The Browns saw their three-game losing streak come to a screeching halt on Sunday in Denver. The Broncos went up 14-0 on Cleveland early in the second quarter and never looked back.
Cleveland also suffered a few more injuries in this game with Dorian Thompson-Robinson exiting due to a concussion and Myles Garrett feeling something pop in his shoulder. It’s hard to blame the Browns for where they’re at given the injuries piling up, but there may have been someone to blame for Sunday’s loss.
Daryl Ruiter of the Audacy Original Podcast “It’s Always Gameday In Cleveland” put the blame squarely on Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski’s shoulders due to some questionable playcalling in Denver.
“I am going to blame Kevin Stefanski for this loss,” Ruiter said (7:00 in player above). “ because I thought his gameplan was absolutely terrible.”
Co-host Andy Baskin brought up the reverse that led to the Browns’ third fumble of the day, and Ruiter didn’t hold back.
“He gets cute after PJ Walker has to come in. Dumbest playcall ever. He’s going to run a reverse – which, by the way, that play had zero chance of working,” he said. “Somebody was about to get their a– whooped on the play. So he decides to call a reverse. They’ve already fumbled a couple of times so let’s go ahead and fumble again.”
Ruiter has seen the Browns fail on these plays not only in games but in practice as well.
“They work on this crap in practice and they can’t execute it. You have players that can’t execute plays so stop calling them,” he exclaimed. “Stop throwing the ball on first down! You don’t have a quarterback capable of throwing the football effectively and consistently, and yet you’re going to throw it on 1st down.
He mentioned that the Browns ran just eight times on first down against Denver’s porous defense. Their first-down playcalling put them behind the eight ball.
“They threw it 13 times on first down, completed six passes. That’s less than 50%. That means seven times you started 2nd and 10. You can not win like that,” Ruiter yelled. “You can’t win football games with a third-string quarterback when you’re at 2nd and 10 all the time.
“That is just stupid, bull-headed coaching. I don’t know if that’s Kevin Stefanski, I don’t know if that’s Paul DePodesta calling plays from San Diego. I don’t know where it’s coming from, Andy, but it’s mind-numbingly stupid!”
Ruiter acknowledged that the Browns were putting too much on Thompson-Robinson in just his third start under center. That only made the playcalling more confusing, though.
“I don’t get Kevin Stefanski sometimes,” he said. “This was beyond ridiculous. Worst gameplan ever. Smartest dumbest coaching that you’ll have. It’s inexcusable.”
The Browns are now 7-4 through 11 games with a matchup against the Rams in LA next Sunday.