That would be a very wise move, Wisconsin produces OL every season! Gonna give them Buckeyes a better game this time I hope.
Ah...my bad...thought you were implying they should be looking for a new coach! haha A decent OL would help greatly! Sorry
I just saw that Kitchens was wearing a "Pittsburgh started it" shirt after the melee in the first game. I had seen a headline at one point, but thought it was just rumor bullshit I should ignore. Now that I know it's true and confirmed... How was that not brought up on here? How can anyone defend this guy? The team is wildly and embarrassingly undisciplined, to the point of wasting a year where most of the fan base was predicting playoffs, and this guy is walking around antagonizing a situation that saw one of his players indefinitely suspended? I didn't see it mentioned on these boards at all, so I'm genuinely curious to see what some of the posters here think of Kitchens, especially relating to this incident.
Cleveland board here so as a Steeler's fan, I may be out of place. I don't like any player wearing a t shirt that glorifies or makes light of a situation that not only resulted in suspensions that hurt your team but a lack of mental discipline that could've resulted in injury. Players are young and stupid but that's not an excuse just a reality. However, a coach needs to be an example. He needs to be above the players in terms of conduct. He needs to be exemplary. I always ask myself: What would Bill Billichek do? Would he cater to something that is a potential distraction or something that makes for bulletin board material? If the answer is no, then that's what you do as a coach. Copy the greats in the little things as well as the big and you won't go wrong.
Im not condoning what Kitchens did, but I don't think his intent was to stir the pot... A Browns spokesman told ESPN's Adam Schefter that Kitchens' daughters gave him the shirt "as a joke" and that he wore it to see the film "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" with his family. The Browns said Kitchens did not intend for anyone to see it and "understands it's not a good look."
He went to the theater to eye little girls with bad intent while wearing the t-shirt in bad judgement.
This is a seriously shitty excuse, and that last line indicates he knows he's wrong. If my kid gave me that, I would have a talk with them about how to handle situations like that - that maturity is better than pettiness, etc. We would talk about what was actually important, at that time, the exact same way you would hope he approached it with the team. This goes back to the standards to which people hold coaches. I know there are several here who believe that coaches just coach football, and aren't responsible for anything else. Yet, it's very clear that Kitchens as an example and as an educator has failed this team. That he doesn't meet that standard in his personal life either is telling, and pretty damning. If you were hoping Kitchens would get this team reined in for the future... this isn't a great sign as to his character / intent / judgement.
Genuine congratulations to the Steelers on yesterday's win. Usually, y'all end our season a lot earlier in the year but here we are December 2nd looking at next year. *sigh*
To be honest - I didn't even know about this T-shirt story until I read your post this morning. I've been critical of Kitchens all year long. I'll just add this to my list of things he has fucked up this year. This is the man who (allegedly) preaches "forget the last play, focus on the next play" mentality. This is a man who (like it or not) is a high profile person in a low profile urban area. As such, he had to know he would be recognized wearing that shirt in public. Why would I think he can instill focus and discipline in a group of professional athletes when he can't display that in his own family or himself? {sarcasm font = on} I'm sure he will learn from this adversity.
Do you think Kitchens is capable of learning? Maybe he has some growing up to do, i'll give ya that, but to say he has failed his team is kind of a stretch to me. Nobody walks in and is perfect and you have to start somewhere and learn the ropes, the do's and dont's… so im not ready to declare him a failure just yet. He better start getting better, but the argument against him, in my opinion, over a gifted t-shirt is quite petty. I'd be willing to bet that in hindsight, he wont do something like that again and if he does then he just might be an idiot (my words).
Spicy take, if true (tough to trust Grossi)... Even with that, he made the right read and throw on that last attempt and Jarvis ran the wrong route.
The ball seemed to be coming out of his hand fine in the second half. I was watching for ill effects and didn't notice any to speak of. That said...I don't think Browns fans get to play the injury card in this particular game!!
Second-string left tackle, third-string right guard, fourth-string tight end starting, starting cornerback knocked out of the game, premier defensive end on suspension, starting strong safety out for the year with injury with rookie replacing him, starting free safety benched (coaches' decision), rookie linebacker starting for injured veteran, staring quarterback injured in game -- allegedly much more significant than we believed... I understand Pittsburgh was banged up at a lot of key positions too, but please let's not think this was the Browns' team at full strength. We had two of our other starters on the defensive line knocked out on a Steeler's scoring drive.
