Browns fans over Kevin Stefanski's play calling after first possession in Week 5

HC Kevin Stefanski continues to stupefy Cleveland Browns fans with his play calling. On the first drive of the game against the Washington Commanders, QB Deshaun Watson, TE David Njoku, and the Browns backfield had set the team up for an easy 4th and 1 attempt.

Instead of making that play easy, Stefanski called a special package play that featured QB Jameis Winston in the pocket providing the handoff to D'Onta Foreman. The play was pretty clean - Winston's able to pitch the ball perfectly to Foreman, and Foreman looks to have a clean picket to slip through several Commanders defensive lineman for a first down.

Instead, he slips. Right before the first down marker. And, it was a turnover on downs. Rough way to start the road game against a high-octane Commanders offense. Browns fans were pretty confused by the play call, and understandably so. If you can simply run it up the gut, especially with a bit of a healthier O-line to get you some space, why not just do that instead of a trick play?

The play in question

Reactions were pretty much the same across Twitter/X.

Very odd. Washington's D-line seemed to be a little off balance the entire drive, and Cleveland should be trying everything to get its run game going. Instead, a pitch play? Stefanski might have overthunk it.

Harsh, but fair, take here. OC Ken Dorsey really strutted his stuff with the Buffalo Bills the last few seasons by managing to take a nonexistent run game and work with it. Granted, he had QB Josh Allen under center, but it's also not like this Browns team has no talent on the roster whatsoever. Foreman is a decent RB1 option, but RB Jerome Ford could stand to be incorporated more - especially when deep balls are not connecting for Watson and this receiving corp.

Chubb back would be huge for this offense. He can run with strength behind a weak O-line if close to 100 percent healthy. If he isn't, big questions become even bigger for this Cleveland offense. The main one being, how much longer can the Browns run with any belief in Watson at the helm, with this O-line in front of its backfield, or with this coaching staff?

Chubb can take snaps away from Foreman and Ford and help to balance an offense sorely lacking a run game. But, without an effective game in the air and with a coaching staff likely hesitant to put too much of a load on Chubb to start out his season, it could be too little too late to rely on him to save the season a quarter of the way through.