5 Keys to Kevin Stefanski's Success On Offense
Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski's success as an offensive coach and player call this season has been a result of an orderly, streamlined approach that effectively integrates trends indicative of productive offenses.
Despite getting his first head coaching job in a season that has been significantly impacted by COVID-19, resulting in lost practices and relying heavily on digital preparation, the Browns have steadily progressed over the course of the season, expanding on their core concepts to make them more difficult to defend.
One of the consistent elements of the Browns season has been an efficient decision making process, which requires Stefanski to trust the staff he assembled. A major factor in putting Mayfield in position to succeed, the Browns call plays quickly and are at the line of scrimmage early so Mayfield can read the defense, utilize motion and make the appropriate pre-snap reads and check into the best play.
It also reflects in the team's clock management and making key decisions at points in the game. They are incredibly well prepared and the Browns don't waste timeouts to cover for mistakes or think, saving them for game altering situations, challenges and the end of each half. On fourth down, the Browns are never caught flat footed, commit to a call and understand the potential consequences.
Presnap motion is increasingly used as a way to rate offenses. The more motion teams use, the better tend to be. Not only does it often reveals the coverage the opponent is playing, it forces them to adjust on the fly and can create numbers advantages and produce misalignments for the defense. The Browns have used motion all season, but particularly after the bye week, the Browns are using more of it and at times, moving multiple players and adjusting their formation more than once on a given play.
The touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield to Donovan Peoples-Jones against the Tennessee Titans was set up by two pre-snap movements. First, moving Austin Hooper from the backfield to the right end of the line. Then moving Harrison Bryant from the left end of the line to the backfield.
ESPN's Dan Orlovsky does a great job discussing it.
All of this motion really just moved a tight end from one end of the line to the other under the guise of pursuing a numbers advantage. The play calls for a max protection play-action pass with two routes. A sail route from David Njoku and an out and up from Jones, all in an effort to attack one defender - the corner over Jones.
If the corner goes with Jones on the double move, Mayfield hits Njoku on the sail route. If the defender sits on the sail route coming at him, then Jones is open over the top, because the there are ten defenders in the box. The corner sat, Mayfield found Jones over the top and the Browns score a 75-yard touchdown.
Spacing has been a big part of the Browns success on offense, but it's becoming a bigger weapon as the offense gains confidence.
For much of the season, the Browns have thrived by eliminating space. Forcing defenses into a small area of the field where their powerful offensive line and skill position blockers are difficult to avoid, enabling them to create lanes for their backs to take advantage, then play-action pass to the empty areas of the field.
As time has passed, the Browns have improved at operating in space. It's something the Browns have been employing, particularly to open games but they succeeded and stuck with it against the Titans. As the Titans were so focused on stopping the Browns running game, the Browns spread the Titans out, utilizing a number of empty looks and their defense struggled to deal with it, allowing Baker Mayfield to pick them apart.
The Browns employed looks that utilized tight formations with three tight ends and one receiver to empty looks, operating on opposite ends of the spectrum, putting stress on the defensive personnel as well as their calls.
This development is particularly important when facing the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers for the second time this season. Part of why they were able to give the Browns problems if they were able to take advantage of the Browns in tighter formations, winning the battle up front and clogging the passing lanes with defenders. Being able to thrive spread out and in empty formations enables them to give multiple looks and prod defenses for weaknesses. The Steelers in particular have a more difficult time against spread formations.
None of what the Browns are doing works without the offensive line. Between the condensed formations where they are asking them to move the opponent off the ball in tight quarters or empty formations where they are getting little if any help in protection and some of the ambitious play-action calls the team makes, it all requires the Browns to be strong up front.
Clearly a major focus of this team, the Browns could find themselves with multiple All-Pros this season as well as one of the most impressive rookies in left tackle Jedrick Wills.
Perhaps the most impactful acquisition for the Browns this offseason was offensive line coach Bill Callahan. Not only does the offensive line look prepared to dominate up front, but he helps with game plans and signs off on the feasibility of some of the calls that require extended protection.
The last ingredient to all of this, which is included in the importance of Callahan, is coaching. The Browns roster is well trained to be able to execute this offense. Their progression to incorporate play concepts over the course of the season has been effective and the players rarely looked overwhelmed.
Baker Mayfield is obviously the key to this, because he has to know everything, understand where players are going to be and trust they will execute, so that he can focus on the defense. The first half of the season was not always smooth in that regard and there were some awful, costly mistakes in the process.
Dating back to the second game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Mayfield has progressed dramatically in seeing the field and understanding what opponents are doing. So much of this is due to trusting himself and his teammates in their roles, so his energy can be entirely focused on the defense.
Stefanski is part of this but offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt is the main point of communication between the coaching staff and Mayfield.
Increasingly, Mayfield looks like an extension of the coaching staff on the field, anticipating what they are seeing and making it happen on the field. There are some misreads and missed opportunities, but the ball is rarely put in harm's way and Mayfield is transitioning from simply avoiding mistakes to maximizing plays.
Beyond Mayfield, the rest of the offense has to be able to know their assignments well enough to be able to adjust on the fly. Potentially knowing two and three plays at a time that the Mayfield can check into, so they can execute at a high level. This includes rookies, who aside from Jedrick Wills can have a reduced role where spots are picked, but they call plays with them as focal points with the expectation they will perform.
This again highlights the offensive line and their ability to be flexible, but the Browns ask a lot of their skill position players as well. To their credit and that of the coaching staff, they are responding and the Browns are operating at a level that suggests they can compete with anyone in the league, even when they are missing players to injuries.
Some of the aspects of what Stefanski and his staff are doing are easier to employ than others, but the fact the Browns have been able to hit on all of them in their first year under difficult circumstances is what has enabled them to be one of the most impressive in the NFL and showcased Stefanski as one of the best play callers and make a strong case for coach of the year.
