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What's a Monken?

I don't have the answer but we have to get this thing right. We can't keep changing schemes every year. If we move on from Kitchens (which I'm somewhat indifferent to), then Baker will be on his 4th head coach and offensive coordinator in 3 years. This is crazy. Players need to learn the scheme, terminology etc. over a period of years.

You can't just add a bunch of shiny parts and reasonably expect to have a finely tuned offense. Hopefully this season has to put to rest any ideas to the contrary.

We made the most disastrous decision in recent sports memory by bringing back Hue Jackson for that third season. The Freddie/Monken pairing can't approach that level of stupidity, but it was pretty odd nonetheless. Freddie was never a head coach or full-time offensive coordinator at any level, so not sure why there was such a dying need to preserve 'his' scheme and merge it with somebody else's.

The whole thing doesn't make sense and is frustrating.

Hire a strong head coach and let him put together his staff. Trying to figure out who the offensive staff is before the head coach is backwards and no desirable head coach would agree to such conditions anyway.

#FreeToddMonken

Anyone else find if curious that upon our opening offensive drive or two we look golden, and then it completely fades away?

That's been the case since our first drive of the season.

They adjust and we apparently cannot counter at that point. One trick ponies?

The first 15 plays are usually scripted .. after that it is pure Freddie

Does anybody else find it odd how many drives have died in the Red Zone? Or how the closer FK gets to the goal line the weirder the plays become. FredRight88, the series where we had like eight shots from the one and couldn't score a TD showed me a bunch. The sequence before half last week told me a bunch as well.

I cannot imagine how much waiting is needed for FK to become a decent middle of the pack coach. I am not that curious. I am equally negative about our defense overall.

This is why I don't want an inexperienced HC calling plays. There is too much for a HC to focus on with the team, to actually dig into strategically calling better plays throughout the game.

I honestly think Freddie just randomly calls plays based on his gut, and I also think his emotion affects his play calling and game management as well.

Freddie wasn't an OC .. using an offense of his design, and calling his own plays long enough to know what he was doing. He went from using Haley's offense to using Monken's offense, then picking and choosing plays he liked. he never was a true offensive coordinator, yet Dorsey lets him act as one.

The first 15 to 20 plays is put together by the staff based on what they see in film study. This is usually where a lot of the quality control staff gets involved. So whoever is working in that group or managing that group is doing something right.

Browns coach told opponents team was a “total mess”

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/01/02/browns-coach-told-opponents-team-was-a-total-mess/


It’s comforting to know sometimes that the view from within a football team is the same as the view from the outside.

In fact, it’s a downright relief to know that people who worked for the Browns understand it.

In a story about the general dysfunction about the Browns (which could have been a Russian novel), Zac Jackson of TheAthletic.com relayed the story of offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

Monken had a title but didn’t call plays, and never seemed to be on the same page as since-fired head coach Freddie Kitchens.

Monken also reportedly had a habit of bad-mouthing his team to opposing coaches before games, calling the Browns a “total mess” and saying the game plans on Sunday rarely reflected what was installed through the week.

While only someone within the team would know whether the part of about the game plans was true, the part about the “total mess” has been obvious to anyone with two functioning eyes.

And as they embark on their latest search for a new direction, it gets proven on a daily basis.

That's pretty much what we all saw this year.

It's still a bad look for Monken to tell that to opposing coaches before games though. People in dysfunctional situations do weird things sometimes.

Agreed. Monken was probably so stressed out over how things were being run he had to speak about it to someone even if it was an opposing coach.

Who knows where we'd be if he had had the reigns.

Monkin is a guy that should never have accepted the job. Kitchens said from the beginning, he was going to call the plays.. If Monkin didn't want to be just a figure head, he should have passed on the job.

Having said that, what he's saying is pretty much what I think so many of us saw from the outside..

J/c

To be honest, the whole thing with Monken was strange from the start. He never called plays, and who knows how/if they meshed at all

Keep him make him the special teams.

The dudes a snake in the grass.

I hear what you're saying... but dayam, the situation was pretty messed up. I wish I could say I would handle myself better in this type of situation, but I dunno...

These guys know that these types of situations are potentially career-killers. Having the career that you've built up over how many years hanging on the edge because of one buffoon would alter my attitude... same as the "what was I thinking when I took this job" question boring a hole in my soul.

How is what Monken did any different than a player saying "come get me" to the opposing sideline? If Dorsey hired him, then he needed to talk to him about the situation, not opposing coaches. If you speak to the competition about what "a mess" your organization is, then buddy, you are part of the reason why.

How is it that the GM didn't get any type of read on this issue?

Maybe Monken only complained to opposing coaches? The whole narrative was that Dorsey hired Kitchens because he could control him. If JD knew that Freddie was ignoring his (Dorsey's) OC hire, then wouldn't he feel obliged to step in and say "Hey Freddie, Todd's calling plays from now on.", like somewhere around week 9 when it was clear that this wasn't working?

Perhaps he did know.

If he did and didn't address it he's gotten exactly what he deserves.

j/c

If I were an NFL owner and I knew about this, he would never have a job on my team. Hopefully all the other 31 NFL owners feel the same way. That's just something you don't do is trash the team you work for to your opponents.

You don't bite the hand that feeds you. If you're that unhappy, resign and move on. What Monken did was classless, unprofessional conduct and no excuses for it will change that.

completely agree.

He added to the problem. Not a smart move. This was a misfit marriage to begin with. Rumblings in the OTA's about the two not seeing eye to eye. If life was that bad, just resign and go away. Oh, but then that would probably cost Monken money. Then just shut up. Such a bad look to shoot your mouth to other teams.

With this revealed knowlage ... it sheds light on Monken's presser's, which always seemed so nonchalant.

Good post, I wondered the same as well

Monken should be gone by now. If you are part of the problem you are not part of the solution.

Wait the rest of the staff wasn't let go?

Last I heard, they were to remain but allowed to seek other positions. I think

This is correct.

Makes sense from a couple angles. One, it helps mitigate the "blowing it all up" perception and who knows, one of the HC candidates they interview may want Monken or Wilks on their staff. It would be rather awkward to fire someone than have to hire them back OR the elusive HC we've been waiting for passes because he can't or doesn't feel like he can bring those people back in.

In McCarthy's case ... he has worked with some of our position coaches before.