Defense cracks, Kessler awful in Cleveland’s latest collapse

The Browns are 1-24 in the Sashi Brown-Hue Jackson era after losing to the Lions, 38-24, on Nov. 12 in Detroit. Let’s put that winning percentage in perspective:

Imagine Francisco Lindor with a batting average of .004, or handing a cashier a dollar, asking for change, and getting back four pennies as she shuts her drawer and smiles.

DeShone Kizer played his best game of the season and the Browns still lost by 14 points. He returned from a vicious but clean shot to the ribs to at the end of the third quarter and bravely tried to lead a comeback with his team down two touchdowns and less than five minutes to play.

“I think this was my best outing yet,” Kizer told reporters. “This is about not only my confidence, but earning the respect and trust of my teammates.

“It’s obvious in that bye week there was a potential acquisition of another quarterback (AJ McCarron from Cincinnati). That puts a little pressure on me and my relationship with my guys. I think this was an opportunity to prove to those guys that no matter what happens, this is who I am and I’m going to continue to get better every time I step onto the field.”

Kizer completed 21 of 37 passes for 232 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception thrown on fourth down late in the game.

But these are still the Browns and they still do senseless things that show the 0-9 record in 2017 is deserved. The most unexplainable in this game, and the probably the most unexplainable of the season, occurred at the end of the first half when, trailing 17-10 after leading 100, the Browns had the ball, second-and-2 at the Lions’ 2 with 15 seconds left in the half and no timeouts remaining.

Kizer had time to throw two passes, but instead he tried to sneak into the end zone. He was stopped for no gain and the clock ran out before they could get another play off.

“It’s on me,” Coach Hue Jackson repeatedly told reporters in his postgame news conference.

Kizer offered no details, either, but honest Seth DeValve, the tight end with the Princeton education, said Kizer ran the sneak on his own.

“We had a different play called,” DeValve said. “DeShone took it upon himself to sneak it, which is not a bad thing to do. That was DeShone doing his thing. He has the freedom to do that. We didn’t get it and that was unfortunate, but we moved on.”

All Kizer would say is: “Coach addressed it. We have to get better down there. As a quarterback

and leader of this offense, I have to make sure I’m better down there.”

The Browns survived that blunder, but fell apart in the second half again.

The game exposed just the latest example of how Cody Kessler is not an NFL quarterback. He entered the game when Kizer was injured with the score tied, 24-24. He was sacked for two yards on his first play. He was sacked for 11 yards on the Browns’ first possession of the fourth quarter and sacked nine yards on his second and final full possession.

The Browns went backward a net 13 yards with Kessler at quarterback, and while he was failing, so was the Browns’ overrated

defense.

The biggest single play in the game — well, not counting the disastrous end to the first half — was DeValve having the ball stripped and returned 44 yards for a touchdown by Lions cornerback Devin Lawson to break a 10-10 tie.

The three touchdowns the Lions scored in the second half, all through the air, were all on the Browns defense. The Browns have given up 19 passing touchdowns and once again were guilty of sloppy tackling in the secondary.

There was one bright spot for the Browns other than Kizer. The Browns had their best running game of the season with

201 yards on the ground. It showed how effective they can be rushing if they keep the score close.

Wide receiver Kenny Britt actually played well with two catches for 38 yards. He showed effort on a 19-yard catch and run for a touchdown, but I don’t include him among the bright spots. I’m suspicious he finally decided to show up the same week Corey Coleman returned to practice and at the same time Josh Gordon rejoined the Browns. The suspicion comes from both men playing his position.