BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – As the Browns continue preparations for the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs, a completed coaching search at the college level had a couple of coordinator's attention.
Here’s a few Brownie Bites from Thursday.
Back to school – While some might be surprised Bill Belichick ended up at North Carolina, Browns associate head coach and special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone isn’t one of them. “Coach Belichick is, he's a freak at what he does. He's ridiculous,” Ventrone said. “And Mike Lombardi will do a really good job too. Those guys work well together, and it'll be fun to watch.” Ventrone played for Belichick on two separate occasions in New England and got his coaching start as an associate special teams coach with the Patriots in 2015. “After I had listened to his interview with [Pat] McAfee and how he sees building that really, he's seeing it like an organization to a degree because of how the college football operation is running right now,” Ventrone said. “And after hearing him talk, I can understand why he's going back or why he's going to college.” Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz agreed with Ventrone. “Bill will be successful in anything, anything he does,” Schwartz said. “I mean, if he was going to coach Pop Warner, it would be an efficient operation. If it was going to be high school, he's going to have a unique style. He's going to be extremely organized and I, I'm excited for him. I'm excited for University of North Carolina. It'll be fun to sit back and watch that.” Belichick reportedly has set his son Stephen as the head coach in waiting as part of his three-year contract. “I know my son is going to be wherever Steve Belichick's coaching, so if Steve Belichick's the head coach at North Carolina at some point my son will be going there,” Ventrone said. “I feel like Bill gave me my foundation in football. I learned so much as a player and as a coach and there's no better place that I would want my son to go to school than to play and learn football under the Belichicks.”
Smart move – Joel Bitonio, who is battle back issues and is still working to be able to play Sunday despite not practicing, was glad to hear managing and principle partner Jimmy Haslam give Andrew berry and Kevin Stefanski his endorsement at the NFL owner’s meetings in an interview with ESPN. “I think that's smart,” Bitonio said. “I think you look at the teams that you obviously want to get the right people in the building, but you have teams that have had sustained success and they build a culture and they have those staffs that they can draft players that fit their culture and their play style. You look at the Steelers, they've drafted the same type of D lineman for the last 50 years, so you know what I mean? You get guys that fit a system and do those things. And so I think keeping the right guys in charge is a smart thing.”
Comeback kid – Patrick Mahomes has seven game-winning drives this season and is among the best come-from-behind quarterbacks in NFL history joining the likes of John Elway, Joe Montana, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. “I think if you look at a lot of those comebacks, some of them are spurred by a great scramble,” Schwartz said. “Some of them are spurred by just making an off-schedule play. Some of 'em are spurred by just ripping the ball down the field and taking what the defense gives him. So I just think, I don't know. I mean, I'm old enough to have had to see Joe Montana do that stuff and all those different guys. I mean, I'm sure all of Cleveland would beg to differ when it came to John Elway with a late drive and things like that. Let's just put it this way. He's right up there with those guys. I think that probably gives him the respect without disrespecting other people.” According to Pro Football Reference Mahomes has 19 fourth quarter comebacks and 23 game winning drives in the regular season and five comebacks and six game-winning drives in the playoffs so far in his career. “He's doing what he needs to do to win games and that's what it's come down to,” safety Grant Delpit said. “They find out ways to win man, and that's what we've been struggling with. So hopefully this good competition team like this, we can take advantage of it being a close game and finish it out at home.”
Countdown to 1k – Receiver Jerry Jeudy was written off in Denver but found new life with the Browns since Jameis Winston took over at quarterback. “I feel like Jameis does a great job and he [has] a great feel and he does a great job in looking down field and the pressure’s on,” Jeudy said. “I just feel like he does a great job just giving people opportunity.” Jeudy is second in the NFL behind Ja’Marr Chase with 678 receiving yards since Week 8 and he is now 56 yards shy of 1,000 for the first time in his career. “All the elite receivers hit a thousand yards,” Jeudy said. “And I feel I’m a one receiver, I could do that and now this year I finally got an opportunity.”
Safety net – The addition of Riley Patterson to the practice squad gave the Browns options at kicker this week. “We haven't had the results that we want with the kicks,” Ventrone said. “And I think that he's just trying to work through it with going back and evaluating really his technique and why we're not getting the results we'd like to.” Hopkins is 16 for 25 this season but has missed multiple kicks in recent weeks, including from 43 and 38 last week in Pittsburgh, which could open the door for Patterson. “We're just kind of working it out, seeing how it goes throughout the week and make a decision on what we feel we need to do,” Ventrone said. “Dustin's our kicker. So if we feel like we need to sit Dustin for a week, we can do that. That's not necessarily what's going to happen. We're going to see how the week goes.”
Garrett returns – After taking Wednesday off due to personal reasons, defensive end Myles Garrett practiced Thursday.
Injury report – DNP: G Joel Bitonio (back) TE David Njoku (hamstring); LIMITED: CB Martin Emmerson Jr. (shin), CB Mike Ford Jr. (concussion), DT Mike Hall (knee), DT Sam Kamara (concussion), WR Cedric Tillman (concussion), RG Wyatt Teller (glute), WR Jamari Thrash (shoulder); FULL: LB Mohamoud Diabate (glute), CB Myles Harden (tibia), LB Jordan Hick (calf), WR Jerry Jeudy (knee)
