After Myles Garrett strolled into the stadium with an epic Halloween costume, new quarterback Jameis Winston delievered a heartfealt pregame speech. And the Cleveland Browns responded by immediately outscoring Deshaun Watson’s best 2024 point total in Winston’s first start.
The Browns struggled mightily with Watson behind center. He didn’t surpass 200 yards passing in any of his seven starts. Predictably, the Browns posted a record of 1-6.
However, Winston changed that narrative quickly, according to a post on X by Jordan Schultz.
“The #Browns have scored 20 points in a game for the first time this season. Jameis Winston connects with Cedric Tillman for the score and the lead.”
Browns QB Winston looks good in first start
As the game entered the fourth quarter, Winston already had posted the team’s first 200-yard game with 228 and a pair of touchdowns.
Browns’ head coach Kevin Stefanski said he had no qualms about turning to the veteran, according to cleveland.com.
“Yeah, Jameis is a guy we’ve kind of talked about all off season,” Stefanski said. “(He) works very hard at this. Like you mentioned, has a ton of experience playing this game. (He) has seen a lot. (And) he prepares really well. So, yeah, feel good about it.”
Winston’s ability to lead is also part of the picture.
“I think any authentic leadership is really important,” Stefanski said. “And he certainly leads in his own way. It’s different, but I think the guys really respect him because of the work he puts in. I think Jameis understands that he’s got to go do his job for this football team.”
Of course, Winston had plenty of help. The Browns got good running from Nick Chubb while Elijah Moore, Jerry Jeudy, and Cedric Tillman stepped up at the receiver position while tight end David Njoku played well and caught a touchdown pass.
That’s the kind of complementary football Stefanski said he wanted.
“We have to do that,” Stefanski said. “And that’s offense, defense, special teams. We’ve done it at times. We have to just be way more consistent in doing that because in order to beat these other teams, you can’t beat yourself and we put ourselves in too many spots where that wasn’t the case. So here we are this week, got to go play better in all areas.”
