I like my comfort zone.
Maybe you can relate to this, but when I’m at work, it’s sometimes exciting to challenge myself with new tasks. However, my favorite days are the ones where I’m totally in the zone. I appreciate a day when I get to have full confidence in what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, and knowing that I’m damn good at it. Whether you’re closing big business deals or digging ditches, we can all relate to that feeling of getting to do what you do best.
I imagine that’s how Brian Flores feels when he gets to game plan for a young, inexperienced quarterback.
It’s been an interesting season thus far for the Minnesota defense. They’ve alternated between very good and quite disappointing every other week. Two excellent performances against the Chicago Bears in Week 1 and the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3 have been starkly contrasted by the Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers outmuscling them in Weeks 2 and 4, respectively.
Minnesota’s defense has been missing some key pieces and has struggled to find its footing early in the season, but it has shown flashes of brilliance. The defensive performance to provide an opportunity for J.J. McCarthy’s heroics in Chicago was spectacular, and the name Isaiah Rodgers will be haunting Jake Browning for the rest of his life after that Bengals game. The game plan by Flores and the execution by the defense completely smothered Browning and Caleb Williams.
Enter another young quarterback without much NFL experience. Rookie Dillon Gabriel is traveling across the pond to face Minnesota’s defense. Gabriel brings a totally different dynamic than the one incumbent starter Joe Flacco would’ve presented. Still, I think Flores had to be grinning ear to ear when this news came out.
So, who is this Dillon Gabriel?
He may be a third-round rookie, but he’s not that young. Gabriel, 24, played college football for six consecutive seasons across three different schools. Between a medical redshirt and COVID eligibility, Gabriel did his best Van Wilder impression to stay in college football for as long as possible, and had success in the NCAA.
He was a productive player early in his career at UCF before a clavicle injury ended his tenure there. Then, he followed it up with two productive years at the University of Oklahoma. By his last and only season at Oregon, he occasionally played like a fringe Heisman candidate.
The lefty from Hawaii brings a new dimension to the Browns’ offense than they’ve seen with Joe Flacco at the helm, for better and for worse.
Gabriel’s mobility immediately pops on film. He’s got nice escapability and can be a respectable runner when called upon. His ability to extend plays may go a long way against the inconsistency of the Flores’ secondary. Gabriel is going to be most comfortable running the offense from the shotgun, which is where he lived schematically for all six years of college football.
When you’re a defense up against a young player in his first NFL game, the No. 1 goal is to get him off balance early. Cleveland’s offensive line has been struggling all season, and eventually made things too interminable to keep trotting out a veteran pocket passer like Flacco and expect consistent (or much of any) production. They’re putting Gabriel in mostly for his pocket mobility, hoping that he’ll be able to maneuver around this Vikings pass rush in London.
However, we saw Flores handle a young, athletic QB with great escapability in Week 1. The Caleb Williams blueprint could be an excellent formula for putting Gabriel in a death spiral. Flores shouldn’t just create confusion with his blitz packages, but also with his coverage ones.
Flores’ blitz rate was below expectations for his defense in Week 1, but the coverage game gave Williams fits. The four or five bodies Flores would send at Williams were there to slowly collapse the pocket in on itself without allowing him to escape and scramble. That caused his processing and accuracy issues to rear their ugly head against the remaining defenders.
Fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins is the X-Factor, along with the unknown of Gabriel. The former Buckeye has impressed Cleveland since he first walked on their field. He was behind on installation due to his offseason issues, but he’s emerged as a real weapon for them, especially over the past few weeks.
Considering what Atlanta and Pittsburgh were able to do on the ground against this unit, I imagine head coach Kevin Stefanski will want to test Judkins early to see how that sets the table for Gabriel on classic Stefanski bootlegs and rollouts. These are also plays that mitigate some of the deficiencies on the offensive line.
Has an NFL defense ever disguised like this?
They go from an all-out blitz look. To a man coverage look. To a Tampa 2 look. To playing what looks like Quarters on one side and C2 on the other.
Just diabolical stuff. pic.twitter.com/qH5Ggd1jnQ
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) September 22, 2025
But in third-and-obvious situations against an inexperienced quarterback, Flores is a depraved individual. The way they muddy the picture with pre-snap and post-snap looks can really get in a young guy’s head. And he’ll need to, because that ferocious defensive front for Cleveland will undoubtedly cause some stress on Carson Wentz.
While I’m not sure Carson Wentz vs. Dillon Gabriel rings like an enviable matchup for any locals catching this game in London, I believe there will be opportunities for both defenses to turn these backups into exciting plays.
If Minnesota wins, it’ll likely be because of the effort from Flores’ defense. Every now and then, Flores manages to dial up that secret, I’m about to make this young quarterback collapse in on himself like a dying star game plan, and it’d be great for him to do the same to Gabriel on Sunday. After what has to be a frustrating start to the season for the defensive guru, I hope this latest challenge feels right in his comfort zone.
I hope to see Brian in the zone, doing what he does best on Sunday: victimizing young quarterbacks.