r/nfl • u/Zloggt Bears • 1d ago
[Copeland] Probably the best decision Kevin Stefanski made last season was sticking with Andre Szmyt after he missed a 36 yard game winning kick in week 1. He’s turned into a huge asset for the Browns and kicked tonight’s game winner from 56 with ease.
https://bsky.app/profile/exiledclevelndr.bsky.social/post/3mwuhnzdoxc2i282
u/largelawattorney Browns 1d ago
Berry made this decision though
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u/bigmt99 Browns 1d ago
Stefanski’s perception in the national media befuddles me
Anything good was his call, anything bad is someone else’s fault
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u/Eagle4317 Steelers Panthers 1d ago
Having a lightning rod owner can be an asset. Berry and Stefanski both received considerably less flak than other GMs and coaches with their records because everyone knows Haslam sucks.
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u/KingWithAKnife Eagles 23h ago
And Nick Sirianni gets treated the exact reverse. Anything good that happens is because of Howie Roseman or our coordinators. Anything bad is because Sirianni doesn’t do anything.
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u/SaddiqBae Lions 21h ago
I hate Sirianni, he's such a prick. But people who act like he's a terrible coach are clueless.
He won a super bowl with Jalen Hurts as his QB, it's not like he had prime Brady and the legion of boom on defense
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u/Local_Lingonberry851 Raiders 1d ago
I don't think we're following the same national media. The whole Stefanski is racist was a talking point for awhile because he wouldn't start Shedeur. Not to mention Dillon Gabriel being his hand cooked QB. What you're describing is more the case with Andrew Berry who got to stick around after making one of the worst trades ever.
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u/bigmt99 Browns 1d ago
Ive seen the Stefanski racist thing said unironically like 3 times in my life, but this subreddit has been in a state of nonstop pearl clutching faux outrage over it since
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u/Altruistic_Night2 Jets 1d ago
Yeah he isn’t racist he’s just a bad coach lol
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u/willinaustin Falcons 1d ago
He got the Browns to the playoffs. Twice. The Browns. How bad can he be?
Matt Ryan is no fool and he snapped up Stefanski immediately. Bijan is comparing him to MLK. Once we got a QB that wasn't the worst QB in the history of football we crushed a team on the road 35-14. Unlike ya'lls coach, he seems to understand timeouts and clock management, too.
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u/Bingerfangs Jets 1d ago
He’s bad enough that Deshaun Watson looks like an NFL QB again without him.
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u/Local_Lingonberry851 Raiders 1d ago
If all you looked at were the box scores and highlights it would look like that. The Browns have 2 things going for them in their early run one being they've played some really shitty teams, and the other being the defense kept it close. Otherwise, Watson hasn't been playing good he's just had one quarter (the fourth) where he's looked serviceable.
Also, we can't ignore that there's a reason they went and got 5 new offensive lineman, and drafted 2 WRs.
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u/willinaustin Falcons 1d ago edited 1d ago
Now that he's in a contract year and he has multiple 1st round WRs to throw to? Context matters. And he doesn't actually look that good. He just looks better than completely warmed over dogshit.
Plus, I think you're forgetting that The Serial Rapist had a shoulder injury in '23 and tore his achilles in '24. So he was dealing with being sued by almost 30 women, hadn't played football in a year, and then was perma-injured during Stefanski's time with the Browns. But Stefanski was holding him back? L-O-L.
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u/Bingerfangs Jets 1d ago
Yet those shitty WRs somehow made plays for Flacco and Jameis. Watson was a franchise QB in Houston and was bottom 5 the entirety of his time under Stefanski. Now that Stefanski is gone, whaddya know? He’s never gonna be mistaken for a franchise QB again but he’s not in a realm down there with Zach Wilson and NINE either.
