Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken apologized Tuesday after losing his temper during Monday's practice, throwing his headset and sending players off the field following a series of pre-snap penalties.
Monken, in his first year as a head coach after a long assistant career, was running two-minute drill scenarios when the first-team offense, led by quarterback Shedeur Sanders, committed repeated pre-snap infractions. He dismissed that unit and brought in Deshaun Watson with the second team, but that group also struggled, giving up a sack and drawing an illegal formation and a false start.
The frustration boiled over, and Monken hurled his radio toward a wall. On Tuesday, he addressed the incident with his team and with reporters.
"Well, unfortunately we sent them back with their head coach being emotionally hijacked, which isn't a good thing," he said, 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."
Monken said he apologized to the players for not staying more composed.
"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 pissed. 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 coach also took responsibility for the team's lack of discipline, saying the mistakes reflect on the coaching staff.
"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."
Monken's emphasis on details has been a theme throughout his first training camp, making the recurring mental errors a particular source of frustration. Physical mistakes are one thing, but fixable mental mistakes are within every player's control.
Source: www.nfl.com — Read the original article
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