Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel jokingly compared the number of hits he took in Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to beatings he took from his mom as a child
14:05 ET, 15 Oct 2025Updated 14:07 ET, 15 Oct 2025
Dillon Gabriel struggled to find much success in the second start of his NFL career
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Dillon Gabriel struggled to find much success in the second start of his NFL career(Image: Getty Images)
Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel turned several heads after making a lighthearted comment about his mom.
Ahead of a Week 5 clash against the Minnesota Vikings in London, the Browns announced that Gabriel would receive the starting nod over veteran Joe Flacco, who was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals several days later.
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Though Gabriel showed flashes of brilliance in Cleveland’s 21-17 defeat to the Vikings, the rookie signal-caller did little to impress in his second-career NFL start.
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During a 23-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, he completed 29-of-52 passes for 221 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions while being sacked six times for minus-38 yards.
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Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Gabriel was asked how his body felt earlier in the week given the amount of hits he took versus the Steelers. Yet according to the 24-year-old, the beating was nothing compared to the ones he received as a child.
"My mom used to beat my --- when I was a kid so I don’t think anything will live up to it, my mom,” he quipped, sending the sea of media into a fit of laughter.
“I'm just playing around, but I’m good. It’s part of football, you know what I mean? It’s why you play it, we’re good."
Early growing pains were inevitable for Gabriel, who’s thrown for 430 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions across four appearances this season — two of which came in garbage time of blowout losses.
“I think you continue to learn from each start,” he acknowledged. “Each time going in there, there’s a lot of details that you want to fine tune and continue to get better at, and get more comfortable with that.
Dillon Gabriel was sacked six times by the Pittsburgh Steelers
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Dillon Gabriel was sacked six times by the Pittsburgh Steelers(Image: Getty Images)
“But the margin for error is small as well, so I think I knew that but continue to learn that and try to evolve to be better for this team.”
Despite already having made a change under center once this season, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski asserted that Cleveland is committed to starting Gabriel.
"Obviously, Dillon is in his second start. Some good things to build off," he said. "He’s learning, just like all young players are learning for us right now.
"And we’ll continue to try to get him to make those improvements that young players make and also play better around him. That’s our focus."
Addressing the Browns’ struggles on offense and lack of big plays, Stefanski insisted that the blame doesn’t fall squarely on Gabriel’s shoulders. "We have to find ways to be explosive on offense, and that can come via the run or the pass,” he added.
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"Explosive passes can happen in a variety of different ways, but it really comes down to our ability as an offense to put those guys in position, protect the quarterback, and then when those opportunities come, we've got to let it rip.
"But I think that can come in a variety of ways. The quarterback position gets a lot of scrutiny, and we understand that. But we, collective we, have to be better."