BEREA, Ohio — Dillon Gabriel improved significantly in several areas with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees calling plays for the first time during Sunday’s 27-20 loss to the Jets, but the two must work overtime together to upgrade Gabriel’s accuracy in a big way.
The quickest way for Gabriel to silence his critics and quiet the clamor for Shedeur Sanders is to increase his completion percentage and deliver more accurate passes.
Accuracy is one area where Sanders has Gabriel beat, and if he doesn’t elevate his game there, it will be difficult for the Browns not to wonder if Sanders — who possesses elite ball placement — might fare better.
Heading into Sunday’s visit from the Ravens, Gabriel is last in the NFL with a 58.6 completion percentage and is tied for sixth in the NFL in turnover-worthy plays, according to Pro Football Focus. He also has the fifth-highest rate of off-target passes, according to ESPN research.
Granted, some of Gabriel’s accuracy struggles are directly tied to a disconnect with his receivers this season, with a completion percentage of only 42.9% to the wideouts. The receivers, of course, are partly to blame because of so many dropped passes. The Browns are third in the NFL with 19 drops this season, according to BetMGM.
But Gabriel has been uncharacteristically off on a number of throws this season, including a handful vs. the Jets. It started on the opening drive, when he left a flat pass to Harold Fannin Jr. short, and then missed him on the left side to go four-and-out. Later in the game, he had receiver Malachi Corley open in the right flat with several blockers in front of him, and sailed the pass high.
“I would just caution that any quarterback, young and old – you’re going to miss throws,” Kevin Stefanski said. “It’s an occupational hazard that you’re likely not going to go 100% completion percentage. It’s an occupational hazard that a corner is going to get beat deep every once in a while. So, you’re not going to make every throw. Now, having said that, you coach every throw, and you say, ‘hey, this could be…use your technique here or trust what you’re seeing here’, all those things. And that’s true of young and old quarterbacks.”
Specifically regarding the inexplicable off-target throws when he has plenty of time to throw, Stefanski said, “you want to make sure you’re coaching all your players to have constant improvement. And there are things that I know Dillon can do better and will do better as a young quarterback. And I know there are things that we as a staff can do better, and putting our guys in position. So, I just think it goes back to, I understand the individual aspect of this, but there’s also the collective aspect of this.”
Stefanski was asked why Gabriel’s completion percentage is so poor when he’s throwing mostly high-percentage short passes. He’s 40th among QBs this season with 5.0 yards per attempt, and has failed to take some open shots downfield or failed to connect on some of the deeper balls. Again, some of that has to do with a slow start this season by No. 1 receiver Jerry Jeudy, and some is due to the fact that No. 2 receiver Cedric Tillman missed four games with a hamstring injury, returning to action against the Jets.
“It could be both,” Jeudy said. “Sometimes the quarterback expects you to be in one spot and you’re in another. Sometimes it just happens like that.”
The Jets game marked Gabriel’s first start with Tillman active, and the two will need to develop their chemistry. As it stands, receivers have caught only three TD passes this season, two by Tillman and one by Jeudy. But Tillman should be better on Sunday in his second game back.
“We trust Ced,” Stefanski said. “He’s in positions where we can start with him in the progression, move to him in the progression. We trust him to get open. We trust him to catch the football. I thought he caught a really good ball over the middle in a contested moment, so he’s definitely a big part of our offense. I think he continues to be a guy that we lean on in a bunch of variety of jobs, if you will, but a very trustworthy player in the past games.”
The receivers and tight ends must also win more contested catches going forward. As a team, the Browns have won 28 of 56 (50%) of those 50-50 balls, with Jeudy wining 4 of 14 time for 28.6% and Fannin going 7 of 13 for 53.8%. Tillman has caught 3 of 5 contested balls (60%) and should continue at that rate with his excellent size (6-3, 215) and toughness.
“Obviously you’re trying to get guys open, so they’re not contested,” Stefanski said. “But when they are, the quarterbacks have a ton of trust in our guys to come go up and get those footballs. You know, I think about Ced drawing the DPI (defensive pass interference) on the second drive of the game there, which was a huge penalty to get the drive going. So, you’re going to give your guys opportunities.”
It hasn’t helped that the protection has been shaky this season. The Jets game marked the second time in five starts that Gabriel has been sacked six times, and it’s unsustainable. If they don’t get it fixed, they might have to start Sanders sooner than they might want to because of injury. Part of it is better play by the offensive line and other blockers, and part of it is Gabriel releasing the ball quicker.
“You’d like to think so (a quicker release) and you just want to eliminate negative plays, however that may be,” he said.
Gabriel, who’s led the Browns to a 1-4 mark, acknowledged that he’ll always want some throws back, but places a premium on accuracy.
“It’s always something you’re continue to work on and want to get good at,” he said. “I think it’s striving for every inch and being able to catch runners and allow them to get more receiving yards after the catch. So being accurate in that way and then giving guys a chance. So it’s something that you want to pride yourself on and continue to get better at.”
Now that Rees has called his first game for Gabriel, they should have plenty to build on in Week 2 and be exponentially better together in their second outing. More targets for Tillman and David Njoku would help.
“For sure, now that he’s definitely got a feel calling his first game this season, I’m pretty sure he’s going to do a great job next week in calling the plays also,” said Jeudy.
Rees did an excellent job of moving Gabriel out of the pocket and providing him with excellent sight lines. He also gave him more creative formations and more use of 11 personnel, or three wide receivers vs. the Jets. He also stuck with the run, ran a more uptempo brand of ball, and varied the pace. On the field goal drive that narrowed the gap to 27-20, Gabriel operated out of the no huddle and ripped off scrambles of 19 and 15 yards, as well as hitting Fannin for 12 on a third and 7.
Thanks in part to some drops, some pre-snap penalties and some errant throws, the Browns hit too many dry spells. But Rees will have a better handle now on calling a game for his rookie quarterback, and they’ll work together to find more completions, if even to the backs.
Gabriel’s starting job depends on it.
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