If there is one thing that can be said about Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken, it is that he is certainly a far cry from his predecessor, Kevin Stefanski. Monken is loud, he shoots from the hip, he can be combative and he is blunt, sometimes surprisingly so. Stefanski tended to be evasive, reluctant to criticize his team or, really, anyone in public. No doubt, there are advantages to remaining tight-lipped like Stefanski. But for fans and media members, Monken’s passion is surely a welcome change.
It was on display this week when the Browns, who have not shown the progress offensively that Monken had been hoping for, were ragged at the end of practice. The coach was visibly ticked off, mostly because the offense has still been unable to pull itself together with a smooth pre-snap approach. He let his players hear it, too.
As veteran reporter Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland wrote on Twitter/X: “Coach Monken looked pretty p—– at the end of practice, again. He’s also annoyed.”
Todd Monken: Browns Practice Was ‘(Expletive) Football’
Part of Monken’s charm in his press conference throughout training camp, though, has been his willingness to be honest about what he is seeing–and he takes some of the blame for how things have unfolded offensively thus far in Berea.
First, his review of how practice unfolded as the team worked on two-minute drills late in practice:
“You know, I got fired up. I was pissed. That was (expletive) football. And that is gonna get me fired up. And I have to won some of that. Obviously, we haven’t coached it well enough and there were other aspects about the two-minute that got me fired up that obviously was a reflection of coaching. Those things, we’re getting plenty of effort. Guys are fighting their rear ends off. We’re tough. So we got that, OK.
“Well. now are we gonna do the little things well? That’s coaching. That’s me, and that’s our staff.”
Todd Monken: ‘I Got Hijacked’
That’s where Monken admitted that he might have been a bit too harsh with his players. He said he talked about how he could have handled things better with his Browns players after practice was over.
The coach said: “I got hijacked, I mean, we did such a good job on Saturday, cadence-wise, and then at the end of two minutes, just couldn’t get out of our own way. I did a poor job of working through it, tried to continue with cadence just to, you know, force them in the moment to overcome a little bit of a setback in the drive. But we’re certainly not there yet.
“I said it to the offense, I said it to those guys. I told them in that moment, what I should have done and what I didn’t do. I’ve said to them and us, I mean, we’re human.”
Browns QB Shuffle No Excuse for Struggles
And, sure it is good of Monken to be open to his players, to admit mistakes. But it’s a fine line–he needs to be tough enough to keep them on the straight and narrow. By most accounts, it has been a mistake-packed training camp to this point.
One aspect of that is that the Browns do not have a clear QB1, and it is difficult for either Shedeur Sanders or Deshaun Watson to establish a consistent mastery of pre-snap order and, as Monken repeatedly says, cadence. Monken gave the offense come grace on that account, but he also noted it’s too much an excuse at this point.
“We’re working through that,” he said. “But at this point, after spring, and what are we on, three weeks into it? That’s a little bit of an excuse. It’s gonna be a part of it but, hell, we are paying a game this week. It’s going to be a with a different quarterback, it is going to be with a different center. That’s our job, to make sure it is not an issue.”
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Browns Todd Monken Has Fiery Response to ‘Awful’ Practice Ending appeared first on HEAVY.