Tag: Kevin Stefanski

WATCH: Kevin Stefanski delivers explosive locker room speech as Browns clinch a playoff spot

Kevin Stefanski was fired up in the locker room after the Browns clinched a spot in the postseason against the Jets

For the second time under Kevin Stefanski the Cleveland Browns have won 11 games and are headed to the playoffs. The team of course has a shot to grab a 12th win over the Bengals next week in Cincinnati. After the game, Stefanski addressed the team in the locker room and he was fired up and proud of what his team has accomplished.

One of the things that stood out the most in his speech was when he pointed out that they still have work to do. Stefanski and his staff have had their team buy into the simple go 1-0 philosophy without looking ahead and focusing on the task at hand each week.

For now, the Browns have a mini bye week to try and get healthy before the final game of the regular season and the post-season after that. This team feels special and when they play their brand of football they can beat anyone.

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The Cleveland Browns could win the AFC’s one-seed in the playoffs

After their Thursday night win over the Jets, the Browns actually have a chance to become the AFC’s one-seed through the playoffs.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

After their 37-20 win over the New York Jets on Thursday night, the 11-5 Cleveland Browns not only clinched their second playoff berth since 2020 (the team had not made the playoffs before that since 2002), but they have an actual shot at the AFC’s one-seed.

Which means that the AFC playoffs might go through Cleveland.

Here’s how it needs to go.

So. If the Browns beat the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, January 7, and the Baltimore Ravens lose to the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Dolphins lose to the Buffalo Bills? Yeah. The Dawg Pound will be home base.

As Chase Daniel said, this is wild. The Browns currently have a league-high 26% of their salary cap on injured reserve, they’ve turned Joe Flacco into Kurt Warner, and the guys they were without due to injury against the Jets was… well, remarkable.

If Kevin Stefanski doesn’t win Coach of the Year, there should be an immediate recount.

Week 17 playoff clinching scenarios: Browns can avoid the drama by simply burying the Jets

Simply beat the Jets. But if they cannot, here is every scenario of how Kevin Stefanski and the Browns can clinch a playoff spot this week.

The Cleveland Browns have an opportunity to do something for the first time in three years tonight. As Kevin Stefanski and the Browns take on the New York Jets, they can punch their ticket into the playoffs and secure the fifth seed in the AFC with a win.

The fifth seed would be just the minimum seed the Browns would secure as well, as the AFC North title and top seed in the AFC is still not out of reach just yet. They need help around the league, but there is still hope.

If the Browns cannot win tonight, however, there is still a large chance they will clinch their spot in the playoffs. This would mean the top wildcard spot would be in question though. Avoiding the drama, it would be much easier if the Browns just took home their fourth win in a row instead of leaving their fate in the hands of others.

Here is every clinching scenario for the Browns this week as they are a virtual lock to make the playoffs.

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How Joe Flacco brings out the best parts of Kevin Stefanski’s Browns offense

Joe Flacco has maximized every part of Kevin Stefanski’s playbook, and he’s become the franchise quarterback the Browns have been seeking for years.

Who would have thought that the Cleveland Browns, a franchise that has been searching for a definitive franchise quarterback since *checks notes* Bernie Kosar in the early 1990s, would finally find that guy in the person of Joe Flacco, who will turn 39 on January 16, and was sitting on his couch without an NFL team less than two months ago? That’s exactly what’s happened, and Flacco has become one of the league’s more improbable and satisfying stories in the league this season.

Since Flacco became the Browns’ starting quarterback in Week 13 — the fourth starting quarterback head coach and offensive shot-caller Kevin Stefanski has had this season — he leads the league in passing attempts (175), he’s second in completions behind Jake Browning of the Cincinnati Bengals with 104, he leads the NFL in passing yards with 1,321, and some of the throws he made against the Houston Texans last week in a 36-22 win were just ridiculous for any quarterback of any stripe. 

Let’s start with Flacco’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper with 12:16 left in the first half. Cooper set a franchise record in this game with 265 receiving yards, and this is where it all began. Cooper was the backside iso receiver, Houston’s defense went mostly with the passing strength to the right side, Cooper was one-on-one with cornerback D’Angelo Ross, and Flacco zinged the ball right where Cooper could come down with it.

Flacco’s 21-yard pass to Cooper with 1:37 left in the third quarter from a similar concept. This time, the Browns motioned to four-strong to the right, putting more emphasis on that side, and it was Cooper against cornerback Stephen Nelson for the win.

But the Flacco throw of the day was his 21-yard touchdown pass to tight end David Njoku. The Texans were in 2-Man to one side of the field and Quarters to the other, and Flacco had two defenders converging on his target when he made the throw. But Flacco also knew that he had Njoku on linebacker Denzel Perryman as the primary defender, and the middle of the field was open, and Flacco would have no problem making that throw.

Let’s go back a week to this 51-yard touchdown pass to Cooper against the Chicago Bears with 3:18 left in the game. This was a similarly preposterous throw — you don’t see many quarterbacks threading it deep into three defenders like this, and coming out with a positive result. Cooper ran a deep crosser between two verts in a reduced split, and Flacco somehow got it in there in a way that was more than medium rare.

“Yeah, that’s what he can do, and that’s a tough coverage to beat in that scheme for us,” offensive coordinator Bradley Van Pelt said. “There’s a Cover-2 corner on the backside [Terell Smith] that almost got underneath of that. In the quarterback room, we’ve always referred to that as the steak dinner throw. So if you throw an interception to that corner, you owe the whole room a steak dinner at the Marble Room. So I’m glad it didn’t happen for us, but that’s tough coverage, and his arm strength got that ball there.”

