Cool Down On Criticism Of Stefanski

A lot of people around town, including folks who cover the team are upset with the Cleveland Browns’ choice of former Minnesota offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski as the new head coach.

Look, regardless of who you wanted to be the coach, it isn’t fair to condemn the pick until Stefanski coaches a few games that count this fall.

Successful head coaches come from all different backgrounds. John Harbaugh was a special teams coach, Andy Reid was an offensive coordinator, Bill Belichick, of course, a defensive coordinator.

Some were hot candidates at the time, others weren’t. The point is you don’t know what you have in a head coach until he’s thrown into the fire and he actually does it.

We understand that’s not what people want to hear, but it’s the truth.

There is no correlation between Super Bowl rings as an assistant to being a successful head coach, nor does success as a coordinator.

We do know than in Stefanski’s only year (2019) as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator, Minnesota ranked 4th in rushing attempts, and 30th in passing attempts. Since the Browns’ best offensive player is Nick Chubb, that seems to be a good fit.

We would also think it means the Browns will try to keep Kareem Hunt too, giving them the best tandem at the position in the NFL.

It sounds simple and trite, but if Stefanski runs an offense suited to the strengths of Baker Mayfield, and hires a defensive coordinator who can design a scheme to stop the run, it says here the Cleveland Browns will have success next season.

Yes, they could use a couple offensive linemen, a linebacker or two, and some safeties, but it isn’t like the team is devoid of talent, and that differs from past coaching hires.

The front office wants “alignment”, meaning everyone is on the same page, so hopefully, the new offensive coordinator is someone who has the same principles as Stefanski, which would be completely different from the 2019 edition of the team.

That doesn’t mean we think all is warm and fuzzy with the hiring process.

It was reported that the coach will be expected to run game plans through the analytic department, which is not troublesome.

We understand the word “analytics” scares some football people, but it is simply checking tendencies and tracking success. Perhaps if Freddie Kitchens listened this past season, he would have used more one running back, two tight end sets, which the Browns were successful with.

However, we cringe at the weekly meetings the day after the game with the owner. A smart man knows what he doesn’t know, and we would bet it won’t be long before Stefanski will tire of this process.

A better solution would be to have Paul DePodesta, whoever is the new general manager, and the coach sit down to discuss any points of importance and have DePodesta explain things to the ownership.

That keeps the alignment intact. No chance for Jimmy Haslam to get friendly with Stefanski and decide the coach is the “guy” and then get rid of the other two.

The pre-1999 owner would do the same thing. Fall in love with a coach. That’s why Ernie Accorsi left the organization.

Let’s give Kevin Stefanski a chance. Don’t let preconceived notions get in the way of evaluating him. Doing so as a fan is no difference than the impetuousness of the man who owns the team.

Shurmur Needs to Embrace the Run

One of the great football quotes of all time belongs to former Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints coach Bum Phillips talking about Don Shula.

Phillips said something to the effect that Shula can take his team and beat yours, and he can take your team and beat his. We are paraphrasing slightly.

The point is that Shula looked at the talent on hand and made a game plan that fit the talent.

To put it even simpler, he didn’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole.

That’s a weakness of many coaches, and Browns’ coach Pat Shurmur is one of them.

So is his mentor, Philadelphia Eagles’ coach Andy Reid.

Both guys want to throw the football, even when they should be running the ball. Sometimes they just aren’t patient enough. The Browns’ opener against the Eagles shouldn’t have been close, but Reid refused to give the ball to LeSean McCoy, who Cleveland couldn’t stop.

For example, let’s look at last Sunday’s game against the Giants.

After the Browns took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, New York’s next 10 plays went as follows: run, pass, run, run, pass, pass, pass, run, run, pass.

That’s a 50/50 split between running the ball and throwing it.

Granted, it was the first quarter and there was plenty of time for the Giants to get back in the football game.

When New York scored early in the second have to increase their lead to 17 points at 34-17, here are the next ten plays used by the Browns: pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, run, pass, pass, pass.

That would be nine out of ten plays throwing the football, keeping in mind the Browns best offensive player is Trent Richardson.

To be fair, a few of those passes were to Richardson, but at the end of those ten plays, there were still almost 10 minutes left in the game and Cleveland had shaved the deficit to two touchdowns.

Certainly there should be a sense of urgency, but it shouldn’t involve a total dismissal of the running game.

Let’s look at 2011. In the opener against Cincinnati, which wound up being a 10 point loss, the Browns threw 40 times and ran just 26 times.

