CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer has struggled with consistency through the first 11 games of his career in the National Football League, and over the final month of the season, he aims to change that.
Kizer wants to finish his rookie season with a 65 percent completion rate, which is 12.5 points higher than where he is at heading into Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“You have to be sitting above 65 percent in this league,” Kizer said.
“That is what it is going to take for us to get out there and win consistently. As a quarterback, it is almost unacceptable to be at about a 50 percent completion rating. There are too many guys who are talented out there, and there is too much time and effort that we put into the week for us to not go out there and complete at least 60 percent of passes.”
In his first 10 NFL starts, Kizer completed 166 of his 313 attempts (53 percent) for 1,823 yards with five touchdowns against a league-worst 14 interceptions. Additionally, Kizer took 24 sacks for 152 lost yards and held a 57.2 quarterback rating.
Then, in a 19-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday, Kizer completed 15 of his 32 attempts for 215 yards and one touchdown with a lost strip-sack fumble and interception on the Browns’ final two possessions of the game.
It was Kizer’s sixth .500 or worse completion percentage in his 11 NFL starts.
“That is what I am asking for,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said of the 65 percent completion mark.
“Yes, that is real. That is what we shoot for because we need to complete more balls. We just do. That is imperative for us to score more points. We have to complete more balls. Guys have to have more opportunities with the ball in their hands. If we do that, then I think that things happen.”
With the Browns getting back from injury wide receiver Corey Coleman and the return of former All-Pro Josh Gordon from suspension, Kizer believes reaching 65 percent is well within the realm of possibility by season’s end.
“I think we can be very good,” Kizer said. “I think that we have continued to show that we are very close to once again getting over that hill. We talk about it each week. Once we get over it, we will stay over it for a while, I believe. As an offense, we have been sporadic. My game has been sporadic from good to bad.
“There has been a kind of roller-coaster feel to where our offense has been. I think this last four weeks, the fourth quarter of the season is a good opportunity for us to show where we can be heading into the offseason to gain some confidence so that we can continue to build throughout the offseason and come back next year, hopefully, as one of the better teams.”
