Browns

Browns rookie QB Dillon Gabriel entered the NFL in one of the toughest situations a young quarterback can step into, and the team acknowledged that they need to give him more help.

“He kept battling and he made some plays,” Browns HC Kevin Stefanski said, via Fox Sports. “We’ve just got to, around him, make some plays. We’ve got to be better.”

Gabriel has earned the respect of DE Myles Garrett after being hit 16 times against the Steelers’ defense and still trying to continue making plays.

“I don’t think anyone had any misunderstandings about who he was,” Garrett said. “I’m not surprised. That’s just the man he is.”

Gabriel’s receivers also dropped a number of passes, which didn’t help his cause in trying to lead the offense down the field.

“He was very composed in the pocket and in the huddle,” Browns OG Joel Bitonio said. “None of that was ever bad. I think he even found himself a little bit as we went along. There were some bright spots there.”

Bitonio added that he was also impressed with Gabriel’s toughness and willingness to move on to the next play.

“I mean, there were a few times he got hit very hard,” Bitonio said. “You don’t know how those guys will respond, but he just popped up and was back in the huddle calling the next play. Business as usual.”

• The Browns tried out LB Eugene Asante on Tuesday, per the NFL Transactions wire. 

Ravens

Baltimore continues to struggle, especially without QB Lamar Jackson, and fell to 1-5 heading into the bye week. Ravens HC John Harbaugh still has the utmost faith they can turn the season around because of the people in the building and their work ethic. 

“Our focus going forward and what we can accomplish for the next 11 games and try to earn our way into the playoffs, which obviously, as it was pointed out [Sunday] night has not been done very often with the record we have,” Harbaugh said, via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “But we still believe we can do it.”

“If I didn’t think we had the talent or the ability or the work ethic or the care factor from everybody in the building, then I wouldn’t be as optimistic as I am. I’m not trying to stand up here and feed anybody any baloney or say things that aren’t true or talk out of both sides of my mouth. I’m trying to be as honest and straightforward as I can about where we’re at and what we need to do.”

“Like I told the guys, what we’ve got to be able to do is understand, really, how close you are sometimes, and you can’t allow the weight of the disappointment or the weight of the scrutiny — you can’t allow that to derail you or to sidetrack you or to push you away from your goal, because we can accomplish what we want to accomplish,” Harbaugh said, via NY Times. “We can do it. We’re the kind of team that can do it.”

Ravens QB Cooper Rush had a poor performance, which led to the team inserting QB Tyler Huntley; however, Harbaugh stated that the plan was for both players to see action.

“The plan all along was to play both quarterbacks,” Harbaugh said.

Steelers

Steelers DB DeShon Elliott reflected on DB Jalen Ramsey‘s marquee performance that saw him notch two sacks.

“He’s a potential gold jacket,” Elliott said, via ESPN. “You kind of expect those things from somebody like that. When it happens, though, you’re like dang, especially when I saw him track the quarterback down from one side, run to the other side. I didn’t know his old self still had it. I didn’t know he had that speed on him still. But no, he’s a dog. I expect it out of him, but we’ve got a lot more to go, so it’ll be fun.”

Elliott added that the unit still hasn’t reached their potential but believes they could be among the league’s best by year’s end.

“We’re all playing together, playing fast and physical,” Elliott said. “When we’re a physical defense, we really can’t be stopped. We just got to keep playing sound defense, communicate, and right now we’re not a top-five defense, but we will be by the end of the season.”

Steelers HC Mike Tomlin confirmed that Ramsey was on a snap count on Sunday, but wanted to make sure that his reps counted.

“We certainly wanted to make sure that he could impact the game,” Tomlin said. “I cannot say enough about Jalen Ramsey. This guy plays outside corner, he plays nickel, he plays free safety. He is exactly what we hoped he would be and certainly he was significant today.”

• The Steelers hosted DB George Odum on a visit, per the NFL Transactions wire. 

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