LONDON — Dillon Gabriel brought some much-needed juice to the Browns offense during Sunday’s 21-17 loss to the Vikings, but he discovered something that Joe Flacco has known for weeks:
The Browns need more out of their receivers and it’s hamstringing the offense.
Gabriel didn’t turn the ball over — which is the No. 1 thing the Browns needed from him — and he used his legs to bootleg, run and otherwise extend plays and keep things moving. The offense looked more crisp, lively, energetic, and up-tempo.
But in the end, the Browns were still held to only 17 points, extending their streak to 10 straight games with 17 or fewer dating back to last season, which is the most in franchise history, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
It’s the longest streak by any team since the 2007 49ers.
The Browns went stone cold in the fourth quarter, going three-and-out three times, and managing just two first downs. Gabriel (19 of 33, 190 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 2 sacks 94.3 rating) went only 3 of 8 in the fourth quarter for 55 yards. Forty-four of those yards came on the final drive. The rest of the quarter, he went 1 of 5 for 11 yards.
Meanwhile, Vikings backup quarterback Carson Wentz was cooking with his premier receivers in the second half, hitting big plays to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison — who caught the 12-yard game-winner against Denzel Ward and Ronnie Hickman Jr. with 25 seconds left. Jefferson caught four passes for 85 yards in the second half, and Addison caught all five of his for 41 yards after the break.
Unfortunately for Gabriel, his No. 1 receiver, Jerry Jeudy, still hasn’t hit his stride yet this season, catching 2 of 5 targets for 15 yards with a long gain of 9. In the decisive second half, with the game so close and the Browns clinging to a 17-14 lead for most of the fourth quarter, Jeudy caught 0 of 1 targets.
In the second quarter, Jeudy let a 17-yard pass slip through his hands on third and 13 with the game tied at 7. He was already third in the NFL with four drops heading into the game, and trying to get back on track. As Flacco observed before last week’s 34-10 loss to the Lions: As Jeudy goes, so goes the Browns offense, and Jeudy isn’t going right now.
But neither are the other receivers.
Cedric Tillman is on injured reserve for three more games with a hamstring injury, and Gabriel has a young crew featuring rookie Isaiah Bond, Jamari Thrash, Gage Larvadain and Malachi Corley. On Sunday, Gabriel completed passes to three of them: Bond caught 2 of 7 targets for 29 yards, Jeudy with the 2 of 5, and Jamari Thrash caught his lone target for 22 yards on the last play of the game, but failed to get out of bounds so Gabriel could attempt another pass. That’s a total of five receptions by the three Browns receivers who got a target, and that won’t cut it.
Gabriel did bring David Njoku out of cold storage for 6 catches on 9 targets for 67 yards, including the 9-yard TD catch that gave the Browns their hard-earned 17-14 lead with 3:05 left in the third quarter. But when they got to the fourth quarter, they were met with a stacked box designed to shut down rookie running back Quinshon Judkins, who recorded his first 100-yard game with 110 on 23 carries for a 4.8-yard average and a long gain of 32.
“They were stuffing the box,” said right tackle Jack Conklin. “It was really just one thing here or there. Really, a lot of times there’s one block from springing it for a good run and we just couldn’t get it done and that’s what happens. The score is what happens when you don’t do that. The defense did a great job giving us chances.”
The Browns started a drive at their 1 late in the third and punted from their 10 in the fourth after Judkins was stopped for no gain on third down. The next drive, Gabriel was sacked on third down to go three-and-out. In addition to receiver problems, the Browns still have tackle issues with KT Leveston and Cam Robinson alternating early on and then Leveston playing the rest of the game. The tackle woes were a huge liability for Flacco, but at least Gabriel can avoid the sack most of the time. With Flacco, teams were pinning their ears back and gunning for him every play, with him getting hit 19 times in his last two games alone.
On another three-and-out in the fourth quarter Judkins was dropped for a 1 yard loss on first down and stopped for no gain on second. Gabriel threw the ball away on third down. He did throw a 1-yard TD pass to tight end Harold Fannin Jr. in the first quarter, but the rookie was held to 4 of 4 targets for 13 yards. With no deep receiving threats to stretch the defense, the offense sputtered and stalled in the decisive fourth quarter, and couldn’t extend its 17-14 lead.
The Browns also went 3 of 15 on third down for 20%, and couldn’t stay on the field.
“We’ve got to convert,” Gabriel said. “You look back, there’s obvious times you’ve got to go make it happen. Starts with me. Us coming together collectively to go make that happen. You look at a lot of the third downs to extend drives, that’s where we can continue to help ourselves.”
He explained his second-to-last drive that lasted all of 11 seconds before Corey Bojorquez punted from the Browns’ 40.
“In those situations, you’ve got to go get a first down,” he said. “After two plays, 11 seconds, they’re going to call two timeouts. Then we throw the ball and the clock stops. That’s why if you look at it any time you don’t get tackled inbounds or complete the ball you’re going to have an 11-second drive.
“But in a perfect world, you get it on third and the clock’s winding and they only have one more timeout. But like I said, that’s just the situation. They used their timeouts. That’s why it was 11 seconds.”
He also weighed in on Thrash failing to get out of bounds on that last 22 yards catch to the Vikings 27, which began with 7 seconds left. Gabriel had been picked off on a Hail Mary the play before, but the Vikings had called a time out beforehand. The Browns started the drive at their 29 with 21 seconds left after Addison’s 12-yard TD catch put them up 21-17.
“Our thought process is 7 seconds, try to catch the ball, get a chunk, get out of bounds, have a closer chance at doing it,” Gabriel said. “You saw the Hail Mary prior to the timeout. Just probably don’t love your odds there, obviously, but anytime you can get it closer, that’s what our thought was, whether it was our DB or that over-route got it.
“Like I said, you live in those moments. In a perfect world, you want to get out of bounds. But he’s trying to get his butt to get out of bounds and trying to understand that.”
In spite of the fourth-quarter meltdown, Gabriel still had the Browns in position to win until the defense gave up a 10-play, 80-yard drive that began with 3:05 remaining and ended with the TD pass to Addison with 25 seconds left. It spoiled their two takeaways on the day.
“We continue to ride on our (defensive) guys,” Gabriel said. “They’ve been playing their butts off. And I think you look at a whole work of over five weeks. It’s hard to look at one game. Nobody’s perfect. It isn’t going to be a perfect world. We could have been in a better position to go convert on third, and all of a sudden, it’s a different outcome and a different feeling. But that’s where we can help them out. This is a team deal. It isn’t on one person. It isn’t on everybody. But the truth is the result was the result and we’ve got to find a way to change that.”
Greg Newsome II pinned it on the defense, and not the lack of fourth-quarter scoring.
“That’s on us,” he said. “We got the lead, last drive, that’s what we asked for and we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain. So definitely sucks to play such a good game to not finish it at the end.”
Despite the loss, Gabriel’s teammates can see the vision. He was as advertised with his poise, processing-speed and game management.
“So much potential,” Njoku said. “You know what I mean? He can build off this. He can be a great one. He’s just gotta work one day at a time. Obviously, Dillon’s young. He’s 20 years younger than Joe Flacco. He can run a lot more. You saw his legs and his athleticism a little bit today. I’m sure he can build off that.”
Myles Garrett liked what he saw from the rookie QB.
“Just something different, a different flavor,” he said. “Appreciate Joe for having his back, supporting him, coaching him through this transition. He will be vital throughout this process regardless of whoever we end up with throughout the rest of the season. They’ve got to lean on each other.”
They definitely have something in common: a lack of big plays from their receivers, which has been an enormous problem all season.
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