The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kizer eager to face the Bengals a second time
DeShone Kizer is looking forward to the opportunity to measure his progress as a rookie quarterback.
DeShone Kizer, getting a second crack at an opponent for the first time in his career when the Browns play the Bengals in Cincinnati on Nov. 26, is looking forward to the opportunity to measure his progress as a rookie quarterback.
Kizer completed 16 of 34 passes in a 31-7 loss to the Bengals on Oct. 1 at FirstEnergy Stadium. He was sacked once, threw one interception and posted a 43.5 passer rating in his fourth NFL start.
Kizer has had five more losses tacked to his record since the drubbing by the Bengals. He has thrown two touchdown passes and seven touchdown passes in those five games.
“I think any veteran quarterback out there would say that one of their biggest assets is going back to their old notes and understanding how defensive coordinators work,” Kizer said on Nov. 22. “This will be the first opportunity for me to step out there and learn from my mistakes at that time. Obviously, I didn’t have the experience needed to be at my tiptop shape.
“Now, I believe I’ve grown a lot since then and look forward to making corrections from that game, understanding what they’ve done since that game and properly preparing myself for that game.”
Joe Thomas started at left tackle against the Bengals, but now is on injured reserve. Wide receiver Corey Coleman missed the game with a broken hand, but he is back from his injury. Coleman caught six passes in his return last week.
The Browns are 0-10. The Bengals, 0-3 before beating the Browns last month, are 4-6. They are one game behind the Ravens and Bills for the second wild-card spot in the AFC. Their playoff chances will suffer a serious dent if they don’t beat the Browns.
“Hue (Browns head coach Hue Jackson) has committed to (Kizer) being the quarterback,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said on a conference call. “He knows that, and he’s playing confidently.
“This is a much better football team (than the
Browns were on Oct. 1). “They‘ve improved it week in and week out. Unfortunately, they haven’t come out on top, but they’ve been in every football game. They’ve had the lead in football games. Our guys — it’s evident on the tape — they can understand it and they can see it. We have to have a great week of preparation.”
Kizer was pulled from the first Cincinnati game with 6:30 remaining. Kevin Hogan mopped up and engineered the only touchdown drive of the game for the Browns.
That began a string of yo-yo games for Kizer. He was benched at halftime of the game with the Jets the next week and replaced as the starter by Hogan for the
game in Houston on Oct. 15. He was benched in the third quarter of the 12-9 overtime loss to Tennessee on Oct. 22, but since then has made three straight starts.
An injury sidelined Kizer temporarily in Detroit, but other than that he started and finished the last three games. Jackson said Kizer has shown improvement, but he wants more consistent leadership from his quarterback; Kizer was cheering on the defense in Detroit, but he did not follow up on that when the offense struggled a week later against Jacksonville.
“I would hope that he understands that as the quarterback, regardless of how the game starts, you just have to be consistent and
you have to be who you are because the team kind of feeds off of you,” Jackson said. “It’s a conversation we’ve had.
“I don’t think he is doing it intentionally. I just think those things happen. There’s no question when you have success early everything feels good. When you don’t, you’re not sure how things are going, but that’s when you really have to push through and have that focus about ‘I’m going to do everything I can to get it going my way by making the plays that I need to make.’ It’s a lesson learned.”
Kizer said the key to having more energy on the sideline is getting off to a faster start offensively.