Browns: Kevin Stefanski has regressed as a play-caller and it’s taking its toll

Kevin Stefanski’s play-calling has become problematic for the Browns

Kevin Stefanski has become a problem for the Cleveland Browns. Before we get any further, there are people who don’t grasp nuance or context. This is by no means a decry that he’s a bad coach and the Browns should fire him. Far from it. No, Stefanski is a fine head coach but his play-calling has become a problem and it goes far beyond the loss to the Cardinals.

It isn’t the scheme or his use of talent. It’s his strange desire to do overly complicated plays on short-yardage scenarios. The Browns are the league leader in rushing yards yet, they only convert 38.4% of their 3rd downs (20th in the NFL) and 40% of their 4th downs (22nd).  Clearly, Stefanski either gets rattled or too cute with the play-calling. Sometimes you can put Nick Chubb behind a fullback and just say “you know what’s coming”.

He doesn’t, he gets cute.

It goes beyond that as well. He’s become almost reliant on fourth-down conversions. You can’t blame Jamie Gillan for that. The man’s a fine enough punter and the Browns have bigger issues than him. Like Stefanski’s play calling.

What may be even worse than his odd-ball calls on third and short, is the fact that he’s actively making Joe Woods’ job harder.

Kevin Stefanski is making Joe Woods’ job even harder

Joe Woods is not doing great, admittedly. Woods’ defense is 3rd last in turnovers per drive, but the crazy thing is the fact that the Browns’ defense only averages 29 yards per series against. So every time the defense is on the field, they routinely give up 29 yards on average. You might think that’s bad, but that’s the third-best in the league. The Browns are 9th worst in the league in points per possession at 2.43. The Browns are 10th in the league in most points given up as well. So what can we surmise from these stats?

Well, it could say the Browns’ defense is a bit better than expected but Stefanski keeps handcuffing Woods with bad field position. That’s not a hypothesis, that’s a fact. The Browns are the 12th worst team in the NFL in opposing offensive field positions. So not only are teams able to score against the Browns defense, but they don’t need to go that far to do so.

Stefanski’s offensive play calls are reckless at worst and ill-informed at best.

Stefanski really only has himself to blame. Baker Mayfield is actually improved, look what’s he doing with one arm. He looked fantastic last week and he’s been sacked more times through the first six games than at any other point in his career. Injuries aren’t to blame for that, that’s on the coach and scheme.

He’s on pace to be sacked 45 times this season, a new career-high. It’s not just the injuries to the offensive line either, that’s a relatively new issue. It’s Stefanski not using tight ends or fullbacks to block. It’s doing empty sets without his starting tackles and calling five-step drops. When you lose your offensive linemen, you don’t start passing more, you start running more. It’s far easier to be a good rushing team with backups than it is a good passing team.

These are football 101 theories. Why Stefanski is so insistent on letting Mayfield get ping-ponged around is beyond comprehension, especially with his shoulder. You’d have thought they’d try to run the ball last week to protect Mayfield, but instead, Stefanski’s play-calling directly led to his injury worsening. The Browns clearly have the ability to run the ball without Nick Chubb, so why not? Blake Hance is a good run-blocker. We’ve seen it. So do it.

Stefanski needs to return to basics because his overly complicated approach to the game is causing the defense and offense far more problems than they should have.