CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Jameis Winston experience has been everything as advertised and more.
Most importantly, Winston has been a bright light in what has been a disappointing and dark season.
Here’s a few Brownie Bites following the snow bowl on Thursday Night Football.
Star of the show – Winston’s pregame speeches go viral weekly. So do his turnovers and touchdowns. He’s become a sensation of his own. “Jameis is just a very, very authentic person,” Stefanski said. “He's the same guy every single day. He is the same guy at 5:00 AM as he is at 5:00 PM He brings great energy to everything he does, and I think his teammates appreciate that about him.” Winston threw two interceptions, but also went airborne running for a touchdown and led a game-winning drive in the closing minutes of Thursday night’s 24-19 victory over the Steelers with snow falling throughout the second half. With Hard Knocks getting ready to film and debut December 3, expect to see lots of Winston representing the Browns.
Sacks in a flash – Myles Garrett racked up three sacks and outplayed Steelers rusher T.J. Watt. Garrett is the seventh player in NFL history to tally 10 or more sacks in seven consecutive seasons and he’s the only active player in the league with such a streak. “I think the big thing with Myles is obviously he's a great player. I think that's obvious to anybody who watches,” Stefanski said. “I think the thing that you have to remember is he's doing all that with getting an insane amount of attention from the offense. They're aware of where he is. Every play they're designing plays to not go his way as play callers. You one way things on your call sheet because I'm not going to run it at him or on third down, we're going to make sure there's a tight end over there or we're going to slide the protection to him or whatever it may be. So to be able to do all that against the backdrop of teams trying to prevent you from wrecking the game, I think is what's most impressive.”
Pitching a shutout – While Garrett piled up the sacks, Watt was neutralized thanks in part to right tackle Jack Conklin. “I thought Jack was outstanding,” Stefanski said. “Our offensive line was really good throughout the day. I thought Jameis did a nice job in his pocket movement, but to give up one sack versus a very, very good front and the sack itself I would put on, not on the offensive line. So that was really well done by those guys.” Conklin has started to regain his old form after returning from surgery to repair tears to his ACL, MCL, PCL and meniscus in Week 1 last season. “I hope that doesn't get lost on anybody because he has been through the ringer with this injury and to bounce back and play at the level that he's playing at has been really impressive,” Stefanski said.
Flexed out – As expected, with the Browns now 3-8 and the Bengals 4-7, the NFL has flexed their Thursday Night Football game scheduled for December 19 to Sunday December 22 that will be aired at 1 PM on FOX. “We’ll play any day they tell us to play,” Stefanski said. The league replaced the matchup with the Broncos and Chargers in Los Angeles. The league is also expected to flex out the Browns scheduled Sunday Night Football game at home against the Dolphins on December 29.
Side steppin’ – Stefanski was asked about the Browns’ interest in quarterback Daniel Jones, who asked for and received his release from the Giants after being benched. “I saw that he is available, but respectfully I'm not going to get into those type of things,” Stefanski said. Stefanski also sidestepped a question about Winston’s future with the team. “Obviously I'm not there at all” Stefanski said. “I'm focused on what happened yesterday so we can talk to the players about that and make corrections and those type of things and then I'll focus on Denver, but not really thinking about anything past that.”
Injury report – WR Cedric Tillman (concussion).