Tag: Mike Priefer

Mike Priefer rightly credits Kevin Stefanski for the coaching win

Priefer gave all the credit to Stefanski

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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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Giants vs. Browns: A revenge game for many

A Week 15 matchup between the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns will be a revenge game for many — probably more than you realize.

The New York Giants will be entertaining some old friends when the Cleveland Browns come to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey this Sunday night.

Additionally, the Browns are going to see some familiar faces on the other side of the ball as well.

In fact, there are quite a few cross-connections here in Week 15.

Mike Priefer happy with how Donovan Peoples-Jones is handling his new role

D’Ernest Johnson took over as the kick returner and DPJ’s blocking helped him thrive

Donovan Peoples-Jones is no longer the Cleveland Browns kick returner. The rookie gave way to running back D’Ernest Johnson in the Week 12 win over the Jaguars after some uneasy moments and misadventures running back kicks the prior few weeks.

Johnson cranked out the two longest returns on kickoffs all season in his three attempts. And Peoples-Jones was one of the keys, showing off some serious blocking chops on the successful returns.

Browns special teams coach Mike Priefer is proud of Peoples-Jones quickly adapting to his new role and not letting his ego or disappointment at losing the job get in the way.

“Like a pro,” Priefer responded when asked in his weekly press conference about how Peoples-Jones handled the demotion. “He’s an amazing young man. I’m proud of him. It’s hard for a young player who came in — we drafted him to be a returner.”

The change seems like a permanent one.

“I think D’Ernest provided a bit of juice for us on kickoff return last week. That was very evident and Donovan was a big part of that. He did a great job lead blocking,” Priefer said, also noting how well Peoples-Jones blew up the kicker on the first return.

Peoples-Jones remains the Browns’ punt returner. He played 11 snaps on offense in Jacksonville and did not see a passing target.

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Mike Priefer wants Donovan Peoples-Jones to ‘play faster, cut it loose’ on returns

Peoples-Jones hasn’t yet had a great return since taking over for JoJo Natson.

Donovan Peoples-Jones has great potential as the Cleveland Browns punt and kick return specialist. Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer knows it, but the sixth-round rookie just hasn’t shown it during the Browns’ first five games.

Peoples-Jones has not yet broken free on a return. He has eight kick return attempts for 172 total yards with a long of 32. On punt returns, the athletic rookie from Michigan has just 18 yards on two efforts.

Priefer knows Peoples-Jones is capable of much more. He shared his advice to “DPJ” on how to make it happen.

“I told him to play faster, cut it loose, believe in your talent,” Priefer said during his Thursday press conference.

Peoples-Jones has struggled to find long running lanes and hasn’t shown elusiveness since taking over for the injured JoJo Natson.

Mike Priefer has many options to replace JoJo Natson as the Browns return specialist

Who will take over for JoJo Natson as the Browns return specialist?

Could this be the week Donovan Peoples-Jones makes his NFL debut? The sixth-round rookie is one of several options for Browns special teams coordinator Mike Priefer to replace injured return specialist JoJo Natson.

Natson was placed on I.R. this week after tearing an ACL in Sunday’s win over Washington.

Peoples-Jones, a wide receiver from Michigan with electrifying athleticism, was the first name mentioned by Priefer when listing his options for Week 4 during his press conference this week. It’s a lengthy list that includes a newcomer to the team’s practice squad, Ryan Switzer.

“We have worked guys,” Priefer said via Zoom. “We’ve worked Donovan Peoples-Jones and we have worked Dontrell (Hilliard – signed to the active roster from the practice squad this week) and D’Ernest (Johnson). Ryan (Switzer) will certainly be in play either this week or next week. It just depends on how quickly we get him ready if we need him.”

During training camp, Natson and Peoples-Jones were the primary return men competing for the gig. Hilliard and Johnson both gained some experience with the Browns in years past as returners, too. Switzer was the all-rookie return specialist in 2017 in Dallas and thrived again in Pittsburgh in 2018.

Priefer understands it’s a tough choice.

“We have some candidates,” Priefer continued. “They are all different type returners than JoJo so we have to adjust a little bit of what we do, but that is why we are paid as coaches and players, and we have to go out and do our job.”

5 reasons the Browns will beat the Cowboys in Week 4

Coordinator Mike Priefer offers up a laundry list of Browns special teams woes

Priefer’s units have struggled in 2020 after a great 2019

In 2019, special teams coordinator Mike Priefer was the bright spot of the coaching staff. Priefer’s units improved dramatically over their prior seasons, and it earned the veteran coach a spot with the new Kevin Stefanski regime.

Through the first two weeks, Priefer’s star has lost its luster. Cleveland’s return units have done nothing, while the coverage teams have been nothing short of awful. The quippy coordinator faced the media for the first time since training camp on a Zoom press conference on Thursday.

Priefer did not mince words when asked about the problems on kickoff coverage. Cleveland is surrendering an average of 37.8 yards per return on kicks and 13.0 on punts. Last year the Browns allowed 20.4 and 7.6, respectively.

