Browns' Kitchens won't give up play-calling

Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens admitted botching a play call or two in a close loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night.

FILE PHOTO: Sep 22, 2019; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens reacts against the Los Angeles Rams during the third quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

After reviewing the film, Kitchens spotted some adjustments and improvements to implement, but he didn’t come away with the sense he needs to give up the play-calling role for the team.

“You can write that if you want to, but that’s not even feasible,” Kitchens said Monday. “That’s not even — that’s not being considered. No. It’s not.”

Down four points in the fourth quarter Sunday night, Kitchens called a draw play — isolating the running back against pursuing linebackers — on a fourth-and-9 late in the game. He said after the game he wishes he had the call back. Kitchens said he needs to have a better feel for his personnel.

“When you start talking about specifics like that, I just know how the guys around me are,” Kitchens said. “I think you take the sense of, you get a better feel for what people can do and what people can’t do. Or the better situations that they can be in, in relation to the situation that you’re putting them in currently. And that’s what you do. You do your work during the course of the week and you call it on Sunday. If they do things differently, you make adjustments accordingly. I think we’ve been doing a good job of that. Now it just needs to get more consistent.”

Reports surfaced in training camp that new offensive coordinator Todd Monken and Kitchens were struggling to get on the same page.

Early results, with the Browns 1-2 and averaging 16.3 points per game, indicate the offense is not what was expected with Odell Beckham Jr. added to the equation.

But Kitchens said Monday he’s not looking to pass any of the play-calling duties to Monken.

“Not going to happen,” Kitchens said. “It’s me. It’s my fault. Todd does a great job. Todd does a great job during the course of the week of making sure we stay on task. We stay organized and all that kind of stuff. But when things mess up it’s going to be me.”

—Field Level Media

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source: reuters.com