With Browns’ offensive flaws, naming Dillon Gabriel the starter had to happen

LONDON — Nothing about this feels like it’s the move Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski wanted to make, at least not yet. Cleveland is winding through an abnormal week in the middle of a uniquely brutal three-game stretch and searching for offensive answers of any kind.

The weirdest offseason quarterback competition in recent memory ended with a clear winner in Joe Flacco, and with it came a tepid commitment to the veteran and some reasonable level of hope. The Browns hoped Flacco’s experience and arm strength could provide some offensive stability and methodical effectiveness. It was never intended to be a long-term commitment, but it was supposed to last at least until the Browns completed the Detroit-London-Pittsburgh triple.

Instead, Stefanski announced a change on Wednesday: Dillon Gabriel is now the starting quarterback. Flacco’s second tour/detour in Cleveland went so poorly that Stefanski pulled the plug just four games in.

He had to. The Browns can’t score, and their inability to catch passes and slow oncoming rushers left Flacco looking his age.

Stefanski was clear: Flacco was not the only one at fault. The 40-year-old quarterback was let down by his teammates and threw too many interceptions, even when they first hit his intended targets’ hands. From construction to coaching to execution, there’s much blame to go around for the state of the offense.

The results put the inevitable move to the rookie on fast forward. The Browns selected Gabriel long before any draft expert thought they should. The folks in charge think Gabriel’s brains, accuracy and ability to process under fire give him a chance to overcome his 5-foot-11 stature. The Browns traded Kenny Pickett in August and never considered letting fifth-round rookie Shedeur Sanders get near any summertime reps with the No. 1 offense.

Gabriel’s the choice. And if he’s good, this front office’s campaign to prove it’s better than its recent record shows might start to gain some traction.

However, for Stefanski and the locker room, this move is about right now. At 1-3 and trying to give some semblance of help to their top-notch defense and trying to stay alive in an AFC North that appears to be much more flawed than anyone thought a month ago, the Browns need a win. They need energy, they need points and they need a victory against the Minnesota Vikings in London on Sunday, regardless of how it comes.

“We need to coach better, we need to block better, catch better, run better, all of the above we need to be better,” Stefanski said. “And I know the quarterback position gets quite a bit of scrutiny, I understand that. But this is about our entire team playing better.”

Gabriel hasn’t practiced much with most of the players with whom he’ll share the huddle Sunday. Cleveland had a regular practice on Wednesday ahead of the team’s flight to London, where Gabriel will become the first rookie quarterback to make his starting debut in an NFL International Series.

There will be a jog-through workout on Thursday amid meetings and further Gabriel-centric offensive installations. The Browns will then have a regular Friday practice, with the theme of everyone doing their best to help Gabriel, who brings supreme confidence to his role as the 41st starting quarterback of the franchise’s new era and the first left-handed quarterback in the 41st position.

“You wait for the perfect time, you’re gonna wait for a lifetime,” Gabriel said on Wednesday. “So for me, I’ve always been ready.”

Perfection is not the goal. Look for the Browns to lean on rookie running back Quinshon Judkins. They’ll throw some formations and designed rollouts at the Vikings that Minnesota hasn’t seen on film in the first four games. They’ll script some touches for wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and Isaiah Bond in hopes of building confidence for both the passer and his supposed playmakers.

“From the beginning, this is the moment you look forward to as a competitor,” Gabriel said. “But it is part of my job to be ready to be that sense of hope for everyone to continue to be better and come together and create momentum for each other. So excited for that, but just also extremely focused at doing my job at a high level.”

The Browns have had four different starting offensive line combinations in their four games. They’re probably headed for a fifth this week after their Monday trade for veteran left tackle Cam Robinson, who’s getting a fresh start after being benched in Houston.

Starting wide receiver Cedric Tillman, who was placed on injured reserve Tuesday with a hamstring injury, is out at least the next four games, prompting two wide receiver call-ups from the practice squad earlier this week. Two of the five receivers on the active roster are undrafted rookies, and Jeudy has let the offense down with inexcusable drops in two of the three losses.

Pro Football Focus has the Browns with 11 drops, the second most in the NFL. The offensive line has allowed pressures on 41 percent of dropbacks, which ranks in the bottom third of the league, and Cleveland’s eight turnovers are tied for first. It’s that last stat that haunts Stefanski the most, and it’s Gabriel’s ability to throw on the move that portends the noticeable immediate change.

Gabriel is not Michael Vick, but the Browns will try to move the pocket as a way to create passing lanes and to give opposing defenses something they haven’t seen much of — because what they’ve seen is an offense that didn’t get many pass catchers open, didn’t create many explosive plays and too often self-destructed.

A month into the season, the Browns rank in the bottom three in offensive success rate, scoring and total offensive EPA. They have one pre-garbage time touchdown in each of their last three games, and last week’s came on the game’s first drive. After that, the product was mostly garbage.

“We’ve just struggled to become who we want to be,” Flacco said. “That’s it. (What else?), you’d have to ask Kevin. I mean, we’re 1-3.”

Flacco has been benched by bad teams before. He’s said on multiple occasions that he knew what he was signing up for. With the Browns coming closer to 2017-level incompetence rather than replicating Flacco’s 2023 late-season magic, Stefanski undoubtedly felt he had to make this change now.

Given team owner Jimmy Haslam’s July comments about the Browns needing to play their rookie quarterbacks this season, and considering the unusual structure of the room since they drafted both Gabriel and Sanders, Stefanski was fairly asked if this was his decision. He said that it was, then went back to what he had been saying about sharing the blame, feeling an urgency to improve and believing that Gabriel had done everything possible to keep himself ready for this moment. Flacco will be the backup.

Maybe a month or two from now, a Browns roster with 13 rookies might be well out of contention, and the organization will entirely focus on the future. Eventually, there could be another shift and maybe even some game time for Sanders.

As of now, though, Cleveland would much more likely promote Bailey Zappe from the practice squad than put Sanders on the field. However, the Browns are changing quarterbacks ahead of their intended schedule because they’re trying to make something of this season.

The first plan wasn’t working, so both the calendar and the September game plans have been tossed aside.

As Flacco said and Stefanski’s desperation shows, the Browns are 1-3. Maybe Gabriel can be some long-term answer, and perhaps he won’t, but if he’s good and the Browns can win this week as part of carrying a pulse through the middle to back parts of the season, then Stefanski’s call will obviously be regarded as the right one.

Gabriel says he’s ready. Stefanski says Gabriel is ready. On Sunday, the rest of us will start to find out.

(Photo: Lauren Leigh Bacho / Associated Press)