Game                                     Rushes                        Passes
Cincinnati (L 17-27)          26                                  40
Indianapolis (W 27-19)     34                                  32
Miami (W 17-16)                 19                                   39
Tennessee (L 13-31)           22                                   61
Oakland (L 17-24)               21                                   45
Seattle (W 6-3)                      45                                   35
San Francisco (L 10-20)   23                                   34
Houston (L 12-30)              21                                    22
St. Louis (L 12-13)               30                                   27
Jacksonville (w 14-10)      28                                   24
Cincinnati (L 20-23)          30                                   34
Baltimore (L 10-24)           17                                    36
Pittsburgh (L 3-14)             30                                   36
Arizona (L 17-20)               29                                   31
Baltimore (L 14-20)           25                                   33
Pittsburgh (L 9-13)             15                                   41

This year, Brandon Weeden is second in the NFL in passes attempted through five weeks.

While you can certainly understand throwing the football a lot when you are behind, you can plainly see there weren’t too many games when the Browns were out of it from the get go.

They threw the ball 20 more times than ran in a one point WIN against Miami. There were 24 more throws than runs in a seven point loss to Oakland.

Browns quarterbacks threw it 19 times more than they handed off in a six point loss to the Ravens, and a greater disparity was shown in a four point defeat against the Steelers.

You can understand the affinity for the pass last season because Peyton Hillis was injured, but this year, the Browns have Trent Richardson and an offensive line which features two first round picks and Pro Bowlers in Joe Thomas and Alex Mack, a second round pick in Mitchell Schwartz, and two other young guards in Jason Pinkston and Shaun Lauvao.

The running game should be the strength of the team, right now the coaching staff doesn’t realize it.

Yes, the NFL is a passing league and throwing the football is the “sexy” thing to do. Fans watch games and think “why don’t they throw every time?”

But the name of the game is winning and to do that, you need to use your best players and weapons.

Right now, the Cleveland Browns should be looking to run the ball more often and more effectively.

Browns Start 2012 With Another Close Loss

When you come down to it, the Cleveland Browns lost their first game of the season to the Philadelphia Eagles in a most predictable way. They couldn’t run the ball when it counted, and they couldn’t stop the run either.

You could make the argument that if Eagles’ coach Andy Reid had not been so stubborn about throwing the football, the visitors would have won rather easily.

Philadelphia averaged five yards per carry running the football, yet had QB Michael Vick throw the ball 56 times. His four interceptions kept the Browns in the game, and his last resulted in a touchdown return by LB D’Qwell Jackson which gave Cleveland a 16-10 lead.

The Browns ran for 99 yards and a 4.5 per carry average, but here is where statistics are meaningless. 35 yards came on a double reverse by rookie WR Travis Benjamin and 25 more came on QB Brandon Weeden’s 25 yard scamper as the first half ended. On the other 2o attempts to run to ball, Cleveland gained just 49 yards.

After the pick which gave the Browns the lead, the Eagles ran for 44 of the 52 yards they gained to set up a field goal try of 45 yards, which Alex Henery missed giving the home team the ball back with a six point lead on their own 35 yard line and 9:01 remaining in the game.

It was time to run some time off the clock and shorten the game, but in the end Cleveland could only run about two and a half minutes off the timer, and gave Philadelphia and all their weapons the ball back with over six minutes left.

Cleveland ran two running plays and a short pass to pick up one first down, but on the next play, rookie RB Trent Richardson was stuffed for a one run loss, and then Weeden threw two incomplete passes, which of course stopped the clock.

The Eagles then converted the next drive for a touchdown with 1:18 remaining and it took only one play for Weeden to throw his fourth interception of the game and seal the deal for Philly.

The rookie passer has a dreadful day, hitting just 12 of 35 throws for 118 yards, and could not get Cleveland into the end zone.

Of the four pick offs, two were bad. The one that virtually ended the game, and a deep sideline route for his third turnover.

The first was a beautiful throw that WR Greg Little couldn’t hold in the red zone, and the second was a deep throw on third and ten which amounted to nothing more than a punt.

The rookie did fumble twice, which is beginning to be worrisome. He simply has to hold on to the football.

And he was overthrowing a lot. He missed several wide open targets because passes were fired ten yards over their heads.

Richardson had his moments, like when he ran over Philadelphia S Kurt Coleman, resulting in the Eagle’s helmet flying off, but it was curious that offensive coordinator Brad Childress never had the rookie running wide all day. Pretty much all of his carries were between the tackles.

Several people have hammered on Pat Shurmur about not going for two after Jackson’s TD and make it a 17-10 game. However, you can’t assume they will get the two points. If it fails, the score is 15-10, and a touchdown alone beats you. Plus, the Eagles then would have definitely gone for two, which would have meant a field goal would send the game to overtime.

Defensive coordinator Dick Jauron deserves credit for a great game plan, and S T.J. Ward and CB Joe Haden had fine games. Ward caused a fumble and Haden had an interception, both of which resulted in Phil Dawson field goals.

And rookie free agent LBs, L. J. Fort and Craig Robertson both had interceptions as well. Guess the coaching staff was right in not being worried about playing either guy.

The Browns almost won, and losing another close game is tough to swallow. However, remember this team has 15 rookies and nine second year players. They will no doubt get better, and Weeden will play better next week.

As much as it is difficult, you have to keep the big picture in mind.