Five extra points: Kevin O’Connell makes the right moves in managing Vikings’ injuries

Kevin O’Connell’s plan for protecting a backup quarterback and a beat-up, ragamuffin offensive line from Cleveland’s swarming, top-ranked defense was so good that the Vikings actually raised their record to 5-17 when losing the turnover battle — two lost fumbles, no takeaways — since he arrived in Minnesota in 2022.

The 21-17 victory in London featured Carson Wentz unloading the ball quickly; guards pulling one way as ballcarriers slipped the other way; Jalen Nailor jet-sweeping 15 yards; and the league’s finest defender, Myles Garrett, getting defanged with three tackles and no splash plays.

Wentz was sacked three times, stayed upright other than that and was pressured only mildly except for three scrambles, one of which was highly unadvised and nearly took out his left shoulder on a 7-yard gain on third-and-9 right before halftime. When getting the ball off while hurried, Wentz completed six of nine passes for 78 yards, including 32-yard deep ball that showed the veteran QB what each of his predecessors learned before him: all 50-50 balls to Justin Jefferson favor the Vikings.

Another throw that faced mild pressure came on K.O.’s call of the day: a trick-play shotgun snap to Cam Akers that ended with the running back’s first career pass going 32 yards for a touchdown to Josh Oliver.

K.O.’s other gem was throwing the challenge flag — his first of the year — on what was ruled a 17-yard catch by Jerry Jeudy on third-and-13 with the score tied 7-7 late in the first half. Butterfinger Jerry’s fourth key drop of the year forced the Browns to punt. O’Connell is now 13-9 in challenges as Vikings coach.

Browns coach and former Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski also had a good plan to help his backup quarterback — rookie Dillon Gabriel, who was making his NFL starting debut — and a fifth different starting offensive line in five games.

Gabriel wasn’t the problem. He got the ball out quick, got sacked only two times, was hit or knocked down only two other times, didn’t turn the ball over and rode a running game that piled up 140 yards on 32 carries (4.4 yards per carry). When the Browns went 69 yards on 13 plays, nine of them runs, to take a 17-14 lead in the third quarter, it was Gabriel who completed an 18-yard pass on a quick bootleg and threaded a 9-yard touchdown bullet pass into three defenders to David Njoku on third-and-goal. When getting the ball off while hurried, Gabriel completed five of 11 passes for 49 yards and a touchdown on a surprise call on second-and-goal from the 1.

Despite winning the turnover battle 2-0, the Browns were still the Browns. They had 10 penalties for 78 yards. They held not once, but twice, on Quinshon Judkins’ negated 56-yard touchdown run. They were flagged for illegal contact on a third-down incompletion, false start on third-and-goal from the 8 while settling for a field goal, and a pass interference on third-and-7 to extend a Vikings touchdown drive to go ahead 14-10. After the PI, the Vikings had completions of 21 yards to Jefferson and 15 to Jordan Addison, and three Jordan Mason runs for 20 yards and a touchdown.

Yep. Same old Browns as they failed to reach 20 points for the 10th consecutive game.

O’Connell’s worst of few bad moments came on the Vikings’ second possession of the second half. Having fallen behind 17-14, K.O. grew impatient and opened with a slow-developing, double-hitch deep ball that ended with the Browns pass rush dropping Wentz for an easy 8-yard sack. What ensued appeared to be just a routine three-and-out from the Vikings 19-yard line that would keep momentum in Cleveland’s favor.

Instead, punter Ryan Wright, who’s finally starting to play like he did as an undrafted rookie in 2022, bailed O’Connell out with a career-long 77-yard punt that was downed at the Cleveland 2. Besides misplaying the punt, the Browns also committed a holding penalty, moving the ball back to the 1.

The Browns went three-and-out. The Vikings didn’t capitalize, points-wise, fumbling the ball away and missing a 51-yard field goal on their next two possessions, but Wright most definitely kept the Browns from building on the momentum they had when they went up by three.

With the Eagles and a guy named Saquon Barkley waiting in the wings following the bye week, let’s not get too comfortable with a win over the Browns. If you do get to feeling too comfortable, put on the tape and watch the run defense, which wasn’t good enough overall for the third time in four games.

Safety Theo Jackson got things started by missing a tackle in the hole, turning what should have been maybe a 2-yard gain by Judkins into a 32-yarder en route to Cleveland taking a 7-0 lead. Judkins also had a 14-yard run after a false start to open a drive, and another 14-yarder on second-and-9. The Browns also imposed their will when they converted three fourth-and-1s with Judkins gaining 2 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Vikings 6 and 2 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Vikings 11, and Jerome Ford gaining 2 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Cleveland 43.

In defense of the run defense, it did slam the door late in the fourth quarter to set up the Vikings’ winning drive. With 3:27 left and the Browns starting at their 41, Judkins was dropped for a 1-yard loss by Jonathan Greenard and Eric Wilson, and for no gain by Javon Hargrave and Dallas Turner before Stefanski inexplicably called a pass play that was woefully incomplete. The three-and-out killed only 22 seconds of clock time and left the Vikings with their last timeout. Hargrave also stopped Judkins for no gain on third-and-1 three snaps after Wright’s 77-yard punt.

Good job in those cases, guys, but you still need to be better for four quarters.

The teams combined to go only 6-for-24 on third-down conversions (25%). The Browns were only 3-for-15 (20%), including 1-for-6 in the second half — the only conversion being Garbriel’s outstanding 9-yard touchdown strike.

The mobile Gabriel did take off once on third down. It was third-and-10 from the Cleveland 11. The teams had just traded punts after consecutive touchdown drives to make it a 7-7 game.

Gabriel was on his way upfield with little but green grass ahead when 36-year-old Harrison Smith showed us he’s still got plenty left to give this team. Back from an illness for only his third game, Smith made his best play of the season: an open-field tackle that forced a three-and-out 2 yards short of the first down.

Smith went into the game having played only 39 snaps this year — 36% of the defensive snaps when he’s been active. He’s still stuck on 199 career starts, including playoffs, having served as a backup for the third time this year on Sunday.

But Smith did have a season-high five tackles, including his 826th regular-season solo tackle of a quarterback who was 10 years old when Smith’s NFL career began 14 seasons ago.