Exploring Kevin Stefanski's Mindset Starting Baker Mayfield Against Lions, Ravens
With his decisions to start quarterback Baker Mayfield against the Detroit Lions as well as the Baltimore Ravens, head coach Kevin Stefanski is providing insight into how he views this season, his quarterback and exactly who this team will be with him as the head coach.
There are critics out there who have made the case that Mayfield should not have played against the Lions nor should he play against the Ravens and to be clear, they may be right. In fact, I discussed the latter myself.
Stefanski has made his decision, so rather than argue it, the most logical approach is understand the thought process behind it.
The Browns and Stefanski are playing to win, regardless of how anyone else views their outlook. This team is 6-5, which is half a game behind half the conference while everyone else a half game behind them. With a pair of games against the Baltimore Ravens, the Browns could assert themselves into the postseason mix as well as the AFC North divisional race. They could also simply delay their fate to a later date or effectively be eliminated.
In addition to playing to win, Stefanski is saying in no uncertain terms that Mayfield is the quarterback that gives his team the best chance to win, even as he's dealing with three significant injuries including a torn labrum, a bone bruise to his knee and a bruised heel. It's his call to make and he has not hesitated.
Even as poorly as Mayfield played against the Lions, dealing with obvious physical limitations that arguably held the team back, Stefanski wasted no time on Monday saying that Mayfield will start against the Ravens.
Stefanski has referred to this an an organizational decision, which suggests he is not the only key decision maker who believes Mayfield is their best option right now, whether or not it's unanimous.
Provided with any number of opportunities to sit Mayfield down due to injury in favor of the backup Case Keenum, Stefanski has passed. The same Keenum who led the 2017 Minnesota Vikings to the NFC Championship with Stefanski operating as his positional coach. The same Keenum that led the Browns to a victory over the Denver Broncos. That Keenum has only played when a game was out of reach or Mayfield was unavailable due to injury. Stefanski is telling anyone who will listen that Mayfield is his guy. It's significant.
The fact Stefanski opted to have Mayfield against the Lions is also saying that the quarterback isn't above the rest of this team. There are a number of players that are gutting it out through debilitating injuries that didn't sit against the Lions, because the Browns needed to win that game.
For a fanbase that aspires to be more like the Pittsburgh Steelers under head coach Mike Tomlin, this is exactly how the Steelers would have approached this situation.
In a 2011 Thursday Night matchup where it appeared that the Browns broke Ben Roethlisberger's leg before the in the waning moments of the first half, he returned to play on what was later revealed to be a high-ankle sprain. Roethlisberger led the Steelers to defeat the Browns, 14-3, throwing a 79-yard game clinching touchdown to Antonio Brown with three minutes left in the game.
The Steelers, who I criticized for not thinking longer term this offseason after losing so much talent, have approached this year with every intent to compete for the Super Bowl, talent deficiencies be damned.
That is who the Steelers are and everyone knows it before they even take the field.
The Ravens have developed the same kind of fortitude. With an unending list of players on injured reserve and any number of close calls this year, they find a way to just do enough to win and continue to compete, seemingly gaining strength in the process.
So for people who want the Browns to have that mindset, this is how they get there. Whether or not the Browns can beat the Ravens this week, they are going to put what they believe is the best team on the field to give them the opportunity to win the game. A team that preaches how every week they are looking to go 1-0, the Browns aren't shying away now.
Not unlike the wildcard matchup last year without players and coaches due to COVID-19, causing some to question if the Browns should even try, they went on to score 28 first quarter points and win the game 48-37.
This is not only how identities are forged, but how legends are made.
Perhaps the Browns should prioritize the quarterback more, taking the same approach the Arizona Cardinals did with Kyler Murray, who has been out with an ankle injury. Given how backup Colt McCoy has played, enabling them to win two of three, the Cardinals may hold Murray out even longer to ensure he comes back 100 percent, focusing on maximizing their viability for the postseason.
Had the Browns been 7-3 entering the game against the Lions, having beaten the Los Angeles Chargers and Steelers when they had the chance, Mayfield would likely have been held out due to the injury. He wouldn't have been the only one and that's an important difference. Jadeveon Clowney, who is battling three different injuries to his legs as well as players like Malik Jackson, Jarvis Landry and J.C. Tretter, all battling lingering knee injuries, may have also been held out for that game.
That's the approach Stefanski is taking and the toughness he seeks to instill in this team not simply for this season, but for what he hopes is a run not unlike Tomlin and John Harbaugh. And whether or not Mayfield proves to be the team's answer at quarterback for the Browns, he embodies every bit of the toughness Stefanski wants in this team.
Mayfield is always going to go out there and give everything he has, fighting to the very end and his teammates love him for it. It's the same way Mayfield loves left tackle Jedrick Wills for giving everything he could despite being extremely limited by an ankle injury earlier in the year as well as center J.C. Tretter, who is always playing at a high level in spite of injuries that have basically taken away his ability to practice the past five seasons.
Some players are just wired that way and it's something the Browns want to find in players they add to the team, but getting players to play for each other is also something they stress. There are players who somehow find a little more because they don't want to let their teammates down; more than they might give just for themselves.
Regardless of how the Browns finish out the season, there may be a huge value in playing together to the end, even if this season is viewed as a massive disappointment and a missed opportunity, descriptors that the year will almost certainly warrant. Should they find a way to make the postseason or somehow win the division, it will mean that much more. Perhaps they can develop that same die hard mentality that the Steelers and Ravens have exhibited for years, which has made wins against those achievement worth celebrating.
For Stefanski, the potential benefits of sitting Mayfield either for the game against the Lions, the Ravens or both are not worth sacrificing the principles he's trying to instill. Stefanski and the Browns organization has set a standard, something this locker room has come to expect from him. A standard that perhaps those of us on the outside are only coming to truly recognize now.
However this season finishes, the approach the Browns have taken this year suggests they've never truly considered that anyone other than Mayfield would be their quarterback in 2022 and they still believe he can be their answer for the long term. They will investigate other options and if they find an upgrade they like, they will pursue it. But even if Cleveland and the football watching world may be split on Mayfield's ability to lead the franchise, the Browns and Stefanski have only found more reason to believe in him.
Mayfield has never had a year of football more challenging than the current one. Physically, he can't currently be the quarterback he knows he's capable. That, combined with how bad he wants to win, which has also proved incredibly difficult have been mentally taxing. It appears that his performance against the Lions where he left a victory feeling like he put the team at risk of losing was a breaking point for him, which is why he didn't want to answer questions in the immediate aftermath.
Mayfield has provided hints as to just how difficult this year has been for him, but always stops short, quickly noting the rest of the NFL isn't going to feel sorry for him or anyone else on the Browns. Despite everything he's dealing with, he's still fighting as hard as he can for his teammates, the team in general and that is part of why Stefanski never hesitates from riding with Mayfield.
The most important takeaway from the decisions made by Stefanski the past two weeks is neither he nor this organization have strayed from who they profess to be. It's also a challenging one as critics clearly disagree with his approach. The team preaches being smart, tough and accountable and while some are taking specific issue with the first of those as it relates to the decisions by Stefanski regarding Mayfield, the locker room is seeing that even under difficult circumstances, their head coach isn't compromising who he is or what he believes.
So even as critics may offer convincing arguments against Kevin Stefanski's approach with Baker Mayfield in the moment, it may prove to be a compelling one to the locker room that he seeks to lead them for what will feel like an eternity compared to how long head coaches have lasted with this team over the past three decades.
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