Freddie Kitchens on exposing Cleveland Browns weaknesses
By Mike Lukas
Freddie Kitchens continues to show a lot of character when talking about his Cleveland Browns team. On Monday, he went into detail about the team’s weaknesses.
Cleveland Browns new head coach Freddie Kitchens has a funny way of putting things.
Kitchens told the media on Monday that he “likes giving hugs,” that he’s “not going to BS” them.
And, of course, the Piece De ReKitchens:
"“We are into exposing ourselves out here on the practice field to get better at everything.”"
Uduwhanow?
Seriously, that’s a hilarious way for the highly scrutinized rookie head coach to explain his philosophy of evolving this re-surging Browns football franchise.
But even fond fans of the 2018 Cleveland Browns are forced to admit, one thing the team was not good at last season was defense.
Nothing against former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams or Myles Garrett or Denzel Ward or anyone else in particular, but the numbers don’t lie.
Last season, the Browns defense:
- Ranked 30th overall
- Missed 169 tackles (most in the NFL)
- Ranked 29th in pass rush grade
- Ranked 3rd in avg. yards allowed per game (393.0)
- Ranked 12th in avg. points allowed per game (24.5)
- etc…
One of the many ways Kitchens is so reassuring when he talks about the 7-8-1 team he just inherited is the funny way he puts things.
Like this indirect shot Freddie took at how ‘some’ folks approach team development:
"“The first thing people like to do is they like to work on the things that they are good at because they can walk off the field or they can walk out of a classroom or they can walk out of a job feeling good about themselves. Nobody wants to work on the things that they are bad at because then they expose themselves.”"
It’s true – and why clips of Baker Mayfield tossing dimes to Odell Beckham Jr. have gone viral and clips of Steve Wilks drilling his new and improved defense are tough to find.
Focusing on what the Browns will do well at is fun.
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It’s also why it’s a darn good thing Browns fans aren’t in charge of rebuilding this team because judging by the many premature Super Bowl predictions being made, fan focus is not exactly on exposing the things the Browns aren’t so good at.
That’s Freddie’s job, of course.
And given how he’s approaching year five of the five-year rebuild, it looks like he’s got it under control.
And thankfully, it looks like he truly isn’t going to bull$hit anyone.
Just listen to Freddie’s assessment of Day 1 of minicamp:
“We got a lot done today. Messed a bunch of things up, but the one thing this group will do is compete.”
Can’t fix something if you don’t admit it’s messed up.
It’s Freddie Kitchens’ (and Todd Monken’s and Steve Wilks’) job to boldly expose on the practice field what’s weak about the Cleveland Browns and fix it.
Next. Mayfield becoming a vocal leader for Browns. dark
Those clips aren’t fun to share, but it’s that kind of hard work that needs to go viral.
And once he makes that happen, Freddie deserves all the hugs he can muster.