{"id":81557,"date":"2024-01-17T14:53:42","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T14:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/?p=81557"},"modified":"2024-01-17T14:53:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T14:53:42","slug":"browns-fire-coordinator-and-2-coaches-upset-some-players-with-move-kieu-linh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/browns-fire-coordinator-and-2-coaches-upset-some-players-with-move-kieu-linh\/","title":{"rendered":"Browns Fire Coordinator and 2 Coaches, Upset Some Players with Move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0have parted ways with multiple offensive coaches just days after their playoff loss to the\u00a0Houston Texans.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1418630824-e1705491124832.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Alex Van Pelt, Kevin Stefanski\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Josina Anderson of CBS Sports\u00a0on Wednesday morning, January 17, broke the news that the team had fired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. The Browns also parted ways with two of\u00a0 Van Pelt\u2019s position coaches.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Breaking: I\u2019m told the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Browns?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#Browns<\/a> have fired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, running backs coach Stump Mitchell and tight ends coach T.C. McCartney, per source. <\/p>\n<p>Some of the players are upset from the news.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JosinaAnderson\/status\/1747574587011780721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 17, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBreaking: I\u2019m told the #Browns have fired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, running backs coach Stump Mitchell and tight ends coach T.C. McCartney, per source,\u201d\u00a0Anderson reported via X. \u201cSome of the players are upset from the news.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anderson did not indicate if general manager\u00a0Andrew Berry\u00a0or head coach\u00a0Kevin Stefanski\u00a0initiated the firings.<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE: Ian Rapoport of NFL Network followed up Anderson\u2019s report roughly an hour later.<\/p>\n<p>Rapoport posted a report of his own\u00a0to X indicating that the Browns had fired Mitchell and would not retain McCartney. However, Rapoport also said that, \u201cVan Pelt remains under contract, with no other final decisions made,\u201d which contradicted the reporting done by Anderson earlier Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after,\u00a0Anderson reposted Rapoport\u2019s report, adding the following: \u201cI\u2019m told Alex Van Pelt informed some of [the] members of the team yesterday he was let go Tuesday afternoon upon hearing this specific news &amp; received messages of condolences to that end, along with Mitchell and McCartney, per source.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Kevin Stefanski Hired Alex Van Pelt After Becoming Browns Head Coach in 2020<\/h2>\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-inline wp-image-4652571 visible aligncenter\" style=\"font-size: 16px\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1862832516-1-e1704188093411.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" alt=\"Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski is undecided on resting his starters.\" width=\"782\" height=\"439\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4652571\" data-lazy-load=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1862832516-1-e1704188093411.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" \/><\/h2>\n<p>Van Pelt arrived in Cleveland with Stefanski in 2020 and served as the offensive coordinator in both seasons that resulted in playoff berths for the Browns (2020, 2023).<\/p>\n<p>The quarterback position has been in flux in Cleveland since Van Pelt assumed the offensive reins. He coached\u00a0Baker Mayfield\u00a0during his first two years on the job. The Browns then traded Mayfield in 2022 after dealing for\u00a0Deshaun Watson. Cleveland ultimately signed Watson to the largest fully-guaranteed contract in NFL history ($230 million\u00a0over five years).<\/p>\n<p>The league suspended Watson for the first 11 games of the 2022 campaign, during which\u00a0Jacoby Brissett\u00a0served as the starter. Watson returned for the final six contests of the year, but he wasn\u2019t the same three-time Pro Bowler he\u2019d been with the Texans.<\/p>\n<p>The Browns ultimately started five different quarterbacks in 2023 due to a variety of factors, including a season-ending injury to Watson in November and inconsistent play from backups\u00a0PJ Walker\u00a0and rookie\u00a0Dorian Thompson-Robinson. However, Van Pelt\u2019s offense found its stride after the team signed\u00a0Joe Flacco.<\/p>\n<p>Flacco lost his first game as a starter against the\u00a0Los Angeles Rams\u00a0before stringing together four consecutive wins and leading the Browns to their second playoff berth of the Stefanski era. Flacco averaged\u00a0well over 300 yards passing\u00a0in the six games he started for Cleveland (including on Super Wild Card Weekend), but he also threw 10 total interceptions. Two of those turnovers came on back-to-back drives in the second half against Houston last weekend, both of which Texans defenders returned for touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>The Texans blew the Browns out by a score of\u00a045-14 on January 13, and Cleveland fired Van Pelt, Mitchell and McCartney four days later.<\/p>\n<h2>Browns Offense Was Elite After Joe Flacco Became Starting QB<\/h2>\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-inline wp-image-4650518 visible aligncenter\" style=\"font-size: 16px\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1880369044-e1703970225587.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" alt=\"Joe Flacco, Browns\" width=\"782\" height=\"441\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4650518\" data-lazy-load=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GettyImages-1880369044-e1703970225587.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" \/><\/h2>\n<p>Cleveland\u2019s decision to fire Van Pelt is somewhat curious considering the amount of success the Browns have had over the past four seasons, and particularly how effective the offense was down the stretch in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The franchise is\u00a037-30\u00a0under Stefanski, and Van Pelt served as his offensive coordinator for that entire run. Cleveland has won 11 games twice over the last four years and is now 1-2 in the playoffs over that span.<\/p>\n<p>The Browns finished the 2023 regular season 4-2, though several starters sat out Week 17 against the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0as Cleveland had already locked up the No. 5 seed in the AFC and couldn\u2019t move up or down based on the result of the final game.<\/p>\n<p>Throwing that loss out then, the Browns averaged 28.6 points in five games with Flacco under center to end the year. Spread out over the entire season, that figure would have ranked Cleveland\u2019s offense fourth in the NFL, per\u00a0The Football Database.<\/p>\n<p>The Browns\u2019 average points per contest drops to 26.2 under Flacco when including his playoff start. Even still, that number would have placed Cleveland seventh among all NFL teams if achieved across the entirety of the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>Stefanski went from on the hot seat before the year began to now one of the frontrunners for the NFL Coach of the Year Award, accomplishing that turnaround in no small part because of how well the Browns offense played down the stretch.<\/p>\n<p>Considering that \u2014 and the fact that it was Berry\u2019s choice to trade away\/mortgage the franchise\u2019s future for Watson in what has been a disastrous move over the last two seasons \u2014 Van Pelt feels like an odd scapegoat for the Browns\u2019 playoff ineptitude last weekend in Houston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0have parted ways with multiple offensive coaches just days after their playoff loss to the\u00a0Houston Texans. Josina Anderson of CBS Sports\u00a0on Wednesday morning, January 17, broke&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}