Browns: Kevin Stefanski hasn’t been perfect but he should be the Coach of the Year

Kevin Stefanski hasn’t been perfect with his play-calling for the Cleveland Browns but there isn’t a doubt that he should be the Coach of the Year.

Kevin Stefanski should be the NFL Coach of the Year in 2020. To be honest, there’s a part of me that wishes he’d turn over the play-calling duty. Honestly, I’ve never seen a more Jekyll and Hyde play-caller in my life. In the first half of the game, Stefanski is all Hyde-like, destroying defenses and ripping the souls out of them with his stellar play calling. Then the second half comes around and he’s all Jekyll-like. “Oh pardon me, Mum” as he tips his cap to his opponents as they sprint past for a touchdown. It’s infuriating. It’s why he’s nearly blown leads in five different games. That said, it is the only complaint one really can have with him as a coach for the Cleveland Browns.

He has shown time and time again that he can get the best out of the players on his team, even if that best isn’t good enough. He’s been able to devise game plans that attack the negatives of each time while surrounding himself with people who can do their job at a high rate of efficiency. Like Bill Callahan.

That may not seem like a big deal, but bringing in a head coach who’s been to the Super Bowl, who has done great jobs getting the most out of his own teams, and asking him to then help isn’t a common thing. Coaches have egos, but not Stefanski. He knew he needed a man who could develop his blocking schemes and make them a reality so he went and got the best man for the job.

Short of going and getting  79-year-od Alex Gibbs, there wasn’t anyone better for the job and Stefanski knew that.

Sure his play calling is maddening for at least half of the game and he relies too much on analytics, but Stefanski is more than deserving to win the Coach of the Year award. He’s turned around not just the record of the Cleveland Browns but the culture of the team as well. There’s no real opposition with regards to his contemporaries. The most any other coach did was have a winning season. None of the other coaches in contention turned around a dysfunctional franchise.

If only he’d stop being so dang conservative in the second half of games.