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Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski will miss the team’s first playoff game in nearly two decades due to testing positive for COVID, but acting coach Mike Priefer plans to make it feel like Stefanski is on the sideline rather than having to watch from home like the rest of us.
“I’m going to try to be an extension of Kevin,” Priefer told reporters. “You guys know my background with him. I understand situational football, so that part won’t change, but I’m going to try to do exactly what Kevin would want in those situations.”
Priefer is the Browns’ special teams coach and has an extended history of working with Stefanski. The two spent eight seasons coaching together in Minnesota before Priefer joined the Browns’ coaching staff in 2019. Stefanski became the team’s head coach before this season. In less than a year on the job, Stefanski has done a phenomenal job helping Cleveland shake off its long history of failure, but thanks to COVID, he won’t be able to be there for the team’s first postseason appearance since 2002.
Along with Stefanski, two coaches and two players tested positive, and all five will not be available for the game. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the coaches are a tight ends coach and defensive backs coach, while NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that left guard Joel Bitonio and wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge are the two players who tested positive.
The Browns are scheduled to play the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday.
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