CLEVELAND — First-year Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens put the players through a physical training camp, one in which there were less than a handful of non-padded practices, and it was in preparation to meet the challenges that await when the regular season gets underway.
Kitchens will get his first look at what that work in training camp will yield when the Browns host the Tennessee Titans at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland in the 2019 season opener on Sunday, September 8.
“I have no doubt,” Kitchens said of if his team will be ready to play against the Titans despite a limited body of work together in the preseason. “I have total confidence that our guys are going to prepare the way they need to prepare, and then, I have total confidence that they’re going to play the way they need to play.”
Kitchens used training camp practices as a way to build accountability within the locker room.
The Browns win as a team, lose as a team, and when somebody makes a mistake on the field, they run as a team.
During an 11-on-11 drill in an early training camp practice at team headquarters in Berea, a skirmish broke out between defensive tackle Chad Thomas and tight end Pharaoh Brown and after a brief escalation when fellow tight end Orson Charles joined the fray, Kitchens had the players run three sets of sprints sideline-to-sideline before resuming the on-field work.
“Everybody needs to be productive in what their role is,” Kitchens said. “Everybody has to understand what their role is and do their job and not worry about anybody else. That’s the reason we’re trying to build accountability to each other, not to anyone else other than each other, so I can depend on the person to my left and my right that they’re going to do their job and know that I’m going to do my job.
“That’s how you build accountability. That’s what we’ve been preaching since the start of this thing, and that’s what I fully expect to happen.
“That starts accountability. That starts trust, and then, when you build it on the field, that allows you to go play fast and know that somebody else is going to do their job, I’m going to do my job, and it all comes together. That’s the only way you can do it. I don’t know any other way.”
As the work week ahead of Sunday’s game continues, Kitchens is “truly excited to see them prepare” in practice and embraces the opportunity to teach the players how to better themselves individually and the team as a whole.
“I like the process of getting ready for the game,” Kitchens said. “I like the process of when the light clicks for receivers or for DBs, where they learn something new. If you ever want to motivate someone, teach them something they don’t know and watch them go have success with it.
“They will come back for more. That’s called motivation. I’m excited to try and teach these guys. Our coaches are excited to teach these guys, and then, watch them go implement it, have success with it, and then, come back for more. That’s how you build trust between a coaching staff and a player.”