Todd Haley will continue calling plays for Browns

Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson was understandably frustrated on Sunday.

The Browns had just finished off their second overtime loss of the year and the 19th consecutive road loss with Jackson at the helm.

The offense had once again started slowly, scoring just two points in the first half against a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that entered the game giving up a league-worst 34.6 points per game.

That led Jackson to talk in his post-game press conference about taking over responsibility for the offense from offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Which in turn led many to believe that Jackson was planning to resume calling the plays, just like he did in 2016 and 2017 when he did not want to “burden” someone with that responsibility.

But that is not the case, according to Jackson, who clarified his comments on Monday while meeting with the media, according to Herbie Teope at NFL.com:

“I never said that I would take over the play-calling. I just want to make that clear. I think sometimes things get said, written, whatever that is. When I said I’ll do whatever I think I need to do, that is to help. If there was something that I needed to change, I would. Regardless of what that may be. I think my frustration, again as a coach, I got to be careful not to get too frustrated, too.

“I want to take a really good look at it, be very thorough through it, watch it all, and see how I can help and infuse myself. I do plan on doing that -- infuse myself to help and assist our offensive coaching staff.”

What that means for a Browns offense that is ranked No. 21 overall in yards per game, 23rd in points per game, 23rd in passing yards per game and 5th in rushing yards per game remains to be seen.

Of course, Browns fans watched Jackson’s offense the past two seasons and it was not pretty, as NFL Network’s Aditi Kinkhabwala helpfully points out:

The wheels have quickly come off the Browns bandwagon in recent weeks, as the high of the Thursday night victory over the New York Jets on September 20 has quickly faded away in the wake of three losses in the last four games to leave the Browns at 2-4-1 on the season.

The schedule is not doing the team any favors, either, as the next three games start off with a road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by home games against the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons.

Jackson is ready to infuse himself into the offense in an attempt to right the ship.

But given everything that Browns fans have seen from the first 39 games of his tenure, he may end up creating more holes than he fixes.