Cleveland Browns: Hue Jackson’s Offensive Debacle
By Peter Smith
Since 1999 when the Cleveland Browns came back, it would be difficult to find a more embarrassing offensive game plan than the one Hue Jackson had Sunday.
The Cleveland Browns had two weeks to prepare for the Cincinnati Bengals and it appeared as though Hue Jackson spent all of it working on ill-fated trick plays that don’t work. For all the areas where Hue Jackson has shown to be an extremely effective head coach, his offensive game plans and play-calling this season this season have been awful. The best case scenario is that Jackson is deliberately trying to lose. The worst case scenario is that he’s simply incompetent.
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Let’s get this out of the way: Robert Griffin III was abysmal. He looked more like an undrafted free agent the Browns were forced to play due to injury than a quarterback they planned their season around.
Griffin couldn’t make routine passes and, on plays designed to go deep, he sat there hitching rather than throwing it to allow them to run under the ball. The most notable example was on a deep ball for Corey Coleman where Griffin had time to make a sandwich in the backfield, then threw up a hopeless prayer down the field that Coleman had to try to fight for like it was a punt.
Hue Jackson is sticking with Griffin, which given my own hope for getting Myles Garrett, does nothing but work to guarantee the Browns get the top overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, it holds back just about everyone else on offense in the process.
You’ll notice that Hue Jackson has not said that Griffin gives the Browns the best chance to win. He’s said he wants to evaluate Griffin these last few games of the season. With all due respect to Griffin, the verdict is painfully clear. Nevertheless, this is smart by Jackson. Were he to say that Griffin gave this team the best chance to win, it would be an outright lie.
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That gets us to Hue Jackson. I think he’s a terrific CEO for the organization. His message and approach with players is consistent and fantastic. He has charisma and gets players to buy in and, whether it’s current or past players, they adore him. In this area of coaching, which is incredibly important, he’s outstanding.
Even on an 0-13 team, the Browns come out and fight every week. No one quits. There might be some players that get upset and voice their frustrations, like Terrelle Pryor, but they are all giving it their full effort. That matters.
When it comes to play-calling, this past week’s game was the cherry on top of the fecal matter filled sundae this season has been in terms of running an offense. Jackson came out and defended the play-calling, which is that much more irritating.
After a month of having the best running game in the NFL, Jackson basically decided to put it on injured reserve, giving up on it at the first sign of resistance. Against the Bengals, Isaiah Crowell had 10 carries for 113 yards. The offense as a whole averaged 7.7 yards per rush vs. 3.7 yards per pass. Undaunted, Hue kept on calling pass plays, despite how painfully ineffective it was.
If these games are simply a means to evaluate players, so be it. But don’t pretend this is a game plan that can win. No one can suggest those obnoxious trick plays that are reminiscent of a bad junior varsity football team trying to get something going are helping the team this year. If the goal is to win the game, going with more passes than runs in this game was a disgrace.
Griffin finished with a stat line of 12-of-28 for 103 yards and an interception. Three of those completions were on the last drive of the game with the game out of reach running out the clock. Meanwhile, the team only had 22 carries for 169 yards. And a few of those carries were Griffin scrambling.
Had Jackson come out in the post game press conference and said that the flea flicker inside his own 5-yard line was a wish by a sick child, I would have believed it. That would’ve been a nice story. Alas, that play call was made because he thought it was a good idea. Griffin chucks it into trouble coverage for a George Iloka interception that set the Bengals up for another easy touchdown.
The offense on the Browns has more talent than the defense and far more talent than it’s showing. It’s not even close either, yet the rookie laden defense is the only thing on this team keeping this team in games for the past several weeks. Much of this is due to play-calling and game-planning.
Some critics were suggesting the offensive line was to blame in this loss. The offensive line may have had its most complete game of the season, which is impressive given they are down two starters. Receivers were there and Griffin couldn’t hit them and the running game was extremely productive. This comes down to the quarterback and the guy calling the plays.
If Jackson is embracing tanking, great. He might be just the evil genius this team needs to fix it. It would at least suggest to me that he knows what he is doing is idiotic and that he can fix it. If he went into the game against the Bengals thinking to himself, this is a game plan that can win today, he’s not the man to run this offense.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting Hue Jackson should be fired nor am I suggesting that anyone on his staff should be. I don’t think it’s realistic to replace anyone on his coaching staff as the team hopes to preserve the veneer that this team has a plan. They simply need to be better—maximize what works and minimize or try to eliminate what doesn’t.
The player development on this team gives me some hope that Jackson is smarter than this offensive output would suggest. Nevertheless, I wish I had more confidence in his ability to call plays and get the most out of the talent this team is able to collect.
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There were positives to take away from this game. The bye week was valuable for a number of players on the Cleveland Browns. It’s just difficult to highlight the good when the bad was that dreadful, that embarrassing. The faster this team can get to the offseason, the faster this team can try to forget some of they things they’ve tried to do on offense this year. And maybe, just maybe, the discussion can start to be about winning games and why the offense is or isn’t working.