LONDON — The Browns spent all offseason designing a new offense that would be perfect for Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel.
It featured plenty of quarterback movement, with keepers, RPOs, designed runs and the latitude to run some off-schedule plays.
It was designed to be a fast, zippy scheme that would get the ball into the hands of the playmakers, and let them generate yards after catch.
Above all, the two quarterbacks are excellent game managers who distribute the ball well and don’t turn it over much.
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But all of that changed when Pickett suffered the hamstring injury in camp and was ultimately traded to the Raiders for a fifth-round pick. It elevated Joe Flacco to the starting role, with the Browns pivoting to more of a classic, dropback style with much less QB movement. Sure, Flacco ran some bootlegs, but it was nothing like the dynamic, creative scheme they had planned for the other two.
Now that Gabriel, their third-round pick out of Oregon, has replaced Flacco as the starter beginning Sunday against the Vikings here, the Browns will transition to a more uptempo scheme featuring more QB mobility. They hope the result is more points and more production from the receivers, who languished with Flacco under center. He was under siege so much, in part because of the tackle problems, that the passing game wasn’t precise. As a result he threw six interceptions and lost two fumbles, and the offense tumbled to second-last in the NFL with only 14 points per game. Flacco fell to 33rd in the NFL with a 60.3 rating.
“Excited about the opportunity for Dillon,” Rees said. “Obviously talking with Kevin (Stefanski) and throughout the week on it, felt like it was the right time for it. He’s put in a lot of work to put himself ready to play, so guys have rallied around him.
“We’ve all got to do our part to help elevate the play of the quarterback and get the quarterback playing well. So, I know Dillon’s been chomping at the bit, and Joe has been there every step of the way to help support him through this process and get him ready on this week here in London and getting ready to play Minnesota.”
Rees agrees with Gabriel, 24, that he’ll bring some much-needed energy and vitality to the dormant offense. It will be a rookie-centric crew, with the likes Gabriel, Quinshon Judkins, Harold Fannin Jr. and receivers, Isaiah Bond, Gage Larvadain, and Malachi Corley, if the latter two are active.
“I think he just is himself,” Rees said of Gabriel. “I think he’s got a calmness to him, a real true confidence to his personality and his ability that I think guys have fed off of since he’s been here. So, doesn’t look like he needs to step far outside of who he is to do that for our guys.”
Rees, who’s brought more of the college concepts to the Browns as has quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave, will be able to install a fuller scope of the Browns playbook with Gabriel in the game. What’s more, the skill players were also acquired with more of this new style in mind. It will still feature a lot of two tight-end sets and plenty of running on the part of Judkins, but the movement and keepers should result in a less predictable offense.
“We’re looking at all avenues to waking up (the offense), and to get the ball moving and score points,” Rees said. “That’s what we’re after here. We want to play complementary; we want to score points and do our job. So, certainly going to try to put Dillon in the best positions that make him feel comfortable to do that.”
Two of the unique things about Gabriel are his height (5-11) and the fact he’s a lefty. So far, his height hasn’t impacted him much in practice, except for the occasional batted pass by Mason Graham or Shelby Harris, and the receivers seemingly haven’t suffered from the opposite spin of the ball.
“You have to flip your mind a little bit on certain calls and certain things,” Rees said. “But we do train our guys to have to do a keeper left, do a keeper right, right? For Dillon, he’s done all these things. Are there certain things here and there that you’ve got to maybe think about? Sure. But it really doesn’t change a lot in what you’re doing.”
While the Vikings are only 24th against the run with a yield of 130.3 yard per game, they’re tough against the pass, with 151.5 yards allowed. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores will try to rattle and confuse Gabriel, but he’s started twice as many games as most rookies — and FBS-record 63 — and he has a lot of muscle memory and institutional of the game. It might not always be pretty — rookies always struggle — but he might not get as befuddled as some rookie quarterbacks making their first start.
“Flo does a great job, as everybody knows,” Rees said. “Presents a lot of challenges, is very diverse in his scheme, likes to pressure, likes to create havoc, likes to turn the ball over. That’s kind of how he’s made his made his hay here, but he does that vs. everyone, right? So we’ve just got to focus on our gameplan, focus on the tools that we’re giving the quarterback to handle some of those things and allow him to go out there and play fast.
“We don’t want to slow him down by trying to analyze everything, want him to go out there and be able to play fast and play confident.”
It’s what he did in his previous 63 starts, and what the Browns are hoping they see on Sunday.