Monday's leftovers

Kevin Stefanski is beginning to sound an awful lot like Bill Belichick. What other conclusion can be reached after what he said to the medias via video conference Monday, 24 hours after the Browns' record dropped to 3-7 after Sunday's 31-23 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

The dour Belichick is renown after losses for tossing them quickly into the memory wastebasket by immediately focusing on the next game on the schedule. Rather than talking about the loss, it's "on to Cincinnati" or wherever. The loss reaches ancient history that suddenly.

Here's how the Browns' head coach, who's got problems of his own stemming from an 11-16 record since his 11-5 rookie season, responded when asked about the status of oft-criticized defensive coordinator Joe Woods:

"My focus is on us getting better. My focus is on us getting a win vs. Tampa (Sunday at home), playing good offense, playing good defense, playing good special teams. That's where my focus is." It's not "on to Cincinnati," but it's close enough to wonder whether he likes how Belichick deflects.

As for the possibility of shaking up his coaching staff for no other reason than to show the players, a few of whom who have been grousing publicly, that what's happening now -- only one victory in the last seven games -- is not acceptable.

"My focus is really on this week and what we can do this week to find a win," he repeated and then added something the laconic Belichick would never say. "I understand the frustration. I get it. I own it. I own all of it, so we've got to share it as players, coaches, staff. All of that."

Right now, the Browns are a talented football team playing bad football. They lead the National Football League in underachieving. It could be bad coaching, inability to translate practice to games, or perhaps a combination of the two. Whatever it is, it's not working, especially on defense.

Strong safety Grant Delpit believes trust, or lack of it, is a factor. "In order to have trust," he said, "you have to know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, then it never works." Reading between the lines, sounds as though not enough players are consistently on the same page. 

Defensive end Myles Garrett carps about the lack of takeaways. The Browns are scraping the bottom of the NFL in that category with only eight, including a measly three interceptions. Takeaways usually are the end result of aggressive football, something the Browns do not practice under Woods' philosophy.

Stefanski indicated he would speak privately with those who went public with their criticisms. The one thing he needs to avoid is the notion he is beginning to lose the locker room because when thats starts, it can destroy a season.

Despite being  3-7 and once again bringing up the rear in the AFC North, Stefanski thinks his team is always well prepared to play. "Yeah, I really do," he said. "Mental errors and those types of things happen in football. I'm not naive enough to say we're going to play the perfect game."

Now stop and think. That's a yes or no question a head coach always answers with a yes regardless of what he thinks. Saying something like, "Honestly, no." will get him cashiered. He continued. "These guys work really, really hard during the week to make sure they have a very firm grasp of what we're doing." 

And then they go out and win just three of the first 10 games, which shows the grasp really isn't firm enough.

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The Browns had a terrific chance to go up 14-3 on the Bills in the first quarter, but Stefanski got a little too cute eight yards from the end zone on the third possession of the game. After bullying the Buffalo defense to reach the eight-yard line, the playcaller hiccuped on first and goal.

On the first play of the second quarter, he dialed up a direct snap to Nick Chubb, who had already touched the ball nine times for 63 yards up to that point. It was designed to attack the right edge of the Buffalo defensive line. The Bills were ready for it and dropped Chubb for a six-yard loss on a play that was designed to be run horizontally.

Not necessarily a second guess here because I shook my head in disbelief at the call. But when your best running back is most effective running north, don't call for a play that goes laterally. It takes too much time to develop. Chubb is much better going vertically on a football field.

Consecutive dropped passes in the end szone by Harrison Bryant and Pharaoh Brown on the next two plays brought Cade York into the game for a 32-yard field goal that boosted the score to 10-3. Another opportunity wasted. That's on the coaching, most notably the playcaller. Think he wanted that one back? 

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Perhaps it's time for the Browns to shelve the quarterback sneak. It took several weeks to get around the league that fill-in Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett is pretty good at one of the oldest plays in football history. He takes nice advantage of his 6-4, 240-pound frame to extended drives.

But the Bills, up 16-10, were waiting for him at the Buffalo 27 on third down and about a foot and a half on the Browns' first possession of the second half. Stefanski rarely calls for the sneak on third and short, relying instead on either Chubb or Kareem Hunt. He reserves it for fourth down.

The Browns went no huddle, hoping to catch the Bills napping. Didn't work, the middle of the Buffalo defense stoned the Cleveland offensive line. Brissett gained maybe the length of a thumbnail. By then everyone, including all the ushers in Ford Field, knew what was coming next. A virtual replay of third down. 

Time to tear this one out of the playbook. 

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I'm not sure Stefanski knows how to handle Chubb, which probably sounds like a strange thing to say because he's one of the premiere running backs in the NFL. But check out how Stefanski used him in the Bills loss.

Chubb touched the football 12 times in the first half, nine times in the first 15 minutes. He touched it just three times in the second quarter. He saw it only five more times in the game for nine yards. That's 17 touches for 67 yards on the day, 48 through three pass receptions.

The lack of consistency with Stefanski's use of his best running back is puzzling at best. Even if it means using Hunt less -- another puzzler is why he doesn't use them together on the field in games more often -- he loses sight of the fact he harms his offense with Chubb playing a seemingly lesser role too often.

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Finally . . . Hjalte Froholdt, who took over at center after starter Ethan Pocic took himself out of the game after two plays with a knee injury, is being blamed on the exchange on which Brissett fumbled and for not providing his quarterback with enough room to pick up a first down on the two sneaks. A bit unfair since he worked with Brissett so little this season. By the way, you pronounce his first name phonetically Yell-duh. . . .  York has missed two extra points and had three kicks blocked. . . . The offense has turned the ball over 14 times this season and taken it away only eight times. Opportunism is not one of the Browns' strengths. Neither are smartness, toughness and accountability.