The rest of the season is audition for Kizer

It was a little more than a year ago in Nashville — Oct. 16, 2016, to be exact — when the Browns took a winless record into their game with the Tennessee Titans, just as they will on Oct. 22 when they face the Titans in a 1 p.m. kickoff at FirstEnergy Stadium.

The Browns were 0-5 last year when they faced the Titans. They are 0-6 this time.

Interest in the current version of the Browns has sunk so low that two days before the game, tickets on Stubhub were going for as low as $6. The price for those same tickets was $12.95 earlier in the week.

Rookie DeShone Kizer, supposedly an improved QB

after one week on the sideline watching Kevin Hogan crash and burn, will start for the Browns. Five of the team’s six losses are on Kizer’s rap sheet.

“He’s not one that goes in the tank and shies away from the tough times,” coach Hue Jackson said on Oct. 20.

“He could have buried his head in the sand and thrown up the flag and said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t do this right now,’ but he hasn’t. It’s like, ‘Give me more. Keep pushing me.’ That’s what we’ve done.

“I think he’s handled that part of it well. To me,

we have to know. We have to find out and know for sure, and that’s what we’re going to do over the next several weeks — find out for sure what he is.”

Because if Kizer doesn’t start looking like a franchise quarterback in the next 10 games, the Browns won’t hesitate to stamp “reject” on his forehead and draft another quarterback in 2018. They have two picks in the first round and three in the second.

The Browns lost the 2016 game to the Titans, 28-26, on their way to a franchise-worst 1-15 season. Losing that game and losing 14 other times last year should be a warning sign to the current Browns that the consequences of perpetual losing

are severe; seven offensive starters from the 2016 game in Nashville aren’t on the Browns 2017 roster. Four of them — tight ends Gary Barnidge and Connor Hamlett, plus offensive linemen Alvin Bailey and Austin Pasztor — aren’t even in the NFL.

“That’s because we were supposed to lose last year,” a player in the Browns locker room said.

The Browns scored 13 points in the final 2:07 of their game with the Titans last year. A two-point conversion failed after a fiveyard touchdown pass from Cody Kessler to Terrelle Pryor cut the Titans lead to 28-19.

This team, for whatever reason, has formed a habit of coming up with fourthquarter rallies but falling

short, too. In fact, through six games, the Browns have totaled 44 points in the first three quarters. They have scored 50 points in the fourth quarter. By then, FirstEnergy Stadium is a ghost town.

The Titans are vulnerable. They are 3-3, which is good enough to be tied with Houston and Jacksonville for first place in the AFC South.

Quarterback Marcus Mariota, the second pick of the 2015 draft, has been hobbled by a hamstring injury since being injured in a 57-14 loss to the Texans on Oct. 1. He says he’s fine and so does Tennessee head coach Mike Mularkey. The Browns are hoping Mariota isn’t as fit as he is pretending to be.

“He’s very dangerous

when he’s out there (running),” Browns defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said with a mischievous smile. “I hope his hamstring is hurting a lot.”

Browns rookie defensive end Myles Garrett leads the team with three sacks despite missing four games with a sprained ankle. Garrett says he feels better now than he has yet this season.

It might be worth spending six bucks to watch Garrett chase down Mariota and give the Browns a chance to win without a fourth quarter rally.

Schudel can be reached at jschudel@news-herald. com; @sjproinsider on Twitter.