Kevin Stefanski Takes Blame For Costly Decision In Browns Loss To Giants

The Cleveland Browns fell to 1-2 on the season after a 21-15 loss to the New York Giants

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski looks on during the first quarter of an NFL football matchup Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Browns defeated the Jaguars 18-13. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has never been afraid to be aggressive with his in-game decision making. To be a coach in this analytic driven NFL, you almost have to be.

Sometimes coaches make the wrong decisions though.

Trailing the New York Giants 21-15 with just over four minutes to play on Sunday, Stefanski made the latest costly in-game blunder of his career. Armed with all three timeouts and the two minute warning still to come, Stefanski opted to go for it on fourth-and-one from his own 29-yardline.

The RPO-style play saw the Giants take away quarterback Deshaun Watson's No. 1 throwing option, forcing him to scramble from the shotgun up the middle of the field and diving for the line-to-gain, only to come up just short of the first down.

Stefanski took the blame for the questionable decision afterward.

“Yeah, so third down, we got into what I thought was sneakable, move back to a long one," explained Stefanski. "Liked our call, felt good about that and then ultimately, if you don’t perform in those short yardage moments, that’s on us. And so, I’ll take responsibility for that.”

Whether he liked the call or not, it was still a questionable move given the circumstances surrounding the game and the situation. Cleveland was fortunate to only be down one possession at that point given how poorly they had played overall. And even though though it did end up getting the ball back one more time still only trailing by six, that was only the case because New York missed a field goal on the ensuing possession.

WR Cedric Tillman was wearing the #Browns loss to the #Giants harder than anyone after his costly fourth-quarter drop. Here's what he had to say about it and what some of his teammates had to say to him: https://t.co/Okam4zUGS0

— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) September 23, 2024

Meanwhile, the Browns defense had held New York scoreless throughout the second half, and considering how much time was left and the number of timeouts still in hand, it seemed like a perplexing choice to not punt the ball and trust the defense to get it back to you.

Simply put, it seemed to lack "feel" from Cleveland's head man.

Ultimately, Stefanski's decision wasn't the main reason the Browns lost to the Giants on Sunday. It certainly made things harder down the stretch though.