Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon admits that he’s still not up to game speed after a ten game suspension.
While it was easy for fans to blame Cleveland Browns QB Brian Hoyer for his interceptions in Buffalo in the team’s Week 13 loss, newly reinstated wide receiver Josh Gordon stepped up and took the blame for the first of two picks thrown by Hoyer, citing a route running error as the cause. This has been nothing new for the third-year receiver who led the NFL in receiving yards last season as his first two games back have been promising, albeit rocky.
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“I know in my mind I’m not where I want to be, because I’d like for it to be just second nature and for me to not have to think about it,” Gordon said per the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
“I was definitely running the wrong routes,” he added. “Now I know all the routes, but now it’s just when some of the plays we have that aren’t tagged for you, you’ve got to know what to do.”
One of those flubs on a route cost the Browns the ball, as Gordon said it was his error that caused the first of two Brian Hoyer interceptions that led to Hoyer being benched in Week 13 and nearly sat for Week 14.
“I was supposed to make an in-cut,” said Gordon. “The interception was on me. I ran the wrong route.”
Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan noted that this might be the first time Gordon has truly been pushed, given how much Gordon’s talent has always compensated for whatever shortcomings have arisen in his career.
“It’s nothing as far as a lack of effort,” Shanahan said. “It’s just more of you’ve got to constantly be challenging him. I don’t think he’s been challenged a ton throughout his life, and if I was as talented as him, I probably wouldn’t be very stressed out either.”
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