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Bone - man I hope so. But I am certainly not sure.

But in Minnesota didn't Stefanski have better weapons than the Browns have had - and didn't they get completely under utilized? Isn't this one of the foundation blocks of Steve's narrative about Stefanski and Diggs and elite WR's choosing to come to the Browns if Stefanski is running the offense?

My gut says that Stefanski won't get the most out of a top 5 QB if that is indeed what Watson is - I'll hold judgement till I see him play for half a season - my gut says you don't need an elite QB to play Stefanski's offense and I doubt there will be that much of a change. I hope I am wrong.

The thing is, no matter how "good"/run heavy an offense is, there are going to be times that elite QB play comes in handy.

Look at the Ravens when they were rolling. That offense was eating teams up on the ground. There still came a point when Lamar missing throws bit them.

I think our success on third and fourth downs should improve because of the Watson scramble/create when things breakdown factor. Cutting down on 3 and outs would be great.

From my perspective Stefanski’s play calling is our weak link. Whatever the statistics says the end result isn’t good enough. On top of that is his handling of Baker. To throw a injured QB under the bus against the Steelers is unforgivable. I would say deliberately evil, that’s not a good sign for a someone trying to become a elite HC.

I think in another year or two and our GM will search for alternatives. (“Every position will be upgraded if possible” or whatever he just said about our QB position…)

Ski has not so far showed that he’s a natural born winner and I don’t see the potential either.

Better QB always elevates a team. And by every statistical measure Watson is a significant upgrade. (Again, I'll wait for the proof in a Browns jersey watching on Sunday)

The issue is whether we maximize the return from or even need a top 5 QB in this offense. At the cost of $46M per year and three 1st round picks - a merely "Good" QB and keeping those assets might easily be a surer path to sustained success. I don't know... But it's a consideration.... Allegedly Stefanski had 3 receivers open on more plays than any other team. A stat used to crucify Baker and his harness play last year... if true, do we need a top 5 QB to hit one of the 3 receivers? Or just a much better QB than Baker was in 2021?

It's going to be an interesting ride finding out how and what KS does. Watson, Amari, Chubb/Hunt and the OL we in theory have ... should be no reason not to score a lot.

I don’t say you’re wrong but how do we know he’s “bright” and “smart enough”. Any evidence?
You say he’s a pragmatist and the good one change and adapt. What’s correlation between that statement and Stefanski? Something special you have seen?

Won a play off game with not a great team? I’m sorry because I read on multiple places the opposite that our team was full of talent that season.
You said “his hands were tied to a broke QB”. Ok so that mean you accept that Baker wasn’t 100% fully healthy. Good to know because if I listen t Quincy and Shannon Sharpe there is no excuses if you’re on the field but hey why hold Stefanski accountable when Baker didn’t have that luxury.
Regarding Covid all teams dealed with that, not only the Browns.

Coach of the year means nothing if you don’t win anything. Maybe the NFL wanted the Browns to have something to celebrate, just saying…

Whatever we bring up the result don’t have feelings or is biased. So going by the result the team stagnate between 2020 and 2021 with Ski in charge. Fact. Not to mention how he handled OBJ and Baker.

"Coach of the year means nothing if you don’t win anything. Maybe the NFL wanted the Browns to have something to celebrate, just saying…"

This statement is absurd. He coached a team to the playoffs with no offseason, many players missing in multiple games, and had his team so prepared, that they won with him not even on the sidelines. Last season he struggled, but the season before he was fantastic.

Sorry but I think that’s not true. If you’re labeled fantastic you probably win the SB, not just one play off game. Just saying.

And btw the team that won the SB also started their season with similar preparations as the Browns.

So 11-5 with a healthy Baker doesn't sound like a winner to you? Or are you trying to say almost playing .500 with a QB that has a torn labrum in his shoulder makes you think he's a loser?

One thing we will find out for sure though. If analytics actually play a part in things, the statistics of the players on the field make a difference in your approach to the offense. If you have WR's with better catch rates and a QB with a higher completion percentage, that dictates you will throw the ball more.

But what it doesn't and won't dictate is that you abandon your run game when you have one of the best RB tandems in the league and a highly ranked OL to block for them.

