Cleveland Browns: Grades from home opener vs. Ravens

Coaching: F

In the end, the responsibility of a blown 20-point lead falls on the shoulders of first-year head coach Hue Jackson. Jackson, who made some bold comments in last Wednesday’s press conference, has yet to deliver on his promises.

Though early, Sunday’s game did not improve Jackson’s approval rating among Browns fans in any way. Even with a 20-point lead, Jackson elected to continue throwing the ball a great deal, despite the running game working well. This was a troubling trend which came back to bite Cleveland in the end. For his play calling and other poor decisions, Jackson took ownership in his postgame press conference.

In hindsight, there are a lot of calls to analyze. Jackson’s play calling will be heavily scrutinized, and deservedly so. But even beyond play calling, Jackson’s inability to keep his team together when the game tightened was evident. He failed to close the game when he could have, which makes it difficult to place a whole lot of blame on any one major position group.

Everyone understands that the Browns need to be better, but what is often misunderstood is where this improvement must originate from. Sunday’s game indicated even more to fans that there are many pieces in place on the Browns’ roster. Their coaching must be better though, as Jackson and his staff absolutely need to bring everything together immediately as the team now travels to Miami for their Week 3 clash with the Dolphins.