Waking up at 2:30 in the morning on Sunday for one Mililani family felt \u201cweird, like waking up early for Christmas.\u201d But no matter what the time, it was full of excitement for the Gabriel ohana.<\/p>\n
Garrett Gabriel, a former University of Hawaii quarterback who authored two of the school\u2019s biggest victories over Brigham Young in 1989 and 1990, was up early to watch his son, Dillon Gabriel, get his first NFL start as the Cleveland Browns quarterback.<\/p>\n
The game was played in London and kicked off about 3:40 a.m. Hawaii time.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, way too early,\u201d Garrett said in a phone interview. \u201cBut it was fun. Everybody was up ready to go. Obviously can\u2019t miss it. \u2026 We had about seven of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garrett said the \u201cpregame stuff was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the kickoff, the NFL Network reported that Garrett and his wife, Dori, had to get up early to watch the game because he didn\u2019t have a passport (Garrett said his visa expired.).<\/p>\n
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The report also mentioned Dillon\u2019s fiancee, Zoe Caswell, was watching back in Cleveland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing is we didn\u2019t get the W,\u201d Garrett said.<\/p>\n
Dillon Gabriel, a former Mililani star and a third-round draft pick out of Oregon, helped put the Browns in position to win, leading 17-14 late before veteran Carson Wentz rallied the Minnesota Vikings to a 21-17 win.<\/p>\n
Dillon completed 19 of 33 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. He didn\u2019t throw an interception but was sacked twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he was OK,\u201d Garrett said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think he was asked to do much. We were very conservative and rightfully so because Minnesota\u2019s defense is pretty good. However, there were times we had a chance to push the lead had we been a little more aggressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew he was going to keep the ball out of harm\u2019s way. That\u2019s the reason why he was replacing (40-year-old veteran Joe) Flacco, not to turn over the ball. It\u2019s always a fine line. You have to be (aggressive). When I talk to him, we talk about calculated risk. I think he\u2019ll figure it out, the speed (of the game) and what he needs to do. So do I think next week will be better? I believe so. I think he\u2019ll be a better version of himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nursing a 17-14 lead, the Browns\u2019 offense hit a wall in the fourth quarter, punting four times and going three-and-out twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been playing well,\u201d Garrett Gabriel said. \u201cBut toward the end, you gotta come up with some big plays, offensively or defensively. We didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
My initial takeaways from the game were twofold:<\/p>\n
>> Dillon Gabriel looked like he belonged. He played smart, calm. The NFL stage didn\u2019t look like it was over his head.<\/p>\n
>> The Vikings have superstar receiver Justin Jefferson and a quality sidekick in Jordan Addison and the Browns have neither.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (Dillon Gabriel) looked like he usually does \u2014 composed, making the plays that we know he can make,\u201d defensive end Myles Garrett said on ClevelandBrowns.com. \u201cHe put us in position to win. We\u2019ve got to help ourselves out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski delivered his typical coachspeak when asked to assess his rookie quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably premature to grade in those type of things,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were some good things, some rookie things to certainly clean up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dillon Gabriel, himself, looked like a pro in his press conference \u2014 none of the juvenile shenanigans like what fellow Browns rookie QB Shedeur Sanders displayed when he mimed or mouthed his answers to reporters.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u201cI think you just gotta convert (on possessions). Obviously at times you gotta go make it happen. It starts with me,\u201d Dillon Gabriel said on ClevelandBrowns.com. \u201cBut us coming together collectively to make that happen. You look at a lot of third downs to extend drives, that\u2019s where we can help ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what he gained in his first start, he said, \u201cI think I learned a little details. In any game you want four to five plays back \u2026 but that\u2019s the game we live and play in. Gotta be better in those four to five plays. \u2026 Four to five plays can be the difference and the difference is truly what we\u2019ll be attacking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always something to build on. No moral victories whatsoever,\u201d Gabriel said. \u201cRegardless of the result, week to week, there\u2019s a process. More time you spend around anyone, you gonna get more continuity. Quarterback to receiver, quarterback to running back. That\u2019s us as a whole unit coming together and getting comfortable with our unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even when baited by a question to second-guess the conservative play when he was asked if he felt \u201chandcuffed, by not going down the field more,\u201d Dillon Gabriel didn\u2019t bite.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot necessarily,\u201d he said. \u201cYou want to be aggressive, but you want to be smart as well. And understanding what we\u2019re doing offensively, there are things that some people take the bait, and then there are times you can be really effective by taking what\u2019s there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a balance as a quarterback. You gotta be smart-aggressive \u2014 when it\u2019s your time to take shots, when it\u2019s time to go get 5 (yards) and live another down. That\u2019s the balance I\u2019ll continue to teeter. You always try to push the issue and be aggressive, but at the same time, you don\u2019t go broke by taking a profit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
Reach Curtis Murayama at cmurayama@staradvertiser.com. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waking up at 2:30 in the morning on Sunday for one Mililani family felt \u201cweird, like waking up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,35159,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-424442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-clevelandbrowns","12":"tag-editors","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115326792797545737","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}