FREDDIE NEEDS TO GET BACK TO BEING FREDDIE

By STEVE KING

We kind of knew – no, we really, truly knew — this was going to happen with Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens, and it has happened.

That is, the mess that is his calling the team’s offensive plays.

In one way, it was asking way too much of Kitchens, who had never been a head coach at any level before being hired by the Browns shortly after last season ended, to do that job plus call the plays, even with the presence of “offensive coordinator” Todd Monken, whose hiring was forced upon Kitchens by General Manager John Dorsey. Monken being there is just plain awkward. He is a third wheel in every sense of the term.

Kitchens has lost his way through these first three games. He’s got so many other things for which he is responsible as the head coach, that he doesn’t have the time to focus on his play-calling. That play-calling, and his relationship with franchise quarterback Baker Mayfield, are why Dorsey hired him.

Kitchens knows that, and said the other day that he is going to continue to call the plays. Period. End of discussion. I get it. He is going to succeed or fail on his own acumen. I get it. I’d do the same. Monken is never going to be confused with Lindy Infante.

Freddie has to get back to being Freddie with his play-calling, pushing the envelope when it deserves to be pushed, and doing the common-sense thing what that is what’s needed. It all blew up in those last four offensive plays in the 20-13 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. He should have had Nick Chubb run at least once, if not twice, and instead he had Mayfield winging the ball into the end zone like a drunken sailor.

That has to change beginning with Sunday’s AFC North showdown with the host Baltimore Ravens. Let’s hope and pray it does.

More BDD:

OK, NOW LET’S TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT REX

ESPN NFL analyst Rex Ryan likes to tell the truth – or perhaps the truth as he would like it to be, or the truth only so much as it’s provocative and it gives him a chance to be the story instead of just covering the story.

Whatever the case, Ryan was at his best – or his worst, as it were – when he came down hard on Baker Mayfield recently. The Browns quarterback didn’t like it, and neither did his head coach, Freddie Kitchens.

Those replies were expected. As much as Ryan has every right to say what he wants, Mayfield and Kitchens have every right to say their peace when they respond to it.

But instead of getting involved in that aspect of the story, let’s focus on another aspect. Actually, let’s do one better and make our own story. It will be one in which we’ll tell the truth – the real truth – about Ryan.

We won’t include anything about that weird fetish he has. Ugh. It would be so much fun to do so, but we’ll stay out of the ditch and take the high road.

Ryan views himself as a football coach and a football expert. He is formerly the former but not now and probably never again after failing as a head coach with both the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. If he had any value as a head coach, then someone else would have hired him by now. And no one has.

As for the latter moniker? He is that – an expert — only in his dreams.

He got his start because of his late father dad, Buddy, an iconic defensive coordinator. Dad, with his Bear defense when he was with the Chicago Bears during the season in which they pounded their way to a Super Bowl championship, was a football expert. His kid is not — not even close. His resume strongly indicates that.

So take Rexy – and all he has to say, especially the goofy stuff – with a grain of salt.