Kevin Stefanski Played To Win The Game, And The Browns Are 8-5

When the Browns needed to swing momentum back in their favor early in the fourth quarter, Kevin Stefanski dialed up the perfect play call to lift the Browns to victory.

Fourth-and-three. 12:34 to go in the game. The Cleveland Browns needed a play.

Up until that point, they had out played the Jaguars in every phase of the game, out-gaining them by more than 150 yards, sacking star quarterback Trevor Lawrence four times, and keeping Jacksonville pinned back with an average starting field position near their own 30.

Due to some costly turnovers though that led to the first 14 Jaguars points, Cleveland's pure domination was nearly made a moot point. As the fourth quarter began the game weighed in the balance. Browns head man Kevin Stefanski seized the moment. 

Facing that aforementioned fourth-and-three just beyond mid-field, the Browns head man dialed up the perfect play. It helped that he had the right quarterback too.

With the Jaguars in cover-zero, they brought the house at veteran Joe Flacco. Running back Kareem Hunt met a blitzing defender up the middle head on, giving Flacco the necessary time to roll to his right, where he had trips set up to the near side of the field. As the play developed further, two of the trips receivers darted toward the middle of the field, including second-year wideout David Bell. The third – David Njoku – darted toward the sideline, picking two defenders in the process.

As Bell followed Elijah Moore to the middle of the field he stopped on a dime, turning around for Flacco to zip the ball to him and with no safety help to bail out the defense, he darted 41-yards to the end zone to make it a two-possession game. 

Boom. 

WOW. Flacco to Bell for a 41-yard TD on 4th down

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In a tight spot with a chance to take control of the game Stefanski didn't waver. It was the perfect play call, in the perfect situation. It all amounts to a potential season defining moment if the Browns are able to make the playoffs from here.

"That was outstanding," Stefanski said of the play. "Unbelievable play by the quarterback. He's not hot, he's hotter than hades on that play. We did not have that blitz picked up and he drifted to his right. Great feel from Bell. Unbelievable play." 

In typical Joe Flacco fashion, he praised his teammates for the play coming together the way it did.

"I knew I needed to buy a little bit of time cause they were coming after us, and I was probably gonna have some pressure off that right side," Flacco said, describing his perspective on the play. "Bell was running a little option route. I think in that situation you can probably anticipate a little bit easier cause it's fourth down, you know you have to throw the ball anyway. It was really up to him to him to find that little spot and he did it.

Often criticized for not showing enough emotion, the play elicited perhaps the most pure and raw Kevin Stefanski reaction to date as the camera caught him pulling off his headset and high-stepping his way down the sideline as if he was scoring himself. 

TFW you have found an ELITE QB pic.twitter.com/SMNBwwGnrW

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In a game where the Browns committed three turnovers, only amassed 82 yards on the ground and got called for seven – mostly untimely – penalties, that play defined the day. This city isn't used to seeing its Browns win games with that many miscues. That play defined the day though in what ended as a 31-28 win – with an assist to the lights out Dustin Hopkins, who added a 55-yard field goal two series later to really seal the deal for Cleveland. 

It's nothing new for Stefanski. He's been brilliant this season captaining his team to 8-5 now despite a relentless number of injuries that have worked to undermine the Browns playoff dreams. Now, he's got them in the drivers seat to do turn that into a reality. 

"It tells me we have a team that is ready to win regardless of who is playing [quarterback]," Stefanski said of his team's resilience.

"We knew today was not a playoff game, but it was gonna feel like a playoff game, and it was" Stefanski said. 'We knew what this game was gonna be about, we knew what type of matchup it was. Knew what type of fight it was gonna be."

Add another feather to Stefanski's cap. He's pulled nearly all the right strings this season.