Berea, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Odell Beckham Jr. on the field in the fourth quarter to return a punt with the Browns down 25 Monday night was a surprise.
Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer defended the decision Thursday morning.
“When you’re in a situation where you can use an athlete like him, why wouldn’t you?” Priefer said. “You can’t ever coach scared, ‘Oh, my gosh, he might turn an ankle or whatever.’ You’ve got to go out there and say, ‘Can he help us win the game in this spot?’ Then you put him out there.”
Priefer also addressed the pressing question of, why choose that specific moment to put Beckham on the field?
“We have to build a foundation and you don’t just build a foundation by going out there and quitting with 7 1/2 minutes to go,” Priefer said. “That’s not who I am, that’s not who our guys are, we’re going to go out there and try to make a play every single opportunity we have, I don’t care how much time’s left on the clock and if we’re down or if we’re up.”
Beckham, who will continue to get punt return opportunities going forward, ended up fumbling the return but Priefer has no regrets.
“I think it’s worth it because you’re trying to provide a spark, not only for your team in that game, but going forward and getting them to believe in what we’re trying to do as a return unit against Seattle, against New England, against Denver,” Priefer said.
Gamechanger – It’s hard to single out a single play as the culprit for a 28-point beat down Monday night but offensive coordinator Todd Monken found one.
It came with 4:58 left in the first half on a third-and-goal at the 6 with the Browns trailing 14-3.
Baker Mayfield fired a ball low and to the goal line in Antonio Callaway’s direction, but it went off Callaway’s hands and right into the arms of former Browns cornerback K’Waun Williams.
“We didn't execute the play for God's sakes,” Monken said. “It's catastrophic. It completely changed the game.”
Williams returned it to midfield 49 yards thwarting what would be the Browns’ only attempt to make a game of it. The 49ers scored 6 plays later. Instead of a 14-10 game, it went to 21-3 and that was all she wrote.
It wasn’t Callaway’s only mistake. He struggled to line up properly which cost the Browns a timeout and was called for a false start.
“That is where it falls on me. I was asking him to do too much,” Kitchens said. “I was not asking him to do too much from a physical standpoint. I was asking him to do too much as far as those things. I need him lined up and I need him playing fast. I did not think I did a good enough job last week of allowing our guys to do that and that is part of my job.”
Catastrophic indeed.
Formula for success – Mayfield and the offense operates at its best when they’re in rhythm, and one way to do that is by changing tempo.
Another – quick passes on slants, curls and check downs, which would minimize defensive pressure up front and establish tempo while getting the ball into playmakers hands quickly and efficiently, allowing them to make big plays after catches instead of relying on the deep ball.
“In this league, if you do not get explosive plays, it is hard to win,” Kitchens said. “Now, you have to be efficient also in what you do when you throw the ball in other areas of the field. A general philosophy is be consistent, be very methodical in your passing game and you have to hit explosive plays, whether it is in the run game or pass game. That is how you are successful in this league because defenses in this league are pretty good. They are pretty athletic in general, and Seattle is right there with all of the best. To say you are going to string together five 14-play drives is very unreasonable to say, so you better hit some chunk plays if you are going to be successful.”
Taking the blame – After getting blown out by 28 and allowing nearly 450 yards, including 275 of them on the ground, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks fell on the sword – hard – Thursday morning.
“Very embarrassing the way the defense performed,” Wilks said. “I take full blame and responsibility for that. It is definitely not indicative of who we are.”
The loss inflated the statistics and dropped Browns in the rankings. They’ve fallen to 29th overall stopping the run, 18th in yards allowed and 21st in points allowed.
Kyle Shanahan crushed Wilks’ unit Monday and they’re preparing to face a similar scheme Sunday against Seattle.
“This run game is similar to what we saw last week – a little outside zone, zone-read and some gap scheme,” Wilks said. “Our tackles inside have to play well. We have to play well up front across the board, and our linebackers have to play downhill and try to get the double teams off. We have to do a great job of setting edges in this particular offense.
“I am not overly concerned. I am disappointed in our performance, but I am not overly concerned about us getting this corrected.”
Dentist appointment – Monken brought a sense of humor with him to the media room for his weekly visit with reporters.
As he walked into the room he joked, “my favorite time of the week... It's either this or the dentist. Figured I'd add a little levity,” and at the end of his session as he left the room dropped a, “’til next Thursday, my next dentist appointment.”
Injury report – DNP: None
Limited: OT Kendall Lamm (knee), CB Denzel Ward (hamstring), CB Greedy Williams (hamstring)
Full: WR Rashard Higgins (knee), WR Odell Beckham Jr. (hip)
