Kevin Stefanski Details Aggressiveness, Goes Through Jets Loss Aftermath on Pardon My Take
There are plenty of good reasons to listen to Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski's 45 minute interview on Pardon My Take. Stefanski tells plenty of good stories about his past both growing up and in coaching. When criticized, he rolls with the punches and throws a few light hearted jabs in the process. He also got into discussions about his thought process as a head coach.
Here, the focus is going to be on some of the things Stefanski discussed that have to do with how he coaches and provide insight into the way the team makes decisions.
Through the lens of the 2021 NFC Championship game, even if they didn't mention it by name, Stefanski laid out some of his thinking when it comes to fourth down and being aggressive.
"I do know this. As you get lower down in the red zone, you gotta take your shot a lot of times. I'm not speaking to any example, but I will say this. When you get low, that 8-yard line, it is difficult. There's not a lot of plays that you love to be able to hold onto the ball. But to your point, if you don't get it, now you can use your three timeouts and maybe get the ball back."
"Those decisions, sometimes you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Ultimately, I try, we try to bet on the players as much as we can and trust the guys."
"We have a game management coach up in the booth whose- the way we work our fourth down decisions, we use the red, yellow, green scale, which, can we understand that one?
So we'll often times say you're green at 3, meaning at 4th-and-3, two or one, you're green. All these decisions you make during the week because you look at the game, you look at the matchup, you look at the weather and you basically come out and say okay, 'How many points do we need to score? How's our matchup on defense?' Those type of things, because it's hard- now there's times when it's yellow and it's the true gut, but when it's pretty clear that you should go for it based on the information you have available to you, it speeds up your process."
In three seasons, none of this should come as a major surprise, though it may put into context more of how it works. The decisions rarely come on the fly and the whole coaching staff is involved with them even if the head coach has the deciding vote.
Stefanski has also never been shy about trusting his players and putting the game in their hands. While critics think failing on a fourth down is deflating and momentum shifting, which it can be, the players appreciate and embrace the idea because they want to go make plays and win games as opposed to punt the ball or kick field goals. It's not likely to have a significant impact on their confidence since it's in their DNA at this point.
Asked about the loss to the New York Jets with a 14-point lead and under two minutes left in the game, Stefanski went through his thought process in the moments after the game as he prepared to address the team.
"That was a stomach punch and yeah, same thing. I remember getting back to my office and before I talked to the team I'm like, what hurts the most about those moments is that it's hard to win in the NFL. It's hard. And when you have it, you feel like you can just touch it and then you're like, I know that's going to come back at the end of the season.
That was week two I think and you're like man, I know at the end of the year, we're going to want that one back. But you gotta go talk to the team and I think for me, I'm so aware the team is looking at me, how I respond. Now, what I'm proud of the team is we came back on Thursday night and won against Pittsburgh, so they did rebound, but those things, they stay with- like that will never leave me. Like there were about 10 things that happened after Nick Chubb scored and a few things before Nick Chubb scored, that will never leave me."
"I know even how you walk in the building on Monday after a loss or a win, everybody as a football coach you get so many opportunities to stand in front of your team. And so much of it is messaging and how you want guys to feel about a game. Even after a win, sometimes you have to remind them that you haven't figured it all out. So I'm very aware of my impact that I have."
"Honestly, everything I do at least, I try to be authentic about it and that I've been around different coaches or whatever that maybe act, you know, it's not real and this is over the course of time where you just want to be yourself because I think players see right through that so when stuff hurts, you gotta let them see that it hurts and when you're excited, you let them see it. Now, in the moment in games, I try to be very even-keel just because you're making decisions every 30 seconds and if I start to lose my mind, I don't feel like I can make those decisions for the team."
This is the most in depth and personal Stefanski has been about this game or really any in his career with the Browns. In press conferences, he always puts everything on himself first, but he's not getting into the details of how it feels to lose like that or how as a coach he needs to respond and get through it. It's bigger than him. The entire team is looking at him for direction.
