Week 5 marked the start of hopefully a long era of Cleveland Browns football, as rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel made his first-ever NFL start. He looked decent in his first full glimpse of NFL action, completing 19-of-33 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers.
Sadly, it wasn't enough. The Browns fell 21-17 to the Minnesota Vikings, dropping to 1-4 on the year. The defense played good enough to win the game but their late-game slip allowed the Vikings to take the lead on their final drive and that was all she wrote.
Star pass-rusher Myles Garrett was both frustrated with him and the defense's lack of being able to put the game away, while also praising his rookie quarterback for giving the Browns a chance to win. Following the game, Garrett said that his side needs to figure out how to close things out.
"Just got to close it out. Frustration doesn't matter, result does. We need to be better....(Dillon Gabriel) looked like he usually does. Composed. Making the plays. He put us in position to win. We've got to help ourselves out."
Myles Garrett applauded Dillon Gabriel for prolific Browns debut
Considering that Gabriel was making his first-ever regular-season start not just on the road but overseas and did so against Brian Flores and one of the best defenses in the league meant that the odds were stacked against the rookie from the jump. He still played pretty well, though, taking care of the football and only getting sacked twice.
There's always room for improvement, of course, but given the circumstances, it's hard to be too mad at Gabriel for this loss. It's also hard to blame the defense too much, considering how well they played for most of the day against Carson Wentz and the Vikings offense, but yeah, that last drive ended up being the nail in the coffin, and the Browns need to figure out how to close things out in these tight games.
The fact that Garrett spoke so highly of Gabriel says a lot, though. He's no stranger to poor quarterback play during his Browns tenure, so clearly he sees exactly why the Browns spent a third-round pick on the Oregon product. Fans are starting to see why too.