Hue Jackson isn't pointing fingers when it comes to the Browns' recent offensive struggles. Instead, the head coach took ownership after three straight displays that watched Cleveland struggle to mount much of an attack.
"I keep telling you guys, I take responsibility for it," Jackson said Wednesday. "This is my offense and it starts with me. So I take it all. It is all good."
Now, the Browns will try and pinpoint pressure points and shore up matters before hosting the Giants this weekend.
"We have to play better. We have to coach better, play better on that side of the ball," Jackson said. "We have had some tremendous challenges over the last several weeks and I think we understand that we have not played as well as I think we can."
In November, the Browns are averaging less than nine points and 192 yards a game. Two of those performances came against two of the league's better defenses in the Cowboys and Ravens. But Cleveland won't lean on that dynamic as an excuse. "I think defenses have something to do with that," Jackson said, "and we have something to do with that."
Instead, Jackson has spoken of a need to re-establish a once-powerful run game and get the ball into the hands of playmakers such as Terrelle Pryor Sr., Duke Johnson Jr., Isaiah Crowell, Corey Coleman, Gary Barnidge and others. "I want to get all of our skilled players more involved," he said.
Pryor, though, said there's a certain responsibility that falls on the players — even if Jackson continues to place the onus on himself.
"He never blames anyone really, he takes it on himself and we all know it's not him, it's little things," Pryor said.
"We go back and watch the film and it's like little tiny blocks that you see if a guy just got him and got the gap, Crowell would have broken one. There's just different things like that just happen and we have to take advantage of the looks and advantage of what coach says … we all know and trust and believe in the offense he puts out there for us and we have to go out and do it. It comes down to that.
"At the end of the day, this game is about players," Pryor continued, "and we've got to make plays and I think our coach does a great job of putting us in position."
In any case, Jackson said the Browns are working toward finishing the final five weeks of the season the "right way."
"We like to get our offense going and get them playing for four quarters," he said, referencing the team's second-half struggles this season. "We have not done that in a while, you know. So we just have to keep getting better."
