As QB Dillon Gabriel stepped back in the pocket and surveyed for one of his pass catchers, he looked left and saw TE Harold Fannin Jr. beat his defender and find an open space near the end zone.
Gabriel threw the ball towards Fannin, who reached up to bring the pass in and stepped into the end zone for the 1-yard touchdown. It was the Browns' first touchdown of the game, as well as Gabriel's second career passing touchdown.
Gabriel made his first NFL start against the Vikings in Week 5, completing 19 of 33 passing attempts for 190 passing yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked twice for a loss of eight yards but did not throw an interception.
While he led the two touchdown drives, he also demonstrated his own mobility as the offense dealt with penalties that pushed them back behind the chains. In the second quarter as the Browns were backed up at their own 11-yard line, Gabriel scrambled to evade pressure and took off for a gain of eight yards to give P Corey Bojorquez space to punt.
"A lot of positives. Obviously can always better, and certainly we as an offense have to better and score more to help this football team," head coach Kevin Stefanski said. "But for a young player in that environment versus that defense to take care of the ball, make the plays he made, I thought was a lot of positives with plenty to clean up. And that's what he will do. And that's the mentality he has, certainly to be a player that continues to get better week in and week out."
Gabriel was nominated for the Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Week alongside Giants QB Jaxson Dart, Jaguars WR Travis Hunter, Commanders RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka and Saints S Jonas Sanker.
Fans can vote for one of the six nominated players here and on the NFL Mobile app through Thursday at 11 a.m. ET to determine who will bring home the Rookie of the Week championship belt for Week 5.
After the regular season, six players will be nominated for NFL Rookie of the Year honors. Fans can vote for the winner here throughout the month of January.
