The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Keenum lending a hand to Mayfield
Training camps snaps important after no in-person minicamps this spring
Instead of a well-oiled machine, the Browns offense is looking more like a machine badly in need of oil.
Instead of a well-oiled machine, the Browns offense after five days of training camp is looking more like a machine badly in need of oil.
Too often passes from Baker Mayfield are being overthrown and incomplete, tipped or intercepted. Running lanes close quickly, especially without injured (concussion) Nick Chubb available to accelerate through an opening when a slice of daylight flashes.
The defense normally is ahead of the offense early in training camp. But the defense has been even more dominant early in this camp, in part because players on the other side of the ball are working together for the first time to learn head coach Kevin Stefanski’s new offense. They are ironing out the kinks that would have been smoothed over in spring practices and minicamps had the novel coronavirus pandemic not forced the NFL to close team facilities until the start of training camp.
“You can have as many virtual meetings as you want. But until you physically get out there and do it, you’re going to make mistakes,” Stefanski said on a Zoom conference before practice Aug. 19. “Our big thing is we like to identify and correct.
“Some of the best teaching moments are when someone does something wrong, and you get to teach off of it. There are great examples of that over the years. Really that’s where you gain a lot of ground. That doing part is obviously critical to the learning part.”
Case Keenum, signed on March 24 to back up Mayfield, had his best season as an NFL quarterback (67.6 completion percentage, 22 touchdown passes, seven interceptions) playing for Minnesota in 2017 when Stefanski was the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach. There is enough carry-over from the offense Keenum ran in Minnesota to what the Browns are doing now that there should be no reason to panic. Keenum is very willing to share his knowledge.
Mayfield runs the first team offense and Keenum runs the second unit. Mayfield and Keenum often chat when Garrett Gilbert is on the field with the third team.
“There are some similarities with a lot of things with the offense, but it is new,” Keenum said on a Zoom conference. “It’s the 2020 Browns. I think we’re all learning. We’re all growing.
“I think it’s a very quarterback-friendly offense from just the things I’ve seen in the past from the way Kevin and AVP (offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt) present it. It’s very black and white for the quarterback in a lot of reads, a lot of situations. From what we’ve done so far, it’s been really good.”
There is a lot of misdirection in the offense Mayfield and his teammates are trying to master. That was on display Aug. 19 when Mayfield faked a handoff to Kareem Hunt as Hunt ran to the left, bent at the waist,
and wrapped his arms around his chest as though he were carrying the ball.
The front seven of the defense took the bait. Mayfield rolled right with the ball hidden on his right hip and fired a strike to rookie receiver Donovan PeoplesJones in the end zone.
The defense is ahead of the offense because, in the words of former Browns defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, defense is “See ball, get ball.” But Stefanski said his defensive players are in a learning mode, too, as they digest the way defensive coordinator Joes Woods wants them to play.
“What we’ll do is get through our install, if you will, on the offensive and the defensive side,” Stefanski said. “Then, as coaches, we’ll huddle up and start to streamline our schemes as we work into Week 1 of Baltimore.
“There is a rhythm to making sure that we’re still building the foundation, making sure that everybody
is sound in what they understand and what they’re doing, and then we’ll pivot towards what we think makes sense from a personnel standpoint and from what the guys are really showing that they have a firm grasp of.”
The Browns open the season Sept. 13 against the Ravens in Baltimore. Injury update Stefanski said he does not know the extent of the knee injury linebacker Mack Wilson incurred Aug. 18, how long Wilson will be out, or whether surgery is required. Wilson is a projected starter after starting 14 games last season.
Chubb (concussion), defensive end Myles Garrett (hamstring), punter Jamie Gillan (illness), safety Karl Joseph (foot), wide receiver Jarvis Landry (hip), defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi (groin), wide receiver Damion Ratley (groin), center JC Tretter (knee), along with Wilson, did not practice Aug. 19.