BEREA, Ohio — Buckle up, as this thrill ride known as the 2019 season for the Cleveland Browns is about to leave the station and head toward the first hill to climb.
After months of conjecture and excitement, the time for talking has (finally) come to an end, and now, the real work begins as the Browns start preparations on what fans and players alike are hoping is a 2019 season to remember.
The Browns will open training camp later this morning at team headquarters in Berea, and while the coaches, front-office executives and players have all said external expectations do not matter, they have some lofty goals of their own to accomplish.
“Our goal here with the Cleveland Browns, as long as I’m here, will always be to win the Super Bowl,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said. “Now, that’s the last time I’m going to say that. Just know and make it a given that that’s what I believe to my core, is to win the Super Bowl.
“Now, you don’t do that by talking about it and you don’t do that by outside expectations. You do that by putting the expectations on how you prepare on a day-in and day-out basis, keeping your head down and not worrying about the scoreboard because then, you can’t tell me when do I need to let up or when do I need to press a little harder.”
While Kitchens has the goal of winning a Super Bowl firmly in his mind, he knows there is much work to be done over the next several weeks as they prepare for the regular season, which gets underway against the Tennessee Titans at FirstEnergy Stadium on Sunday, September 8.
In order to maximize these work opportunities, Kitchens wants maximum effort from his players and coaches.
“I just want everything they’ve got every time we walk on the field,” Kitchens said. “And if we do that, we’ll let the scoreboard take care of itself, but we’re not going to judge how we perform by the scoreboard. We’re going to judge on how we perform of what we did personally to get better every day.
“I just want them to get a little bit better tomorrow than they are today, that’s it, and then, if we’re doing that enough, we’ll put ourselves in position to be successful. Now, what that looks like this year, I don’t know. I’ve never predicted anything, but I know what our goal is, and that’s never going to change.”
Also, Kitchens and the Browns need everyone “pulling in the same direction” in order break a 16-year postseason drought.
“I don’t ever want to be scared to talk about what our goal is because if we don’t have 53 guys here at the end of this thing that that’s their goal, then they’re in the wrong business and they’re doing us and the Cleveland Browns a disservice,” Kitchens said.
“So I want them to have that goal, but I want them to understand how they get there, and it’s not by talking about it. It’s not by predicting it, but also, don’t want them to be scared to go get it. If you’re not going to jump out of the airplane, don’t put the parachute on, and I want people that’ll put the parachute on.”