Without a doubt, there is a lot of buzz surrounding the Cleveland Browns this season, for the first time in a long time.
While some point to the last seven games of the 2018 season, where the brown and orange went 5-2, others point out those wins didn’t come against anyone with a winning record.
And although some people like the hire of Freddie Kitchens as head coach, citing what he did with the offense last year when he took over as offensive coordinator, other feel having a half season under his belt in that job make him ill-equipped to handle his new gig.
The truth is no one knows what kind of head coach Kitchens will be, although he impressed GM John Dorsey enough to give him the job, which should count for something.
We also feel having a structure where the head coach reports to the general manager, so that makes them work together, and there is no sniping to the owner about the other person, is a breath of fresh air in Berea, and that also bodes well for the franchise.
But unlike some in the media, who hold Kitchens’ lack of experience against him and therefore are waiting for him to make mistakes to prove their point, we take an opposite tact.
We always take an optimistic view of new coaches, preferring to wait for them to show us they can’t handle the job before being critical.
Let’s face it, the great coaches in the NFL come from all different backgrounds, so there is really no way to judge any of them until the games start for real.
Heck, Hue Jackson was considered a “hot” coordinator when Jimmy Haslam hired him prior to the 2016 season, and no one can debate he was an abject failure in his tenure in Cleveland.
The coach everyone is trying to duplicate, Sean McVay, was in charge of the offense in Washington, and in his last season, the team had the third ranked offense in the NFL.
The other two years he was in charge? They ranked 13th and 17th.
John Harbaugh, who does a magnificent job getting the most out of his talent with the Baltimore Ravens (it pains us to say it), was a special teams coordinator for nine years with the Eagles and spent another year as a defensive backs coach before landing the job in Baltimore.
On the other hand, the coordinators for winning teams, squads that have made deep runs in the playoffs have failed as much, if not more, than they have succeeded.
Gus Bradley is a recent example. He was the defensive coordinator of the “Legion of Boom” in Seattle, but went 14-48 with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He’s back in the coordinator pool with the Chargers.
Being a lead assistant is a lot different than having all of the responsibility on your head. Some guys are cut out for the job as head coach, others are better suited to be assistants. There’s nothing wrong with that.
As for Freddie Kitchens? We won’t know until the games kick off for real on September 8th. We understand every Browns’ fan is excited about this season, but reserve judgment on the head coach until a few games have been actually played.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 