“Fire The Coach” Isn’t The Answer After Every Loss

It’s the reaction pretty much every time a good team loses: Fire the coach!

We have heard it each week the Browns lose. Kevin Stefanski needs to go. We heard it after Ohio State lost at home to Michigan, fire Ryan Day.

Confession here. We have coached at the high school and AAU levels, and although we understand it is not the same as coaching at the collegiate or professional levels, we understand that no matter what coaches map out, sometimes the players don’t do what they are supposed to do.

We also are not saying coaches should never get fired. When the players start tuning out what their leader is saying, it’s usually time to make a change.

To us, coaching is getting the most out of the players they have. We dislike the “system” coaches, the folks that say this is the way we coach, the scheme we use and the talent has to adapt.

That’s silly, and that thought comes from coaching at the high school level. You don’t get to pick your players at that level, so you can’t have a “system”, you coach the players you have.

Bad coaches become slaves to their systems. They are one trick ponies. And if that system doesn’t work and they fail using it time and again, and don’t alter anything? Then, they should lose their job and the reason should be stubborness.

The best coaches understand that. The great Don Shula won with a crushing ground attack and then drafted Dan Marino and decided a passing attack was the way to go.

However, it really is about understanding that coaches are people, and they make mistakes just like anyone else. They have bad days and sometimes they make bad decisions. If they make the same bad choices week after week or game after game, then their boss may have to do something.

One thing a coach should understand is the players know who can play and who cannot. And coaches need the trust of the players. They lose that trust if they use someone in a situation where they cannot succeed or if they lose a less talented player because of a personal issue.

Do the Browns trust and want to play for Kevin Stefanski? Right now, we see no evidence they aren’t, but if the defensive players have lost faith in Joe Woods, and he doesn’t do anything about that, he could have a problem in the locker room.

As for Day, first of all, his record at Ohio State is 45-5. He deserves the benefit of the doubt and the benefit of tweaking his philosophy. His “crime” right now is perhaps the Buckeyes have become a bit of a finesse team. If Day sees the same thing, and his team gets better on the line of scrimmage next year, then he will have fixed the issue, but that won’t be fully tested until they play their rivals.

Coaching isn’t just x’s and o’s. It’s being a leader, being accountable, being a listener, being a counselor, and also knowing something about the sport they are coaching.

Think about that the next time your favorite team loses. It may not be the coach’s fault and he should not have to pay for having a bad day with his or her job.

Avoiding Turnovers Is Key For Browns Today.

What a difference a week makes for the Cleveland Browns.

Seven days ago, there was turmoil surrounding the team, at least from the media and fans. The Browns decided their relationship with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was untenable, releasing him on Friday.

They had also lost three of their last four games, the offense looking stagnant in the last three contests, and were heading into Cincinnati to take on the explosive Bengals, who were sitting at 5-3, having handily defeated the Raven just two weeks prior.

A loss in southern Ohio would have Kevin Stefanski’s crew under the .500 mark and any chance of winning the AFC North dissolving.

Of course, we now know Cleveland took care of business against the Bengals, winning 41-16 to raise their record to 5-4, and with the Ravens losing to Miami on Thursday night, a win today against the Patriots would put the brown and orange just a half game out of the division lead.

It is very likely all four teams in the North will be within a half game of each other, and with most of the division games still left to play, the Browns still have four of their six remaining, they will be more important than ever.

The Patriots are a challenge because of their coach, the fabled Bill Belichick, most certainly going to the Hall of Fame, and likely to pass Don Shula at some point to be the league’s all-time leader in coaching wins. He currently sits 43 wins behind Shula.

Their defense forces turnovers, they rank fourth in the NFL in this statistic, but otherwise, their defense is in the middle of the pack, ranking 11th vs. the pass and 14th vs. the run. They have intercepted 13 passes.

In the two games they did not force a turnover, losses to New Orleans and Tampa Bay, the Pats scored just 13 and 17 points. It’s tough for them to put points on the board without the defense’s help.

And outside of the 54 point explosion in the second Jets game, the most points New England has scored this year is 29, in a loss to Dallas.

However, if you look at their schedule, two of their five wins are against the Jets, and they also defeated Houston. Those two teams have combined for three victories this year. They have won three in row though, including a victory over the Chargers, who Browns fans are all too familiar with.

The question for Stefanski and Baker Mayfield is can the offense hum like it did a week ago without the presence of Nick Chubb. D’Ernest Johnson did a fine job a couple of weeks ago vs. Denver and is certainly capable of putting up a 100 yard game, particularly with the offensive line relatively healthy.

When the Browns have both the ground attack and passing game working, they are a handful for any defense in the NFL.

With Chubb out, it will be interesting to see what Belichick wants to take away from the Stefanski, who by the way is similar in demeanor to the former Browns’ coach. They like to make teams one dimensional.

With 11 teams over .500 in the AFC, and Cleveland and New England being two of them, this is an important game in the conference standings.

Can the momentum gained in the win against the Bengals carry over? If the Browns hold on to the football, they will emerge from Foxboro with a needed victory.

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.