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"The Insiders" take an enhanced look at the competition for the starting quarterback spot between Cleveland Browns quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders.
Cleveland Browns first-year coach Todd Monken was so frustrated by his offense’s lack of discipline with pre-snap penalties that he whipped his radio, and, after a brief talk, kicked his players off the field.
"Well, unfortunately we sent them back with their head coach being emotionally hijacked, which isn't a good thing," he said Tuesday via the Akron Beacon Journal. "And I told them this morning that can't happen. I should have just gone to a different cadence. Let's let us play out the drill. I was obviously frustrated. So again, we're never too old to learn, right? Keep processing, getting better. And so that's one thing we sent him home with."
On Monday, the Browns were closing out practice with two-minute drill scenarios. The first team, run by Shedeur Sanders, was plagued with pre-snap penalties. Monken booted the unit, turning things over to Deshaun Watson and the second teamers. That group fared no better, allowing a sack, an illegal formation and a false start.
That set off Monken, a long-time assistant in his first time in the head coaching chair, who whipped his radio toward a nearby wall. Given Monken’s focus on details during his first camp, the overflowing of frustration by consistent mental miscues is understandable. It’s one thing for players to make physical mistakes. It’s wholly another to deal with fixable mental mistakes. Those are under every player’s control.
Monken used his own blow-up as a teaching point to his team, apologizing for not being more level-headed.
"I told them that in that moment, what I should have done and what I didn't do," he said. "And I've said to them and us, I mean, we're human. I got fired up. I was p*****. And that was awful. That was s***** football. And that is going to get me fired up. And I have to own some of that."
The 60-year-old then shouldered the blame for the struggles.
"Obviously, we haven't coached it well enough," Monken said. "There were other aspects about the two-minute that got me fired up that obviously were a reflection of coaching. I mean, those things, we're getting plenty of effort. You guys are fighting the rear ends off, we're tough. So we got that. OK. Well, how are we going to do the little things well? And that's coaching. That's me, and that's our staff."