Kevin Stefanski deserves NFL Coach of The Year buzz for his navigation of Deshaun Watson-less waters — Jimmy Watkins

Former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Tom Moore didn’t care to watch his other quarterback throw. Moore’s starter, Peyton Manning, was the prettier passer. And as Moore once told former ESPN commentators Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski, the Colts’ offense depended so much on Manning that it didn’t make sense to build a plan for his understudy, Jim Sorgi.

“If (Manning) goes down,” Moore once said, “We’re (screwed). And we don’t practice (screwed).

By Moore’s logic, the Browns’ season should’ve fallen apart the moment they ruled quarterback Deshaun Watson out for the season four weeks ago. But despite losing Watson, Nick Chubb and three offensive tackles (among others) for the season, Cleveland has not lost hope. The Browns’ playoff hopes remain intact, even if they are held together by staples and packing tape. And coach Kevin Stefanski deserves credit — no, an award — for replacing loose screws in real time.

Fourteen weeks into the season, Stefanski deserves NFL Coach of The Year for shepherding the Browns to an 8-5 record and 80% playoff probability. Because as Cleveland adds to one of the NFL’s longest and most expensive injury reports, its coach is adding another notch on his resume. The Browns’ success has been driven by their coach’s job skills section, particularly the subhead marked “adaptable.”

Stefanski began this season by restructuring his offense around Watson’s skill set during the offseason. That plan changed fast when Chubb and Jack Conklin suffered season-ending injuries in Weeks 1 and 2. And it changed when Deshaun Watson hurt his shoulder (the first time) during Week 4.

Since that moment, Cleveland has started four different quarterbacks under varying circumstances. P.J. Walker beat the 49ers five weeks after joining Cleveland’s roster and led a game-winning drive against the Colts one week later (after the Browns started Watson but changed course after four series). Rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson beat the Steelers in his second career start (his first with more than a few hours notice). And Joe Flacco beat the Jaguars this weekend, just three weeks after Cleveland signed him off the street.

These Browns are only the eighth team since 1950 to win a game with four different starting quarterbacks in a season. Only one of those four (Watson) played for Cleveland before this season. And only one head coach has found success amid persistent quarterback turnover this season: Stefanski.

Of course, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who has transformed a below-average defense into the league’s best, deserves credit for Cleveland’s success as well. So does special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone, whose unit has improved from 15th to first in ESPN’s efficiency rating in Ventrone’s first season. So do all the still-healthy players who have fought through the attrition around them.

But Stefanski deserves credit for leading them through it. He deserves credit for adjusting his staff when former coordinators Joe Woods and Mike Priefer weren’t yielding the returns Cleveland needed. You could call those changes necessary for a coach who entered this season with a lot to prove. But you could also say they foreshadow the nimble thinking that has defined Stefanski’s best coaching performance yet.

Bottom line: The obstacles Cleveland has hurdled this season would’ve ended the race for most teams. The Colts didn’t bother practicing with a backup quarterback, and the Browns didn’t have time. From DTR to Walker (and back), and from that pair to Flacco, Cleveland has proven that backup plans can breed success, even if prepared on the fly. And judging from Moore’s perspective, Stefanski’s crisis management has salvaged an unsalvageable situation.

Perhaps the coach’s resume deserves another bullet point. Perhaps under the “awards” section.

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