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Former Alabama quarterback Freddie Kitchens got some laughs out of the press corps covering the Cleveland Browns at his first press conference as the NFL team’s offensive coordinator on Thursday.
Kitchens closed the event by announcing: “One other thing, I thought this was going to come up, but it didn’t and I want to address it: I’ve not been offer any head-coaching jobs.”
That came after Gregg Williams, the Browns’ new interim head coach, said on Wednesday he’d been offered four head-coaching jobs without even interviewing for them since his only stint as an NFL head coach ended with the Buffalo Bills in 2003.
Asked what he learned from his association with Bruce Arians, who coached him at Alabama and was his boss for five seasons as an assistant coach with the Arizona Cardinals, Kitchens answered: “How to make a cocktail.”
Informed Arians would be at Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs as part of CBS’ broadcast team, Kitchens replied: “Well, good, I think he owes me some money from the last time we played golf.”
But it wasn’t all grins on Thursday: Kitchens hit several no-nonsense topics about his first job as an offensive coordinator.
Until Monday, Kitchens had been Cleveland’s running-backs coach. Then the Browns fired head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley and elevated Williams, the defensive coordinator, to interim head coach and Kitchens to offensive coordinator.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” Kitchens said. “I’ve always wanted the opportunity.”
Kitchens said he wasn’t aiming to put his stamp on the Browns’ offense. His objective is for Cleveland to get its third victory of 2018 on Sunday.
“The No. 1 thing I’d like to bring is a win and one more point than them, and that’s all,” Kitchens said. “I don’t care about any stat other than the win, and that’s just how it’s always been. I’m a hell of a lot happier after we win than after we lose.”
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Kitchens said the Browns would use the same offensive system that they did under Haley. He just hopes they operate it better. Kitchens inherits an offense that ranks 24th in total yards, 24th in points, 24th in passing yards and ninth in rushing yards among the NFL’s 32 teams in 2018.
“What I do hope we can do and are able to accomplish is we’re able to execute better — do things the way we’re supposed to do them, how we’re supposed to do them and when we’re supposed to do them,” Kitchens said. “And if we do all those things, and have great communication in doing that, then we’ll be successful. When we are successful, that’s what’s happened. And when we aren’t successful, that’s not what’s happened.
“So it’s a pretty simple game if you go from the standpoint of communicate it, know what you’re doing, know when you’re doing it, know how you’re doing it.”
Kitchens will have quarterback Baker Mayfield, the first player picked in the 2018 NFL Draft, running the Browns’ offense. Mayfield has started the past five games for Cleveland. He’s completed 130-of-223 passes for 1,471 yards with eight touchdowns and six interceptions.
“It’s a big deal to play quarterback in the National Football League,” Kitchens said. “You can’t just roll somebody out there and do it. So he’s going to have some learning curves, too, that he has to get through.
“But he’s doing a good job working. All we want out of Baker and everybody around him is to keep their head down and work continually every day and try to get a little bit better every day.”
Kitchens’ only NFL experience in calling plays has come in preseason games. He said he’ll be well-prepared for Sunday’s game; the rest will be up to the players.
“They can make a play-caller look great if they execute,” Kitchens said, “and I fully expect them to make me look great. It’s not the other way around.”
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Kitchens won Alabama’s Mr. Football honor in 1992 as the quarterback at Etowah High School. Kitchens shared the quarterback duties for the Crimson Tide with Brian Burgdorf in 1995 before taking over full-time under center for Alabama in the 1996 and 1997 seasons.
Kitchens spent seven seasons as a college assistant coach before entering the pros as the Dallas Cowboys’ tight-ends coach in 2006.
Between the Cowboys and the Browns, Kitchens was on the staff of the Cardinals, coaching tight ends, quarterbacks and running backs over the course of 11 seasons. For five of those seasons, he was reunited with Arians, who’d been the offensive coordinator during his senior season at Alabama.
“I played for Bruce, kept in touch for I don’t know how many years after I finished playing for him and then we always kind of wanted to coach together,” Kitchens said. “So when it went down in Arizona and he was able to get to Arizona, it was just great being around him for a person standpoint more than anything else.”
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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