There wasn’t much to like about the way DeShone Kizer played in Sunday’s 31-28 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

 

But there was a lot to like about the way the Browns rookie quarterback reacted to it afterward.

 

He took the blame for the defeat, which is exactly what a quarterback is supposed to do. As I’ve said in this space many, many times for a little over the past two years, it’s not the quarterback’s job to throw for 350 yards and four touchdowns. However, it is his job – his only job, really – to win the game. And when that doesn’t happen, he’s at fault.

 

That Kizer gets that – really grasps it – is huge. That he understands it after a game in which his receivers – and that term should be used loosely in this case – had eight dropped passes, says just that much more about him, especially going forward as he tries to become the franchise quarterback the Browns have so desperately needed since they came back into the NFL in 1999.

 

Certainly, the tone is probably different behind closed doors – the receivers are being held accountable by their teammates, including Kizer, and the coaches, beginning with head coach Hue Jackson, who doubles as the club’s offensive coordinator – but in view of the public, the quarterback, who is always the face of any team in that he’s paid the most money and plays the most important position in team sports, has to stand up and be the bucks-stop-here guy. It’s part of the job description. That is particularly vital when the team is struggling, as the 0-3 Browns are now, and the beginning of the ever-destructive finger-pointing is a real possibility.

 

“There is a part of that I do want him to assume because I think he knows the buck starts and stops with him,” Jackson said of Kizer stepping up and taking responsibility for the defeat, “but I also recognize –  he does, too, and it is my job to show him – that everybody plays a role in it. It is not just him. He has to do his part, and he has to do it better.

 

 

“We have turned the ball over quite a bit the last several weeks, and we can’t do that if we want to win football games. That is part of something that we are talking about all the time. We have to take care of the football, and we have to get more turnovers away from the other team’s offense. I do get that.

 

 

“He is a guy that wants to make sure that he is out in front and wants to handle things correctly, but I don’t want him feeling like everything is on his shoulders. He has to do his part and do his job better, but we all around him have to do our job better, too.”