by Fresh off losing three straight and 4 out of 5 to close out the season a disastrous 6-10, the Cleveland Browns have parted ways with head coach Freddie Kitchens. It is not very hard to see why, and out of the dozens of reasons for the move, we have picked what we feel may be the top five.
Reason One – The lack of OBJ
OBJ played the entire 16 game season and had career lows in several categories for a year in which he played ever game. He finished with only 74 catches, 1035 and a paltry 4 touchdowns. How in the world does the leagues biggest threat finish the year with 4 touchdowns?
Bad play calling for one, and just nonsense formations all year long. Kitchens never adjusted to how defenses were covering OBJ and it never got better. He lost all touch with him and others and it finally boiled over with the two last week in another home loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Kitchens was gifted one of the best players in football, and did nothing with him.
Reason Two – The regression of Baker Mayfield
After getting the job Kitchens told Baker Mayfield to take some time off. Mayfield may have taken that advise too well. He never looked like himself this year and looked lost many times. Mayfield was not only out of shape but appeared to have little to no focus or gusto.
He wasn’t a leader and without Freddie lighting a fire under him, he never got better. He doesn’t need a friend; he needs a coach. He has OBJ and Jarvis Landry to throw the ball too, and Nick Chubb to hand it to. No more excuses! Freddie didn’t ruin Baker, but he helped him regress greatly.
Reason Three – Refusing to learn from his mistakes
How many times early in the season did he go with empty backfields? He just didn’t call for these on third and long, but several times on third and fourth and short.
Why would you do this without a go to tight end, a faulty offensive line and a struggling quarterback. You have the best tailback in the league, run the ball.
Empty backfield sets led to sacks, turnovers and even a safety. Yes, that’s right, he ran empty backfields in the endzone. Not to mention the one time he didn’t, he called for PFA which led to a safety. You don’t have your quarterback turn his back in his own endzone.
Reason Four – Personnel decisions
Rashard Hollywood Higgins was Baker Mayfield’s go to guy in his rookie season. He was non existent this season. Yes, he missed a few games early with injuries, but then never showed up again outside of one play against Buffalo.
Time and time again he was a healthy scratch. Higgins finished the year with 4 catches, 55 yards and a touchdown. How in the heck is that possible? In 2018, he and Mayfield hooked up for 39 catches for 572 yards and 4 touchdowns. How do you ignore that?
Perhaps the most puzzling was that it appeared clear in the offseason and preseason that Higgins would be the third receiving threat all season.
Need further proof of that? Had two catches for 46 yards on the opening drive of the season, only to disappear right after that.
Yes, he battled injuries, but still, no excuse! And yet, a decent chunk of that stretch was wasted on Antonio Callaway who had no business near a football field. Why?
Reason Five – Lack of awareness
It’s simple, you don’t have your best player on the field with 8 seconds to go in a blowout over your rival. He did, and Myles Garrett promptly lost his mind. That one moment and the following suspension of Garrett cost the Browns the season. You can’t tell me that it didn’t. I don’t want to hear that argument from anyone.
Also, this goes hand in hand with clock management at the end of the first half. He had no clue on how to manage the clock, what plays to call and how to use the clock to his advantage.
Bottom line, you can kid yourselves all you want, but it was time for him to go. This team has enough talent to make the playoffs next year, but it desperately needs a better coach.
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