The Cleveland Browns hung on late against the Jacksonville Jaguars and won 18-13 to pick up their first win of the young season. A win is a win but the team’s coach Kevin Stefanski’s decision on a critical third down play with 1:37 left almost allowed the Jags enough time to mount a comeback.
The play in question ended up having their quarterback Deshaun Watson roll out to his left and try to throw a pass awkwardly over a rumbling Jags defensive lineman. Fortunately, the pass wasn’t ruled a fumble and was an incomplete pass. However, it stopped the clock when the Jags had no timeouts.
If the Browns had the running back just run the ball into the line, then the clock would have rolled leaving Jacksonville around 40 seconds left instead of 1:30. Instead, this extra time gave the Jags a legitimate chance at the end to score a touchdown. Fortunately for the Browns, their attempt at scoring that touchdown ended with an incomplete pass.
(Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
I recognize this is focused on one play and one play doesn’t or shouldn’t decide a game, but it speaks to this continuing mystery of Stefanski’s play calling on how he thinks when in the moment. It’s still a big concern five years into his tenure here and that shouldn’t be the case.
Some of you will immediately point out here that he’s a time NFL Coach of the Year and he certainly knows more about football than me. Others will point to how the play call wasn’t the issue but instead the poor execution by the players on the field. Sure, I’m a coach too (not in the NFL) and understand the players have to execute the plays that you install. However, the whole play call was just the wrong call period.
You have a running back in the game, then just run the ball with a handoff. Instead Stefanski has this tendency in his tenure as the Browns coach to try and get too cute, trying too hard to act smarter than his opponent.
We talk about “reading the room” when we work with people or have an audience. In terms of football Stefanski should be able to read the situation better than he does at times. Why take the chance that something goes wrong? After the game, Stefanski blamed Watson for not taking the sack and trying to throw the ball on that odd play call. If he took the sack the clock would have continued to run. However, why even call that play at that moment?
It was the wrong play to call and that has me and many other Browns fans still wondering what Stefanski has learned in these five seasons.
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