Vikings - 21, Browns - 17
Q. What happened to the offense in the fourth quarter? Seemed like with the success you had earlier just hit a brick wall, the unit?
DILLON GABRIEL: I think just gotta convert. You look back, there's obvious times you've got to go make it happen. Starts with me. Us coming together collectively to go make that happen. You look at a lot of the third downs to extend drives, that's where we can continue to help ourselves.
Q. What did you learn from your first down first start, what was your big takeaway from that?
DILLON GABRIEL: I think I learned little details. Definitely was ready for that. But all the details come down to it.
And I think in any game you're going to want four to five plays back. Of course, the result will feel different, and maybe your four to five plays may feel different. But that's the game we live and play in. Gotta be better in those four to five plays is what and why you continue to work as hard as you do.
Q. Dillon, three or four throws where it looked like you and your receiver weren't on the same page. Were those missing --
DILLON GABRIEL: It wasn't "not on the same page." That's me on my end trying to be smart in certain situations. We get cloud and we want to make an answer there.
Being smart in certain situations, throwing the ball away and I think maybe a throw like that might look like a miscommunication, but also on the same side, being smart, understanding the situation that we are in.
What's more important, trying to fit something in there and getting to play another play.
Q. What could have been done differently on the next-to-last drive? Three plays, (indiscernible) seconds. (Indiscernible) called timeout twice. (Indiscernible) hand-offs?
DILLON GABRIEL: In those situations, you've got to go get a first. After two plays, 11 seconds, they're going to call two timeouts. Then we throw the ball and the clock stops. That's why if you look at it any time you don't get tackled inbounds or complete the ball you're going to have an 11-second drive.
But in a perfect world, you get it on third and the clock's winding and they only have one more timeout. But like I said, that's just the situation. They used their timeouts. That's why it was 11 seconds.
Q. Was (indiscernible) conservative, how things were handled?
DILLON GABRIEL: Understanding the situation, you want to keep the clock moving, use timeouts.
In a perfect world, we'd probably be talking differently if we go get that first. All of a sudden it's a great call. That's the world we live in. That's the balance. You teeter, but you've got to trust what we do.
That's what we do as a team. We trust what we get called. We try to run it to the best of our ability. And then we keep moving forward.
Q. The way Quinshon ran and the way you connected with David a few times, do you feel like, now that you've had this first one under your belt, that it's something to build on and the future looks bright with you guys with you at the helm?
DILLON GABRIEL: I think there's always something to build on. No moral victories whatsoever. But I think regardless of result, week-to-week, there's a process. And the more time you spend around anyone, you're going to get more continuity. That's keep it to the receiver, keep it to your running backs. It's us as a whole unit coming together really and getting comfortable with our unit.
Q. What was your perspective on that final play, when you guys (indiscernible) threw it to the sidelines and you run out of time?
DILLON GABRIEL: Our thought process is 7 seconds, try to catch the ball, get a chunk, get out of bounds, have a closer chance at doing it. You saw the Hail Mary prior to the timeout.
Just probably don't love your odds there, obviously, but anytime you can get it closer, that's what our thought was, whether it was our DB or that over-route got it.
Like I said, you live in those moments. In a perfect world, you want to get out of bounds. But he's trying to get his butt to get out of bounds and trying to understand that.
Q. (Indiscernible) tackles, negated a couple of key runs. How frustrating was that? Any sign of that during the week that was going to be a problem?
DILLON GABRIEL: I think playing penalties is one thing. And you're going to want them back. Like I said, everybody has four to five plays they want back. That's just the name of the game. But how do you regroup and how do you get forward?
I think any negative plays -- that's penalties, sacks, whatever it may be -- it don't help you in a series. And if you can convert in those situations and you're loving life. But you want to stay out of the sticks, you want to get into third-and-manageables and convert. Looking back there's things we can all clean up, and it starts with me.
Q. The defense (indiscernible) a couple of times. The takeaways, the sacks things like that. How do you feel about how the defense played, but unfortunately not able to come through?
DILLON GABRIEL: I think we continue to ride on our guys. They've been playing their butt off. And I think you look at a whole work of over five weeks.
It's hard to look at one game. Nobody's perfect. It ain't going to be a perfect world. We could have been in a better position to go convert on third, and all of a sudden, like Tony was saying, it's a different outcome and a different feeling.
But that's where we can help them out. This is a team deal. It ain't on one person. It ain't on everybody. But the truth is the result was the result and we've got to find a way to change that.
Q. (Indiscernible) for over 100 yards, could have been close to 200 without penalties. What did you bring to your game?
DILLON GABRIEL: Anytime can establish the run, there's confidence in that. I'm harping on, mayne saying it maybe too much, but when you run the ball effectively it sets up a lot of things. You can kind of have everything at your disposal when you are in manageable down-and-distances. Obviously it sets a lot of things up.
And he played his butt off. He's a guy we rely on. I think the world of him. He's a guy who is a workhorse, and I don't see that changing. But I think collectively as a group they've done just a good job of protecting and running the football effectively.
Q. Where do you guys go from here at 1-4, going back home, heading to Pittsburgh, where can you go from here?
DILLON GABRIEL: Gotta get back to work. There's a lot to improve on. But I think in moments like these, you find true competitors, you find people that want to be here.
Anyone can be really good riding high. And what I know about our guys is we continue to work hard, continue to grind. But four to five plays could be the difference, and the difference is truly what we'll be attacking.
Q. We saw what looked like a couple of zone reads today. How did you feel about making those decisions at an NFL level and the speed of the defense in those plays?
DILLON GABRIEL: I think it's part of it. You want to be able to extend. I think having mobility, whether it's ad-libbing and being able to go move outside the pocket is huge. And then having the threat of that as well. We run the ball effectively and we do it in different ways, but I think as you continue to design, you want to have really everything at your disposal.
Q. Did you feel a little handcuffed going down (indiscernible) more? Was that the game plan?
DILLON GABRIEL: Not necessarily. And I think you want to be aggressive, but you want to be smart as well and understanding what we're doing offensively.
There's things that some people take the bait and then there's times you can be really effective by taking what's there.
And I don't want to say it's a balance -- but it's balance as a quarterback. You've got to be smart and aggressive when it's your time to take shots, when it's your time to go get five and live another down.
So that's a balance that I'll continue to teeter, and you always try to push the issue and be aggressive. But at the same time you don't go broke taking off profits.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports