Cleveland Browns: Enough of the Exc-Hue-ses — Jackson’s offense stinks
By Peter Smith
Through three games, Hue Jackson has completely failed as offensive coordinator costing the Cleveland Browns more than just on the field.
In a humiliating loss to a terrible Indianapolis Colts team, Hue Jackson somehow managed to be even more averse to handing his running backs the ball. After only giving them carries on 27 percent of play calls through the first two weeks, the Cleveland Browns backs only carried the ball on only 14 of 69 offensive snaps in Indianapolis.
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Jackson, the self proclaimed quarterback guru, has mismanaged the rookie Kizer terribly. Not only did Jackson help set up a bogus competition where Kizer’s combatants were ill equipped to do the job, it was and continues to be painfully clear that Kizer isn’t ready to be out there.
Worse, Jackson’s arrogance and bravado put the young quarterback in position to fail and how he gameplans and manages the offense during the game only exacerbates the issue. Instead of taking a rookie quarterback who lacked experience and easing him into the NFL, trying to set him up for success as often as possible, Jackson has done the opposite.
Despite only playing two seasons of mediocre college ball at Notre Dame, Jackson has Kizer bearing the weight of the Browns offense. Not relying on the running game, even when it’s effective and viable, instead making the offense one-dimensional, easier to defend and setting up Kizer to make critical mistakes, often in the form of turnovers.
In all, Browns backs have 48 carries on the season through three games. In the same span of time, Kizer has eight turnovers (seven interceptions, one fumble lost). That’s six carries from running backs for every Kizer turnover. That’s staggering.
This, from Jackson, who said after a Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers via the team’s official website:
"“The run game has got to become our backbone. It does. I am not running from that. We are going to run the football.”"
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How does throwing the ball 108 times with a rookie quarterback through three games fit that mantra? That doesn’t even include the 11 passes Kevin Hogan came in to throw against the Baltimore Ravens.
Against the Colts, the Browns ran the ball with backs 14 times for 67 yards. That’s 4.7 yards per carry. Isaiah Crowell was the group’s leading rusher with 44 yards. DeShone Kizer had 44 yards rushing himself.
If Jackson wanted to run the ball, the Browns would be running the ball. Whether he gets bored or doesn’t believe 4.7 yards per carry is efficient enough is up for him to decide, but the end result is an excuse. The running game is there and would only serve to aid the passing game and a young quarterback. For whatever reason, he consistently shelves it in favor of chucking the ball all over the park and, inevitably, to the other team.
For the second week in a row, the Browns had an interception in the red zone. The clock wasn’t a factor. They had plenty of time to run the ball and take some pressure off of a smaller field, but instead, Jackson went to the pass and his quarterback turned the ball over.
Kizer deserves a portion of the blame as do the receivers who dropped a ridiculous seven passes against the Colts. The problem with that logic is that the Browns knew Kizer was going to be a rookie quarterback and make mistakes. They also have a bunch of young receivers with no track record of success whatsoever along with what is becoming a disturbing trend of Kenny Britt mistakes. (Everything suggests the Browns are going to release Britt next league year having given him $13 million and just be done with it.)
The rookie quarterback and inexperienced receivers were known quantities before the game started. The advantage the Browns are supposed to have is their offensive line and running game. Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson, touted as players that were supposed to be featured in the offense, are finding themselves underutilized.
Johnson, in particular, only carried the ball twice. One of those runs was a 19-yard touchdown run. He also caught six passes for another 81 yards and a few of those catches came in garbage time. Instead of throwing at a bunch of receivers who can’t catch, maybe utilize Johnson more, who is an absolute terror in space.
Passes to Johnson have not only been relatively easy and reliable, but work as a great way to get the ball out of Kizer’s hands quickly and take pressure off of a rookie who needs all the help he can get from opposing pass rushes. Crowell is another pretty good check down option at four catches for 43 yards on six targets.
Kizer is struggling. The quarterback who had issues with reading defenses in college, processed slowly, had all kinds of problems with accuracy, and simply didn’t have much success is surprisingly still dealing with those same problems less than a year later as a rookie in the NFL. Against better competition, it’s going about as one would expect.
57-for-108 (52.7 percent), 646 yards, 5.9 yards per attempt, three touchdowns, seven interceptions, 10 sacks, and a fumble lost. He’s also rushed 17 times for 87 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.
It’s not all Kizer’s fault, but that’s bad. And what makes it that much worse is the offensive coordinator does little, if anything to make his job easier. In fact, Jackson’s only ensuring that Kizer’s failure in Clevleand. As it stands, Kizer is on pace for a staggering 37 interceptions this season. Meanwhile, Duke Johnson is only on pace for 51 offensive touches while Crowell would only end up with 129. And it’s not even the first rookie quarterback Jackson has done this with in Cleveland. Cody Kessler got the same, terrible treatment.
It’s inexcusable and it’s gotten to a point where things have to change. If Hue Jackson isn’t going to change it, then they need someone else to call the plays. As it currently stands, Jackson is the head coach, insists on working with quarterbacks, and then operates as the team’s offensive coordinator. One of those things has to go.
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Jackson has been a terrific head coach in terms of being the CEO of the team. He has managed to assemble a good coaching staff. I was critical of Jackson for firing Ray Horton and Hal Hunter Jr., but the additions of Gregg Williams and the portly Bob Wylie as offensive line coach appear to have been beneficial.
Not only has Jackson been helpful in getting a staff, but he’s also acted the part of a recruiter. At the very least, Kevin Zeitler signed with the Cleveland Browns in no small part due to the presence of Jackson. Other players, such as Jamie Collins and J.C. Tretter might have made the decision for the same reason. Jackson can get players to buy in and has that charisma that helps him with players and the media.
Jackson represents credibility, which is important for the Browns, who have been lacking on that front for the better part of two decades. I think he does so much for this team on that face of the franchise level. But when he’s also trying to get really involved with the quarterbacks and then the offensive gameplan, it’s just too much. Those can be three legitimately separate full-time jobs and there are only so many hours in the day.
Jackson can continue being the head coach. He can continue to work along with David Lee to coach and develop the quarterback position. But they have to have someone else come in and call and manage the game on offense. No one needs for the offensive play caller to conjure miracles, but the offense at least has to fit their roster. Right now, it doesn’t and it’s becoming detrimental to the rest of the team.
It’s not just the play calling that’s problematic. It’s also the number of times that the Browns are late coming up to the line of scrimmage because the play calls take so long to come in, leaving the quarterback little time to read the defense and adjust as necessary. It’s another area where a rookie quarterback is not being put in position to succeed.
The problem is that Jackson is a man of substantial pride and ego. He’s not going to give up something as important as play calling easily. But the way this is going, the mediocre play caller is going to get the effective head coach and quarterback tinkerer fired.
This should represent a massive opportunity for Jackson and the Browns. With a staff that has talented coaches like Hue Jackson, Gregg Williams, Kirby Wilson, so on and so forth, they could bring someone else in purely to help organize the offense and call plays, maximizing that side of the ball. For a staff with good coaches and a roster of young talent with a bunch of draft picks, that could be an incredibly attractive opening.
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As it stands, the Browns offense is under performing, their rookie quarterback is at best, struggling to tread water, and the running game is non-existent, largely by choice. This goes against everything the Cleveland Browns should be on offense and the person that warrants the blame is Hue Jackson. He can be a good head coach, a good offensive coordinator or a quarterback coach, but he can’t be all three at the same time.