“We have not covered kickoffs with the same speed and tenacity that we did a year ago. We have lost leverage where we did not lose leverage last year. We have not tackled well, like we tackled well a year ago,” Priefer said.

He also offered no excuses for his unit’s poor performance thus far.

“Does that mean we need some reps under our belt before we get going? That is no excuse,” Priefer explained. “Everybody is in the same boat. No one had preseason games last year so we will never use that as an excuse. We just have to play better. We have to play faster. We have to play more aggressive. We have to keep our hands. We have to keep leverage. We have to do the little things better than we have obviously been doing thus far in order to be a weapon for this football team.”

He did express some pleasure with new kicker Cody Parkey, who was perfect in his extra point efforts in Week 2. Parkey did boot one kickoff out of bounds, and that stuck in Priefer’s craw, too.

“He made his PATs. That was a start. That was huge,” Priefer said of Parkey. “Could he kick off better? Sure. He had a couple nice ones. The one out of bounds is unacceptable. We will never accept that. That was a mistake. Other than that, I thought he kicked off OK – good enough for us to win with. Like I said, his PATs all went right down the middle. Protection was good, and the snap and the hold were good. We have to keep going in that direction.”

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Browns ST coach Mike Priefer: ‘Our return games have to improve immensely’

The coverage units were great but the return units ranked near the bottom

Mike Priefer did a lot of very good things in his first year as the special teams coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. But one area clearly bugs the veteran coach.

The return game.

Priefer is right about that. The Browns ranked 28th in average starting field position off opposing kickoffs. Return men Dontrell Hilliard, Tavierre Thomas and D’Ernest Johnson all struggled to gain productive returns, with little help from the blocking in front of them either.

“Our return games have to improve immensely. I think we have a long way to go there,” Priefer stated in his press conference this week.

Speaking of Johnson and Hilliard, Priefer had this to say about the kick returners in 2019,

“Our two running backs did a good job last year for us for the most part. Whether we continue to get them developed or we bring in new return man, that remains to be seen, but at the end of the day, we have to improve the return unit, as well.”

Expect competition for the return specialist jobs this offseason, and for ability to block and cover on special teams to play a factor in some backup roster decisions, too.

Mike Priefer on Kevin Stefanski: ‘he’s going to do a great job for us here’

Priefer and Stefanski coached together in Minnesota for several seasons

Mike Priefer is one of the few coaching holdovers from 2019 into the new staff being assembled by head coach Kevin Stefanski. Priefer is very excited to be reunited with Stefanski and sees a very bright future for the rookie head man.

Priefer and Stefanski worked together as assistant coaches on the Minnesota Vikings for several seasons spanning 2011-2018. Cleveland’s holdover special teams coach knows Stefanski very well, and he’s an enthusiastic supporter of his old colleague.

“I’ve seen him grow as a coach from being a quality control coach to being a running backs, tight ends, quarterbacks and then offensive coordinator. I’ve seen his growth,” Priefer said of Stefanski via the Browns’ official website. “I knew from the get-go he was going to be a very good coach as he kind of gained experience. Obviously he had that head coaching mentality about him. He’s got that charisma about him, he’s got leadership and he’s going to do a great job for us here.”

Stefanski should be excited about working with Priefer again, too. He did a fantastic job in his first year in Cleveland, helping rookies Austin Seibert and Jamie Gillan thrive as the Browns’ specialists while also dramatically reducing penalties and missed tackles from the coverage units.

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Jamie Gillan continues to earn praise from Browns special teams coach Mike Priefer

Gillan is having a great season as the Browns punter

The decision to keep Jamie Gillan over Britton Colquitt as the Browns’ punter in 2019 was not an easy one. Nor was it well-received by everyone in the media, both local and national. But it’s proven to be the right decision.

Nothing against Colquitt, who is playing well for the Minnesota Vikings. It’s just that Gillan continues to thrive as an undrafted rookie. The “Scottish Hammer” keeps nailing his punts with great hang time and improving ball placement.

Browns special teams coach Mike Priefer remains an enthusiastic supporter of Gillan. Priefer was asked if Gillan is getting better at the finer details of being a punter in his weekly press conference.

“He is. I have told many people and I think I told you guys before that we are just scratching the surface with this guy,” Priefer said of Gillan. “I am starting to find out some of the different things that he can do with the football. I think he had a real good night the other night. He was better as a holder, and he was better as a punter.”

Priefer was especially proud of the pressure punt Gillan hammered out near the end of the Week 11 win over the Steelers.

“The situation at the end of the game, he had a 1.75 get off which is outstanding when we knew they were bringing pressure, and they fair caught it at the 10 and almost dropped the ball. He is doing a really nice job with all the different situations. Very coachable, starting to understand the game better and he is helping us win.”

Gillan is in the top 10 in punting average, both gross and net, in his rookie season.