CLEVELAND — Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens wanted to his players to develop toughness during his first training camp as a head coach in the National Football League, and he challenged them by making the three weeks of practice as physically demanding as possible.
Kitchens watched as his team handled all of the challenges during training camp and the four preseason games, and after taking stock of their summer work, he believes the players are in a much better place than when they reported to the facility in late July.
“I think we built toughness,” Kitchens said after the Browns finished off the preseason with a 20-16 win over the Detroit Lions at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland Friday night. “We wanted to get that accomplished. We proved to ourselves that we could be tough. That is more so the case than anything.”
Kitchens wanted to set a tone and establish a new level of accountability early in training camp, and he knew just one way to do so, by having a physically demanding on-field work schedule.
Since the Browns were able to put on the full pads on the third day of training camp, there was less than a handful of non-padded sessions. The Browns carried their pads through all but three of their Berea practices, one scrimmage and two joint sessions with the Indianapolis Colts at Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana earlier this month.
Nearly all of those on-field sessions ran longer than the scheduled end time in the quest to get things done correctly.
“I think we were resilient from the standpoint of we did not let one day affect the next day,” Kitchens said. “We had a couple of days there where you are coming off breaks like an off day and came out and had good days. That is a good sign that somebody can refocus and have a good day.
“Now, we had a couple of them that were not. We did show that we had it in us. We showed that we were in it together at times, so we just need to continue to build on those things because those things are ultimately what is going to affect our season.”
Part of developing toughness is mastering the mental side of the game.
Kitchens is confident the players learned how to drown out the outside noise of reporters and commentators predicting a deep playoff run for a Browns organization with just one postseason appearance since returning to the NFL in 1999 and focused on the tasks at hand to get better every day.
“I think we have some guys that will block out that noise,” Kitchens said. “If they do that, we will be successful. It is never going to be about talent.
“These guys have been talented in other places, and I think they recognize that and they recognize there has to be more to a football team, a successful football team than just talent. If they do that and keep that mantra going, play for each other and hold each other accountable, we will be fine. I think we found out we could potentially be that. If we do, we will be fine.”