Andrew Berry says Browns looking to ‘make the necessary changes’
BEREA — They sat side-by-side a day after the Browns’ season came to an end with a loss at the Pittsburgh Steelers. For general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski, it was more than just a visual the two were looking for, either.
As Berry spoke in the wake of a second consecutive losing season under Stefanski, he made it clear that the two of them are connected when it comes to the Browns’ on-field success or failure .
“First of all, I think we have a really strong head coach,” Berry said in a press conference Monday. “I think he proved his very first year he is smart, he is good with our guys and he is creative. The reality of it is we are all looking to make the necessary changes and modifications to make sure that we can reach our goals and have a really productive 2023. That takes all of us.
“The head coach, he is out in front, he is the leader of the organization and he bears a lot of burden and responsibility, and he gets really all of the blame when it is not necessarily all him. Our job is to make sure we support the head coach and put him in the right environment to be successful, and it takes all of us. It takes all of us. We know we have a good one in Kev.”
The first year the two were together, there was no reason to doubt any of that. The Browns, despite layers of restrictions due to COVID, manufactured the best season since the franchise’s 1999 rebirth by going 11-5 and reaching the divisional round of the AFC playoffs.
It seemed like it was the start of a magical football renaissance in Northeast Ohio. Except that the last two seasons have been a return to the losing ways which pre-date either Berry or Stefanski.
The Browns followed up last season’s 8-9 run with a 7-10 finish this season. Within that 7-10 season was a handful of plays which could’ve easily left them among the teams still playing in this weekend’s wild card round of the playoffs.
Instead, there was Berry and Stefanski, having to discuss what went wrong and what’s being done to fix them.
“I say this every year, every season is unique,” Berry said. “We work in a super-competitive sport, a super-competitive industry. It is hard and competitive to get to the playoffs. To think just because you go one year you can snap your fingers and go back, it takes a lot of effort. We are back in base camp right here in January as we prepare for 2023. We are under no illusions in terms of the work that it takes every year to try and scale the mountain and get back. Kevin may know the statistic better than I do, but how many new playoff teams per year? It is a fair amount of turnover. Basically, look, it is hard. It is hard, and we do not underestimate that by any means.”
That doesn’t mean Berry and Stefanski haven’t looked internally to find ways to potentially change the trajectory. A year ago, that was the decision to go after, and eventually acquire, quarterback Deshaun Watson in a trade with the Houston Texans.