The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Jackson: Offense all wrong for Mayfield
Hue Jackson says he was fired as Browns head coach because he didn’t win enough games, and he says one reason for that is the offensive design this season didn’t fit rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley were fired on Oct. 29.
Jackson appeared on ESPN’s “First Take” on Nov. 2 and objected to team owner Jimmy Haslam saying “internal discord” led to Haslam and general manager John Dorsey deciding to can Jackson and Haley.
“I think when you stop and look at it, it’s truly, really about Baker Mayfield,” Jackson said. “I think they want to do everything they can to put him in the situation ... I mean, you got the first pick in the draft — who I think is going to be a franchise quarterback, who’s going to be a sensational player — and he’s not playing as well.
“So again, here’s the perfect storm to move forward and move on.”
Tyrod Taylor began the season as the Browns starting quarterback, but Mayfield took over by the end of the second quarter in the third game. Jackson said the offensive scheme should have resembled the one Mayfield ran as quarterback at the University of Oklahoma.
“I think you have to go back to Oklahoma and use all the concepts that made him be who he was, the first pick in the draft,” Jackson said. “I think you do everything you can to play the way he plays, and you build your offensive football team and your system to his liking because that’s going to help him be the best version of him.”
Mayfield is 1-4 as a starting quarterback. He has thrown eight touchdown passes and six interceptions. He has completed
58.3 percent of his passes (130 of 223) after completing 70.5 percent of his passes at Oklahoma last season.
“We played a traditional style of football,” Jackson said. “And that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with that. But again, the question that was asked of me is, ‘What would you do with Baker?’
“I think that’s where the rubber meets the road. You have to do everything you can to make him successful. And if you’re going to do that, then you go back and do the things that made you draft him as the first pick in the draft.”
Jackson was head coach, but did not have the power to simply take over the offense from Haley because of the chain of command set up by Haslam, according to Jackson.
“At the end of the day we’re still a collaborative group,” Jackson said. “I think the owner and the GM are also involved in that. Obviously that’s how we had our organization set up at the time, and that was
the way we were going to go about it.
“Any decisions that I made that way, there is nothing that I wouldn’t have not run by Jimmy Haslam and John Dorsey.”
Jackson’s final game as Browns head coach was the 33-18 loss to the Steelers on Oct. 28. He said he planned to talk to Haslam the next day about taking over the offense. He was fired instead.
“I think the message today is we’re not going to put up with internal discord,” Haslam said on Oct. 29 at the press conference announcing Jackson was fired and Gregg Williams was taking over as head coach. “We want people who are collaborative and work together.”
Jackson said on “First Take” he regrets giving Haley play calling duties. Haley was offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2012-17 and has a long history of success. Jackson insists he hired Haley and that Haley wasn’t forced on him.
“I think when I look back is first thing I would not have ever given away the offense,” Jackson said. “That’s what I got hired for. If you’re going to go out, you go out doing the things that you know, that you truly believe in. But again, that was a tough spot. When you’re 1-15, 0-16, and you’re in a situation where there’s been a lot of losing already, it’s tough to make those choices and decisions.”
Jackson was 3-36-1 as Browns head coach. He was 1-15 in 2016, 0-16 last season and 2-5-1 this year.
“I think bottom line, let’s just be clear, we didn’t win enough,” Jackson said. “At the end of the day when you look at it, we didn’t win enough games. No matter how you cut it, regardless of what they said or how they said it, you have to win enough games.”
Jackson said he hopes he gets another chance to be an offensive coordinator. He was the Bengals offensive coordinator for two years before being hired by the Browns.