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Mike Priefer is normally the special teams coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, which means he doesn’t typically meet with the media on game days. Thanks to the COVID-19 chaos that has run the Browns ragged in recent weeks, Priefer had to take over running the entire team in head coach Kevin Stefanski’s absence on Sunday.
Priefer delivered with a victory, a stunning 48-37 win in Pittsburgh over the Steelers. The acting head coach deferred all credit to the team’s leader in Stefanski after the game. Priefer touched on it right away in the opening statement of his press conference.
“Last night, Coach (Stefanski) talked about our three keys to victory in this game,” Priefer said, highlighting Stefanski’s strong influence. “No. 1 was the turnover ratio, and we were plus-five. No. 2 was relying on our technique and fundamentals because we did not practice a lot this week, and that is what the guys did. They relied on their fundamentals and techniques, they trusted that, they trusted their coaching and how they played all year that has been our foundation and they did a phenomenal job with that. The third thing that Coach talked about all week long and we talked about right before the game was we need to play as a team.”
Priefer deserves credit for managing the team in an incredibly difficult situation, but he backed up Stefanski for coming up with the overriding game plan to beat the Steelers,
“It is Kevin’s team, but I appreciate that. I just reiterated what Kevin talked about. I told them what we needed to do – [win the] the turnover margin. The team that was going to win this game was going to win the turnover margin. We were 10-0 coming into today when we either won the turnover margin or were even, and that is huge.”
Stefanski’s fingerprints were all over the game, even if his own fingers were anxiously rapping away on the screen in his Cleveland-area basement. His ability to keep the team together through chaos, and doing so via remote access, is extraordinary.
Normally at this time of year, Cleveland is wondering who will be coaching the team next season. If the first year of Stefanski is any indication, that’s something Browns fans won’t have to worry about for a long time.
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