Cleveland – (Special to NFLNewsbyZennie62.com) – Given the way the Cleveland Browns have treated Jameis Winston it’s time to ask if they ever took the Heisman Trophy Winner and National Champion seriously as a starter? If you consider Jameis’ ride to this point in time, the answer appears to be no, and it shines a light on how badly ran the Browns are at this point in time.
Sitting Jameis and putting Dorian Thompson-Robinson out there to be eaten by the hungry wolves of the Cincinnati Bengals is cruel, but the reason the Browns are doing it is to eventually offer the UCLA signal caller as trade-bait before the 2025 NFL Draft. No one in their right mind expects DTR to beat the Playoff-focused Bengals. Meanwhile, what about Jameis Winston?
The Browns brought in Jameis Winston to be a veteran backup to Deshaun Watson, and and not a starter. They paid $256 million to Watson and wanted to get a return on their investment. The trouble is Ken Dorsey’s Offensive Coaching combined with Kevin Stefanski’s own is like the blind leading the blind, and so were not able to produce anything out of Deshaun Watson. Watson was clearly frustrated with what he was asked to do, and it showed in his body language. In Houston, Watson guided a well-designed and true ball-control passing offense that set team records.
Both Dorsey and Stefanski know nothing of designing ball control passing offenses, and using formation spacing, motion, and shifts to produce yardage results. Ken Dorsey should be fired, and there’s a growing view that Stefanski should be shown the door, too. Bringing Jameis Winston in, with his bright light of personality and talent, revealed that both Dorsey and Stefanski were just mailing in decisions, without any rhime or reason. Throwing things up against the wall to see what sticks.
Dorsey and Stefanski Expected Deshaun Watson To Perform As He Did With The Texans
The main problem with why Watson has not done as well as expected with Browns, was that Ken Dorsey did not bother to look at the plays Watson ran when he was with the Houston Texans. Texans Offensive Coordinator Tim Kelly was moved up through the ranks with the organization to become the “OC” in 2019, and immediately installed an effective play-action-based passing offense. While the Texans were known for the downfield strike, few of those outcomes were not from play action.
By contrast, Watson never saw play action of the Houston Texans type with Kevin Stefanski and with Ken Dorsey we got a steady diet of shotgun with retreating offensive line blocking of the kind used by Mike Martz, and that leads to a fast-collapsing pass pocket. Take a look at every pass Watson threw against the New York Giants in Week 3 this year (Click the “Watch on YouTube” words to open the video below):
As you can see, all of the passes were shotgun and not under center and more often than not Watson was under duress because of the “retreat” blocking style. With the Texans the run-fake blocking gave the lineman a chance to push the pass-rushers and show them down, but not so with the Browns and Stefanski even before Dorsey, and then with Dorsey.
With Stefanski gone were run-fakes out of the I Formation and here were total shotgun passes even with an occasional play-fake that was not effective because the defense had already committed to the pass by the blocking style. In other words, as you saw, the blocking was all-pass and retreat, even as Watson was on a few occasions making play fakes in Stefanski’s Offense in 2023. And the 2024 version removed those plays and went mostly for drop back.
That version of Stefanski’s Offense coached by Ken Dorsey got Watson the season-ending injury. No question about it. It was an offense well suited to get you sacked and that’s what happened to Watson and the man who replaced Watson Dorian Thompson-Robinson. And he too got injured, and then in came Jameis Winston.
The difference between Watson, DTR, and Jameis Winston is that Winston has a quicker release. So, Jameis was better able to get the ball away before getting sacked versus Watson and DTR. Because the Browns under Stefanski do not emphasize a scientific approach to the operation of the offense, these differences were never considered. The Browns really only knew Jameis Winston from reputation and got some idea of what he was capable of in training camp.
Under Stefanski The Browns Offense Does Not Change Dramatically From QB To QB
What’s clear is that under Head Coach Stefanski , the Browns Offense is still mostly shotgun, regardless of the quarterback. Under Jameis Winston, more single-back three-wide receiver was used, never two backs. With the Texans, Tim Kelly had a two-back, play action approach that was more effective at creating time for Watson, and could have helped Winston and DTR.
The Browns were forced to adjust their offense to Jameis Winston because he was the only option available. It was also clear that Jameis would be able to get the ball out faster than Watson and DTR if he had a clear line of site to the pass catcher. In Jameis Winston, Ken Dorsey had found the toy he always wanted. A man more closely aligned with the playing style Dorsey was known for at Miami, and that Jameis Winston was familiar with.
Dorsey Openly Used Jameis Winston’s Reputation Rather Than What Jameis Learned Under Sean Payton
Dorsey openly admitted they were going to use an aggressive style and that means he was more than aware of Winston’s reputation for throwing interceptions, and deliberately did not consider Sean Payton’s 14 TD and 3 INT success with Winston because Dorsey has no history with that kind of approach and neither does Stefanski. What happened against the Ravens surprised both Stefanski and Dorsey, and that, combined with Jameis’ personality and belief in the Lord at a craxy time in America, made Jameis the Browns Fans’ favorite.
It is clear that the Browns came up with the idea of using the “Jameis Winston Experience” rather than the Sean Payton approach because it aligned with their out-dated (my argument) view of how the passing game is coached. The Browns under Stefanski and Dorsey are seat-of-the-pants type coaches who don’t understand how to engineer play outcomes via use of formation, shifts, timing, and motion. It’s as if they take their cues from angels and devils on their shoulders.
Perhaps Stefanski has the admin experience to be retained but Ken Dorsey is clearly a net negative for the Browns and should be terminated. If I were Andrew Berry, I would fire both and look for a coach that had a better understanding of the passing game. If they want to get the most out of Watson and Winston (I think DTR is trade bait) then the best coach is someone like the legendary Jim Caldwell, who has a Super Bowl ring as offensive coordinator, coached Joe Flacco and Peyton Manning, and has more street cred than anyone in the Browns facility.
Right now, Jim Caldwell is an Senior Assistant with the Carolina Panthers. He should be the Cleveland Browns next head coach.