Cleveland Browns: 5 Changes that need to be made after Week 3
4. Kitchens needs to give up play-calling duties
Following the loss in Week 3 to the Rams, Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens put much of the onus on himself. Per Cleveland.com, Kitchens said in his post-game press conference that if the blame was going to be placed on any single person, it should be him, noting that he wasn’t good on Sunday Night Football.
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Give Kitchens credit; at least he’s self-aware. Because the head coach was indeed awful against the Rams. There were numerous times throughout the night where his play-calling just seemed completely out of touch with the game flow, field position and game situation. Perhaps the most egregious example of this was a fourth-and-9 play when he called a draw play for Nick Chubb. Predictably, that came up short.
Despite how bad Kitchens has been in regards to his calling plays and even with him seemingly being aware of that, he’s not giving up the responsibility of calling plays. He said as much on Monday talking to the media, per Browns Wire. But that doesn’t change the simple fact that he needs to.
Todd Monken is currently the offensive coordinator in Cleveland but he’s left to hold the clipboard and watch Kitchens butcher play-calling throughout the game. That shouldn’t be happening. Monken has proven success as a creative mind capable of maximizing his offense in the NFL and that should work well with a group as talented as the Browns are.
It’s frustrating to watch an offense, though with its flaws, that has as much talent as the Browns do consistently under-perform week in and week out. At a certain point, the coaching staff has to actually take responsibility for their role in that and make changes to remedy the situation, which a change from Kitchens to Monken as the play-caller would do.