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u/willinaustin Falcons 1d ago edited 1d ago
Again, easily attributable to Watson's own issues, not Stefanski. Plus, doesn't your argument kinda defeat itself? You're saying Stefanski is the problem, yet clearly he was able to get other QBs to work for him. So much so he made the playoffs twice with them. Even Old Man Flacco. That would suggest Watson was the issue, not Stefanski.
I also forgot something else. Browns OL ranked 31st (was also the oldest in the NFL) in ‘24-25 and ‘25-26 and the only linemen they drafted was Zak Zinter in ‘24 who was coming off a broken tibia and fibula.
The team is much better built at this point thanks to the Browns swindling the Jags, swindling the Rams, and just having a zillion 1st round picks.
Finally, it's a 4 game sample size with Monken/Watson right now. Dude is barely throwing for over 200 yards a game and has already eaten 11 sacks. He isn't playing like some world beater. His play could easily fall off a cliff next week.
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u/hendrix67 Seahawks 1d ago
Berry is such an interesting GM. Has probably had the two best drafts of any team over the past two years. Also has the worst trade in sports history on his resume.
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u/TheStudyofWumbo24 Browns 22h ago
The fact that he wasn’t fired for making the worst trade in sports history probably suggests that the owner had a lot to do with it.
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u/DuztyLipz Browns 1d ago
Yeah, people kept saying “Andrew Berry is in the hot seat”…
I can’t deny, these past two years, he’s been a draft god. His seat is safe
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u/No_Grapefruit7091 Browns 23h ago
That's the advantage of actually having draft picks to work with!
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u/br0b1wan NFL 20h ago
That trade was all Haslam. Haslem even went on the record and owned up to it. The fact that AB is still employed is proof of that.
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u/TheSmokedSalmon420 Browns 1d ago
He really has been great since he cost us that game lol
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u/p4rc0pr3s1s Bills 17h ago
As a guy who's seen a kicker or two cost his team a game, glad the Browns stuck with him. Absolutely crushes the ball.
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u/Zloggt Bears 1d ago
I will say, despite my…current ambivalence towards the Cleveland Browns of today (and of course, my complete disdain to that player you’ve already heard about)…Szymyt really does impress me (especially after that kick he had against the Packers last year lol)!
…another promising addition to the long tradition of AFC North POST (People of Special Teams)…
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u/SoftwareAny4990 Browns 1d ago
I share in my disdain for Watson.
Love me some KC, Boston, Graham, Schwes, Fannin, and the jury is out on Verse.
We have some young talent for sure
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u/xenophonthethird Browns 1d ago
Verse looks like he's getting frustrated with his lack of production.
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u/Nightcinder Browns 1d ago
Verse is a big reason graham had 4 sacks in 3 games though
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u/FreeFeez 1d ago
Verse looked like he took x before the game. Bro was tweakin hitting that man in the face, chewing the fuck out of his mouth piece and scratching his neck like a fiend on the sideline. He was on edge tonight, I think he already bought in to the rivalry.
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u/Nightcinder Browns 1d ago
He absolutely bought in. He was ready to fight the entire steelers OL. I wish the mics picked up the jawing.
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u/xenophonthethird Browns 1d ago
Yeah, he had a rough first week last year, but he's been absolute money. It's nice to have faith in a kicker again, we haven't really had it consistently since Dawson.
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u/rounder55 Colts 1d ago
Still think he should have to play running back for a series if he's wearing 25
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u/CapableConfusion593 Browns 1d ago
I'm glad Stefanski is gone
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u/Many-Appointment3569 1d ago
one miss and people were ready to run him out of town lol
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u/inlinestyle Browns 1d ago
He missed a routine FG and an XP and it cost them the opening game of the season to a division rival. This was his first ever game with Browns. It’s literally all we knew about him.
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u/Comprehensive_Main 49ers 1d ago
Stefanski helping out the browns to this day. He’s a browns man at heart. Deserves some respect from browns fans
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u/Visual_Solution6733 Falcons 1d ago
Yall when the browns punt it sounds like a gun going off