The Cleveland Browns played a better game than most people thought they would in Week 1.
They were 5.5-point underdogs, yet they had a chance to win it with a field goal.
However, as good as they were for the most part, Tony Grossi believes that Kevin Stefanski got a little too conservative at times.
Talking on ESPN Cleveland’s “The Really Big Show,” Grossi called him out for sitting on the ball a couple of times when he could’ve and should’ve been more aggressive.
“Stefanski coached a great game, except for two things: He gets to the 13 and there’s two minutes to go, and he’s playing for a field goal. Let him throw it in the endzone. And then the opposite happened in the end of the first half. They got to the 35-yard line at the Bengals with 1:57 to go, and they just sat on the ball,” Grossi said.
.@TonyGrossi thinks Kevin Stefanski coached a great game but there were two drives where he got too conservative…
"Let him throw in the endzone" pic.twitter.com/5MPYWPkYcs
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) September 8, 2025
That’s fair, but at the end of the day, the Browns were still in a position to win this game.
Andre Szmyt cost the team four crucial points in a one-point loss, and that should be the biggest takeaway from the game.
Yes, Flacco threw two interceptions, but the tape doesn’t always match the stat sheet.
Those balls were perfectly catchable, and the wide receivers just had to finish those plays.
Flacco looked sharp and in control of the offense for the most part.
He proved again to be tailor-made to run Kevin Stefanski’s play-action-heavy offense.
It also seemed that they were holding him a little back with the play-calling, perhaps to avoid turnovers, as he didn’t sling the football down the field as often as he usually does.
Still, he completed passes to eight different players, and some of the rookies looked promising.
This was a game they could’ve and should’ve won, and hopefully, it won’t come back to haunt them down the stretch this season.
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