CLEVELAND -- Marvin Lewis met his good friend Hue Jackson at midfield after the Cleveland Browns fell to 0-4 on Sunday.
What did Lewis say?
“Don’t let them quit on you,” Lewis said after his Cincinnati Bengals had embarrassed the Browns 31-7.
It has come to that for the Browns, whose 0-4 start and performance Sunday are worse than could have been envisioned -- even for this Browns team and its low expectations. The Browns did themselves in with mistake after mistake and a defense that could not stop Andy Dalton, who went 25-for-30 for 286 yards and four touchdowns.
It was as poor a game as Jackson and his team have had, and he’s now 1-19 as the coach in Cleveland. Jackson conceded that anyone could say the Browns have regressed after that loss.
“We got beat soundly in every phase,” Jackson said. “But we are going to work. I am not going to let this team go backward. We did today. There is no question about that.”
A recitation of the bad plays would take some time. Receiver Kenny Britt dropped a first-down throw at the 10 that turned into a Bengals interception, jumped early on third-and-3 on the Browns’ first drive and slipped coming out of his break on a key third down after a Bengals turnover.
Zane Gonzalez missed a field goal, JC Tretter had one bad shotgun snap that turned first-and-10 into second-and-24 and the defense got steamrolled by a team that started the game 0-3.
“That is not how we want to play or how we are going to continue to play,” Jackson said. “We understand we have some work to do.”
Jackson also addressed a CBSSports.com report that owner Jimmy Haslam had a conference call with the scouting staff the week leading up to the Bengals game to try to boost morale.
The call was prompted by an answer Jackson gave Monday about whether his team has enough talent to win this season while it builds for the future. Jackson said yes, then said the question should be addressed to vice president of football operations Sashi Brown and his staff.
Jackson denied any rift between himself and the front office.
“People can say what they are going to say,” Jackson said. “Let’s be honest, that has been the [reported] flavor of this organization for years. That doesn’t exist in our building at all. I know those things are going to come. You guys are going to ask those questions.
“I know nothing about that at all.”
Already, though, hard questions are being asked. The Browns' loss to the Bengals makes them 5-38 since, in 2014, they beat the Bengals on a Thursday night in Cincinnati. This season, they have been outscored 84-28 in the first half, and have lost in consecutive weeks to winless teams.
“The only people that can fix this are the people in that room,” Jackson said, nodding to the locker room. “We have work to do. We understand it.”
Linebacker Chris Kirksey stood behind Jackson and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.
“I think Hue is a great coach,” Kirksey said. “I think that Gregg Williams is a great defensive coordinator. I have his back. I have their back. And they have our backs too. I think that we as players need to start helping [them] out as much as possible.”
“We can’t keep talking about it,” cornerback Jamar Taylor said. “We got to put it on the tape.”