BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Jameis Winston has never allowed interceptions to stop him from being fearless throwing the football.
Meanwhile, awards season is upon us, and Denzel Ward took home the most prestigious honor of them all.
Here’s a few Brownie Bites from Thursday.
Let it rip – Winston has always had problems with picks – he’s thrown 106 of them over his 10-year career. Unfortunately, two of his last three, which were thrown Monday night, cost the Browns 14 points and the game. “My approach to the game is to attack the defense,” Winston said. “But the beautiful thing about the quarterback is we touch the ball every single play and it's more important to take care of the ball than sometimes make that huge play. But when the play presents itself, we make the play. And I think in Monday's night’s case, plays presented themselves, particularly the last two in the last two-minute drives, but plays were there, I just didn't make the play.” It wasn’t all bad in Denver. Winston set a franchise record with 497 yards passing and four touchdowns. The Steelers have forced 25 turnovers this season, and their +15 turnover ratio ranks second, an ominous sign for Winston. “You can't go into a game thinking about turnovers,” Winston said. “Only thing you can do is go into the game focusing on protecting the football. There are certain things that we focus on as an offense… I focus on my technique. I focus on one play at a time. I focus on being the best teammate that I can be and leading these guys to a win. Ultimately, I have to put them in the best position to win. And when it's time for me to make the play for the team as a great quarterback, I have to make that play.”
Man (and mom) of the Year – Browns cornerback Denzel Ward is having his best season as a Brown on the field. Off it, Ward continues to do what he’s done since being drafted fourth overall in 2018 – give back. His off-the-field community efforts earned him the team’s nomination as their Walter Payton Man of the Year, which he credits his mom for winning. “I say all the time, she's the backbone of the foundation. She's really the Walter Payton Mom of the Year,” Ward said. “She literally runs the foundation and does everything in there and so it is really her award.” Ward’s Make Them Know Your Name foundation was founded in honor of his late father, Paul Ward Jr., who died of sudden cardiac arrest, to promote heart health back in 2019. This year the foundation committed $150,000 to bring over 100 state-of-the-art, lifesaving Avive Connect AEDs to local nonprofits, community organizations, small businesses and houses of worship in the Cleveland community. “The efforts that we've been doing has been paying off and helping and working, and so we're going to continue to push forward,” Ward said. “If we could save one life, that's going to mean the world to us and try to just prevent fatality from happening in other people's lives.”
Big play blues – The Browns have allowed 58 explosive plays (gains of 20 or more yards) through 11 games: 33 (20-29 yards), 13 (30-39 yards) and 12 (40 or more yards). So what gives? “The problem with not being able to eliminate them is that there hasn't been a whole lot of commonality to them,” defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. “Like this last one was in a deep zone. We've had given up as one-on-ones in man-to-man coverage. We've had a lot of different, if it was one thing, I think you can take steps to correct. We have to concentrate on just doing our job really well and we just, it just proves in this league, if you let your guard down for one second, you can give up a 96 yard touchdown pass or 94 yard touchdown pass, whatever it is. And when it's all said and done, there may be reasons, but there's no excuses and we take responsibility for it.”
Quote of the day – The best quote of the day came from special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone: “ I think our head coach does a good job expressing to our players ‘Don’t do dumb s***.’”
Claimed – Receiver Jaelon Darden, waived by the Browns Wednesday, was claimed by Seattle off waivers Thursday.
Injury report – DNP: DT Sam Kamara (concussion), WR Cedric Tillman (concussion), LT Jedrick Wills Jr. (knee), DT Maurice Hurst (ankle); LIMITED: WR Jamari Thrash (shoulder), S Juan Thornhill (calf), CB Myles Harden (tibia), CB Greg Newsome II (abdomen); FULL: WR Elijah Moore (shoulder), LG Joel Bitonio (ankle), WR Jerry Jeudy (knee)