Freddie Kitchens isn’t interested in revisiting last year

[Chomps]

Last year worked out well for Browns coach Freddie Kitchens, since it allowed him to progress from running backs coach to interim offensive coordinator to head coach. But Kitchens isn’t interested in talking about last year.

The subject came up (again) on Saturday, when Kitchens was asked by a reporter about defensive end Myles Garrett‘s claim that former interim head coach Gregg Williams told Garrett to use only two pass-rush moves. While tiptoeing around saying anything that could be regarded as a slap at Williams, Kitchens seized on the subject to reiterate that the Browns need to turn the page on 2018 and focus on 2019.

“First and foremost, Gregg Williams was a good football coach,” Kitchens said. “He has been a good football coach in the National Football League for a while, if that is the angle here. As far as Myles is concerned, we need to get good at our craft in all areas. I think Myles will be the first to tell you that. We will give him every opportunity to master his craft, and therefore, we expect the production to go up. We expect the production to go up on the whole defensive line, the linebackers and the secondary. The production all over our football team needs to go up.

“The negativity — I am not blaming anybody here — surrounding some of the aspects of the team last year, we were 7-8-1 so that may be justified, but moving forward, we are not worried one bit about last year on any area of last year offensively, defensively, special teams or anything. Everything that we have, we have to goal in mind of getting better in everything. . . . Last year is last year. No two teams are the same. I have said that numerous times. You are not going to pick up where you left off. We are not interested in revisiting last year at all. We were 7-8-1. We didn’t do [anything] last year. We didn’t win anything. We were third in the division. I don’t know where all of this is coming from. Just because the Super Bowl is our goal does not mean that is where we are right now. We are a team just like the other 31 teams, and we are focused on training camp, OTAs, minicamp and getting better when those guys are back in the building.”

It’s the smart approach from Kitchens. With expectations higher than they’ve ever been for the reconstituted Browns, Kitchens will be feeling the heat if the team fails to deliver. His best play (even if it won’t work) will be to try to reel in those expectations.

The lower the bar, the easier it is to clear. Right now, the bar is so high for the Browns that it will be very hard to clear it. Which will in turn make it very hard for Kitchens to avoid the kind of reaction to 2019 that would put him on the hot seat for 2020.