The Cleveland Browns are in trouble and Freddie Kitchens looks lost. If there’s anyway to describe to first 3 weeks of the season for Cleveland, that’s it right there. Kitchens is a rookie head coach and it’s only been a 3 game sample size, however, I’m not sure you can fix stupid. Freddie Kitchens looks in over his head and unqualified for an NFL head coaching job. I’m not sure how it gets better either.
Head coaches have a lot of duties. One of them is defining the culture in the building. The Browns are the least disciplined team in the league. The Browns have been penalized on 35 occasions for a total of 327 yards. Both of those marks are tops in the league. That’s coaching. Cutting out stupid errors falls on Kitchens.
His play calling has been egregious at best. Again, maybe it gets better. I just don’t know how you fix stupid. On a 4th and 9 situation, Kitchens called a draw play. Since the NFL began tracking play calling in 2007, no team has ever run the ball on 4th and 9 or longer.
There’s no logical way this play call makes any sense. The Browns also had a first and goal situation at the 4 yard line to tie the game and didn’t run the ball once. The Rams gift wrapped that game for the Browns and Cleveland couldn’t do anything about it.
I also hate to go this route but Kitchens looks like a mess. Get it together, dude. There’s no reason to look like a slob. Maybe it’s not a big deal but it looks completely unprofessional to chew gum like that at a press conference.
This isn’t terribly surprising. He spent less than a year as an offensive coordinator. He opened the 2018 season as a running back coach. That’s not enough time. Baker Mayfield also looks horrible to start the season. I don’t see a defined game plan. If Mayfield’s first read isn’t open, he looks lost. Some of that’s on Mayfield. Some of that’s on Kitchens. What has worked for the Browns outside of some RPO’s and a slant pattern to Odell?
There was significant evidence that Kitchens would fail with the Browns. The track record wasn’t pretty. I don’t know how this turns around. Kitchens
