People thought new Browns offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens was joking last week, when discussing his goals for the Falcons game he suggested: “I eventually want to get to the wishbone.”
But the Browns did run a variation of the old-school formation Sunday, putting three backs in the backfield with quarterback Baker Mayfield at once for a few plays. The new look was part of an attack which seemed to confuse the Falcons often.
“It was something, wasn’t it?,” Mayfield said, via Hayden Grove of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “We threw a different look. We moved the ball well. It was just a thing to switch up the tempo, and I think it was great for our offense.”
It was actually an inverted version, with Nick Chubb directly behind Mayfield and Duke Johnson and Darrun Hilliard off to each side. At one point, Johnson even optioned to Chubb before he was tackled for a loss.
Interim coach Gregg Williams was a bit worried that Kitchens might have let the secret slip earlier in the week, but a win allowed everyone to enjoy it.
“When he joked, I am thinking, ‘Oh, here we go’ because it was [in the plan],” Williams said. “We have a good package of things that we wanted that group of players to come onto the field. We also wanted to see how they would respond. How would they visualize or see the package? We had a good package of plays. We had a little no-huddle concept, also, if we needed to try to keep that package on the field. Very well-thought out on Freddie and the offensive staff on utilizing what we have here.”
If nothing else, it’s one more thing for Browns opponents to have to prepare for, so don’t be surprised if Kitchens comes out this week talking about some Wing-T concepts.