Posts
Kitchens’ cabinet
Set in stone: Offensive coordinator Todd Monken; defensive
coordinator Steve Wilks; special teams coordinator Mike Priefer; quarterbacks
coach Ryan Lindley; offensive line coach/associate head coach James Campen; assistant
offensive line coach Jeff Blasko; wide receivers coach Adam Henry; tight ends
coach John Lilly; running backs coach/run game coordinator Stump Mitchell; special
assistant to the head coach Jody Wright; Jim Dray and Tyler Tettleton,
offensive quality control; secondary coach DeWayne Walker; defensive line coach
Tosh Lupoi; secondary/pass game coordinator Joe Whitt Jr.; linebackers
coach/run game coordinator Al Holcomb; assistant defensive line coach John
Parrella; senior defensive assistant Chris Jones;. strength and conditioning
director Larry Jackson; strength and conditioning assistants Evan Marcus, Monty
Gibson, John Christovich and Dale Jones.
They comprise the major portion of the staff with holes that
need to be filled by a defensive quality control coach; an assistant secondary
coach; and an assistant special teams coach. That potentially brings the coaching
staff to an unwieldy 26, not including Kitchens.
Henry and Lindley, who both were signed this past season, and
Walker, who arrived in 2017, are the only coaches to survive the massive purge of
last season’s staff.
Henry joined Hue Jackson’s staff after stints with San
Francisco and New York with the Giants. Lindley, a quarterback by trade, joined
as running backs coach last Halloween, when Kitchens was elevated to offensive
coordinator following the firings of Jackson and Todd Haley.
Three of the new coaches bring head coaching experience to
the job: Wilks in the National Football League (last season in Arizona); Monken
(Southern Mississippi) and Mitchell (Morgan State and Southern) in the college
ranks.
Wilks is easily the most controversial appointment, mostly
because he suffered the fate of a few Browns head coaches of the recent past.
Gone after just one season.
The new defensive coordinator took a job with the Cardinals
that was doomed almost from the start, winding up with just three victories
(only one at home). He inherited a bad football team. Bruce Arians, his
predecessor, knew it, too, and got out of Dodge just in time.
Wilks, working with little or no help from the front office,
opened up the season with a washed-up quarterback in Sam Bradford and rookie Josh
Rosen, who took over for the ineffective Bradford in week four. He threw more
interceptions than touchdown passes last season.
Mike McCoy, Wilks’ equally ineffective offensive coordinator
whose offense was hampered by a lack of quality receivers and an offensive line
that couldn’t stay healthy, was fired midway through the season.
Defensively, Wilks unwisely brought a 4-3 scheme to a team
whose roster makeup screamed 3-4 on that side of the football and paid the
price, surrendering 425 points.
Many Browns fans see all that and think hiring Wilks is a
big mistake. Why go after a loser? That’s being as little short-sighted.
Can’t argue the fact he failed as a head coach. But he has a
decent reputation as a position coach and defensive coordinator. His strong
work in Carolina with the Panthers in 2017 (seventh overall, third against the
run) helped land the gig in Arizona.
Most coaches are not cut out to be head coaches. Wilks, based
solely on one season, is one of them. He is a lieutenant, not a general.
The 4-3 scheme that failed in Arizona will not fail in with
the Browns from a personnel standpoint. The only possible negative? Wilks is a
proponent of the zone defense, which requires much more discipline, whereas
Gregg Williams was a man-to-man disciple.
But Wilks loves to blitz. Surprisingly, his Cardinals
blitzed more often last season than the Browns, which should please fans who
love aggressive football.
It will be interesting to see how creative he is with his
pass coverages. Williams was a master of mixing and disguising his coverages in
an effort to confuse opposing quarterbacks.
Wilks brought along Holcomb, his defensive coordinator with
the Cardinals, as his secondary coach. He will also be the run game
coordinator. That’s another problem. The Cardinals were last in the NFL at
stopping the run last season. The Browns were 28th.
Monken is a terrific fit for Kitchens, who will call all the
plays on offense. He is a pass-heavy advocate, which should also fit nicely into Baker Mayfield’s wheelhouse in the NFL, which has become pass centric in
the last several years.
Mitchell will be in charge of the run game, pairing with
Monken and presumably Kitchens to craft game plans. With talents like Mayfield
and running back Nick Chubb, an improved set of receivers and a better-than-average
line, the Cleveland offense should have few problems duplicating the second
half of last season.
One of Kitchens’ main jobs will be to oversee the entire
coaching staff and make certain everybody lands on the same page. He has never before
been in a position before to delegate authority, another primary function of
his job. Most successful head coaches coach their coaches, then rely on those
coaches to coach the players.
All in all, it will be a vast learning experience for the
new head coach, who will add sharpening all-important in-game decisions to his
list of priorities. His learning curve will be severely tested, but he appears
to have assembled quality people – what he calls his support staff – ready and
able to help.
Whole different ball game from when Jackson thought he knew it all but lost control of everything. Gee, imagine that, an actual team effort on the coaching staff!
ReplyDeleteIf anyone ever doubted that the NFL was rigged, Sunday should have put that to rest. It wasn't just one ref that ignored that call, but the entire crew. I hope they made enough money to make it worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteThe entire crew did not blow the ball, Bill. The only officials responsible for that call were the side judge and down judge, both of whom were within 10 yards of where the infraction occurred.
ReplyDeleteThe other five officials had areas of responsibility and thus did not see it. The responsibility lied with those two officials. They had the option to huddle and get the call correct. Neither did so.
The referee after the game said he did not see it. That's because he was busy making sure nothing untoward happened to the quarterback.
The play was not reviewable under the current rules governing replay. And shouldn't be in the future. Way too many reviews as it is now.
The outcome of this should be the dismissal of both officials.
Stuff like that should not be happening in such as important game. Firing is the only way to prevent something like this from happening again.
Every member of that crew was among the best on the league at their jobs. When you're chosen to officiate a big game like that, that's a reward for a job well done.
In this game, it was a gigantic miss. If those two are back in the league next season, shame on the NFL.
"Every member of that crew was among the best on the league at their jobs" That's a really sad commentary on the state of officiating in the NFL.
DeleteCan you name a professional sports enterprise with better officials? Major League Baseball? Don't think so. The NBA? Are you kidding me? The NHL? Give me a break.
ReplyDelete