Tag: Mike Priefer

ST coordinator Mike Priefer on Cade York missed kicks: ‘no excuse for that’

Mike Priefer had some strong words on Cade York.

There is no doubt the rookie season of kicker Cade York has not gone to plan for him or the Cleveland Browns after starting his career 4-of-4 including a game-winning boot in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers. Even most recently, York missed two kicks against the Baltimore Ravens in a 13-3 win last week. His special teams coordinator Mike Priefer was asked about York today in his media availability as well.

When asked about York’s kick that went way left last week against the Ravens, Priefer did not mince words, saying: “NFL kickers shouldn’t kick balls like that. No excuse for that.”

Priefer is far from the one who should be making overarching statements about players given the consistent performance of his units over the past three seasons. However, there is no doubt the Browns need more consistency from their kicker.

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Browns vs. Bills Instant Analysis: Browns waste another good showing from Jacoby Brissett

The Browns dropped to 3-7 on the season after failing to capitalize on a heroic performance from Jacoby Brissett.

The Cleveland Browns have now dropped to 3-7 on the season after a 31-23 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Wrapping up a wacky week where both teams were forced to travel to Detroit due to a snowstorm in Buffalo, the Bills were still able to take care of business, advancing to 7-3 on the season.

What makes this worse? The Browns wasted a solid and borderline heroic performance from Jacoby Brissett. While his numbers are not impressive, Brissett made plays in and out of the pocket and was frequently let down by his receivers, but he did manage to hit Amari Cooper for a 25-yard touchdown. He finished the game with a line of 28-of-41 passing for 324 yards and three touchdowns on the day.

Other than wasting a good showing from Brissett, what stood out most in this loss to the Bills?

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Browns vs. Ravens halftime thoughts: David Njoku, special teams, and more

We have hit halftime of the Cleveland Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens. What stood out from the first half?

The Cleveland Browns have reached halftime as they continue to battle the Baltimore Ravens in this Week 7 action. With 30 more minutes to go, the Browns currently trail the Ravens by a score of 13-10.

Running back Nick Chubb has scored the only touchdown for the Browns on the day, while quarterback Jacoby Brissett has played a clean half despite some ill-advised sacks to push them out of field goal range with less than a minute to go in the half.

Here we react and break down three points from the first half and where that could take the Browns as they look to sneak out a win against the Ravens.

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Browns: It is time for Kevin Stefanski to be the boss

Kevin Stefanski needs to step in and make the hard decisions bosses have to make.

We are now six weeks into the season, and the Cleveland Browns are still making the same mistakes they made in Week 1. While the Browns do not want to make midseason changes to their coaching staff according to The OBR’s Brad Stainbrook, it is time for Kevin Stefanski to make the tough decisions a boss has to make.

There is little shot Stefanski gets fired as the offensive side of the football has been a bright spot (outside of today’s lemon of a game against the New England Patriots). Especially considering he is working with a journeyman backup quarterback who is starting to look like one again.

However, at the end of the day, his staff is a reflection of him. And while defensive coordinator Joe Woods and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer are personal friends of Stefanski, this train is too far off the rails to attempt to redeem.

Coming into this game against the Patriots, the Cleveland defense ranked dead last in DVOA, making them the least efficient defense in the league. They entered 16th against the pass and 32nd against the run.

Those numbers will not be trending up as the Woods-led defense allowed a fourth round rookie in Bailey Zappe to drop over 300 yards passing on them. They also allowed over 100 yards rushing again, which has become too consistent of a theme for this unit.

There are no more excuses left out there for Woods. He had his unit firing as a top-10 unit at the end of last season, but this type of regression and effort is nothing but a reflection of the man guiding them. The bye week is two weeks away for the Browns, but with back-to-back games against division rivals that could save the season in Cleveland, they have no margin for error.

The same goes for Priefer’s special teams units as they managed to produce two costly mishaps at the end of the game when Cleveland still had a chance to fight back. An onside kick where A.J. Green touched the ball while out of bounds that would have been otherwise recovered by the Browns, then a muffed punt where Green once again vacated the gunner and allowed them to crowd punt returner Chester Rogers’ space.

Pile these on top of crucial missed kicks, poorly downed punts that could have rolled inside the five-yard line, and a blown onside kick in Week 2, these Priefer-led units are too prone to mistakes.

Again, the Browns have a back-to-back stretch against AFC North rivals, two teams that have shown vulnerability. However, the Browns need something to change, something to ignite a spark in this team. With this thin of a margin for error, there is little reason to continue to run it back with the current arrangement.

It is time for Stefanski to do the most difficult part of his job and fire his friends.

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ST coordinator Mike Priefer has ‘a lot of confidence in Cade York’

Even after missing two kicks, including a game-winner, the Browns continue to have their rookie kicker’s back.

The Cleveland Browns had a real chance to get to 3-2 on the season, but two missed kicks by rookie kicker Cade York made a difference in the outcome. In other Browns news, they continue to have his back as he works back to make an impact against the New England Patriots this week.

Speaking to the media today, special teams coordinator Mike Priefer spoke highly of the fortitude of York:

“He’ll be just fine. He’s a very talented young man, as you guys know. He has stood up big for us before and he will again in the future. I will never use an excuse of youth because he is young, but when you go through something like this as a young player I think it shows his intestinal fortitude coming back from this and seeing how he reacts. I have a lot of confidence in Cade York.”

The Browns will be patient with the kicker they used quite a high draft pick on as he adjusts to kicking in the Lake Erie wind. But it sounds like York has been doing all the right things this week to get his mind and leg back into the right spot.

