CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel took questions from reporters on Wednesday with regard to the Joe Flacco trade, the Browns offense, looking ahead to playing the Pittsburgh Steelers, and more.
Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department:
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Dillon, how’d you find out? What was your reaction when you heard that Joe (Flacco) was traded yesterday?
“Yeah, found out at the QB meeting, got to talk to Joe right before he was heading out. But like I said before, I appreciate him. He’s a part of the journey and this journey for me individually in the NFL, so grateful for him and wish him the best of luck for sure.”
How much of a shock was it for you?
“I’m not surprised by anything at this point in the NFL. It’s the day and age we live in, so anything can really happen.”
How do you replace that experience and leadership that I think you were relying on to some degree without him here and then what’s that dynamic in that room now?
“Yeah, I think dynamic is always evolving, especially when there is change. But, you know, I think it still goes back to us being able to have that experience for ourselves. I think you learn the best when you are thrown into a fire a little bit. I’d be a hypocrite to say otherwise. So, I think the more experience you gain game after game, week after week, you’ll get better. And, you know, the BZappe (Bailey Zappe) has played a bunch of ball as well.”
Dillon, from an individual standpoint, what were your first impressions when you watched the film?
“Yeah, just, you know, a lot to clean up. There’s always going to be good and bad, but I think just having a calm persistence to attack it regardless of the result and try to get better within your process. But is there things I want back? 100%, you know what I mean? I think that’s for everyone in this game, but I think you got to look at it and find solutions and be solutions-based that can help the outcome here in the future.”
In your last college career, you played in a lot of hostile environments. Pittsburgh is one in the NFL. So, would you rather not know the history of Pittsburgh? Playing in Pittsburgh, keep your mind uncluttered and just find out for yourself what it’s like?
“I think you just, you kind of find out by yourself. Of course, you hear a lot from others and understanding 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 j and doing it a high level. So that’ll all come and have a lot of respect for Pittsburgh and what they’ve done and that’s for every opponent we play.”
Dillon, what is maybe one major thing that you learned from Joe Flacco? What will you continue to hear or see in your mind about something that he took, told you or taught you?
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s one thing. I wouldn’t want to limit it to that. But I think just overall his process, how he’s been about his business from day one, really. How he approaches meetings, practice, you know, taking care of his body, kind of his daily routine. So, I think you just, you pick up on that as you’re around people and try to make it your own and learn how you can improve your routine. But more importantly, just the friendship and the person he is. Although there is an age gap, I think just being able to connect and have those conversations, I appreciate those a lot.”
In the game in London, I couldn’t tell there, but when you were on the sideline looking over the tablet, was (Joe) Flacco involved?
“I think everyone’s involved in that. I don’t want to break down the whole, but you look at your tablet and you kind of think for yourself, you ask questions, guys, are there kind of flip flop even when I was in that chair. So just, I think everyone says what they can whenever, you know, time is right.”
Dillon, Kevin (Stefanski) told us that he’s going to wait until later in the week to decide if Shedeur (Sanders) can be the number two or if maybe Bailey (Zappe) would be the number two. Does that impact you and your preparation?
“I don’t handle any of that. I’ll leave that to coaches. But we got a great room, bunch of guys that either played or, you know, have the potential to play. And I think we just come together as a team and the importance is trying to find ways to win. But I’ll leave that with coach.”
Not the decision, but what I meant was do the number one and number two guys because you guys are like out there taking most of the first team reps together. Is there a synergy that happens during the week between you guys just in terms of preparation, in terms of film study and does this sort of delay in decision, does that impact your preparations in any way whatsoever or do you guys all do that stuff together?
“No, it’s always been together. So, I think just business as usual, but like I said, just solution-based and trying to find ways to win and be flexible and open to that.”
That being said, do you have conversation with Shedeur after the Flacco trade kind of how crazy and surreal it is that, you know, it started out four-man competition and now the two rookies are left standing. Did you guys have conversations about that?
“I think our whole room just talked shortly after. But at this point we’re really not surprised what can happen in the NFL, so.”
Already you’re not surprised?
“Yeah, at this point, anything can happen.”
Pittsburgh has a lot of turnovers on defense. What do you see so far?
“Yeah, they’re extremely talented. I think there’s individual pieces for sure, but I think as a whole, they play really well together. Know a couple of the guys, know of a lot of the guys, so got a lot of respect for them. We got to prepare a certain way. I think that’s every week, but most importantly this week because that’s all you can control.”
Dillon, with those takeaways that they force. I guess how much of a test is this for your processing since obviously I know that’s what everyone talks about.
“Yeah, I think it’s always a test week-to-week. There’s a challenge ahead and certain teams have different challenges, and you got to find solutions to that. 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.”
Dillon, 17 points. That’s kind of been where this offense has been since the beginning of last year. And I know you don’t have anything to do with that, but you know, your first start, you guys score 17. So just from your standpoint, what do you think you guys can do potentially to get beyond that and give yourselves a chance to win more of these games?
“Sustainability. We always talk about it, you know, you want to be efficient and sustain drives, but it is hard to score points, of course, but you know, that’s our job. We gotta find ways to do that and do it at a higher clip. But small gains, we’re building and gotta continue to do that. But we’d love to score every single drive, obviously, but I think that’s us learning to sustain drives together. And you know, you watch the film back, there’s a lot of times we can help ourselves make more competitive plays and starts with me for sure.”
Dillon, we’ve talked a lot to you about the rookie class in general, and it’s just beyond the draft, which is a bunch of rookies and they’re playing big roles. So first, how exciting is that? But also what kind of challenges do you think it presents, whether it’s during a practice week or on a game day.
“Yeah, it’s a good young corps. A lot of guys that I’ll say, like, I’ve known a bunch about and glad I get to go to war with, but I think that just shows us some belief in all the experience that we’ve had as a whole, going out there and doing our thing. But a lot of guys who’ve made a lot of plays for us this season thus far, will continue to. But I think we’re continuing to build that, you know, and the trust is obviously there. But how can we take it to a whole another level? Because like I said, we gotta, put solutions that can help us find a better outcome.”
Dillon, now that your first start is out of the way, how prepared do you feel to be able to take on more and do more within the offense and what you guys are trying to accomplish off that?“Yeah, each week you get better and more comfortable. That’s with everyone. And you want to be able to do more. You know, that’s what we’re trying to do and find solutions we have to, so that’s part of it. But we’ll continue to do that as much as possible.”
I know it’s your first road start, but what are you most looking forward to about playing in Pittsburgh?
“Just excited for the opportunity. 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.”
With respect to having a veteran presence in the room. I know you’ve talked about this before, that Deshaun Watson has been a help to you guys. I’ve seen him working with you, even Shedeur. So can you just address that a little bit about, you know, now, like, even with Joe gone, you guys still have a pretty experienced veteran in that room with you, even though we don’t see him very much.
“Yeah, Deshaun’s been a great guy to me and shares his knowledge whenever I ask questions. So, I’m very appreciative of him and know that relationship will continue to evolve as well.”
In the London game, it seemed, at least to me, tell me if I’m wrong, that you spent a lot of time on the pockets rather than outside. Was that by design or did they keep you in the pocket?
“I think as an offense you always strive to be in sync and flow and on time. And I think, you know, with our offense particularly, I think you see how fun it can be when that’s efficient. But I think you strive and want to touch that as much as possible, but anytime you’re not, you’re given a chance, and you want to ad lib and have that ability, of course. But I think you see it as much as you can touch that as possible, the more efficient you are down to down.”