The Cleveland Browns are playing with new life since Jameis Winston stepped in as the starting quarterback. The Browns are 2-2 with Winston as the starter after Deshaun Watson went down with a season-ending torn Achilles.
The latest of those wins was a huge 24-19 upset over the Pittsburgh Steelers in an AFC North rivalry. The game was played in a blizzard, but Winston was still able to run a functional offense in terrible weather conditions in the second half.
Some people say that you aren't officially a Brown until you beat the Steelers. On Wednesday, Winston was asked if Thursday night's win officially made him a Cleveland Brown.
“I do. I really do. I’m so grateful that we were able to get last week’s victory, man,” Winston said, per the team's official transcript. “But man, we have to see that team again. And I think that’s the beautiful thing about this division. That’s the beautiful thing about football is when you see a great battle and you have historic nights. That was a historic night to me, probably not in history, but that was an extraordinary night. There’s definitely going to be some snow globes coming out soon. But after that it’s recuperate, focus on the main thing, what’s the main thing, going out there and playing the best football we could play against the Denver Broncos, who have a great defense, who have a great young quarterback that’s from Alabama, that’s doing some great things and has a great leader in Sean Payton.”
Browns looking to keep winning against the Broncos
The Browns are in yet another primetime spot this week, just one week after their snowy upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers. On Monday night, the Browns will be looking to pull off another upset over an AFC playoff team when they take on the Denver Broncos.
A Browns offense that looked dead in the water earlier this season with Deshaun Watson at the helm is starting to find a little bit of a groove. Nick Chubb is back to boost the running game and the Browns' receivers are settling into defined roles after Amari Cooper was traded away.
Jerry Jeudy has become the top guy for this group along with tight end David Njoku. Elijah Moore is also having a minor career resurgence. Winston gives them all a chance to succeed by constantly being willing to push the ball down the field and create explosive plays for an offense that desperately needs it.
On defense, the Browns are playing even better than they were earlier in the season. It didn't have any massive personnel changes like the offense did, but this unit is much closer to last season's elite group than it was at the start of this season. With this team rounding into form at this point in the season, the Browns won't be an easy out for anybody down the stretch.
