Browns Super Bowl talk centered around the presence of Kitchens and Mayfield.
By STEVE KING
You shouldn’t be surprised by the Super Bowl talk concerning the Browns that I detailed in my previous post.
OK, you shouldn’t be THAT surprised by such talk.
Really.
Why? Because of the presence of two guys named Freddie Kitchens and Baker Mayfield.
Or, if you prefer it, Baker Mayfield and Freddie Kitchens.
No matter what order you put them in, it’s because of them.
There are other reasons, of course, but it mainly – almost totally, actually – is because of them. It doesn’t happen in any way, shape or form without them – both of them, not just one.
I’m obviously not the only one – far, far, far from it, in fact, as everybody is on board as well – who says it, but I pound the drum pretty hard on this site about the four basic premises of football, especially that played in the NFL:
*Quarterback is the most important position not just in football, but also in all of team sports. If you’ve got a good one, then you’ve got chance. And if you don’t, then you don’t. Period. End of statement. There is – there can be – no debate about it. It is an undeniable truth.
*The teams that are consistently good, even great – the ones that are legitimate candidates year in and year out to not only make it to Super Bowl, but also to win it – are those that have an outstanding quarterback AND an outstanding head coach.
*As such, then, the most important relationship not just in football but, again, in all of team sports as well, is that of the head coach and the quarterback. It is like a professional marriage. They have to be on not just the same page, same paragraph and same sentence, but also on the same word.
And finally, just as it is with the head coach, the most important – really, the one and only – job of the quarterback is to win the game. It’s not necessarily throwing for 300 yards and three touchdowns – although that sure helps — but to win the game. Anything other than that is a waste of time.
Kitchens and Mayfield check all the boxes on this, which is why – finally, after all these years in the expansion era – that the Browns are the pick of two sportsillustrated.com staff writers to be on their list of teams that will win a Super Bowl in the next five seasons.
