MARINA DEL REY, Calif. — A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away from Cleveland’s temporary headquarters in Beverly Hills this week, the Browns participated in a television show about the team’s travels and the work that went into moving such a large operation called “Road Tested.” It aired on the Travel Channel.
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Frankly, that’s the cheesiest yet most direct way I could think of to lead you to the here and now and the ever-changing reality show that is the 2023 Browns, a team that’s certainly both road-tested and adversity-hardened as it chases a playoff spot.
The chase continues this week in Southern California. The Browns (7-4) had their three-game win streak halted Sunday in Denver. It was not their best performance in any phase, but it’s most notable and disappointing for the way things snowballed over the final 17 minutes or so. Myles Garrett and Amari Cooper suffered injuries, though the team is hopeful neither will miss time. Rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson had sparked at least a bit of a comeback before suffering a concussion, leaving the Browns to fly here Sunday night unsure of their quarterback plans for a crucial Week 13 game against the Los Angeles Rams.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski probably knows what he’s going to do at quarterback this week. But he certainly wasn’t sharing any information on Monday as the Browns started prepping both P.J. Walker and the new guy, Joe Flacco, to potentially play Sunday. Thompson-Robinson is with the team and will proceed through the NFL’s concussion protocol.
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This ongoing quarterback shuffle, obviously, is not what Stefanski had in mind when he built this itinerary in the offseason. The Browns had an extended training camp because they participated in the Hall of Fame Game in early August, which now feels more like four years ago than four months ago. The primary goal was to get quarterback Deshaun Watson comfortable and prepared for a full season. The Browns were also installing a new defense under coordinator Jim Schwartz, and they had multiple new veteran defensive linemen who needed to learn Schwartz’s scheme — and their new teammates.
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A long road was ahead. The Browns hit the road to start it.
Greenbrier
The Browns gathered at their usual Berea, Ohio, facility for the start of training camp, then flew to West Virginia to spend their first eight practice days at the Greenbrier Resort. Multiple NFL teams had used the Greenbrier’s adjacent football facilities before, both for short stints and previous training camps.
Stefanski relied on recommendations from coaches he trusted in making the Browns’ visit to White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. He wanted his players to bond on and off the field, and he wanted to maximize the extra camp time afforded by the Hall of Fame Game. Cleveland’s summer vacation plans included eight nights there and four nights in Philadelphia for joint practices and a preseason game against the Eagles, one of the NFL’s best teams.
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Browns focused on team bonding during early portion of training camp
Did it all feel like kind of a Hail Mary? Maybe, but it underscored the importance of the season ahead. Without directly saying it — not that he ever says much of anything publicly — Stefanski was implying that the 2023 Browns needed to be more of a team than they were during their wild, disjointed ride in 2022. At the Greenbrier, we saw mostly installation days but also some competitive periods. We saw a lot of passes to tight end David Njoku, who was always open. We saw the early makings of what seemed to be a fast and aggressive defense. The Browns were all under the same roof for more than a week for meals and meetings, and their practice fields were just down the road.
That players such as kicker Dustin Hopkins, Walker, Flacco, punt returner James Proche and offensive lineman Geron Christian weren’t even in the team’s plans during the Greenbrier trip speaks to the uncertain and ever-changing nature of the NFL. This was six weeks before the team lost two respected veterans, right tackle Jack Conklin and Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb, to early-season injuries. But the Browns spent the time away because Stefanski wanted the players to bond and to go about the process of building a team equipped to handle adversity. That’s been the only part of the map that’s been predictable.
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Philadelphia
In mid-August, the Browns spent two days participating in full-speed but controlled (and highly scripted) practices versus the Eagles. It was there that we first saw that this defense might be really good. The first day was kind of a stalemate with the Browns — on both offense and defense — trading punches with one of the league’s best rosters. One-on-one passing drills with Eagles wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith versus Browns cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Martin Emerson Jr. were highly competitive and entertaining. The same went for line battles on each side.
