BEREA: Wide receiver Terrelle Pryor tossed and turned Sunday night after the Browns fell to 0-8 with a 31-28 loss to the New York Jets.
He put much of the blame on his shoulders despite quarterback Josh McCown doing the same immediately after the defeat.
“I’ll be better this week, and that’s all I’m looking forward to, to earn Josh’s trust back ’cause I feel like I screwed him a couple times yesterday,” Pryor said Monday. “I didn’t sleep well last night. I had that on my mind, and I feel bad. So I’ve got to be better.”
Pryor had six catches for 101 yards on 13 targets, but all of his production came in the first half. He dropped two passes in the first half. He was targeted three times without a catch after halftime."
“I personally think I didn’t play very well,” Pryor said.
Pryor had his way with seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darrelle Revis in the first half. Revis said he guarded Pryor “more aggressively” and had “a little tighter coverage” after halftime.
Pryor, though, disagreed.
“I was open in the second half. I was open. Yeah, I was open,” he said. “He didn’t play me any tighter. That didn’t make no difference. It had nothing to do with the coverage.”
Did the ball stop coming to Pryor because he dropped a couple of passes?
“Possibly. I just wasn’t good enough yesterday, I guess,” he said. “I’ve just got to get better, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Coach Hue Jackson said McCown should have thrown to Pryor more in the second half.
“The ball should have went over there quite a few times,” Jackson said. “It’s just it didn’t. That is my point. There are things we have to continue to get better at. It is not about him having a fast start. He caught the balls that were thrown to him, and he dropped some that were thrown to him, so he has to continue to get better, too.”
Two passes thrown to Pryor in the second half stood out.
Late in the third quarter, McCown overthrew Pryor on a deep ball and took blame for it in his postgame news conference. Pryor left Revis in his dust and almost certainly would have scored a touchdown had he caught the pass.
However, Pryor is sure he should have made the play. He even texted McCown about it Sunday night to express his regret.
“I always tell [the quarterbacks], ‘You can’t overthrow me,’ so that’s on me 100 percent,” said Pryor, who’s dealing with a hamstring injury. “He knows that and he’s just being a polite guy, a great teammate and leader that he is. I’ve got to go make that play.
“I’ve got to open up my stride even more instead of fighting with Darrelle. I ended up beating him pretty good, but I’ve got to make that play. I’ve got to run it down.”
In the fourth quarter, McCown threw his first of two interceptions when he launched a long pass into double coverage for Pryor. But Pryor wasn’t in position to make the play because he thought McCown was scrambling and started to adjust his route.
“I was trying to get up there just to smack [the ball] ’cause I knew I wasn’t going to make it,” Pryor said. “It’s just one of those things. He had trust in me, and I screwed him. I look at it like that. That’s unfortunate that happened as well.”
QB decision looming
Jackson said rookie quarterback Cody Kessler has been medically cleared to return from the concussion he suffered Oct. 23 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Jackson said he won’t choose between Kessler and McCown as the starting quarterback for Sunday’s home game against the Dallas Cowboys (6-1) until Kessler practices.
“It’s too early to talk about those things,” Jackson said. “I think obviously Josh was the starter last week. We’ve got to make sure that Cody’s ready to go. I know he’s out of the concussion protocol, but he’s got to practice football. So I’ll worry about that as we kind of move through the week.”
Against the Jets, McCown had his first action since he suffered a fractured left collarbone Sept. 18 in a 25-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Kessler started five games and performed well each time until he was knocked out of the loss to the Bengals in the second quarter.
McCown is 37. Kessler is 23 and a third-round pick in this year’s draft.
So Jackson obviously would prefer to take a longer look at Kessler, right?
“I want to take a look at everybody,” Jackson replied. “I think everybody who’s healthy needs to play. My No. 1 goal is to win football games. This is not a popularity contest to me or this or that. I’m trying to win games because that’s what my mission is. ... I’m not trying to see this or that. It gives us an opportunity to. We’ve done that. But I think at the same time, the No. 1 goal is to try to win.”
Jackson wouldn’t give a timetable for selecting a starting quarterback beyond saying it would happen “this week.” The Browns resume practice Wednesday.
“I’m not going to tell you the day I’m making that decision, and I don’t know,” Jackson said. “We’re going to go practice, and I’m going to let Cody practice, and Josh is going to practice, and then we’ll figure it out from there.”
Another notable return
Rookie wide receiver Corey Coleman has been cleared to fully practice after missing the past six games with a broken right hand suffered in practice Sept. 21, Jackson said.
A Dallas native, Coleman expects to face the Cowboys.
“All my family’s going to be here,” Coleman said. “They’re a really good football team, too, so it means everything. I’m excited to get out there and really play and help this team.”
Coleman said he had X-rays taken Monday on his right hand.
“Everything’s perfect,” Coleman said. “Held up just the way we wanted.”
He added he caught passes Monday from Kessler and won’t need to wear protection on the hand. A first-round pick, Coleman returned to practice last week on a limited basis but didn’t attempt to catch passes while wearing a splint.
Pryor is eager for Coleman to divert the attention of opposing defenses.
“Maybe those safeties will stop playing over top of me and I can get a little one-on-one action,” Pryor said.
Extra points
• Special-teams captain and inside linebacker Tank Carder is in the NFL’s concussion protocol, Jackson said.
• Rookie cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun didn’t suffer a concussion in the first quarter against the Jets but was held out as a precaution, Jackson said.
• Pryor revealed he swapped jerseys with fellow Pittsburgh-area native Revis after the game. “We chatted, and we talked about trading jerseys and stuff in the middle of the game after a block, after the whistle had blown,” Pryor said.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.