During his six years in college football, QB Dillon Gabriel was a part of rivalry games at UCF, Oklahoma and Oregon, getting to experience different stadiums and fanbases.
From the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl or against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, Gabriel has been in big environments throughout his college career. Nine months after quarterbacking Oregon in the College Football Playoffs, he will get to experience a new rivalry – the Browns and the Steelers.
Gabriel will walk into Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh for his second NFL start and his first-ever start on the road in the NFL. While he doesn't know what the Pittsburgh fans or this start will bring, he said having success comes down to just doing his assignment.
"I think you kind of find out by yourself," Gabriel said. "Of course, you hear a lot from others and understand the rivalry and myself playing in rivalry games, totally understand that. But I still think there's just the main importance of just doing your job and doing it at a high level. So that'll all come, and I have a lot of respect for Pittsburgh and what they've done and that's for every opponent we play."
In his first start, Gabriel passed for 190 yards and two touchdowns against the Vikings in Week 5. He stayed composed in the pocket and evaded pressure when needed, scrambling for eight yards. Gabriel also avoided making mistakes, leading the Browns to their first game without a turnover this season. Against the Steelers, who are second in the NFL in takeaways with 10, including five fumble recoveries and five interceptions, staying turnover-free is important to winning.
All three of Steelers' wins have come in one-possession games in which they've won the turnover battle. If Gabriel can keep his composure from his first start and bring it to Week 6, as well as do his job at a high level, the Browns can keep the Steelers' defense at bay.
"Yeah, I think it's always a test week-to-week. There's a challenge ahead and certain teams have different challenges, and you have to find solutions to that," Gabriel said. "So, like I said, we got to be flexible, we got to be open to ideas to find ways to beat that, but you control that by being really good today."
Against Minnesota, Cleveland struggled to sustain drives, going 3 for 15 on third down conversions. However, on their three scoring drives, Gabriel managed the offense and helped them move down the field whether a run or pass was called. On both touchdowns, throwing from the 1- and 9-yard line, he turned to his big tight ends to make the plays.
His use of tight ends in the red zone was emblematic of his first start. Against Minnesota, TE David Njoku led the Browns with six receptions and 67 receiving yards, and TE Harold Fannin Jr. was second in receptions with four.
In Pittsburgh, Gabriel will be going against a crowd that is actively booing him and making life hard for him, forcing him to run the offense through the noise. Some of the pressure he will face from players like linebackers T.J. Watt or Patrick Queen may also make him to get the ball out early, making his chemistry with the pass catchers ever more important.
"Sustainability. We always talk about it, you want to be efficient and sustain drives," Gabriel said. "But it is hard to score points, of course, but that's our job. We have to find ways to do that and do it at a higher clip. But small gains, we're building and have to continue to do that. We'd love to score every single drive, obviously, but I think that's us learning to sustain drives together. And you watch the film back, there are a lot of times we can help ourselves make more competitive plays and it starts with me for sure."
Gabriel's growth as a quarterback, according to head coach Kevin Stefanski, will come through what he does in practice and how he handles his reps. He also noted the challenge that Gabriel is facing. A week after becoming the first quarterback to make his first start in an international game, Gabriel will start a divisional game on the road.
"These are all great challenges for young players," Stefanski said. "And to understand that you're trying to have incremental improvement week-to-week, and that will only come by the nature of the turns and the reps that you bring in."
With Pittsburgh on top of the AFC North standings at 3-1, Gabriel and the Browns have the opportunity to steal a divisional win that could be important down the stretch. Gabriel can help the Browns make progress in the division by sustaining drives and using his college big-game experience to his advantage to deal with the Terrible Towel crowd.
"Just excited for the opportunity," Gabriel said. "It's another week to go and showcase what we can do at a high level, and we always look forward to that challenge with a lot of respect for our opponents. So, it'll be a lot of fun."
