CLEVELAND -- At 0-6, the Cleveland Browns find themselves in last place in the AFC Central Division, one of just two winless teams remaining in the National Football League and on the wrong side of the worst point differential in the professional ranks.
Although the Browns are winless through the first six weeks of the season and 1-21 since Sashi Brown took over as executive vice president of player personnel on January 3, 2016, coach Hue Jackson is committed to doing what is necessary to get things turned around.
“Oh-6 is 0-6,” Jackson said Monday. “How you fight it is you keep working and we keep bringing in the right message to our football team and having them understand what it takes to win football games. That is not going to change. We are different than last year in the sense that I think there is more hope and I think we understand the situation we are in and what we are trying to accomplish.”
The Browns twice passed on opportunities to select former Clemson Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson in the 2017 NFL Draft, and he made them pay for their decisions with a three-touchdown performance at NRG Stadium Sunday.
A first-round pick of the Houston Texans (3-3) after the Browns traded the No. 12 overall selection to Houston, Watson completed 17 of his 28 attempts for 225 yards and three touchdowns against a second-half interception on the way to a 33-17 victory over Cleveland.
“Obviously, the game, not the way we want to play and not what we want to be as a football team,” Jackson said. “We have to get better and improved to get the results we desire. I will continue to ask more from our players and our coaching staff. That is the only way for us to become the team that we want to become.”
Over the last three years, the Browns have gone 4-34, and the record has not been much better since Dee and Jimmy Haslam officially purchased the team in October of 2012.
In five seasons under Haslam’s majority ownership, the Browns have posted an NFL-worst 15-55 record. Factoring in the remaining games of the 2012 season after the sale was approved at an NFL Owners Meeting in Chicago, Haslam’s Browns have gone 19-60.
And despite reports to the contrary, Jackson maintains the front office, coaching staff and players remain united in the goal of turning around the franchise for the better.
“It does get frustrating, but the men in our locker room are committed to getting better,” Jackson said. “We will stay focused, and I am confident we will achieve the results that we want because of the character of the men on the team and in our organization, but we have work to do.
“I think we all get that. We have serious work to do. We are not going to run from that. We just have to put our heads down, keep working, stay together and hold each other accountable to get better.”
