Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston has built a reputation as one of the best and funniest interviews in the NFL during his career. On Sunday, he got to complement his quotability with some very good play on the field as he led the Browns to a shocking 29-24 win against the Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens had their five-game winning streak snapped in the loss, and Winston continued to provide plenty of hilarious quotes before and after the game. On Tuesday, he gave an optimistic view of the Browns' ceiling with him at quarterback for the rest of the season on NFL Network's Good Morning Football.
“You can't say the sky's the limit when people are on the moon,” Winston said.
Maybe the sky, or even higher, is the limit for this Browns team with Winston at quarterback. Kevin Stefanski and company seemed to be full of life and energy in their first week with Winston at the helm and played some of their best football of the season.
While Winston obviously helped the offense out and gave it a sense of explosiveness, the defense felt like it had new life knowing that the offense was going to be able to keep up. Winston brought some tangible improvements to the team on Sunday, but the intangible effects of having him in the lineup may be even more important.
Jameis Winston gives Browns a chance to be competitive
The Browns looked like a completely different team on Sunday with Jameis Winston at quarterback, and they pulled off one of the biggest upsets of this NFL season against the Ravens. Winston easily reached 300 yards through the air, a feat that Deshaun Watson still has not accomplished since arriving in Cleveland, and gave the offense a big play ability that they didn't have before Watson went down.
Crucially, Winston was able to push the ball down the field without his usual diet of turnovers (although he got some help from the Ravens in that department). He finished the game 27-for-41 with 334 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, including the game-winning touchdown to Cedric Tillman in the final minute.
Winston wasn't doing anything particularly spectacular on Sunday, but his style of play gives the offense so much more juice than it had when he was on the sideline. Even without Amari Cooper, the Browns were creating big plays left and right against a vulnerable Ravens secondary.
If the Browns get this version of Winston moving forward, they have a chance to be competitive with a balanced offense that has Nick Chubb back in the running game. Chubb wasn't able to get a ton going on Sunday against the Ravens, but he should be more productive as he gets his legs back underneath him.
The Browns also still have a very talented defense that looked a lot better against one of the best offenses in the NFL on Sunday. They may be too far behind to truly make a playoff push in the AFC, but they should be a tough out the rest of the way.
