For many years, the Cleveland Browns were a train wreck. They were perpetually at the bottom of the standings, and went through quarterback after quarterback and coach after coach trying to reverse this trend.
After the debacle on Sunday, a 45-7 beatdown at the hands of the New England Patriots, it feels a little like those days in Berea, and it is up to GM Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski to nip it in the bud.
Myles Garrett questioned defensive coordinator Joe Woods immediately after the game about the philosophy and John Johnson III basically agreed with him.
Stefanski said he addressed the situation with Garrett, and clearly the message needs to be sent to the locker room that things like this need to stay in the locker room.
After all, the head coach is very careful in his post game press conferences not to blame anyone. We know Stefanski gets some rolling eyes when he says he has to “coach better”, but we feel he has told his players HE will take the blame when they lose and give them the credit when they win.
That’s called being a leader.
We are sure that is not the message within the locker room and in meetings following a loss. The staff points out what went wrong and makes it incumbent on the players to improve and do what they are supposed to do.
Make no mistake about that.
This doesn’t mean the coaching staff is blameless. If Woods is indeed calling for schemes that have not worked in practice, he is losing, if not lost the trust of the defensive players. Coaches simply cannot call something where the players think to themselves or actually say in the huddle, this isn’t going to work.
Once you start doing this, the coach has to rebuild the trust with his guys. Otherwise, the bond is broken.
What Stefanski and Berry must do is remind the players they are in this together win or lose, and he has their back, which he demonstrates every week. The Browns simply cannot have the sniping and grousing in the media. It serves no good purpose.
The Browns need to do everything better right now, including the coaching staff. They have talent. They need to eliminate the pre-snap penalties, the dropped passes, the blown coverages that seem to plague them weekly.
For example, there is no question Baker Mayfield’s interception was a terrible decision. However, if Donovan Peoples-Jones catches the second down pass (the previous play), a clearly catchable ball, the result is third and short, and that play call is completely different.
It has to start this Sunday though. Much has been made about the remaining schedule for the Browns, but the reality is they will probably only be a decided underdog (seven points or more) in one game, the Christmas Day tilt against Green Bay.
So, could they win five out of the final seven and finish at 10-7, which based on the AFC right now, probably gets them in? Of course they can.
But they have to start playing better, coaching better (especially defensively), and stop making mistakes.
This is why Kevin Stefanski was brought in. He is just like everyone else and needs to unite the troops.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 