Cleveland Browns: 3 reasons why the Colts will be a real test for Browns

Kevin Stefanski won’t be that lucky again

If you haven’t guessed, each of the slide titles are lyrics from different songs. This one belongs to the Undertones, the rest are pretty obvious. So why this set of lyrics for this entry? It seems to be that Kevin Stefanski fancies himself a smart guy. Who’s to say he isn’t? He’s an Ivy League guy (Penn), and most NFL coaches in history can’t say that. Yet, we’re not in an Ivy League history class debating the ethics of the Inquisition, we’re talking X’s and O’s and in that subject, most NFL head coaches are pretty dang smart.

Stefanski nearly blew the entire Dallas Cowboys game on his own. In the fourth quarter, he started to get cute and not practical. He started calling more passing plays, especially on second down and extremely short. He had a possession that lasted a whole 18 seconds, at a time when the Browns needed to drain teh clock.

As many readers of this site know and point out, this offense is designed to keep the opponent’s offense off the field. To borrow a line from Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans, this offense is like novocaine. Just give it time, it always works. You can’t just forget why it works, however. If you inject novocaine into a guy’s shoe, it isn’t going to work. If you pass on second and short when you’re averaging 7.5 yards a carry, your offense isn’t going to work.

Yes, everyone knows the Browns are going to run the ball but not one team has proven they can honestly stop the offense from doing just that. So why bother going to anything else until the defense proves they can stop you? The Browns are averaging 200 rushing yards a game. Just run it. Don’t do gadget plays when you’re up by three and trying to run out the clock. Yes, it worked once, against the Cowboys hole-riddled defense, but same play against these Colts? That Odell Beckham trick play isn’t a touchdown, it’s a 20-yard-loss.

Stefanski has to stop calling plays like he’s trying to outsmart the other coaches and call plays that have a high percentage chance of working. This isn’t Butch Davis 2001 era Browns that didn’t have a lot of talent, this Cleveland Browns team is actually really good. So just move the ball and stop trying to show off how much more clever you are compared to the opposition.