Browns coach Hue Jackson has gone from telling fans to trust him about the franchise’s decision to draft Cody Kessler in the third round to making it clear the onus is now on the rookie quarterback to earn the organization’s trust as it evaluates whether he can be a long-term starter.
Kessler will get his next opportunity to prove himself when the Browns (0-9) face the Baltimore Ravens (4-4) at 8:25 p.m. Thursday at M&T Bank Stadium. The prime-time AFC North matchup will be nationally televised on NFL Network.
It’ll be Kessler’s seventh start but the first since Jackson made a blatant attempt to push the quarterback’s buttons this week by publicly issuing challenges. The coach wants Kessler to put the NFL’s only winless team on his back and carry it to victory. He also wishes the young quarterback would be more aggressive with downfield passing.
Losing a franchise-record 12th consecutive game with Sunday’s 35-10 defeat against the Dallas Cowboys prompted Jackson to declare there were no positives to take away from the setback, including Kessler’s performance. He added, “the quarterback’s job is to get the team a win.”
Kessler subscribes to the theory that a team’s win-loss record is a quarterback statistic.
“I have heard that since I have been playing the game,” said Kessler, who went 19-of-27 passing for 203 yards and a touchdown with a rating of 104.4 against the Cowboys. “As a quarterback, that is the biggest thing you focus on is your win-loss record, and that is on me 100 percent in the aspect of finding ways to win. I take full responsibility for that.
“At the end of the day, the stats may be what they are but you can’t focus on that. You focus on the win-loss record, and that is something that I have taken very seriously throughout my career. That is the biggest thing that I focus on, whether it was in high school, even little league, high school to college and now to the NFL.”
So even though Kessler has completed 67.5 percent of his passes for 1,150 yards and five touchdowns with one interception and a rating of 96.1, those numbers are overshadowed by his record of 0-6 as a starter.
“You play the game to win,” Kessler said. “That is what your focus should be. We have come up short on things, but you have to continue to keep striding through that and keep doing everything you can to help the team win.”
The Browns will set the franchise record for the longest single-season losing streak if they fall to the Ravens. Their defense is horrible, ranking 31st out of 32 NFL teams in yards (421.7) and points (30.3) allowed per game.
So will Jackson putting it all on Kessler’s shoulders crush the University of Southern California product?
“I am not trying to stretch Cody and make him do more than what he is capable of doing, but if they score 30, we have to score 31,” Jackson said. “We have to find a way. That is the life of playing quarterback in the National Football League, and that is the life of the head coach of a team. Your job is to win.
“Now, he is a young guy, a young player. There are going to be different stresses that you have to deal with, and this is one of them at this position. I think he gets that, but I think he has always had that mechanism to deal with that, whether it was at USC or whether it is here now. That is what comes with it, and we accept that. I think he does and understands it and deals with it as well as anybody.”
Kessler’s completion percentage ranks fifth in the NFL. His passer rating is tied for 11th. He has thrown just one interception in 160 attempts. Yet he’s also tied for 31st in touchdown passes, and the Browns rank 29th with 18.7 points per game.
Jackson believes Kessler must take more risks with deep passing to lead the Browns to victory. In the coach’s opinion, increasing the odds of an interception is a necessary evil in attempting to create more offense.
“Are you asking ‘Do I want to see the ball go down the field more?’ Yes, I do,” Jackson said. “I think it needs to. That is the way we in this offense score more points. Cody has done a good job of distributing the ball and he has done a good job of putting the ball in the right places for the most part.
“But he knows now that in the National Football League you have to sometimes take a few more chances to score points because the defenses are too good. They will give you certain things because they know you will take them and try to beat you in the other things. We have to always stay aggressive and push the ball when we can because it gives us a chance to have big plays.”
According to ProFootballFocus.com, Kessler is one of the best passers in the NFL at the intermediate level (10-19 yards). However, he ranks 31st of 33 quarterbacks in deep passing adjusted completion percentage (4-of-16, or 25 percent, for 138 yards on throws of 20 yards or more).
A lack of prototypical arm strength was the biggest knock on Kessler throughout the pre-draft process. The Browns knew it, but they picked him anyway. Now Jackson is calling on Kessler to deliver in a questionable facet of his game.
“We have had some calls in that last game for the long ball, and unfortunately, it was not there or something happened,” Kessler said. “I missed one to [rookie wide receiver] Corey [Coleman] or missed one to him in the end zone as well. But we are calling them and we are trying to take the shots and make them, but that is on me. I have to be more accurate with the long ball and be more accurate with getting the ball to the right guy.”
Receiver Terrelle Pryor said, “We’ve got to be able to connect deep. We’ve got to be able to scare guys deep. We’ve got guys that can run, myself and Corey, so we do got to make it happen.”
None of this will be easy for Kessler against the Ravens. They have the NFL’s No. 2 defense (298.8 yards allowed per game). They’re first in fewest first downs surrendered (123), second in third-down conversion percentage allowed (32.5) and third in three-and-outs forced (27).
“They try to do so many different looks that can confuse you, and you have to be on high alert at all times,” Kessler said. “If they give you a different look, you can’t freak out and then try to change something. You have to just stay calm and stick to your rules.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.