Watson played from the shotgun (...option/rpo/naked [Hunt]; with vertical speed [Fuller?]/crossing [Hopkins = Cooper] route concepts in Houston) ... so something will need to give in terms of their/our offensive philosophy ... if we plan on playing to [our] players strengths.

one thing i would like to know is whether or not stefanski took the audible away from Baker. did he? and if he did, will Watson have the ability to audible out of plays?

I'm guessing that Watson will need the same support since he is 1" taller than baker?

The stefasnki offense was created in Minnesota and he brought most of that over to CLE.
https://www.si.com/nfl/browns/brown...iciaries-on-offense-with-kevin-stefanski

While new Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski wasn't willing to go into much detail on what he will do offensively, he did say the scheme he ran as an offensive coordinator this past season with the Minnesota Vikings would be a starting point. Beyond that, he wants to be multiple and aggressive. Based on what Stefanski did this past year with the Vikings, there are a number of players that stand to benefit

What that means for Mayfield is utilizing a substantial amount of playaction, where he's already experienced significant success, but more movement before the throw. Fakes off of stretches, bootlegs and naked rollouts. Not only does it change the amount of field Mayfield has to work, but it changes the angles defenses have to deal with, which makes the offense less predictable and more difficult to defend.


https://www.audacy.com/923thefan/sp...ld-be-a-great-fit-for-stefanskis-offense

That was one of my biggest questions last year.

The FO KNOWS what they had with BM, he got mad because they went after better QB AFTER they told him. OBJ hasn't said anything nice about Baker, somehow he was pretty good with Rams. JMHO, the FO wasn't happy with BM NOT talking to press after his crap game in Detroit....about as adult as his video running for cops when drunk. I'm glad he's history, he had ONE good season and he doesn't see the field as top QBs do.....football wise, Watson is HUGE update. And, millionaires are always hunted by women....especially single ones....Go Browns!!!

My recollection is that criticisms of KS's playcalling always existed in the background, but really took off when his roster was SEVERLY limited by injuries. Starting 4th and 5th tackles, QB limited, WRs in and out of the lineup, etc.

Long story short, I wanted to give Baker another healthy year to make a decision on what he is (obviously can't do that anymore), but I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't give KS the same benefit of the doubt. There are arguments that can be made that his playcalling was NOT issue #1 last year (open receiver metric, overall pass rush win rate despite injuries, ypc, etc).

i think the biggest criticism i had with KS was the rhythm of the play calling. i still believe he didn't give the QB nor the RB/O line a consistent chance to get into the rhythm of the game.

how many times did we see chubb/hunt/D'Ernest get a 4-5-6 yard gain back to back, only for KS to call 3-4 passing plays straight? i remember times where our rushing attack would get a 1st down back to back, only for KS to call 3 straight passing plays, and now we're punting.

don't get me started on the 4th down atrocities. i dont have a problem going for it on 4th down, but once we failed to convert, take the points, and then maybe go for another 4th down later on. he rarely did that.

another was the lack of emphasis on TE chips. too many times our RT was left on an island. and Njoku specifically has gotten Kizer and Baker completely destroyed due to not even chip blocking a guy before running a route.

Watson has better touch on the ball, so that alone should lower (not eliminate) the drops, and he's more accurate. however, Watson does like to hold the ball too long because of his athleticism, so Stefanski gotta drill into him to get the ball out faster. Watson isn't afraid of the check down pass, so that should also help with efficiency. if we're gonna keep running 3 TE sets (who's the 3rd? someone in the draft?) then i need more creative formations from KS.

another thing a lot of us brought up last season was the fact that we would be a run heavy team, but KS would call passing plays that didn't extend down the field. you can't be run heavy AND throw it short. and i dont think we currently have the WRs to rely on YAC, especially if we get will fuller. i really hope we can bring back landry, because talk about a security blanket for Watson.

and for the love of god, stop baby sitting nick chubb. i'm tired of seeing him on the sidelines, especially when we need him on the field at crucial junctures.

A little more that same article:

Watson told Stefanski he wanted to be coached hard, that he’ll never get offended by coaching. He asked Stefanski if he saw anything Watson could work on, and Stefanski rattled off a list of a few items, including doing a better job of carrying out his fakes. Watson laughed and said Stefanski sounded like Watson’s 10th-grade coach, who always got on him for that kind of thing.

One would hope with a torn labrum both Baker and Stefanski had enough common sense to agree on that.

