Improvement from Kizer can’t stop Browns’ losing streak

Takeaways from the Browns’ 33-16 loss to the Vikings on Oct. 29:

Kizer is OK

Don’t blame this one on DeShone Kizer. That’s something we haven’t been able to say often this season.

Kizer did not do anything bad in the Browns’ eighth loss of the season and an 82yard touchdown drive he led at the end of the first half is something he can build on when the Browns return from their bye to face the Lions in Detroit on Nov. 12, but as Kizer told reporters at Twickenham Stadium in London after the game:

“0-8 is 0-8,” Kizer said. “If I throw six picks and get tossed on the ground 10 times and we win, the flight home is a much different flight.”

Kizer completed 18 of 34 passes for 179 yards. He was sacked three times.

After committing 13 turnovers before playing the Vikings, Kizer was careful with the ball. So maybe being benched against the Jets and again against the Titans did convey the right message from Coach Hue Jackson. It will take more than one game to know for sure.

No participation trophies issued

“This team is giving me everything I’ve asked,” Jackson said after the game. “We’re playing hard. We’re just coming up short.”

It is the same postgame speech every week, but

Jackson added another comment this time which speaks to the disparity in talent between the team assembled by Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown and the other teams in the league — with the possible exception of the equally inept 49ers.

“Everything has to be perfect for us to have a chance to win a football game,” Jackson said. “That’s just where we are as a football team. We get it. Our coaching staff gets it. The players get it. But that’s not how football is played. It doesn’t work that way. Today we didn’t make as many (mistakes) so we were in the game for quite a while.”

The disparity in talent really shows when injuries occur. Four defensive starters – end Myles Garrett (concussion), cornerback Jason McCourty (ankle), safety Jabrill Peppers (toe) and tackle Trevon Coley (neck) were inactive.

A result, Vikings quarterback Case Keenum was sacked once on 44 pass plays. He threw two

touchdown passes and passed for 288 yards.

Browns need a kicker

Zane Gonzalez has probably missed his last kick as a member of Browns. The rookie was wide left on a 35-yard field goal try after clunking the ball off the right upright on a failed PAT attempt after the Browns’ first touchdown.

Gonzalez missed two field goal tries in a 17-14 loss to the Jets in the fifth game. The misses in London were demoralizing. They do not fit Jackson’s definition of playing perfect football.

Jackson after the game hinted changes are coming. The bye comes at a good time for the Browns because it gives them a bonus week to find another kicker.

Britt didn’t need to shower

Browns wide receiver said he “hated everything about London” before the Browns flew across the Atlantic to play the Vikings.

Whatever comes after hate must be the emotion Britt felt on the return flight because Jackson kept Britt on the bench the entire game.

Britt, quarterback Cody Kessler and offensive lineman Marcus Martin were the only Browns who did not play. Martin would only have played had another lineman been injured, and there was no reason to yank Kizer again.

Jackson is obviously sick and tired of Britt’s shenanigans. Britt did not miss curfew this time. That happened in Houston two weeks earlier.

“There was no issue like that,” Jackson said. “I felt like I was going to put the best version of our football team out there and that’s what I felt good about.”

So that means as far as Jackson is concerned, Britt is the worst receiver on the team. No argument here.