The NFL schedule release is one of the most anticipated events of the offseason. It allows fans to ponder their favorite team’s fortunes for the upcoming campaign and to pick out the games they are most interested in seeing.
The Cleveland Browns have plenty of intriguing matchups to choose from. They include a meeting with former quarterback Baker Mayfield against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2, and Todd Monken’s first game against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 6, where he was the offensive coordinator for the past three seasons.
However, ESPN insider Daniel Oyefusi believes there is one game that rises above the rest, and he is urging Browns fans to circle the date of Dec. 13, when the team will take on former head coach Kevin Stefanski and the Atlanta Falcons at Huntington Bank Stadium.
“Dec. 13 vs. the Falcons. In Week 14, the Browns will host former head coach Kevin Stefanski, who was fired and quickly hired as Atlanta’s coach in January, in his return to Cleveland. Stefanski led the Browns to a pair of postseason appearances and won two NFL Coach of the Year awards in six years, but he was fired after compiling a combined 8-26 record in the last two seasons,” Oyefusi wrote.
Stefanski did not remain out of work for long, as he was considered the top head coaching candidate on the market, until John Harbaugh and the Ravens parted ways. Stefanski is not the only former Browns coach on the Falcons’ staff, as he brought offensive coordinator Tommy Rees with him from Cleveland. Quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt and offensive line coach Bill Callahan also worked under Stefanski during his six seasons with the Browns.
On the other sideline, Browns defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg was the Falcons’ defensive passing game coordinator last season under former head coach Raheem Morris. Those connections should bring an extra bit of intrigue to the interconference matchup.
It should be noted that the game will be the last of four consecutive home games for the Browns, who will not have had to leave Cleveland for at least 40 days. The stretch that runs from Week 10-14 includes games against the Houston Texans, Las Vegas Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals, and could go a long way toward determining the Browns’ status as a late-season playoff contender.
So, the game could have more importance than just simply being a revenge matchup of a former head coach against the team that fired him.
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