Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski handed play-calling responsibilities to offensive coordinator Tommy Rees earlier this season, but he pointed the finger at himself when it came time to discuss the team’s bid to tie the Titans late in the fourth quarter on Sunday.
The Browns pulled within 31-29 on a Shedeur Sanders touchdown pass to tight end Harold Fannin and then lined up in the Wildcat to go for two. Running back Quinshon Judkins took the snap and ran right with plans to flip the ball to wide receiver Gage Larvadain, but didn’t have a good handle on the ball and wound up keeping the ball before firing a last-ditch incompletion in the wideout’s direction.
After the game, Stefanski said at his press conference that he knew during the scoring drive that he wanted to run that play and that it “obviously did not go as we thought it would.” He also said that “I make every call” when asked whose decision it was to go that route.
“I’m responsible for all of it,” Stefanski said, via a transcript from the team.
The Browns failed to convert on a previous two-point play in the fourth quarter when Sanders lost the ball on the snap, but Stefanski said that didn’t contribute to the decision to go with the Wildcat look on the final attempt to tie the game. That choice didn’t work out and the loss officially eliminated the Browns from playoff contention for the fourth time in Stefanski’s six years in Cleveland.
