Talking Browns with Rody

The Cleveland Browns are in limbo it seems. There are a few topics I want to address here and going forward in the days and weeks ahead regarding this team. The past. The future. The head coach. The roster. The path forward.

Some background on me

Before diving too deep into that, allow me to tell you about myself. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and growing up just down I-71 in Columbus, my relationship with this team is the longest one I’ve had. It has also been the most emotional one outside of those with my wife and children. However, once you sort past emotion, logic settles in. That logical part of my brain has never been able to shut off while analyzing this team/franchise.

First the head coach. A lot of people (myself included) think Kevin Stefanski should be on the hot seat. Others want him to give up play calling. And then there’s a contingent of those who defend him. I can sum up my reasoning to why I believe Stefanski’s seat should be getting warm with one question.

Is Kevin Stefanski a leader of men?

I truly do not know. We are in his third year now. I should be able to answer this by now definitively. There were red flags in the prior two seasons. Awful defense. Locker room drama. Blown leads. Playing down to opponents. Talk of changes. Nothing ever changing. I do believe Stefanski is an above average offensive play caller and coordinator. That is not his role with this team though. Even with that, like most offensive minded coaches (Andy Reid, Brandon Staley, Josh McDaniel etc.) there is a tendency to succumb to “smartest man in the room syndrome” with Stefanski. Getting too cute with play calls. Substitution pattern. It’s not just the going for it on 4^th down and leaving points on the field. It’s the plays that are called at times while making that decision.

Too nice?

I understand after the Freddie Kitchens year, and with a locker room filled with loud personalities from OBJ, to Baker, and Jarvis Landry etc. a cool, calm, collected coach seemed to be the right recipe. My biggest concern with Stefanski however, and it has always stuck out to me, was that he came off as Mike Brown.

We all remember Mike Brown, right? Head Coach of the Cavs. Nice guy. Won some games with a talented roster, and the best player in the league. But you weren’t going to win championships with Mike Brown as your head coach. Kevin Stefanski to me, is the Browns version of Mike Brown.

Above average coach. Nice guy. But when you have a championship roster, with Nick Chubb, Myles Garrett, and the best offensive line in football in the primes of their careers, you cannot sit back and watch the window close. Stefanski is better than most that the Browns have had as their head man since ’99 (sound like a familiar sentiment?) but at 2-4 and having watched this team again this season, play down to opponents, and blow 4^th quarter leads he has 11 games to prove he’s the right guy to lead a championship level roster. Because make no mistake. As you look across this AFC North, this is the most talented roster from top to bottom in the division, especially once you get your starting quarterback in the lineup.

Looking ahead

Again, moving forward, we will talk more about the roster. Solutions. Players. On and on. But we start here. With the Head Coach. Head Coaches are not defined by offensive statistics alone. They are defined by wins and losses. Thus far Stefanski has done less with more than any other coach has had in Cleveland. Players aren’t being developed. Persistent issues that have carried on for now in the third season have not been fixed. There’s no OBJ, or Baker, or Covid to deflect these issues towards this season. It was quite easy to miss a lot of these red flags in years past because of the above-mentioned things that dominated headlines. This week’s game in Baltimore will provide a lot of answers after the embarrassment at home against New England. I’ll be tuned in just like all of you. Watching, rooting, screaming, and hopefully by 4:30 pm EST Sunday, celebrating a victory over the rat birds in Maryland, and seeing for once some progress towards rectifying issues within this team. And I look forward to venting, rejoicing, and sharing our relationships we all have with the Browns here going forward.