The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Browns slamming door on distractions
More than play calling has Browns players rallying behind new offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens.
Kitchens has been running the offense since former head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley were fired on Oct. 29.
Kitchens flummoxed the Atlanta Falcons defense on Oct. 11 by using a wishbone offense with three running backs behind quarterback Baker Mayfield. It worked to drive a 28-16 victory and end a four-game losing streak. A week later, Kitchens used a spread offense to produce five touchdowns in a 35-20 thumping of the Cincinnati Bengals.
But what really has the players’ attention is Kitchens’ approach that nothing outside of the Browns’ locker room matters. For an example how that works, look at how the first place Pittsburgh Steelers dealt with not having holdout running Le’Veon Bell all season. They ignored the distraction and turned James Conner into currently the third-leading rusher (849 yards) in the NFL this season.
“I don’t care about anyone who doesn’t work in this building and what they think about what he said. I stand behind is him and the players in this locker room.” — Browns offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens, on Baker Mayfield
“When you start winning, people want to find other stories,” Kitchens said on Nov. 29 after practice in Berea. “Players chase stats and media chases controversy because both of them equal money. It’s about how many hits you get on the Internet. It’s about how many viewers you have.
“Ultimately, if we can stay together in the locker room and not let anything like that divide us or any Instagrams or anything like that divide us, we’re going to be fine because the only people that matter are in that locker room.”
The impetus of Kitchens’ remark was more questions about quarterback Baker Mayfield not wanting to chat with fired Browns head coach Hue Jackson, now a Bengals assistant coach, after the Browns won in Cincinnati on Nov. 25. Mayfield fanned the flames the next day by calling Jackson “fake” on Instagram.
“I promise you this. Baker is not going to blow smoke up anybody’s ass,” Kitchens said. “If he said it, that’s what he feels, and I’m standing behind Baker Mayfield.
“I don’t care about anyone who doesn’t work in this building and what they think about what he said. I stand behind is him and the players in this locker room.”
Many players still like Jackson, who was 3-36-1 in 2 ½ seasons as Browns head coach. The Browns did play hard for him right up to the end, which shows they respected him even through all the losing.
But those who do like Jackson still have no problem with Mayfield, either. Wide receiver Jarvis Landry is one of those players. Landry’s voice is significant because he totaled only five catches in the twogame winning streak. It is his lowest two-game catch total of the season.
‘That’s been (Mayfield’s) personality,” Landry said. “Nobody’s trying to stop that. We actually encourage him to be himself all the time, so for us we don’t have a problem with standing behind him. He’s our quarterback.”
It isn’t players reacting to what Mayfield said, specifically, that Kitchens and head coach Gregg Williams are looking for. It is the team unity that is forming.
It could all come crashing down on Dec. 2 if the Browns get smoked by the Texans in Houston, but Williams declared the Nov. 29 practice the best of the season. He warned the locker room might be boisterous and it was. It hasn’t been that way in a very long time.
“It’s very hard for kids these days to (shut out distractions) because of Instagram, tweeting and all that kind of stuff,” Kitchens said. “It’s very hard because they always have people telling them things that they should want or they need and things like that.
“If everybody in our locker room stays together, which is harder in today’s times than it has been ever, you have something special. How do you accomplish that? It’s trust and respect. That’s how you accomplish it. If you ever lose those two things, which are huge in our business, you have nothing.”
The trust is building, and so winning.