After firing the indefensible Hue Jackson, the Browns were supposed to be the NFL’s darling story of 2019. Before the season started, I bought into the hype big time. I decided to make Baker Mayfield my “keeper” in my fantasy league (UGH) and drafted OBJ for double points. After 9 weeks of football, we know that is not going to be the case. Sometimes predictions are dead wrong … and in the Browns case, dead wrong seems like an understatement. Believe it or not, through 8 games, the Browns are 2-6 … which is WORSE than they were before they fired Hue Jackson last season.
After losing to the woeful Denver Broncos on Sunday, “head coach” Freddie Kitchens had this to say about his job security, “It really doesn’t concern me. It’s not my decision. I’ve never worried about it before, I’m not worried about it now, I’m not going to worry about it in the future. I’ll just do the best job I can do.” UMM, Freddie, IT SHOULD VERY MUCH CONCERN YOU. There are only 32 coaching jobs in the NFL and somehow, he convinced the Browns to hire him, so if he wants to keep his job, this should concern him.
“It really doesn’t concern me. It’s not my decision. I’ve never worried about it before, I’m not worried about it now, I’m not going to worry about it in the future. I’ll just do the best job I can do.”
Freddie Kitchens, after losing to the Broncos on Sunday
The Browns are 25th in the league in scoring (19.0/g) and are 23rd in points allowed (25.6/g). This team has weapons. QB Maker Mayfield has his issues, but he is not a terrible QB. He’s much better when he makes quick decisions and when the ball is out of his hands quickly. We all know how talented WR Odell Beckham Jr is and RB Nick Chubb has shown flashes of an All-Pro, however the Browns have not been able to recreate the production they showed at the end of last season. One of the things I have noticed is that Kitchens cannot seem to get this team to look like a team, or even a cohesive unit.
Over the offseason, Baker Mayfield filmed a ton of commercials and his face is plastered on every TV screen during Sundays. Though they weren’t filmed during the season, it’s not a great look for him. His team is constantly making mistakes and losing games, yet when it’s a commercial break, you see a smiling Baker Mayfield either mowing the lawn or getting his girlfriend iced tea. Odell loves creating unnecessary drama too – either with his cleats or what watch he wears. Is it too much to ask for OBJ to just suit up and play football? It would be different if they were winning games, but they are not. I get the NFL is a little outdated when it comes to some policies, but it comes with the territory of being an NFL player. And let’s not forget Jermaine Whitehead, who just got released for getting into it with fans and reporters on Twitter. Whitehead tweeted his nonsense from the locker room, so it just goes to show you where this team’s focus is (not on the field).
This team is a complete disaster on offense and are wasting away Miles Garrett’s first few years in the NFL. The Browns can’t figure out how to score more than 20 points and on top of that, the franchise that used to be the Browns, the Baltimore Ravens, continues to separate themselves from the pack after an impressive win against the Patriots … a team the Browns had no shot of beating. The Browns need to take a long look at themselves and ask themselves the question that we all are asking … “Why is Freddie Kitchens the coach?”
