When we watch the Cleveland Browns play this year to date, we think of the scene from the movie Tin Cup, when the producer of the telecast of the US Open says someone needs to tell this guy he doesn’t have to hit it from there.
Perhaps someone needs to tell Hue Jackson that he doesn’t have to keep having his rookie QB, DeShone Kizer throw the ball downfield to wide receivers who have trouble holding on to the football.
The Browns dropped to 0-4 on the season, getting boat raced by the previously winless Cincinnati Bengals 31-7 at First Energy Stadium.
This game turned early, when Emmanuel Ogbah strip sacked Andy Dalton on the Bengals’ second play of the game, and the Browns took over on the Cincy 30-yard-line.
Three plays netted no yardage, and Zane Gonzalez missed a 47 yard field goal, and the Bengals never looked back.
We watched the game thinking why don’t the Browns do what Cincinnati does on offense, which is run the ball, call some easy pass plays for Dalton, and occasionally take shots down the field?
Instead, Jackson has Kizer firing the ball down the field all the time.
Look, we understand Cleveland allowed 31 points for the second week in a row, but we will make one excuse for Gregg Williams’ unit. They are on the field all the time.
After winning the time of possession in the opener against Pittsburgh (31 minutes to 29), the following three weeks have seen Cleveland having the football 26, 26 and 24 minutes in the last three games.
That’s a tough way to play especially for a young team.
In the first half, the Browns had one drive where they made more than one first down, the drive that resulted in an interception off of the hands of Kenny Britt.
That’s a tough job for the defense, especially because they are missing three of their best players in Myles Garrett, Jamie Collins, and Danny Shelton.
Meanwhile, the offense can’t claim they are missing any key players.
We talked last week about getting the ball to the four best players on offense. This week, here are the results:
Isaiah Crowell: 7 carries, 20 yards, 1 catch 8 yards (8 touches)
Duke Johnson: 4 carries, 13 yards, 9 catches 47 yards (13 touches)
Seth DeValve: 1 catch, 2 yards–4 targets (1 touch)
David Njoku: 2 catches, 11 yards–3 targets (2 touches)
So, that quartet touched the ball 24 times in Cleveland’s 61 offensive plays.
That doesn’t seem like enough, does it?
Jackson has to understand what he is doing, right?
He’s killing his defense because they are on the field constantly. It doesn’t excuse a 61 yard pass and run on a screen pass where no one touches the ball carrier, but you can understand why the defense runs out of gas in games.
Put Kizer in some safer down and distance positions.
Our chief pet peeve with coaches in professional sports is stubbornness. Jackson is displaying all of the classic symptoms.
We understand he favors an offense that throws downfield, but he doesn’t have the personnel to do that. So, you have to adjust. Until he does, you are going to have games like this.
And you aren’t really helping a rookie quarterback.
Can Jackson change? That’s the million dollar question. But he needs to, or he is going to give the front office something they probably don’t want to consider.
We understood what the Browns did a year ago. However, they need to make progress this season in the standings. They way they are going about their business isn’t allowing that to happen, if indeed it can.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 