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into what Flacco brings to the Browns’ offense, and how he’s able to maximize every part of Stefanski’s playbook. A tough go for the New York Jets on Thursday night. For all of Gang Green’s defensive excellence, they struggle against deep passes out of play-action, which has been Flacco’s game. This season, the Jets have allowed four deep completions on 10 attempts of 20 or more air yards for 160 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 127.1 – sixth-worst in the league.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring tape and advanced metric analysis of all Week 17’s biggest NFL matchups, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

WATCH: Kevin Stefanski, Amari Cooper deliver fiery locker room speech after Browns’ win vs. Texans

The Browns believe they can beat anyone

The 2023 season has been a crazy and wild ride for Cleveland Browns fans. With all the injuries and the highs and lows, right now it is fun being a Cleveland fan. And head coach Kevin Stefanski and wide receiver Amari Cooper had some fun in the locker room after the win over the Houston Texans.

Joe Flacco is playing like he is in his prime despite being 38 years old and only having been with the team for about a little over a month. But this roster knows that when they play to the level they are capable of they can stand against anyone. After the decisive win in the locker room, Cooper said exactly that.

“When we play our brand of football, nobody can play with us.”

It has been fun to see Stefanski’s post-game locker room speeches as he has his team bought into what he and the other coaches are preaching. This team has their head coach long term and with every game and every win that becomes more and more apparent.

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Kevin Stefanski ties Bill Belichick’s mark for career wins as head coach of the Browns

Stefanski is moving up the team wins rankings

The NFL Coach of the Year campaign continued for head coach Kevin Stefanski and the Cleveland Browns as they grabbed their tenth win of the 2023 season in a dominant win against the Houston Texans. With this week’s win that is 36 overall wins which ties him with the great Bill Belichick when he was in Cleveland.

They are almost a lock to make the playoffs and if they beat the Jets at home on Thursday they will be back in the playoffs again. This is just further proof that the Browns finally got it right and have their head coach for the foreseeable future already with the team. The offense he has built around Joe Flacco has started to consistently throw the ball for a ton of production and success.

Right now the Browns believe they can play with anyone in the league and there isn’t any reason to think they are wrong. Now the Browns return to Cleveland with a chance to punch their postseason ticket against the Jets on Thursday Night Football.

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Browns Twitter reacts to Christmas Eve victory over the Texans for win 10

The Browns, behind historic showings from Joe Flacco and Amari Cooper, beat down the Texans. Here is how Browns Twitter reacted.

What a day for the Cleveland Browns on the road in Houston as they secured a decisive victory. The game wasn’t nearly as close as the score at the end would suggest with two late scores against backups for the Texans. Quarterback Joe Flacco continues to tell Father time to leave him alone with another 300-yard passing game, with over 250 going to wide receiver Amari Cooper.

You could tell from the first play that Cooper and Flacco were in sync as the pair created big play after big play. It feels like we have not had a quarterback playing at a level like this consistently for a month since the return, it has been fun to watch.

The defense heard all of the noise about being unable to perform at a high level on the road. Though Myles Garrett didn’t get home Za’Darius Smith and company took care of that. The passing defense had one of its best coverage days to get the win, here is how Browns’ Twitter reacted.

ESPN’s Mina Kimes praises Kevin Stefanski and Joe Flacco for Browns’ aerial success

The coach and quarterback are working well together

The job that head coach Kevin Stefanski and his coaching staff have done this year with the Cleveland Browns has been nothing short of fantastic. With so many star players carrying large amounts of cap hits out, the fact that they are 9-5 is truly impressive. Especially while being led by a 38-year-old quarterback in Joe Flacco who was not playing football four weeks ago.

ESPN’s Mina Kimes spoke on the job Flacco and Stefanski have done despite all the injuries.

On her show, they talked about how despite the offense line being banged up Stefanski has been able to scheme up some great play-action concepts to negate the line struggles. First, they did it under center and then out of the gun last week as Stefanski and Flacco continued to confuse opposing defenses.

Now it’s time for the offense to continue to grow and limit turnovers for the home stretch. The Browns look to hit double-digit wins this Sunday in Houston.

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Browns HC Kevin Stefanski reacted just like us to the end of Bears game

Pure joy on the face of the Browns head coach

This week, it was a nail-biting last-second win for the Cleveland Browns over the Chicago Bears at Cleveland Browns Stadium. And head coach Kevin Stefanski reacted to the anxiety-provoking situation just the same as the fans, with complete relief and extreme happiness.

After the offense was dormant for most of the game they came alive in the fourth quarter to take the lead with less than a minute left. Then came the final play Hail Mary as the Bears heaved one into the end zone that was nearly caught for a Bears touchdown.

The players and coaches enjoy the ride just the same as the fans with their never-quit attitude. It doesn’t seem to effect the team when more adversity is put in front of them, the next man up steps in and plays their heart out. There are only three games left with the Browns holding a full-game lead in the wildcard race.

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Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski praises team’s fight in locker room speech

Stefanski praised his team for not giving up

It was another emotional win for the Cleveland Browns this week in a thrilling last-second victory over the Chicago Bears 20-17. Cleveland guaranteed a winning season for the second time in four seasons after they snagged victory number nine, and head coach Kevin Stefanski cannot stop praising his players.

This came in a game that the Browns lost another starter to injury as Joel Bitonio left early and never returned to the game. Stefanski’s group however laughs in the face of adversity as they continue to find ways to win games. It wasn’t pretty the offense was ugly most of the game before they turned it on in the fourth quarter.

During his post-game locker room speech to the team, Stefanski praised the team’s fight as they do whatever it takes to get it done. Never giving up is the theme of the 2023 Browns and it has them staring down the barrel of the playoffs with just three weeks left in the regular season.

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