zappe, that's how ready he is.

  5. Shedeur holds the ball WAY too long. That is why his O-line in college was deemed bad. That won't fly in the NFL. Gabriel has been referred to as the "Super Computer " when it comes to processing reads.

  8. Cleveland saw the Rodgers dink and dunk plan, get it out quick (Rodgers quickest time of delivery and lowest depth of target this season if I'm not mistake in week 4?), but doing that 11 straight plays to the endzone is…well there's a difference between Rodgers and the rookie in delivering on that. Anyways, defenses in this one far outmatch the offenses, it'll be a slog, team with the defense that forces the big mistakes wins the game. As a Vikings fan I'm afraid that mangled Oline will be their demise.

  14. Composure under pressure & necessity for OL to shift/hold in order for shorter QB to see passing lanes are challenges. Add the awkwardness of left-handed QB in handoffs + left hand spin on passes. OL to right is already Browns’ weaker side, so TE/RB blocking will be critical.

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