One of my criticisms.. how many times in the last couple years did players really have breakout games? Cubb had a few games in the last couple years with a lot of yards but it was because he broke long runs, not because they fed him the ball more when it was working.... Same with receivers, we have had very few 100+ yard games by receivers in the last 2 years, their targets and catches stay fairly constant...

We never seem to feed the hot hand and just go with it until they stop it. There have been times where Hunt seemed to be feeling it more than Chubb, if that's the case, let Hunt go with it... but one of them is obviously feeling it more but the sheet says it's the other ones turn, so make the change... I don't understand it.

You would think. I don't have a per game play by play, but I remember watching stretches of games wondering why Baker never did. I also remember plenty of times he checked out of a play and the results were not good... couldn't really speak to whether that was Baker not "seeing the defense" or us being so terribly predictable.

I think one could say that about almost any situation. Often times running plays will only go for one or two yards. When a QB passes the ball long the percentage of completions goes down by a large margin. I think in both of those cases you could describe that as "not good". But yet they are still plays used in the NFL on a regular basis. I can't think of any plays ran in the NFL where often times the results are "not good".


Or it could be none of the above. I too considered and spoke about how many open WR's we had after Baker's injury. It was my thought at the time he just couldn't see the open WR's. Yet when looking at the last half of 2020 and his first two games of 2021 while still healthy he was very productive. So while it may be right or wrong, it seems that the injury was just as much in his head as it was in his shoulder. Because I certainly didn't see that pre injury.

As far as being predictable I think there is some justification for people saying that. But you see, when you have a QB playing with a torn labrum as Baker was, the defense knows you're limited in what plays you can run. The defense doesn't have to account for designed roll outs or audibles where the QB has the option to run unless it's to scramble away from pressure. The the injury itself makes your O more predictable in and of itself.

For me the biggest question is why they were playing an injured Baker over a healthy Keenum? Maybe we have a little insight into that due to the team signing Brissett. I really don't have an answer for that one.

As far as predictability goes... IMO it was more all the non-QB injuries that really hamstrung Stefanski. Our decimated Oline (in an offense where the critical part is dominance in the trenches) was really how our offense was knee-capped.

There were certainly a lot more circumstances to consider, I agree.

Sweet, I love the FACTS- Watson more mobile, he's more accurate, he's a PROVEN NFL All-Pro. We paid a hell of a price, but we now have the missing piece to a real playoff run.....IF we stay healthy....GO Browns!!!

At $230 million guaranteed over 5 years, DW BETTER be good. I keep hearing how great his is. He'd better be.

I root for the Browns. But I read all this "he's such an upgrade......" stuff. Maybe so. If he tears a labrum, and isn't accurate, or if other players get injured, or if, if if.

I'm, based on DW lovers, expecting several Super Bowl appearances, and wins in the next 5 years. Is that fair?

I ask mainly because after every draft and free agency, we get the "we're unstoppable" crap. I've grown tired of hopes and expectations. Do it.

I agree. Every season we think we are going to the Superbowl and then something happens that derails us. I'm not getting on the hype train this year.

Like I said, I'll be excited if/when they DO it. Until then, not so much. I'm tired of hopes and expectations.

Agree, do it. BUT, Baker was always just scratching his VAST potential- DW is an established star, he's flat out good/great- that's before playing with good/great Oline and super backs......we don't know the injury future, but he's vastly better than Baker and we paid a HUGE price....GO Browns!!!

Then I expect Super Bowl next year. Anything less is a failure. Right?

I think you are going a little overboard. One thing Watson did do though, was have a great season on a very bad team. Even though they only won 4 games, he had very impressive numbers. As for our team last year, early in the season it was the defense that cost us some games, later in the season, it was the offense. Watson could come in here and ball out, but if the defense is giving up long drives quickly, as they have done many times recently, when we take the lead, is that going to be on Watson? Baker put us ahead a few times, only to have the defense give up an easy score late in the game.

I wouldn't put a lot of our losses on Baker only, yet, I definitely would put some of them on him. If Watson comes in here and throws picks on crucial drives, then, yes your expectations would be valid. But, if the guy plays as good as he has thus far in his career and is at a high level, and the defense crumbles, as it has many times in the past, I don't think it is fair to claim it was a bad move.

My expectations are DW is going to carry the team. You know, how we were told Baker couldn't.