The Cleveland Browns (1-5) will host the Miami Dolphins (1-5) at Huntington Bank Field on Sunday in Week 7 of the NFL season (1 p.m. ET, CBS) with both teams seeking momentum after slow starts.
The Browns are currently narrow 2.5-point home favorites, despite having lost three consecutive contests to the Detroit Lions (4-2), Minnesota Vikings (3-2) and Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2).
The Dolphins, meanwhile, come in after back-to-back losses against the Carolina Panthers (3-3) and Los Angeles Chargers (4-2).
Cleveland is averaging just 13.7 points per game (worst in the NFL), while Miami is allowing the fourth-most (29.0 OPPG).
As two of the worst teams in football, the game itself might not generate a ton of interest outside of the two regions. However, it will feature two starters - Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa and Browns’ rookie Dillon Gabriel - that will do something the league hasn’t seen in almost two decades.
Tagovailoa and Gabriel will produce only the 24th matchup between two left‑handed starting quarterbacks since 1950 and the first such pairing in nearly 20 years, ending a drought that began after Michael Vick's 2006 start against Chris Simms, per Around the NFL's Nick Shook.
Gabriel has started two games for Cleveland this season and carries modest stats through six weeks: 430 passing yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions, and an 81.2 passer rating.
He completed 19 of 33 passes for 190 passing yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions in Week 5 against the Vikings, followed by 29 of 52 passing for 221 yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions versus the Steelers in Week 6.
Coming into the NFL, Gabriel had one of the most productive careers in college football history. Across stints at UCF, Oklahoma, and Oregon, he threw for 18,722 yards and 155 passing touchdowns, ranking second all-time in FBS passing yards and first all-time in passing touchdowns.
At UCF, he led the American Conference in passing yards and touchdowns as a sophomore (2020). At Oklahoma (2022–23), he earned All-Big 12 honors and led the Sooners to a 10-win season. He finished at Oregon (2024) as the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, a first-team All-American and a Heisman finalist before entering the 2025 NFL Draft.
Tagovailoa, meanwhile, has been the Dolphins' established starter since getting drafted fifth overall in the 2020 NFL draft. Now in his sixth professional season, he has posted 1,213 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions across the first six games, with a 50.7 QBR (23rd in NFL).
Gabriel, born in Hawaii and raised in the islands, noted earlier in the week that he was aware of Tagovailoa growing up, saying, “Of course, him playing in Hawaii, everyone knew Tua.”
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