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4 Downs: What to make of Browns colossal meltdown vs. Jets

What can the Cleveland Browns take away from their demoralizing loss to the New York Jets?

I have been watching Cleveland Browns football for just about 20 years or so, and there may not have been a more demoralizing loss in my lifetime than this Week 2 collapse against the New York Jets. On the cusp of their first 2-0 start since I was one, the Browns found a way to blow a two-score game with less than two minutes left.

Nobody is going to blame Nick Chubb for scoring a touchdown, even if the Browns could have knelt out the clock. Everybody is going to blame a busted coverage that let Corey Davis walk into the endzone, an onside kick that should have been recovered, and letting the ghost of Joe Flacco walk down the field on a game-winning drive.

Overall, it is a poor day to be a Browns fan as this colossal implosion was genuinely unbelievable. Despite this, however, what stood out the most as the Browns now prepare for the Pittsburgh Steelers on a short week?

Report: Don’t expect Chester Rogers as the Browns return man in Week 2

Chester Rogers was a top-10 NFL punt and kick returner in 2021, but the Browns aren’t expected to elevate him from the practice squad Sunday

It was an easy connection and speculation to make. When the Browns signed wide receiver Chester Rogers to the practice squad this week, it was pretty clear the move was related to special teams and not the Cleveland offense. Rogers finished in the top 10 in the NFL in 2021 in both punt and kick returns while with the Tennessee Titans.

But if that is the plan for Rogers in Cleveland, it’s not an immediate one. Per Brad Stainbrook, the Browns are not expected to activate Rogers for this Sunday’s home opener against the New York Jets.

Demetric Felton fumbled away any job security at the spot with a terrible Week 1 in Carolina. Felton had a fumble and also left some yards on the field by going down on first contact. He had 28 yards on five punt return attempts. Jerome Ford remains the team’s kick returner, something special teams coordinator Mike Priefer reiterated this week.

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Browns plan to have Mike Priefer fill in for Kevin Stefanski as head coach

The Browns have experience with Priefer filling in for Stefanski in a critical game

The sobering news is that Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has tested positive for COVID-19 and could miss the critical Week 15 home date with the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday. The upshot is that the Browns do have some experience in handling this exact scenario and also have a plan of attack in place.

As was the case when Stefanski missed the playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers last season due to a positive COVID-19 test, Browns special teams coordinator Mike Priefer will handle the head coaching duties. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt will assume all playcalling responsibility during the game.

Stefanski’s chief of staff, Callie Brownson, will have an increased role in coaching on the sidelines on Saturday as well. Running backs coach Ryan Cordell has also tested positive for COVID-19. Brownson has served as an interim position coach before, taking over for TE coach Drew Petzing last season when his wife gave birth. Brownson was the first woman to ever assume coaching duties for an NFL regular-season game. She also replaced WR coach Chad O’Shea for the playoff game against Pittsburgh.

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Browns return specialist role up for grabs

The Cleveland Browns have some things to figure out in training camp. One of which is who will be their primary return specialist.

The Cleveland Browns had a stellar offense and a poor defense in 2020. Somewhere in the middle was the special teams. The Browns waived Austin Seibert early in the season, lost JoJo Natson to an ACL injury and saw Jamie Gillan have his ups and downs.

Cody Parkey, signed to replace Seibert, is back along with Gillan to handle the kicking responsibilities. As seen across the NFL for years, kickers often come and go without much notice. Rare is the kicker that sticks around a team for more than a couple of seasons. Punters tend to be a little more stable with many lasting for quite a long time.

With Parkey and Gillan expected to hold their roles, the biggest question on special teams is who will return kicks?

Last year, Donovan Peoples-Jones and D’Ernest Johnson were the team’s primary return men. Peoples-Jones returned 18 kickoffs and 18 punts while Johnson returned 14 kickoffs and three punts.

Neither had a great deal of success throughout the season but much of that is due to new rules, for safety, that limit return possibilities. In total in 2020, the NFL only saw seven kickoff return touchdowns and eight punt return touchdowns.

No one player had more than one of either and no player had a touchdown on both a kick and punt return.

That doesn’t mean the role isn’t important and, according to Cleveland’s special teams coach Mike Priefer, the Browns have some interesting options. “We have a lot of competition. We have a lot of different types of skillsets. For me, it is a wide-open job so we are going to see what happens here down the road,” Priefer said.

Priefer noted Natson, People-Jones and Johnson as candidates but added veteran Ryan Switzer and rookie Demetric Felton to the list as well.

When asked about rookie speedster Anthony Schwartz, Priefer seemed to try to temper excitement noting “Because he has not done it, we tried with punts a little bit early before he hurt his hamstring. He struggled a little bit because it is really new. It is a lot harder. Punts are harder to catch than kickoffs.”

As the Browns push for the playoffs, and more, their return specialist could rotate throughout the season unless someone grabs hold of the job during training camp.

Mike Priefer’s coaching gear from the Browns’ wild-card win now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Priefer was the first acting coach to ever win a postseason game

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Mike Priefer made NFL history in January when he became the first acting head coach to ever lead a team to victory in a postseason game. The Browns special teams coach took the helm for Cleveland’s wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers due to head coach Kevin Stefanski being sidelined by COVID-19 protocols.

Now Priefer’s coaching ensemble from the epic win will forever be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

The Browns jacket Priefer wore and his headset from the game are now on display. The Pro Football Hall of Fame tweeted out a picture of the display.

Now if the selection committee can get Clay Matthews in there for his illustrious career, it would be even better.

 

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