CLEVELAND — In the National Football League, the buck stops at the head coach when something does not go right on game day.
Whether it was the right or wrong call or a lack of execution in a critical spot, the coach, like the quarterback, catches a lot of blame when things do not work according to plan, and Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens has taken on that mantle in the wake of late-season struggles that reduced the team’s playoff chances to less than one percent heading into Week 16.
“If we don’t win the game, I need to call better plays,” Kitchens said. “If we don’t win the game, we need to execute better. It is all about the result. That is the only thing that I am looking for is the result. My answer to that question is never going to change.”
The Browns have shown, at times, the ability to move the ball down the field and score at will, but doing so consistently has been a challenge, especially in last Sunday’s 38-24 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The Browns scored on back-to-back possessions only once against the Cardinals, one touchdown and one field goal, and have not strung together back-to-back touchdown drives since they had three straight in a 41-24 win over the Miami Dolphins at FirstEnergy Stadium on November 24.
“It is critical moments in the game,” Kitchens said. “There is always a moment in the game where you have to make the play to win the game or you don’t make the play and you lose the game. It is in those critical moments that we have to do a better job of making the right call or executing better. That is what it comes down to.
“You can’t just pinpoint it on one thing. It is a bunch of little things, and we are working to clear those things up and continue to get better. There is a lot we can gain. We can still gain a lot these last two weeks. It starts by this first week. We have a big game this week, and we have to get ready to play.”
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Cardinals rookie Kyler Murray outdueled Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, his former University of Oklahoma teammate and fellow Heisman Trophy winner, who completed 30 of his 43 attempts for 247 yards and two touchdowns against one interception.
Browns running back Nick Chubb powered his way to 127 yards and one touchdown, a 33-yard score, on just 17 carries, while wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry combined for 13 catches and 89 yards on 21 total targets.
“We have to adjust, make exceptions for that and do a better job of preparing them, do a better job of playing when we get to the game and executing,” Kitchens said. “Those are all experiences. You gain experience by going through the fire and doing it. I think we have a lot of guys that are gaining valuable experience of doing that, and it is going to serve us well going forward.
“You can’t just center it on one person. Everything is involved in it – protection, route running, making throws, hitting holes and all those sort of things. When you have things that break down from time to time, then you are not as efficient. We need to work on those opportunities to get better in those situations.”
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