Browns Game Recap: Kevin Stefanski gets exposed in embarrassing loss (3 Bad/3 Worst of Week 10)

The Conclusion

If Joe Woods is going to continue to go quarters, if not entire games without blitzing, then he needs to be dismissed. The Browns defense is much improved from last year to this year and there are times when the Browns defense look like Super Bowl contenders on their own. Then there are games when they only have five or six defensive series, but the opposing team converts every third down and scores on every drive.

The fact that this team is so wildly inconsistent falls on the coaching of the unit.

The Browns’ offense isn’t bad because of Baker Mayfield. That’s a laymen’s argument. The Browns’ offense is bad because Kevin Stefanski doesn’t have the human white-out in Nick Chubb. If Stefanski makes mistakes with Nick Chubb active and healthy, he can just lean back onto Chubbt to erase his mistakes. Without Chubb, Stefanski has to figure out the best ways to get people open and generate rushing yards. Something he’s proving he can’t do.

He’s too often concerned with pretty play-calling than effective play-calling. That was never more evident than today, when the Browns had both Andy Janovich and Johnny Stanton on the roster for the first time all season, and neither was rarely used; let alone used together. Imagine if the “old school, blue-collar coach” actually had three back sets or used someone other than Harrison Bryant as a blocker out of the backfield.

Newsflash, Bryant gets starched every time he blocks as an H-Back. The fact that Stefanski keeps using him in that role, instead of a fullback (the position he wanted to bring over from Minnesota mind you) is a sign that Stefanski doesn’t think beyond his next play. He should have multi-back packages for every game. The fact that he doesn’t is a sign that he can’t adapt.

The Browns receivers aren’t good enough to beat a defense on their own and haven’t been for a while. With or without Odell Beckham Jr. The Browns need a big-time playmaker for Mayfield and until that day comes, the Browns should be finding new ways to generate offense from the running game.