Cleveland Browns: Stefanski vs Cousins presages Belichick vs Brady
Cleveland Browns: Stefanski vs Cousins, Belichick vs Brady, Gruden vs Callahan, Vader vs. Skywalker, it’s master versus pupil.
When the Cleveland Browns take on the Minnesota Vikings, coach Kevin Stefanski may have a few Jedi mind tricks of his own to show his former pupil, Kirk Cousins. This is the same plot that you saw in The Empire Strikes Back, the old Star Wars movie.
The evil Jedi master, Darth Vader (played by Stefanski) seeks to strike down the brave young star warrior, Luke Skywalker, played by Cousins. The problem is that the evil Stefanski knows things about Cousins that even Cousins does not know.
Stefanski knows how he will respond when presented with each type of defensive formation. Stefanski knows which way Cousins will turn when pressured, which receiver he looks for first, when he will continue his progressions, and when he will decide to run. He knows virtually every move Cousins makes on the football field before he makes it.
“Luke…I am your Father!”
In this case, quarterback Kirk is the coach’s Cousins. He was the illegitimate fourth-round draft choice who tried to usurp the throne of Robert the Third, in the capital of the District of Columbia. But after escaping the clutches of the evil Emperor Daniel, who tried to franchise tag him twice, Kirk fled to the frigid north and became leader of the Vikings. Stefanski taught him to become a fearsome warrior for the Vikings.
Cousins is a phenomenal quarterback. He has been a Pro Bowler twice. He has passed for over 4000 yards five times in the past six years and has missed only one start during that time. He led the NFL in completion percentage in 2015 and his lifetime percentage is 67.2%. His TD-to-INT ratio stands at 194-to-84.
An unorthodox stat introduced in this space is yards per interception, which is a measure of how many yards the quarterback produces before a breakdown occurs. Cousins’ figure in Minnesota is 451 yards per INT. Baker Mayfield’s number in the Stefanski era is 434 yards. Prior to Stefanski, Mayfield was at 216 yards per INT.
You will see the same plot repeated in Foxboro, with different actors. Sunday night’s feature attraction stars Belichick versus Brady, the old Jedi master versus the protégé. Everyone wants to see whether Brady has become as strong in the Force as his former master.
Never was the Master/pupil confrontation more dramatic than in Super Bowl XXXVII. Cleveland Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan was one of the main dramatic figures in that game. At that time, after the 2002 season, Callahan was the head coach of the consensus best team in football, the big bad Oakland Raiders.