Browns look to recapture the magic of Greenbrier
BEREA — The Browns faced plenty of adversity on their way to 11 regularseason wins and their third playoff appearance since 1999 last season. It seemed that, even when it was going good, they would round a corner and run into a wall of more trouble.
That adversity may have staggered them a bit, but they never fell down. The players attributed that to the bond they felt in the locker room.
Where did that bond develop? Most credited the start to a trip to The Greenbrier to open training camp.
Now, a year later, the Browns are going to see if they can recapture the magic. As they broke at the conclusion of minicamp for a roughly monthlong break before training camp, the focus was already starting to shift toward going back to southeastern West Virginia next month.
“Attack it the same way, attack it the same way, but continue to try to improve on where we missed out,” defensive end Myles Garrett said during minicamp. “Whether it was those moments of bonding, making sure that all the guys are getting out of the rooms, talking through plays, walking through plays, going to dinner, talking about the game. At that moment, it’s time to lock in. We’re away for a reason. Take it as a work trip, not on vacation and we don’t need to treat it like that.”
A year ago, the Browns were searching for ways to bring what had felt, at times, like a fractured locker room the previous two seasons. And they were afforded an opportunity to get away by a camp schedule that started a week earlier that normal because of the Browns’ participation in the Hall of Fame Game.
That extra week will not be there this time around. What is there is the opportunity to again gather together as a team away from most of the prying
eyes that can spring up during training camp, especially one held at the team’s own facility.
It became obvious, though, during last year’s stay at The Greenbrier that a return trip was inevitable. Coach Kevin Stefanski didn’t exactly put it up to a team vote, however.
“I didn’t poll them when we’re asking if they want to go back down,” Stefanski said. “I don’t know. I think the guys recognize, at least I believe they recognize, that it’s good to be under one roof, it’s good to be together. It’s good that they get X number of ping pong games in. All of that adds up. You can do team building exercises. You could also just put everybody under one roof and organically that those type of things happen, so.”
What Stefanski isn’t doing is just pulling the same itinerary out of his desk drawer and replicating it next month. There will be some carryover, but there will be changes as well.
The dates will vary, with the Browns scheduled to arrive in West Virginia for the first practice on July 25 and departing after the final one on Aug. 2. There will be alterations, though, to the schedule as well.
“We will do a few things differently,” Stefanski said. “The schedule, how it shook out, we’ll have one day here before we go down, which is a little bit different. We’ll have a five in a row block down there, which is a little bit different. So, we’ll adjust a few things. Whether it’s practice, playing or how we meet, we’ll do a couple things different.”
The one thing the Browns are hoping doesn’t go differently is how the trip impacts the team once the season begins. Whether it’s Stefanski or the players, there was no mistaking the impact the time in West Virginia had when they hit rough patches, from injuries to quarterback Deshaun Watson or running back Nick Chubb to various losses on the field.
Garrett said there’s only one way for that to occur. It has to start with how the players approach the trip.
“So having that mentality will be good and dialing it back and using that when we go on an away game,” Garrett said. “When we went to the West Coast last year and we didn’t have the success that we wanted to, call back to when we were in the Greenbrier. What did it take for us to get up and push ourselves through that? Call back on those moments, and that’s where you’ll find your success.”