But don’t expect him to change the way he operates on game days.
Kitchens will not surrender play calling duties to offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
“It is not going to happen,” Kitchens said, a day after completely botching a critical goal-to-go situation in the closing minute of the game.
The defeat dropped the disappointing Browns to 1-2 on the young season, but Kitchens preached patience Monday afternoon more than anything.
“Nobody is panicking,” Kitchens said. “We are not panicking, but we also understand the shortcomings we have had. I understand the shortcomings that I have had. I am going to get it better. Our team is going to get better.”
As he did after the game, Monday afternoon the Browns’ head coach and play caller admitted he should’ve given running back Nick Chubb at least one carry considering he had all three timeouts at his disposal with he ball at the four yard line.
“I do wish I would have given the ball to Nick one time, but it did not happen,” Kitchens said. “As you move forward, and I have to understand this, I know our coaches understand this and I think our team understands this is that some of these situations are new for me. I understand that, but I also understand that I will get better from it and I understand our team will get better from them. Our team has not been in that situation before so our team will get better. The next time that arises, we will be better because of it.”
The Browns offense has been a spectacular failure through three weeks considering the production from 2018, which saw Cleveland average nearly 24 points per game, that landed Kitchens the head job in the first place.
The offense has racked up an unimpressive 46 points in three games and scored just five offensive touchdowns and five field goals. They’ve had 17 punts, five turnovers – all interceptions, one safety, three drives end on downs, one at halftime and 10 three-and-outs.
In the first three games with Kitchens calling plays in 2018 Mayfield threw 12 touchdown passes. He has just three through three games this year. Could incorporating Monken’s schemes and philosophies be contributing to their problems?
“This is 100 percent the Cleveland Browns offense,” Kitchens said. “We are not going to start that.”
Kitchens dismisses the notion that he might be overwhelmed with game management and calling plays.
“It is really not even as much as I thought. That is kind of a non-issue,” Kitchens said. “I do not ever want that to be part of the problem. That has nothing to do with me calling better plays, me coming up with a better plan during the course of the week and us executing the plan. That is not an issue.”
Despite high expectations for an offense that was electrifying over the final eight games of the 2018 season, Kitchens admitted he’s going through a little on the job training himself as head coach, and some patience and understanding that mistakes will be made is appreciated.
“The thing I want to stress to everyone is we are building this thing,” Kitchens said. “As the season goes on, we want to be playing our best ball the further we get into the season. We wanted to play better this week than we did last week, and we did that. We want to play better next week than we did this week, and we will do that.
“This is a continual climb to where we want to go and where we want to be as a team. Individually and collectively, we will get there.”
At this rate Kitchens and the Browns might not get there until it’s January, and if it takes that long, they’ll be watching games again from their couch instead of playing in them.
“There are a lot of things that are new for us right now, and I am included in that, but I am not shying away from it,” Kitchens said. “I am not shying away from our shortcomings, my shortcomings. I understand that my shortcomings indicate or put our guys in bad situations. They overcome some of it. They can’t overcome some of the others. We will get better from it. Every step along the way, we will get better from it.”