The Philadelphia practices marked the Browns debut of defensive tackle Shelby Harris, who’s become a key part of the rotation. They also marked the first time we saw rookie tackle Dawand Jones take reps with the No. 1 offense. The Eagles got the better of the Browns on the second day, and over the two practices it became clear that the state of Cleveland’s passing game wasn’t what anybody involved had hoped it would be that far into the offseason. But the Browns as a whole made at least somewhat of a statement on that trip. Nothing is won or lost in mid-August, but the Browns left there thinking they’d have a chance to be pretty good — and to stand up to anybody.
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The Browns' week in Philadelphia had its share of good and bad moments
Stefanski grew up near Philadelphia and played college football at the University of Pennsylvania. On the day before the preseason game, he set up a walk-through at the historic Franklin Field, his college home stadium, then took the players next door to shoot hoops inside The Palestra. Stefanski even went to the team nutritionist to make sure the players could partake in some of his favorite pizza. There was certainly an element of team-building on that trip, too.
Only a handful of regulars played in the preseason game. Former Browns kicker Cade York had two late misses. Earlier, someone had posted on York’s Instagram account to celebrate an earlier make. It was during that game that the Browns realized they had a kicking crisis, and a little over a week later they would add Hopkins. All in all, the Browns got strong evaluations of their group. Thompson-Robinson made his first preseason start, and though he didn’t put up great numbers, he handled the operation well. Throughout the summer, Thompson-Robinson impressed the team’s decision-makers with his poise and professionalism as much as he did with his play.
With Watson having been lost to a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 10, this week was setting up as Thompson-Robinson’s homecoming. Instead, the Browns head to the stretch run just hoping they can find someone — and some way — to both energize and stabilize their offense.
California
The first Greenbrier trip was about breaking routine, avoiding boredom later in camp and letting the players bond — or maybe forcing them to. Stefanski joked that he hoped there would be no cellphone signal in the West Virginia mountains, but he was only half-joking. Practices were in the morning and there was a mandatory off day halfway through the trip, leaving plenty of time for players and coaches to spend with one another.
This late trip was about getting sort of a reset amid what the team hoped, and assumed, would be a full-on playoff push. With road games in Denver, Seattle and Los Angeles on the schedule, Stefanski started making calls in January to research what other coaches had done in extending in-season trips. There are sports-science reasons the Browns wanted to eliminate a set of flights and add some down hours to the players’ schedules, but there were also focus and bonding reasons.
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Whether Flacco is this week’s starter or not, there’s no ideal way to get a player who’s been out of football and with the team for just one week prepared for four quarters of high-stakes offense. But if it must be done, having all involved under the same roof is a good way to accelerate things.
Officially, the Browns will practice Wednesday-Friday at UCLA. The rest of the regular work week — including meetings, walk-throughs and training staff time — is taking place either in UCLA’s facilities or in the team hotel. The Browns won’t spend most of their Saturday flying, and they’ll have had plenty of time to acclimate to Pacific Standard Time ahead of Sunday’s game.
Cooper (ribs) and Garrett (shoulder) have been working to get healthy. Ward missed the game versus the Broncos with a shoulder injury, too, and his status for this week is uncertain. Cleveland will have its standard injury report and designations as usual Wednesday-Friday, but we probably won’t know much of anything until later in the week. With some of the lineup decisions, there are strategic reasons. Cooper and Garrett almost never practice on Wednesdays, even when they’re close to fully healthy, so we won’t know much there.
Did all this travel work? Early Sunday evening, we’ll have a better answer. In a few weeks, we’ll have an even better answer to that. Stefanski and the Browns — including the coaching and personnel staff — have done a good job thus far of adapting, finding the right guys for at least temporary fixes and putting a competitive product on the field. The Browns need to score more, and they need better play out of their quarterback — whomever that is. And whomever it’s going to be the rest of the way.
Bonus points to you, the loyal reader, if you actually ever watched or remember that “Road Tested” show back in 2012. We’ll see over the next six games if the Browns are road warriors or road weary.
(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
