Dawgs By Nature
The Cleveland Browns are back on the road for their final game before the bye week as they face the New England Patriots.
Unsurprisingly, the Browns have lost five in a row and 10 of the last 12 meetings against the Patriots, and have not defeated the Patriots as the road team since 1992.
Cleveland broke its three-game losing streak with a win last week over the Miami Dolphins, while the Patriots have won four in a row behind the rise of second-year quarterback Drake Maye.
The game will mark the fourth consecutive start for Cleveland rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who has not committed a turnover as the starter, but has also not lit up the scoreboard or the stat sheet.
On Thursday, Cleveland’s coordinators held their weekly meeting with the press, and here are the key takeaways from what they had to say about the upcoming game against the Patriots.
Cornerback Tyson Campbell had a pick-six against the Dolphins to open the second half, and Schwartz is expecting more from the physical corner as he continues to get comfortable with the team:
“The more he gets boots on the ground and the more comfortable with things, you start seeing a playmaker. (Miami) made a long run early in that game and a guy like (De’Von) Achane is going to make some plays like that. We didn’t hit that great, but you know, Tyson tracked him down, we got a stop, held them to a field goal. And I think, you know, that’s probably the biggest thing.
“There were some times in that game, we had some bad field position, we had to punt back up, got the ball midfield. I was really pleased with our ability to respond to those things because that’s something that we haven’t always been at our best at, over the course of the year. Hopefully that’ll move, Tyson’s a big part of that.”
Defensive end Alex Wright suffered a season-ending injury in Week 4 of the 2024 season, but has bounced back to be a key part of the defensive line this year, according to Schwartz:
“He’s playing with great effort. He’s a factor in pass rush. He’s such a big guy, long, he can affect the passer in a lot of different ways. He’s playing really physical run defense. There’s a lot to like there.
“We’re getting a lot of production out of all of our defensive line. You guys know we play a lot of different guys, but, you know, Alex has certainly made a lot of plays. Some of those pursuit plays he was making in (the Miami) game were that’s what you have to do against a team, that’s throwing the ball quick and getting the ball out on the perimeter.”
The Browns have clearly defined that Dillon Gabriel is the starting quarterback and fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders is the backup. How are the...
