In his first career start, Dillon Gabriel lived the full Cleveland Browns experience. The rookie performed well, but still lost 2117 against the Minnesota Vikings in London. Gabriel wasn't asked to do much in the contest, though came through when needed.
In his first career start, Dillon Gabriel lived the full Cleveland Browns experience. The rookie performed well, but still lost 21-17 against the Minnesota Vikings in London.
Gabriel wasn't asked to do much in the contest, though came through when needed. The rookie finished 18 of 32 with 162 yards and two touchdowns. He was helped by an excellent running game. Quinshon Judkins turned in a star-making performance on a national stage, rushing 23 times for 110 yards. Judkins had the possibility for even more in the contest, but had a long touchdown run taken off the board as a result of offensive holding.
On the rare instance where Judkins was stopped, Gabriel found ways to deliver. His first touchdown pass of the day came with the team on the 1-yard line. After a fake to Judkins, Gabriel found fellow rookie Harold Fannin in the flat for an easy score.
Gabriel's second touchdown was more impressive. On a 3rd and 9, Gabriel found tight end David Njoku on a tight window throw to the center of the field. Njoku had three defenders closing in on him, but Gabriel was able to drive the ball to Njoku before anyone could knock it away.
Despite those touchdowns, Gabriel and the Browns couldn't fully pull away from a Vikings team that experienced multiple obstacles — some self-inflicted and some incidental — during the contest.
Things got off to a rocky start for Minnesota after fans noticed wideout Jordan Addison wasn't on the field for the team's first couple drives. The receiver missed the entire first quarter due to a coach's decision. No other information was made available about why Addison missed time early.
Addison returned for the start of the second quarter, but then it was quarterback Carson Wentz's turn to miss time. Wentz briefly left the game at the end of the second quarter due to a left shoulder injury. Though undrafted rookie Max Brosmer briefly entered the game to take a knee and end the half, Wentz was able to return for the start of the third quarter. He seemed unaffected by the injury the rest of the way, leading the Vikings to a score during the team's first drive of the third quarter.
The team also lost running back Jordan Mason to an injury briefly. But after backup running back Xavier Scott fumbled the ball away, Mason returned to action for the fourth quarter.
The Vikings managed to overcome those issues, setting up for a game-tying field goal with 9:41 to play. But Will Reichard missed a 51-yard attempt, keeping the Browns ahead 17-14.
Minnesota managed to force Cleveland to punt twice, setting up a potential game-winning or game-tying drive with just over three minutes to play.
Wentz managed some clutch throws against the Browns, including a 21-yard pass to Justin Jefferson that put the Vikings in game-tying field goal range.
While Jefferson did plenty of work to get the Vikings down the field, it was Addison who made up for his first-quarter suspension with a tremendous end zone grab on a well-placed ball from Wentz.
That gave the Vikings a 21-17 lead with just 25 seconds left to play.
Gabriel hit Isaiah Bond on a 22-yard gain to set up a Hail Mary attempt with just seven seconds to play. He hit Jamari Thrash for another 22-yard gain on the next play, but Thrash couldn't get out of bounds, giving the Vikings the 21-17 win.
Vikings vs. Browns live blog
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more as the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns face off in the next installment of the NFL's international series from London.
Source: "AOL Sports"
Source: GETTY MAG
Read More >> Full Article on Source: GETTY MAG
#LALifestyle #USCelebrities