NASHVILLE, Tenn.: The Browns are experiencing an unwelcome blast from the past.
After falling 28-26 to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at Nissan Stadium, the Browns are 0-6 for the first time since 1999, when they started 0-7 en route to going 2-14 as an expansion team.
The players, though, aren’t hanging their heads after the team suffered its ninth consecutive defeat and its 16th loss in the past 17 games dating back to the 2015 season.
“I don’t think it’s demoralizing,” left tackle Joe Thomas said. “Obviously nobody wants to be at 0-6, but I think the way this team is close and the way they’re preparing and the way they’re so focused on the task, I don’t see any splintering or any guys that are not buying in.
“Those are the things you worry about on a team that’s not winning, that’s 0-6. But we’re doing the right things. It’s just a matter of being more consistent to be able to get those wins. We’ve got a lot of young guys right now, and we’ve got to bring them along.”
The Browns fell behind 28-13 when tight end Anthony Fasano beat inside linebacker Chris Kirksey and caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Marcus Mariota with 6:43 left in the fourth quarter.
The defense limited standout running back DeMarco Murray to 65 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries (3.1 average), but Mariota went 17-of-24 passing for 284 yards and three touchdowns with an interception, posting a rating of 132.6, and rushing for 64 yards on seven attempts (9.1 average).
The 15-point deficit, however, didn’t prompt the Browns to tap out.
Led by rookie quarterback Cody Kessler’s gutsy performance, they fired back with a 13-play, 75-yard drive and cut the Titans’ lead to 28-19 when wide receiver Terrelle Pryor caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Kessler with 2:07 remaining.
Then coach Hue Jackson sparked a debate by going for two points. Because they trailed by 15, the Browns had to go for two at some point. There are different schools of thought on when it should have been attempted. Jackson chose to try it sooner than later. Had he opted to kick the extra point with a little more than two minutes left, the Browns would have trailed by eight points and positioned themselves to go for two and force overtime after another touchdown.
“I went for two early because I knew at some point I was going to need to go for it,” Jackson said. “I’d rather go for it now than have to come back and do it again.”
Jackson said he used a chart to make the decision and wouldn’t change it if given another shot.
“I am making these decisions with very good information from people I trust,” Jackson said. “That is what we decided to do.
“It’s on me regardless of who I’m getting information from. I made a decision, and I take responsibility for it. I don’t run from that.”
The bottom line is it didn’t work. Kessler looked for Pryor on a fade route during the two-point attempt, but the Titans (3-3) had him double-teamed. As Kessler scrambled, he threw behind rookie wide receiver Ricardo Louis and incomplete.
“At some point we had to go for two,” said Kessler, who completed 26-of-41 passes for 336 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, posting a rating of 105.3. “I felt that was the right time. Then Coach Jackson called it. We were rolling. We had a great rhythm going and we drove down the field. Unfortunately we didn’t convert, and that kind of hurt us at the end.”
After the failed two-point conversion, Browns rookie wide receiver Rashard Higgins recovered an onside kick at Cleveland’s 38-yard line with 2:05 left. Kessler led a nine-play, 62-yard drive finished by running back Duke Johnson’s 1-yard rushing touchdown with 27 seconds left. Cody Parkey made the extra point to cut the lead to 28-26. The Browns couldn’t recover the next onside kick, and the Titans secured just their third win in their past 19 home games.
“Certainly when you look back in hindsight, you’re saying, ‘Man, it would have been nice to be able to kick that [extra point] so you can go for two at the end instead of at the beginning,’ ” Thomas said. “At some point, you still have to get a two-point conversion whether you get it on the first drive or the second drive, so I guess maybe it comes down to a feel thing.”
The Browns have come close to winning four of their six games despite owning an ultrayoung roster and being decimated by injuries. They’re the first NFL team to have 18 rookies on their 53-man roster since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 17 of the 2010 season. They had eight injured starters who didn’t face the Titans, and 15 key contributors have missed or will miss multiple games.
Despite the heartbreaking setbacks, the players insist the fight they showed against the Titans won’t vanish anytime soon. Many of them are crediting Jackson for keeping them motivated.
“When your head coach won’t quit, your team can’t quit,” Johnson said. “That is what type of coach we have.”
Thomas said Jackson wasn’t down after the loss.
“When you see a coach walk in the locker room and they look deflated, it’s easy for a team to say, ‘We’re going to throw in the towel,’ ” Thomas said. “But Hue’s never going to do that because he’s such a fighter and he’s so passionate about this game.”
Jackson doesn’t sense any quit in his team.
“Our players are giving me everything they have,” he said. “I know that. I’ve got to put them in better situations all the way around. That’s my responsibility.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.