CLEVELAND — Let’s see if I have this right …
The Browns fired their offensive coordinator from last year and scrapped a quarterback-under-center/play-action system that was working just fine so they could build a shotgun/spread attack more suited to their franchise quarterback, Deshaun Watson, who never really played like a franchise quarterback here.
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It meant running schemes that didn’t exactly match the head coach’s strengths, so they hired a new coordinator, Ken Dorsey, to handle installing some of the new concepts. That offense has been a complete disaster by every metric this year and now the struggling franchise quarterback, who never really aligned with the head coach and who never really played like a franchise quarterback here regardless of the system, is out for the season.
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His replacement, Jameis Winston, is much more familiar with the quarterback-under-center/play-action concepts the head coach loves to call.
Finally, unity. Right?
Wrong.
Now is when Kevin Stefanski gives up play calling?
Now?
Stefanski announced Wednesday he’s relinquishing the play-calling duties he has held since he arrived as head coach in 2020. He held them when Alex Van Pelt was his coordinator and, in a bit of a surprise, he retained them when Dorsey arrived over the offseason.
GO DEEPERBrowns OC Ken Dorsey to take over play-calling dutiesFull disclosure: I expected Dorsey to be the play caller when this season began. I thought Stefanski earned the right to retain play calling, but it would’ve made sense to turn it over to Dorsey since this was a system with which he wasn’t as familiar.
I’ve written for months that Watson was embarrassed by Joe Flacco’s success here last year, both the way he excelled in the system and the way the city swooned for him. I was on record early that Flacco could not return this season under the circumstances, but I never expected them to blow out the staff and remake the offense. When you’re as deep into the weeds as the Browns are with Watson, and when you’re this heavily invested in one player, I disagreed with the decisions, but I at least understood why an owner and front office would do everything in their power to make it work.
Unfortunately, all the changes this season have made everything worse.
LIVE: HC Kevin Stefanski speaks to the media before practice https://t.co/9SCe2JKKF0
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) October 23, 2024
Stefanski relinquishing play calling at the beginning of the season would’ve made a little more sense. A number of players throughout this crumbling season have muttered to me they know this isn’t Stefanski’s system or what he feels comfortable running. Nevertheless, again, past success gave him the right to call plays again this season.
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It isn’t a lack of open receivers that is slowing the Browns on Sundays. Anyone with an All-22 subscription and a social media account has become a film expert this year in circling open targets Watson consistently missed or ignored.
The problems have been all across the offense: Procedure penalties, an inability to get lined up properly and offensive line woes. All of it falls under Stefanski. Maybe relinquishing play-calling duties will allow him to clean up some of the other mistakes during the week.
But the timing of all of this is odd.
If Watson was still healthy, all of this would seem a bit more logical. The fact Watson is headed for surgery, Winston is grabbing his helmet and Stefanski is choosing this moment to put down the play-call sheet makes about as much sense as hiring Charles Frederick Kitchens Jr. to be a head coach.
“I’m just always looking at what we can do to just be a little bit better, and the truth is, we have to be better on offense,” Stefanski said. “(Dorsey) is somebody that I rely on very heavily and I just feel like this is the right thing for the team.”
The Browns were trending back toward the Stefanski offense even before Watson went down with some three tight end looks and Watson back under center running more play action. All of which makes the timing of this even more curious.
Stefanski insists this was his call and his alone. Of course, no one is going to believe that, just like no one actually believes he wanted to stick with Watson as long as he did.
Ownership has made so many curious and meddling decisions over the years that regardless of the truth on this one, fans will automatically presume the worst. It’s hard to blame them. This organization has earned all of the doubt and cynicism it has acquired over the years, so now it will have to live with it all over again.
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It feels desperate, which a 1-6 team usually is.
The more concerning step is how this appears to be setting up for a firing after the season —or sooner. Frank Reich was the latest coach to surrender play calling in-season at Carolina last October. He took it back in November and was ultimately fired after the Panthers’ 1-10 start.
Stefanski scoffed at the notion this is a Hail Mary attempt to save the Browns’ season, but it’s fair to wonder at this point.
The two-time Coach of the Year, who last offseason signed an extension, has averaged more than nine wins per season and taken the Browns to the playoffs twice through his first four years, appears out of his comfort zone for the first time since he got here.
At 1-6, the Browns are scrambling. So, too, is their coach.
(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
Jason Lloyd is a senior columnist for The Athletic, focusing on the Browns, Cavs and Guardians. Follow Jason on Twitter @ByJasonLloyd