CLEVELAND: Browns coach Hue Jackson uttered the words “being 0-12 is probably the hardest thing ever.”
Then he pursed his lips and tapped the side of the podium eight or nine times with his right hand as he quickly composed himself and fought back the tears in his eyes.
Jackson’s news conference after the Browns lost 27-13 to the New York Giants on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium perfectly illustrated the pain and frustration of an organization three-quarters of the way toward becoming just the second NFL team to finish a season 0-16.
The Browns settled for two field goals inside the 10-yard line in the second quarter, surrendered seven sacks and lost three fumbles to stumble in a game the Giants, at times, seemed to be daring them to win.
“The hard part for us right now is everything has to be perfect, and this is not going to be perfect,” Jackson said. “Football’s not perfect. It’s a game. You’re going to have the ups and downs. That’s just the way football goes, but you’ve got to make enough plays to win.”
Jackson hasn’t seen his team make enough plays yet, as evidenced by its 0-12 record at the merciful bye week.
The Browns have suffered 15 consecutive defeats dating back to last season. They have lost 22 of their past 23 games and 30 of the past 33. They haven’t won since Dec. 13.
“I’ve had my butt kicked up over my shoulders enough this season that I really don’t need my butt kicked anymore,” said Jackson, who was hired Jan. 13. “I’ve got to figure out how not to get my butt kicked.”
Jackson was about 23 minutes late to his postgame news conference, so quarterback Josh McCown appeared at the podium first. Writers who have covered the team for decades couldn’t remember a player ever speaking before the head coach.
Jackson explained he was tardy because he met with the franchise’s bigwigs about what needs to be done to improve. He meets with team brass after every game, but this one lasted longer.
“In these times of toughness and times of crisis, you have to have good, strong conversations, and I think we all understand that,” Jackson said. “I think that’s important, and I think it’s healthy and I think it’s good. I think that’s how you don’t go through these things in the future.”
Jackson insisted the lengthy conversation didn’t have anything to do with his job security and he’s sure he’s “going to be here” next season.
“I have full support of [owners] Jimmy and Dee [Haslam] and [head of football operations] Sashi [Brown] and his crew,” Jackson said. “We’re not apart or splintered or whatever term you guys want to use. There’s none of that going on.”
With the Browns finally getting a break on their schedule, the players will practice Monday and Tuesday before taking the rest of the week off.
Jackson will be burning the midnight oil, though. He came to Cleveland with a reputation as an offensive mastermind, but the Browns have scored just 39 points in their past four games. They scored a touchdown on one of their three trips into the red zone against the Giants (8-3) with rookie wide receiver Corey Coleman beating cornerback Janoris Jenkins and catching a 21-yard scoring strike from McCown.
“I’ve got to find a way,” Jackson said. “I don’t want to be down in the scoring zone and can’t score. I haven’t had that feeling in a long time.
“Normally you call a play and you know how it works and you score, and that’s not what’s happening. So you’ve got to go figure those things out and get better at it. I didn’t become football illiterate or something like that overnight.”
Coleman’s touchdown cut the Browns’ deficit to 20-13 with 8:17 left in the fourth quarter. So they were in striking distance until the Giants countered on the next series when wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Eli Manning over the middle and behind inside linebacker Chris Kirksey, giving them a 27-13 lead with 5:10 left.
In other words, the Browns haven’t quit on Jackson.
“They’re trying and they’re giving me everything that they have, and I do know that,” Jackson said. “At inopportune times, the reason why you lose football games show up for our football team — turnovers, the inability to score, the inability to finish drives and those things. That’s what losing football is. I’m at the head of it, and that part is frustrating.”
Without a win, Jackson can only point to the improvement of young players — there are a staggering 19 rookies on the 53-man roster — as signs of progress.
But developing youngsters doesn’t do much for veterans hoping to be part of a turnaround like nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas.
“Occasionally you get into some self-pity and you want to cry in the corner and roll up into a ball,” Thomas said. “But that doesn’t help me go out on Sunday and do my job any better. I think some of that self-pity is maybe best left for the offseason. The busy work weeks that we have kind of helps some of that because you don’t have time to reflect on ‘woe is me.’ ”
Jackson continued to blame himself for the team’s troubles like he has throughout this season.
“When we win the Super Bowl, it’s going to be the same way,” he said. “It’s not going to be me. It’s going to be them. It’s going to be our players that did it. When there are things that don’t go right, it’s easy to point fingers at a lot of different people, and I think the best place to point is at me.”
Jackson has publicly vowed to win the Super Bowl with the Browns four times. It’s bold for the leader of a team that’s in jeopardy of becoming just the fifth one to go winless in an NFL season since 1944.
“We’ve got to find a way to put together a win, and who knows?” he said. “There’s four games [left] that we have an opportunity to go out and play, so there’s four opportunities to win and there’s another four opportunities to lose.
“I’ve never been through this. I know you guys always ask me, but as I told you before, I’m not going to fall off the cliff. ... I don’t want you to think I don’t get mad or sad or disappointed. I go through all those emotions.”
Jackson fought those emotions at the podium, and he promised to keep fighting despite losing.
“I’ve never lost many fights, so we’re going to keep swinging,” Jackson said. “I’ve lost a lot right now, more than I’ve ever lost in my life fighting. But we’re going to keep fighting. We’re going to fight the right fight.”
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.