The Cleveland Browns are buying into Jameis Winston's leadership on offense. Following a 24-19 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team has rallied around Winston's ability to perform in clutch moments.
In the fourth quarter, a Winston fumble led to a Russell Wilson touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III for the Steelers to take a 19-18 lead. Browns defensive star Myles Garrett reflected on Winston's response when he ran over to the sidelines after the crucial error.
“There was a turnover, came back to the sideline, ‘Love you. I'm sorry,” Garrett said after the game, per Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. “‘We're going to get it back.' He was already on to the next one: ‘How can we complete the mission?' So I have a lot of respect for him.”
On the Browns' next drive, Winston gave it back to Pittsburgh after throwing an interception during a five-play, 29-yard push downfield. Thankfully, the Steelers' three-and-out offered Winston and the Cleveland offense one last shot at redemption with 3:22 remaining.
Browns didn't quit on Jameis Winston
Winston started things off with two incompletions, but came up huge on a crisp pass over the middle to his top wide receiver Jerry Jeudy on fourth down that would've ended the game. He proceeded to find his rhythm, connecting on two of his next three passes to get the Browns in the red zone for a Nick Chubb rushing score to retake the late lead.
“Well, every time I come up here, I say, ‘one play at a time,'” Winston said. “And that is so important. And we exemplified that it’s one play at a time. We stick together, we fight for each other, and we found a way.”
The Browns showed a resilience in their biggest win of the season that fans haven't seen out of them in a while. Winston's pregame speech, and the aura hovering over him through the snowy performance didn't necessarily become the difference-maker for Cleveland, but it sure helped.
