The Browns had four finalists for major awards heading into tonight:
Defensive end Myles Garrett - Defensive Player of the Year
Quarterback Joe Flacco - Comeback Player of the Year
Head coach Kevin Stefanski - Coach of the Year
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz - Assistant Coach of the Year
All of which came home winners....and in Cleveland, Ohio, where nothing is given and everything is earned, this is a big deal.
Well start from the bottom and work our way up by importance of the award.
Assistant Coach Of The Year: Jim Schwartz
The offseason acquisition who set the Browns on the path back to the playoffs didn't score a single touchdown or make a single tackle. All he did was make sure their opponents didn't do the former, while running a defense that made a lot of the latter. Jim Schwartz was hired as Browns defensive coordinator two weeks after the 2022 season ended to fix their defense. The veteran coach did that, at times at a historic rate, as Cleveland produced the best statistical defense in the league. For that, Schwartz was recognized Thursday night as the NFL's Assistant Coach of the Year. The award, presented by the Associated Press, was announced during the "NFL Honors" program in Las Vegas.
The defense was the back bone of the 2023 Browns team. In a season that had offensive woes with Nick Chubb going down in week 2, a quarterback carousel that lasted until November 20th when our lord and savior Joe Flacco signed, the Browns defense stood on business. The defense which helped the 49ers offense to 17 points, and beat them with PJ Walker under center. The 9ers are in the Super Bowl, and PJ Walker sucks.
Coach Of The Year: Kevin Stefanski
Stefanski led the Browns to an 11-6 mark, which was a considerable achievement considering the number of season-ending injuries they faced. In addition to quarterback Deshaun Watson(pervert) and running back Nick Chubb going down, the Browns lost their top three offensive tackles by season's end, as well as kicker Dustin Hopkins. Cleveland, which has garnered three awards thus far at NFL Honors, made the postseason as the No. 5 seed but lost in the Super Wild Card Round, on the road to the Houston Texans.
The Browns ended up starting five quarterbacks this season, with Watson only starting six games before a shoulder injury ended his season after a massive win at Baltimore. Fifth-round pick Dorian Thompson-Robinson started five games. Journeyman P.J. Walker was tabbed for two. With the Browns locked into their playoff seed, Jeff Driskel became the team's fifth starting QB in Week 18.
Stefanski first received Coach of the Year honors after the 2020 season when the Browns ended an 18-year playoff drought and won their first postseason game since the 1994 season.
In four seasons with the Browns, Stefanski has amassed a record of 37-30, surpassing Bill Belichick (36) for fifth place in franchise history for coaching victories. Stefanski has a ways to go to catch franchise icon Paul Brown and his 158 wins, but with another strong season in 2024, Stefanski could surpass Sam Rutigliano (47) and Marty Schottenheimer (44), who rank third and fourth, respectively, on that list. May not seem like much, but to think of how historically and comically bad this franchise has been, tip of the cap to the work Stefanski has put in with this team.
Defensive Player Of The Year: Myles Garrett
Browns defensive end Myles Garrett wins the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year. He's the first Browns player to win the award. Garrett anchored and has been a staple part of the strong Browns defense that led the team back to the playoffs.
Steelers fan are PISSED!!! Shout out #TJWatt who had a hell of a season. Watt fired off the following post on the platform formally known as Twitter as Garrett was making his acceptance speech. "Nothing I'm not used to," Watt wrote. It's safe to say that Watt is taking this personally and will use it as motivation this offseason. While he did win the award in 2021, you could argue (as his brother JJ has) that the Steelers' outside linebacker should have multiple DPOY trophies.
Imagine being an O-lineman and watching Garrett start to pretend to dribble a basketball knowing he's about to put you through the spin cycle??
In just 16 games, Garrett recorded 14.0 sacks, 17 TFLs, 30 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles and 42 total tackles for Cleveland. Garrett received 23 of 50 first-place votes and 165 total points, with Watt second (19 first-place votes, 140 points), Parsons third (7, 89), Crosby fourth (0, 21) and Bland fifth (1, 14).
Despite being an absolute monster all year, Garrett’s Week 7 performance earned him AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. In Cleveland’s 39-38 victory over Indianapolis, he recorded nine tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and blocked a field goal.
Through seven seasons as a professional, Garrett has amassed an incredible 88.5 sacks, 94 TFLs, 172 QB hits, 17 forced fumbles and 305 total tackles. He also has a scoop-and-score to his credit. Quarterbacks fear him, and every other defensive end wants to be him.
Simply put: Garrett is HIM.
And now...the moment you've all been waiting for.
Comeback Player Of The Year: JOE FLACCO
They said he couldn't do it. They said he couldn't come off the couch and sling it. They said he was too old. They said he was washed. I don't think anyone really said any of these things. But Flacco did the damn thing. I honestly expected my best friend Baker Mayfield would've won because he balled out for Tampa this season. Maybe if Damar Hamlin would've converted that 4th down against the Chiefs in the playoffs, he would've locked up the award, but that's show business baby. We will ignore Flaccos performance in the AFC divisional round, and focus on what he did to get the Browns to finish 11-6 and secure a playoff spot against the New York Jets who didnt want to sign him after Aaron Rodgers went down.
The 39-year-old Flacco’s journey this season wasn’t supposed to be performing with the playoffs on the line. But if it wasn’t for his 4-1 record in the last five games, perhaps the Browns don’t make it to the playoffs. Flacco threw for 13 touchdowns to eight interceptions as well as 1,616 yards with a 90.2 quarterback rate.
"Big thanks to the city of Cleveland, just everybody in Cleveland. I wanna say thank you to my teammates just for welcoming me in that locker room at that point in the year," began the quarterback. "Coming in as the new guy is not the easiest thing."
Shout out @JaycaseyJay for making this banger:
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