Browns’ Stefanski, Garrett, Flacco among the winners at NFL Honors

LAS VEGAS — The Cleveland Browns were recognized for their successful season by the Associated Press at NFL Honors Thursday night.

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Two players and two coaches were each nominated for different awards and all four won.

Head Coach Kevin Stefanski was named Coach of the Year for the second time in four years. He is the 13th coach in history to win multiple Coach of the Year awards.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz earned the award for Assistant Coach of the Year. In his first season as Browns’ defensive coordinator, he helped transform the unit into one of the league’s best defenses this year.

“I’m very grateful for this award,” Schwartz said. “When it’s all said and done, I played a really, really small part in this. The main credit goes to our assistant coaches, our position coaches, and our players. Just a great group to work with.”

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Defensive end Myles Garrett won his first Defensive Player of the Year award.

“I want to thank the Browns organization for y’all believing in me,” Garrett said during his acceptance speech for the award. “Jimmy and Dee Haslam, Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski, (Jim) Schwartz, and man, we had a hell of a brotherhood that helped support me and get me here as well. And I have a great team that has been around me for the last two years, helped support me in my wellness. My high school coach who I was able to bring here. Thank you, it’s been a blessing.”

Quarterback Joe Flacco was named Comeback Player of the Year.

“Big thanks to the city of Cleveland, just everybody in Cleveland,” Flacco said as he accepted the award. “I want to say thank you to my teammates for welcoming me into that locker room at that point in the year. To welcome a new guy is not the easiest thing, so I want to say thank you to those guys. I want to say thank you to the organization for giving me the opportunity to do what I love to do – and that’s play football. And I want to say thank you to the city, just for making me and my family feel at home for a couple of months. Truly special.”

Other notable award winners include Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson winning his second NFL MVP Award and Houston Texans quarterback, former Ohio State standout, C.J. Stroud was named Offensive Rookie of the Year.

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The Browns won 11 games this season, which tied for the second-most in team history, trailing the 1986 team’s 12 wins. Cleveland went 8-1 at home which set a team record for home wins.

Their season ended losing in the NFL Wildcard to the Houston Texans, 45-14.

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The NFL season comes to an end when Sunday night when the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs play Sunday night in Super Bowl LVIII.

The game begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be televised here on Channel 7.

Coverage begins Sunday with a special edition of the Orange Zone Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. with John Bedell and Larry Hansgen.

After the game, we will have a special edition of News Center 7 at 11 Sunday night.

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