One of the clearest signs that the Hue Jackson regime simply was not up to the task of coaching a successful NFL team came during a preseason practice last year. Reminded by a national reporter that there were two kickers in camp and they were working off on a side field for a second straight day with almost zero coaching attention, Jackson hastily decided to have a kicking competition.
Each of the competitors, Zane Gonzalez and Ross Martin, got five attempts from varying distances. Gonzalez, the returning starter, hit all five while Martin missed two. He was cut shortly thereafter. Therein ended nearly a month of an overlooked competition.
Don’t expect that sort of lack of attention to detail, or lack of general enthusiasm for special teams, with new head coach Freddie Kitchens. The rookie coach preached commitment to special teams improvement during minicamp last week.
“We are trying to improve our whole team, every area,” Kitchens said after Thursday’s practice. “We are trying to be better than we were last year on offense, and we are trying to be better than we were on defense and special teams included. A lot of times, coaches like to talk about it is a third of the game, but they do not commit to it. We are going to commit to it.”
Bringing in former Vikings coordinator Mike Priefer to run the special teams was a strong start. Drafting Austin Seibert to battle with Greg Joseph to win this year’s kicking competition is another, and they’ve already engaged in more competition than Jackson and fired coordinator Amos Jones dedicated. There is even a legit punting competition between Britton Colquitt and Jamie Gillan even though Colquitt is one of the NFL’s better punters.
The Browns lost two games — New Orleans and Baltimore — last season directly because of special teams failure. That was the difference between 7-8-1 and a playoff berth. Coach Kitchens seems determined to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
