The Browns' defense smothered running back Dalvin Cook and pressured Kirk Cousins into spastic throwing. (Cleveland Browns)
Browns bought in to Kevin Stefanski’s preaching and forgot to give him a game ball for his best win yet
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
All week Kevin Stefanski sought to embed in his team’s mind that the game in his old stomping grounds was not about him. It was all about the team, he insisted repeatedly.
Stefanski never let on how much it would mean to him to leave screechy, glassy U.S. Bank Stadium with a win against the organization that developed him into the reigning NFL coach-of-the-year.
Perhaps it was the best way for his team to put forth the collective effort that Stefanski knew it would take to defeat a Minnesota Vikings team outgaining every NFL team but two in total yards.
But when the Browns finished doing a defensive number on Mike Zimmer’s Vikings and the hard-fought 14-7 win was secured – only after a wayward pass in the end zone by spastic Kirk Cousins on the final play – the day belonged to Stefanski. It should have been time for him and Joe Woods, his hand-picked defensive coordinator who also toiled in Minnesota and his first assistant coach he hired in Cleveland, to be showered with celebration.
A Gatorade shower? Probably too early in the season for that. But no game ball in the locker room? An oversight sown by the team’s complete buy-in to what Stefanski is preaching.
Players confirmed that no captain thought to hand Stefanski a game ball for perhaps his greatest regular-season triumph as Browns coach – in a hostile environment against a quality team, his former team, that had soundly thrashed Seattle a week earlier.
It was the only ball the Browns dropped on this day.
Nick Chubb said Stefanski never let down his guard, even after he and Woods had schooled Zimmer on tremendous game management and a defensive effort better than the previous nine-sack game against offensively inept Chicago.
“He’s always pretty composed,” Chubb said about Stefanski’s stoicism.
Asked to concede that the win was pretty special to him, after all, Stefanski said without batting an eye, “No. Because these games are hard to come by … on the road you have to find a way to victory. I’m just happy our team went 1-0.”
It was Woods’ finest game as Browns defensive coordinator. After a 14-play touchdown drive by Cousins to start the game, on which Cousins completed 6 of 6 passes including the touchdown to splendid receiver Justin Jefferson, the Browns held Cousins to 14 of 32 passing for 144 yards and the Vikings’ No. 3-ranked offense to 180 total yards.
Every facet of Woods’ defense excelled, including, significantly, the run defense, which held the great Dalvin Cook to 34 yards on 9 carries.
Cousins entered the day as the league’s No. 4-ranked quarterback with a gaudy passer ranking of 118.3 and a completion percentage of 73.9. The Browns held him to a paltry 203 yards passing and a rating of 66.0.
Cousins had three possessions late in the game to tie the score with a TD, and his series ended in a Greedy Williams interception – the first of his NFL career and Cousins’ first of the season – two failed throws caused by pressure by tackle Malik Jackson, and a pitiful incompletion hurled in desperation into the end zone on the game’s final play.
Stefanski’s intimate insight into Cousins’ shortcomings was revealed when he observed after the game, “Consistently, we were applying pressure. We had to make him uncomfortable. If you make him comfortable in the pocket, he’s going to make all the throws.”
The Browns needed a supreme defensive effort because quarterback Baker Mayfield suffered arguably his worst performances in a win.
Mayfield was typically overly-amped at the beginning and never found a rhythm throwing the ball.
The best thing Mayfield did was not turn the ball over, which was no mean feat given the hostile environment. He missed wide open Odell Beckham Jr. (2 catches on 7 targets for 27 yards) on several occasions.
In the second half alone, Mayfield annoyingly took a sack instead of releasing the ball to wide-open Demetric Felton; misfired for a long gain to Beckham by throwing to his outside shoulder when the receiver drifted inside; overthrew open tight end Harrison Bryant on second-and-8; threw out of bounds for Beckham open again; overthrew Anthony Schwartz streaking beyond coverage; and finally threw behind Beckham deep down the right sideline with 1:08 to go.
Mayfield was livid with what he bluntly called a “piss poor performance.” He was 15 of 33 for 155 yards with no TDs for the third time in four games. His 59.5 passer rating was the lowest yet in a victory under Stefanski.
“I didn’t get into rhythm,” he said. “There were a lot of easy throws there. I pride myself on being extremely accurate. Today, I don’t know what the hell that was. We’re a good team. We have to play a complete game. I just have to pick it up.”
To his credit, though, in such a tight game on the road it was imperative for Mayfield to “get them in and out of the huddle … that’s a big deal,” Stefanski said, and not turn the ball over. Stefanski fell on his sword to protect Mayfield, saying “I need to do a better job.” But Mayfield could’ve put this game away easily in the second half.
Fortunately for Mayfield and the Browns, running backs Nick Chubb (100 yards on 21 attempts) and Kareem Hunt (69 on 14, including 33 yards on an incredible third-and-20 run that set up a 48-yard field goal and 11-7 lead at the half) controlled Zimmer’s defense.
And kicker Chase McLaughlin continued his perfect start with field goals of 48 and then 53 yards for the final points with 6:16 to go in the fourth quarter.
But this was a day for Stefanski and Woods and the defense.
“Defense wins championships,” Hunt said. “Defense is going to be the biggest part of this run and this journey.”
Understandably noted for his offensive brilliance, Stefanski said, “You have to win a bunch of different ways in the NFL. The defense carried us today. I think it speaks to the resilience [of the team], for sure. In this league, you’re going to have to go on the road and beat a good team.”
Yes, even after the Browns improved to 3-1 after this tough dogfight, they are only tied in their division with Baltimore and Cincinnati. The showdowns with the Ravens are months away. This win served the Browns well for what’s yet in store.
