LONDON — The Browns should’ve won. They should be flying back home to Cleveland 2-3 and getting ready to set jet lag aside before traveling next week to play at the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Instead, the Browns lost, 21-17 to the Minnesota Vikings at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They wasted a 110-yard rushing performance by Quinshon Judkins and a mostly solid starting debut by quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
They had the lead with 3:05 remaining and had the Vikings on the ropes. Until, that is, they didn’t.
No sense beating around the bush. It’s time to look at some things I liked and disliked in the Browns’ Week 5 loss.
Browns vs. Vikings: What I likedQuinshon Judkins’ rapid development into a No. 1 running back
The reasons why Judkins missed all of training camp and the first game of the season have been well-documented. That’s not going to be re-litigated here. This is a strictly football-only perspective, and one where its clear the Browns’ second second-round pick has a chance to be exactly what they want at that position on the field. Judkins was climbing rapidly to the 100-yard rushing plateau over his first three games. His fourth game was the moment he was able to clear that hurdle substantially. There’s still plenty of growth to come for the running back. What’s on the field now only makes that future even brighter.
Dillon Gabriel was good enough to warrant multiple looks
The Browns weren’t going to let a non-injury reason prevent them from taking a good look at Gabriel. That’s why you make the move they did to start him in the first place. So the fact that Gabriel flashed plenty of potential over the course of at least the first three quarters is reason to be interested to see what he could do as he stacks a few games under his belt. No one’s saying the solution to the quarterback problem has been found. That doesn’t mean this avenue shouldn’t be examined.
Browns vs. Vikings: What I didn’t like
The Browns had a ridiculously high number of penalties against Minnesota. For the record, they had 10 of them for 78 yards. It wasn’t just the number that made it such a brutal day with the flags. If the Browns could use one of those flags to shoot one of its toes off, that’s exactly what it did. There was at least one Browns touchdown directly negated by a holding call. There was at least one Vikings touchdown that was aided by a drive being extended by a third-down pass interference flag. All of it added up to the kind of mistakes a team that’s struggling to win games can’t afford to make and hope to win.
Cleveland Browns’ fourth-quarter offense
Here’s the thing: Remove the desperation drive of the final 25 seconds, and it would’ve been worse. The Browns had three first downs and 74 total yards on 17 plays in the fourth quarter. Two of the first downs and 44 of the yards came on that last drive. And there were only three plays run on that drive. Gabriel was 3-of-8 for 55 yards in the quarter, 1-of-5 for 11 yards on any possession that wasn’t the last. The Browns allowed themselves to tighten up to a point where it proved detrimental to the chances of winning. And, ultimately, they didn’t win.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