After two full weeks of learning on the job, it looked as if Shedeur Sanders was finally starting to figure things out during his third start for the Cleveland Browns. Even though they may have been trailing in the final moments of their Week 14 match-up against the Tennessee Titans, the former Colorado Buffalo had still managed to produce 300+ passing yards, all while putting his team in position for a game-tying score.
Advertisement
Sanders connected with his tight end, Harold Fanin, in the back corner of the end zone to cut the Titans’ lead to just two points with a minute and five seconds left on the clock. But then, for one reason or another, the team’s head coach, Kevin Stefanski, elected to call a wildcat play for the two-point conversion.
Another Cleveland rookie, Quinshon Judkins, would handle the direct snap on the play, but he would also botch the pitch. It ultimately ensured a 31-29 victory for the Titans, and according to Asante Samuel, it’s time to light the fire beneath the feet of the Browns’ head coach.
“Kevin Stefanski decided that his scheme was better than the talent,” Samuel exclaimed during the latest episode of his self-produced podcast.
“He wants to use a trick play on a two-point conversion? Why in the hell would Kevin Stefanski not keep Shedeur in the game to try to convert on a two-point conversion to tie the game up? That didn’t make any sense. The things that Stefanski does are so backwards. It makes no sense man.”
Sanders, much like he did last week following the Browns’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers, simply noted that he “would never go against what the call was.” Given the amount of adversity that the 23-year-old has had to overcome just to reach his third start in the NFL, it’s hard for anyone to fault the rookie for not wanting to convey even the slightest sense of descent.
Stefanski himself admitted at the post-game podium that the play call “didn’t go as we thought it would” but that was not willing to go into the details of the matter. He then reasserted that he makes “every call” in regards to the offense.
When directly asked why he chose to take Sanders off of the field in such a critical situation, Stefanski hesitated by looking at the floor before bluntly stating that “We didn’t come through on our first two-point play. We got to the second two-point play but we didn’t come through. That’s on me.”
In the eyes of Samuel, this incident has provided more than enough reasons to call for the firing of Stefanski. Now, whether or not that will actually come to fruition later this offseason remains to be seen, but given the amount of public backlash that continues to come Cleveland’s way, it does seem as if Stefanski’s room for error is beginning to tighten a bit.
Simply put, it may not be much longer before the Browns find themselves advertising job postings yet again.
