BROWNS LOOKING TO DO IT AGAIN IN GAME AGAINST COLTS

By STEVE KING

From the moment he was hired as Browns head coach seven months ago, Freddie Kitchens has preached consistency.

He didn’t want the Browns to play well one game and not the next. Rather, he wanted them to string together good performances. After all, that’s what good teams do, and he got the job because General Manager John Dorsey was – and still is – convinced that Kitchens can build the Browns into a good team – a consistently good team, one that will string together not only good games, but also good seasons.

Understanding that, then, Kitchens is not only hoping – he is fully expecting – that the Browns will give another good accounting of themselves when they play the Indianapolis Colts at 4 p.m. Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in the second game of the preseason.

The Browns, even without wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry and three-fourths of their defensive linemen, were near-perfect on both sides of the ball – at least in the brief time that their starters were on field – in a 30-10 beatdown of the Washington Redskins nine days ago at FirstEnergy Stadium in their opener.

The first-teamers will play longer – about a quarter, more or less – against Indianapolis, and Kitchens expects the little things that the Browns failed to master against Washington will get corrected.

Yes, even though it’s a preseason game, the Browns would like to win. With all the losing they have done in recent years and, really, throughout the expansion era, and as such the need to do everything they can to build a winning culture, it’s more critical for them to come away with a victory than it is for most of the other teams in the NFL this weekend.

But in actuality, if the truth be told, Kitchens would settle for another good overall performance, especially from his starters.

Will that happen?

Browns fans, taking the eye test from what they see as they view Saturday’s game on TV, will know right away if Kitchens got what he was after.