Sometimes a head coach’s press conference is ho-hum.
This was not one of those times for Browns head coach Hue Jackson’s presser on Monday.
Indeed, with all that happened Sunday in the 12-9 loss in overtime to the Tennessee Titans – the numbing, shocking season-ending arm injury suffered by iron man left tackle Joe Thomas, yet another quarterback shuffle, rookie quarterback DeShone’s Kizer wee-hours-of-the-morning appearance at a club on Saturday, and the mounting pressure on Jackson to win a game after the Browns fell to 0-7 for the first time since 1999 – made for plenty of probing questions and revealing responses.
Here are a few:
*On if too much is being made about Kizer being out late, or if it is concerning to Jackson:
“Our players are entitled to go out, and I think our players need to understand that anywhere you go, you have to be very careful because those are the things that people will tweet, Snapchat or whatever all of these things are out, and it can be seen as something that maybe you shouldn’t be doing.
“They are young men, and they can go out. If a guy has done what he needed to do prior to, I don’t get to judge that. I don’t think anybody was doing something wrong or anything like that. Again, as long as there is not anyone coming to me saying, ‘This guy committed a crime or did something wrong,’ or, ‘I don’t think the guy is on top of what I think he needs to be on top of,’ would it be an issue in my mind?
“Our players, our quarterback, whoever that is, you want to make sure that those guys understand the situations that you can and can’t be in. Sometimes people make bad judgments and bad decisions until they truly understand that everybody is watching, especially when you are in the midst of a season like we are. I think everybody has to be careful, not just DeShone, not just the quarterback, I think all of our players do, just because I think those are the things that become headlines more so than what is really the issue is we have to play football better.”
*On how can Kizer grow out of throwing interceptions when there is a musical chairs aspect to the quarterback situation:
“Part of his development, too, is to take the quarterback out. You don’t leave the quarterback in if you are going to continue turning the ball over. I think everybody sees development as leave a guy out there and let him keep playing. Part of development is sit down. Sit down and learn that if you turn it over, you aren’t going to be out there.
“There is not a team across this league – there are 31 other teams – that is going to keep a quarterback out there if they keep turning it over. You can go survey any team you want. They are not going to do that. This is a performance-based business. It is about winning. It is not about just developing. Somebody said that to me the other day.
“You develop quarterbacks, there is no question, but you are in charge of winning football games not just developing a football player. At the end of this, I think what is important is our quarterback has to put his team in a position to win. That is growth. It is going to happen on the practice field. It can still happen in games, but I have to see the growth.
“If I stick you back out there and you do the same things, the same thing is going to happen. You are going to come over here and stand next to me. That is just the way it has to be.”
*And finally, if Jackson feels he is coaching for his job:
“No. No, I don’t. I don’t feel like that at all because I have a direct line with Mr. Haslam and Dee Haslam. I don’t feel like that. I think there are some things that we have to fix and that we need to continue to get better at.
“No, I don’t feel like I’m coaching for my job. I have never felt like that, and if I did, I would tell you. That is the last thing that is on my mind.”
I don’t believe that last part for a moment.
