The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Jackson insists ‘the sky isn’t falling’
Coach defends Erving, says offense as a whole needs to improve
Cameron Erving, the center of the Browns offensive line, has unwittingly become the center of attention when anything goes wrong with pass protection.
It is the price Erving is paying for replacing former Pro Bowl center Alex Mack after Erving struggled as a rookie guard in four games last year.
Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III was tossed around like a big dog’s pull toy on Aug. 26 in a 30-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played only the first half, but that was long enough to get sacked five times.
The backups played the second half. Josh McCown was dumped twice and Cody Kessler once.
Head coach Hue Jackson jumped to Erving’s defense on a conference call Aug. 27, and then he spread the blame for the quarterbacks getting roughed up on the entire offense, saying it is unfair to pin all the failure on the
“There’s a ton of correctable mistakes and we’re going to place all of our attention and focus on every detail with a sense of purpose so we can have the success we want.”
— Hue Jackson
offensive line.
“I think Cam’s doing a lot of really good things,” Jackson said. “He’s a young player who’s ascending who I think is going to be a tremendous football player for us.
“Everybody thinks it’s pass protection. It could be other things. I’m not going to get into all of those, but just know we did not function as a passing team in those areas last night.”
Jackson then rattled off a series of issues — receivers have to run the proper routes, and if the defender reroutes them, the quarterback has to hold the ball longer, putting more strain on the line. Running backs have to pick up the blitz.
The Browns are 0-3 in preseason with one more practice game to go — at home Sept. 1 vs. the Bears — before the regular season opens Sept. 11 in Philadelphia.
Asked to assess the way his team played overall against the Buccaneers, Jackson walked the tightrope, saying there is work
to do, but adding there is no reason to panic.
“I don’t think the sky is falling at all,” Jackson said. “I think what you see is a young football team that you’re going to see some of that, especially early until they get well grounded.
“Last night’s game certainly didn’t go the way any of us would have liked and there’s plenty for us to learn from. There’s a ton of correctable mistakes and we’re going to place all of our attention and focus on every detail with a sense of purpose so we can have the success we want.”
The Buccaneers’ pass rushers spent nearly as much time in the Browns’ backfield as the Browns running backs. Conversely, the Browns did not sack Jameis Winston once. He also played only one half. But he did plenty of damage with 16 completions in 25 attempts for 259 yards and two touchdowns.
“We keep working at our technique and our fundamentals,” Jackson said when asked how to improve the pass rush. “We keep understanding protections better and how people are trying to protect us so that we can have an opportunity to get
home to the quarterback.
“We’ve been mixing and matching and playing a lot of different players. Pretty soon we’ll have a unit that we feel very good about. It’s so important that those guys play together, be together, be able to make calls. When we’re talking about communication issues, that’s where some of that comes from. You have a lot of young guys maybe playing at a time and they hear something and don’t react very quickly.”
The Browns scored one touchdown in each of their first three preseason games. They have given up six touchdowns on defense, plus one on special teams.
No worries on Coleman
Top draft pick Corey Coleman missed the first two preseason games with a hamstring injury. The wide receiver from Baylor was targeted twice in Tampa and did not make a catch. He did catch one pass, but it was negated by a pass interference call on Terrelle Pryor.
“I think he has a tremendous grasp (of the playbook),” Jackson said. “I
thought what you saw last night was a young man that was coming to his first NFL game excited to play and wanting to go out and do really well. Maybe he was pressing a little bit.
“So much has been said about this great receiving corps we have. But at the same time, I think they understand you have to prove that on the field. Sometimes there’s a lot of anxiety that can be built up from that. He needed to play. We all understand and know he can play and I think he’s only going to get better from here on in.”
Coleman, Pryor and Josh Gordon were on the field a total of three plays together, and one was wiped out by a holding call. No pass was completed while the three were on the field at the same time.
• Jackson said he plans to stick with Austin Pasztor at right tackle. Pasztor was flagged for holding.
Injury front
Cornerback Justin Gilbert was diagnosed with a concussion and wide receiver Marlon Moore suffered a hip pointer. They were the only injuries to come from the Tampa game.