Browns HC Kevin Stefanski opens up about Dillon Gabriel's future stance amid offensive struggles

The Cleveland Browns will host the Miami Dolphins on Sunday for their Week 7 clash and rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel will make his first start at Huntington Bank Field.

Gabriel was given the starting role in Cleveland's Week 5 game against the Minnesota Vikings and retained the role for last week's clash against the Pittsburgh Steelers after the departure of veteran quarterback Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals.

While Gabriel followed his promising start against the Vikings with an underwhelming showing against the Steelers, coach Kevin Stefanski has shown faith in the rookie ahead of his first home start.

"I think, like any young player, you're looking to make Improvements from game to game in a ton of different areas," Stefanski said on Gabriel. "Obviously first home game this time, so in front of our fans, so you're not on the silent count.

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"But no different than any young player to just build on the things that you're doing well, and our job as coaches is to identify some of the things that we can help them with, but incremental improvements from our young players is what's most important."

Following Flacco's trade to the Bengals last week, the Browns named Shedeur Sanders as a backup to Gabriel.

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski urged Cleveland offense to make "explosive" plays

The Browns struggled with Joe Flacco leading the offense but his departure has not made any improvements for the Browns as they 0-2 with Dillon Gabriel as their starter.

However, Kevin Stefanski feels it's not just on one player to pull the team in the right direction and has urged the underperforming offense to provide "explosive plays."

"Explosive passes can happen in a variety of different ways, but it really comes down to our ability as an offense to put those guys in position, protect the quarterback and then when those opportunities come, we've got to let it rip," Stefanski said.

"But I think that can come in a variety of ways. The quarterback position gets a lot of scrutiny, and we understand that. But we, collective we, have to be better."

The Browns will need to use the home crowd to their advantage against a struggling Dolphins team, who share an identical 1-5 record this season.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

Know More

Cleveland Browns Nation! Check out the latest Cleveland Browns Schedule and dive into the Browns Depth Chart for NFL Season 2024-25.

Edited by Chaitanya Prakash