A Prime Time Tale

Josh Thornton

We saw it all under the Thursday night lights at First Energy Stadium. There was a potent ground game, there was play action and boot roll outs. We even saw chemistry between Baker and OBJ. Most importantly, we saw a victory! A victory this squad sorely needed to avoid an early season free fall. It was a team victory all around…well, all except for the outmatched defense.

​There were many who benefited from the trouncing of the Bengals. Baker, OBJ, the entire city of Cleveland…. I mean, you name it. One person likely benefited much more than the rest. Do you know who? I’ll give you a hint… it wasn’t Baker Mayfield or OBJ… it was Kevin Stefanski.

​Now, I know what you are thinking… “Dude, it was his second game… what was he in danger of?” He wasn’t necessarily in danger of anything. His job wasn’t on the line. No matter the outcome, he was still going to wake up Friday morning as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns… but he did benefit greatly from this victory.

​After the shellacking we received from the Ravens in week 1 many of us were seriously questioning the play calling of Stefanski. I would venture to bet players in the locker room also had some questions entering their cerebral cortex. Where was the run game? Where was play-action? Roll outs? It just didn’t look like what it was expected to. All that changed Thursday night against the Bengals.

​Now, we get to roll into a weekend comfortable and confident that the offensive intelligence we were sold is actually there. Not just potential…we all seen it with our own eyes. There was plenty of tangible evidence. 

So relax browns fandom… Fred Kitchens is indeed gone.

Kevin Stefanski has indeed arrived, as advertised.

Go Browns.