PHILADELPHIA — Who played better in their preseason start, “gunslinger” Dillon Gabriel or “Legendary” Shedeur Sanders?
Kevin Stefanski wanted both of his rookie quarterbacks to start a game, and he got his wish, even though Gabriel was almost a gametime decision because of his injured hamstring.
Thanks to a pair of turnovers by Gabriel — even though they weren’t all his fault — the win must go to Sanders, who threw two beautiful touchdown passes to Kaden Davis and didn’t turn the ball over in last week’s 30-10 victory over the Panthers. Sanders went 14 of 23 for 138 yards with the two TDs and no interceptions for a 106.8 rating. Stefanski stressed after that game just how crucial it was that he didn’t give the ball away, which was one of the Browns’ biggest problems last year.
Unfortunately for Gabriel, who showed flashes of why the Browns jumped at the chance to draft him in the third round out of Oregon, he turned the ball over twice, once on a 75-yard pick-6 where his two receivers messed up their routes on a levels concept near the left sideline, and once on a botched handoff between him and Pierre Strong Jr.
Gabriel, who responded to both turnovers with a field goal drive, went 13 of 18 for 143 yards, with no touchdowns and the one INT for a 72.2 rating. In his five possessions, he put 12 points on the board, while Sanders put up 21 in his nine drives. But the turnovers marred an otherwise strong debut for Gabriel, who played with all the moxie he was known for in his six years in college. The moment wasn’t too big for him, and he played fast and aggressively. It was easy to see the Browns’ vision with him zipping around and slinging the ball.
“Giveaways really were the difference there in that first half, because I thought we were doing some really good things,” Stefanski said. “Then we had the takeaway negated by an offsides. So we’re just trying to hammer home how important it is to win the turnover margin in these football games.”
Stefanski, who watched his team finish last in turnover differential last season at minus-22 and first in interceptions with 23, just isn’t having it this year with giveaways. As for Gabriel’s pick-6, he pinned a lot of it on the two pass-catchers, tight end Blake Whiteheart and receiver Diontae Johnson, who wound up on top of each other on their out-routes, and rookie safety Drew Mukuba snuck in between them and picked off the pass.
“There shouldn’t be (two in the same spot),” Stefanski said. “They were in the wrong area of their sandbox. We’ll get that cleaned up. Things like that happen in these games, and we have to clean that up. Even if you weren’t on that rep, you’re a tight end or a wide receiver, you can learn from that rep. That should never happen on that play.”
By the same token, Gabriel, on a bootleg left, tossed the ball even though he knew the duo messed up.
“Obviously that can never happen on that play,” Stefanski said. “There were mistakes on that play. Not all interceptions are created equal, but we can’t do that as a football team.”
Like all good, mature quarterbacks do, Gabriel assumed blame for the pick and didn’t throw his receivers under the bus. Did Johnson run too shallow? Whiteheart too deep?
“I look back and definitely want to just throw it away, don’t force anything on a keeper and felt like there’s just miscommunication on my part and something that we’ve got to clean up,” he said. “But I will and we’ll make sure of that.”
As for the botched handoff, with Gabriel being charged with the fumble, Stefanski assumed some of the blame.
“As coaches, we’ve got to get them on the same page,” Stefanski said. “We can never do that. Ever.”
Once again, Gabriel pointed the finger directly at himself when he didn’t have to.
“Just a miscommunication as well,” he said. “I’ve got to be better there to help each other out on that, knowing exactly where the launch point is, and that’s something that’ll be corrected and fixed as soon as possible.”
The really unfortunate thing about the pick-6 — on the first play of the second quarter — is that it came after a superb first-quarter for Gabriel, in which he went 8-for-9 for 73 yards with 100.5 rating, including 4-for-4 on third down. In fact, he converted his first six third downs before getting sacked on the seventh.
The superb first quarter featured a textbook opening drive on which he led the Browns on a 13-play, 63 march that knocked 8:05 off the clock and ended with a 4 yard TD run by rookie Ahmani Marshall. Along the way, Gabriel converted three third downs and followed a 4 yard sack on the second play with a 10-yard strike over the middle to Blake Whiteheart to convert a third down.
Going 4-for-4 on the drive for 29 yards, he managed it well, including a 7-yard out to Jamari Thrash to convert another third down. The drive featured a perfectly-executed 16-yard end around by Gage Larvadain, and it all worked mostly like clockwork until the backup longsnapper delivered a low snap to thwart the extra point.
On his second drive, Gabriel maintained his poise through an opening-play drop by Strong on an easy checkdown, and a penalty on center Luke Wypler. Facing a second and 15, he delivered a beautifully-thrown 11-yard dig to Thrash, and followed that with a 6-yard out to him to convert the third down. Then came an 18-yard play-action pass to Ced Tillman on a corner route, and a 9-yarder to Kaden Davis two plays later.
He was on a roll with the four straight completions and earning mad praise before the ill-fated pick-6. But fans could easily see what the Browns were thinking when they surprised the football world by drafting him in the third round ahead of Sanders, whom they took in the fifth after passing on him six times.
“It feels good,” Gabriel said of his opening drive. “You definitely want to set the tone early and we had great openers and being able to think through that, feel really confident about it. But then everyone executed at a high level in the run game and the o-line played really great just getting vertical in their double teams and running backs seeing that as well.
“But it’s a full team effort and you see the receivers getting on the second level and blocking well as well and then trying to make plays in the pass game. So when you see consistency like that, that’s at its best, you want to continue to replicate that. But within a drive it’s answering too. We take a sack early, but we get a third down. We’re in another third and long, but we get ahead of it and try to work our way back. But I think you just see guys competing through that, so I’m proud of the guys for sure.”
Gabriel weathered the training camp storm of being criticized day-after-day for not always being efficient. But the Browns heaped a lot on his plate in terms of installation to help pare the playbook. He never complained or explained. Then came the hamstring injury on Aug. 2, which has bothered him ever since.
“I’m a guy that sees it long-term,” he said. “You see a day or two, or two weeks, but I think the true growth is within months or years and you see a player grow within that. I think that’s where you see guys definitely flourish and you see that from our vets and they’re great case studies for that as well.”
Perhaps the best thing about Gabriel is that he handled the adversity of the game beautifully, which is what you want to see in a QB. He met the sacks with conversions and the turnovers with field goal drives. He completed passes of 13, 18, 19 and 29, and converted 6-of-8 third downs in the first half for 75%.
He threw well on the run and displayed good arm strength and accuracy. He also executed a two-minute drive at the end of the half, completing a 29-yarder to Davis and a 13-yarder to tight end Brendan Bates to set Andre Szmyt up for a 49-yard field goal. Sure, the Eagles scored all 13 of their first-half points off of his turnovers, but he kept the Browns in the game with 12.
“The response is everything,” Gabriel said. “There’s maybe plays that you want back, but for the most part there’s got to be that continuous response and competitive nature. And I’m a gunslinger. I’m going to continue to sling it and be aggressive that way. Like I said, that (pick-6) can’t happen, right? And we’ve got to throw it away in that situation. But I think as a unit, we all know that it’s us coming together.”
Yes, the self-proclaimed “Legendary” Sanders had a dazzling debut that got Browns fans pumped for the future, but Gabriel had a fine start in his own right. What does it mean? Both rookies will make the 53-man roster, and both will continue to develop. They’re not realistic options for the Week 1 start in part because of their injuries. But they’ll push each other and bring out the best in each other, and the Browns just might find themselves with a good problem to have when all is said and done.
*********
Football Insider newsletter free trial: Take a minute and sign up for a free trial of our Football Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive content from cleveland.com’s Browns reporters.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.