Hue Jackson is calling on Cody Kessler and his other QBs to protect themselves better, especially behind an injury-ravaged line.
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Hue Jackson loves that Cody Kessler has that dog in him. Now, he wants that dog to heel every once in awhile.
"Cody has proved his toughness,'' said Jackson. "He doesn't have to do that all the time. He can do some things better to protect himself in those situations, but it was a heck of a play that he and Gary (Barnidge) made that gave us the chance to go score a touchdown. I don't want to take the fight out of him, but he also has to understand the situation he's in.''
Kessler was knocked out of Sunday's 31-17 loss to the Bengals with a concussion when he took a big hit on his backhanded flip to Barnidge, who rumbled 11 yards to the 5. Two plays later, Isaiah Crowell ran in from the one for a touchdown to put the Browns up 10-7.
Kessler is hoping to be cleared for Sunday's game against the Jets, but it will be up to the independent neurologist. It's difficult to get sprung from the concussion protocol in a week, but the chances are greater for quarterback with no history of concussions and with a mild head injury, which Kessler, a source said.
But Jackson can no longer stomach watching his young prospect absorb all these blows behind an injury-ravaged and oft-reshuffled line. Kessler was sacked six times in Tennessee, and hit hard a total of 11. For comparison's sake, Marcus Mariota was struck three times in that 28-26 Titans victory.
Did Kessler cross the line on that second and 13 flip to Barnidge from the 16?
"I don't know if the rule (of protecting himself) was violated,'' said Jackson. "He made a play. Sometimes, you react and you do things, and all of a sudden, he was rolling to his right and he saw Gary and at the last second, he flipped the ball there and ended up taking a wicked hit. When we watch this with Cody, we will tell him again, 'Hey, if you are going to get flushed, maybe throw the ball away just to save yourself a little bit from those hits.' We don't want quarterbacks taking unnecessary hits.''
Cody Kessler, Josh McCown, and Kevin Hogan are all still possibilities to start vs Jets
Jackson said the quarterbacks, especially given the fact they're down to their fourth-stringer in rookie Kevin Hogan right now, must not put themselves in harm's way. The Browns also added rookie quarterback Joe Callahan, who's No. 2 on the unofficial depth chart behind Hogan right now.
"You can't do it,'' Jackson said. "At the end of the day, that's what they're going to learn because if not, you're standing over there next to me or you're in concussion protocol. You just can't do it. That's hard. It is a hard lesson to learn sometimes. I used to have this thing where quarterbacks just had to say 'uncle.' You throw the ball away or you take a sack just because it's the right thing to do for your football team. This is not about one individual. This is about your team.
"If you're not playing, then we're hurting the team. I don't think Cody was trying to do anything to hurt his football team. He was trying to do everything he could to help his team score. There's a fine line, but right now in the situation that we've been in losing quarterbacks, the quarterbacks all have to say to themselves, 'Hey, look, maybe I need to throw this ball away or go down because it is the best thing for our team right now.'''
Jackson said he'll say the same thing to McCown once he's cleared to play from his broken collarbone. Like Kessler, McCown sacrifices his body and loathes saying 'uncle.'
"Absolutely, 14 or one, I will have it with Cody again, Josh and all of them,'' he said. "You have to be team protecting as we move forward."
But anyone who's played quarterback knows that's easier said than done. They're wired to leave it all on the field and fight to the death.
"There's no balance in playing football,'' said Terrelle Pryor, who began his career as a quarterback. "It's football. Coach Hue knows that. At the end of the day, we're trying to make a play and Cody tried to make a play and actually got us in great position to score. I know coach Hue. (Kessler's) our third-string guy. We're having a little history with these quarterback things going on. What Hue's saying is 'be smart, don't take the hits. Maybe throw it away.' But it's tough because you're on the line. We're out here fighting for the fans, for this city, for our coaching staff, for the teammates and all you want to do is advance and score so everybody's happy.''
Pryor defended Kessler flipping the ball to Barnidge instead of living to see another down.
"That's what this game's all about is making everyone happy, doing your job and doing it to the best of your ability and that's what Cody did,'' said Pryor. "He took a hit, took a hell of a hit, but he has the heart of a lion. He wanted to go back out there. I'm like 'dude, you can't...'' I (held up three fingers) and I was like 'how many fingers am I holding up?' and he said 'four.' So I was just joking with him a little bit. Our trainers did a great job getting him out and testing him and keeping him off to keep him safe.''
Hogan, who rushed for 104 yards and will also have to be more careful now, said he would've done the same thing as Kessler in that situation.
"Yeah, Cody is trying to make a play there and Cody's a tough kid,'' he said. "That was just one of those things where he had a good hit and then I think he just hit the ground. It was just one of those plays, but he's trying to make a play there and made a great play if it was not for the unfortunate circumstance of what happened. That is a great play getting us in third and short, manageable situation, so you can't really fault him for that. It is just him being a football player."
At the same time, Hogan understands where Jackson is coming from on the 'protect yourself' mandate. The Browns are injury-ravaged on the line, with guard Joel Bitonio out for the season and center Cam Erving missing time with a bruised lung and unspecified illness. The line has been shuffled and reshuffled all season.
"It is extremely vital,'' said Hogan. "You need to protect yourself. It's not a pride thing. You want to protect yourself so that you can stay in the game and put yourself in a good situation to execute the offense. I learned from yesterday a little bit more, had some good hits and was able to get down a few more times, but now I kind of understand which situations you want to kind of go for the first down or the end zone and when to kind of get down and protect yourself."
Jackson is hoping all four of his quarterbacks, including three rookies, get the message.