Cleveland Browns: Hue Jackson, not DeShone Kizer, the problem on offense

The Cleveland Browns have a lot of issues on offense, but the biggest stumbling block on offense is their offensive coordinator, Hue Jackson.

DeShone Kizer’s horrible game for the Cleveland Browns against an impressive Baltimore Ravens defense may well be the story this week coming off this loss. Kizer is struggling, but he was always going to struggle this year. He’s a 21-year old rookie who had limited experience even in college and wasn’t particularly good there. This is to be expected.

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The biggest issue for the Browns is Hue Jackson. Not Hue Jackson, the head coach and CEO of the organization but Hue Jackson the offensive coordinator and play caller. His gameplans, management of the offense is putting all of the concerns with Kizer center stage rather than trying to minimize them as much as possible.

A week after calling the running game the ‘backbone’ of the offense in the postgame presser after abandoning the running game in the second half against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jackson responded by not just abandoning the running game against the Ravens, but emasculating his players at the same time. By his own definition, Jackson’s offense is spineless.

In every critical short yardage situation the Browns were presented with, Hue Jackson went away from the run. Third-and-1, Jackson had Kizer go down the field. On the 4-yard line with a chance to get the Browns within a touchdown, Jackson called quarterback power with Kizer and then called a slant, which was intercepted.

Jackson might as well go up to the high priced offensive line the Browns have assembled including Joe Thomas, Joel Bitionio, J.C. Tretter, Kevin Zeitler and Shon Coleman and simply say “I don’t believe in you,” because how else are they supposed to take that? Offensive linemen want to run the ball.

This offseason, the Browns signed Bitonio to a $47.5 million extension. They brought in Zeitler on a $60 million contract. They added Tretter on a $16.75 million deal. That’s a combined $124.25 million in new money that the Browns are spending just on the offensive line. And to this point, they aren’t using them. Last year, with Bitonio, Cameron Erving and Jon Greco, and Austin Pasztor, Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson had a combined 233 yards rushing after two weeks.

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Certainly, being proficient in pass protection is important and they did that. But being able to line up and physically dominate the opponent up front, running the ball is why offensive linemen play the game. It’s also giving the Browns a reputation of being soft. And that reputation is coming straight from the head coach, because he’s a big reason for it.

The other part of that is for the second year in a row, the Browns have a rookie quarterback playing and Jackson did not manage the game to put them in the best situation to succeed and improve. Yes, Kizer struggled and he made a number of mistakes that are no one else’s but his. The problem is that rather than running the ball, rather than trying to reduce the workload on a rookie signal caller, trying to keep defenses guessing and get to manageable down and distance situations, Jackson did the opposite, thereby increasing the odds Kizer makes big mistakes.

Countless fist-and-10s, Jackson called passes. The Browns found themselves in second-and-18, third-and-12 too often. Kizer isn’t built to consistently win in that situation. No rookie quarterback is. And yet, Jackson kept insisting that was the best plan of attack. Four interceptions (three for Kizer, one for Kevin Hogan), the Browns only scored ten points and lost the game, despite countless opportunities.

And for fans, that’s what makes this so frustrating. The Browns lose the game 24-10, but they had every opportunity to not only get back in it and could have won. A turnover in the red zone inside the five. Multiple turnovers on the Ravens half of the field. A costly turnover on the Browns half of the field that immediately set the Ravens up to score. Those mistakes added up quickly.

And some of this is brought on by penalties. There are too many situations where the Browns are late coming out of the huddle and take delay of game penalties or waste timeouts, which help to kill drives.

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Isaiah Crowell is struggling a little bit. He’s hesitating, tip-toeing in the backfield is a problem. That has to improve. But through two games, the Browns have just 34 combined carries from the running back position. Compare that to 88 called passing plays. In games where the deficit was never more than two scores and with a rookie in Kizer and a second year quarterback who has barely ever played in Kevin Hogan. That’s a 27-73 split. Considering the circumstances, it should be flipped.

If Crowell continues to struggle, run Duke Johnson. Find someone else. This is supposed to be the identity of your football team and everything should be geared toward putting Kizer, or any rookie quarterback, in the best position to succeed. Right now, Jackson isn’t doing it. He’s actually speeding up the process of ruining Kizer and making him untenable as a Browns quarterback. Jackson is calling plays for an offense he simply doesn’t have.

People will point to Jackson’s tenure with the Cincinnati Bengals and how much more they ran the ball when he was their offensive coordinator. Yes, but the difference is that Jackson had someone he had to answer to in Marvin Lewis. So if the head coach tells the offensive coordinator to run the ball, the team runs the ball.

Without that check in Cleveland, Jackson answers to no one during the games and his true offensive identity shows. Through 18 games as the Cleveland Browns head coach, this is who Hue Jackson is. And the results are a completely impotent offense and a 1-17 record. Obviously, there are a ton of young players on this team, but for the second year in a row, the defense is better than the offense and the defense has a new coordinator.

Through 18 games, the Browns have developed an identity on offense. Young, undisciplined (penalties and details), and soft (no running game). For Hue Jackson, the head coach, what part of this is acceptable?

If Jackson does not address the issues he’s shown these past two games and last season, he’s going to ultimately lose the locker room, especially the offensive line. The defense is going to start pointing fingers at the offense. He’s also going to ruin DeShone Kizer. And if he’s not careful, he’s also going to lose Jimmy Haslam.

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This is quickly approaching a difficult discussion where Hue the head coach has to decide whether it’s more important for him to be loyal to Hue the play caller, potentially with his head coaching job hanging in the balance. That would be extremely disappointing because as a CEO, as a guy charged with getting to buy into his program and recruiter, Jackson does a good job.

The best case scenario for the Browns as a team seems to be Hue Jackson as the head coach, Gregg Williams as a defensive coordinator and an offensive coordinator to call the plays. Is Jackson going to be able to swallow his pride and make that change? It remains to be seen, but the status quo is unsustainable and frankly embarrassing.