December 2, 2024
Winston completed 34 of 58 passes for 497 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions while adding three rushes for 11 yards in the Browns' 41-32 loss to the Broncos on Monday night. He also threw a two-point conversion pass.
ANALYSISWinston's final line was a signature one for a quarterback who's always combined a high risk tolerance with ill-timed throws, a recipe for an abundance of both yardage and turnovers. Both came to fruition Monday night, with Winston impressively dissecting what had been a suffocating Denver secondary over the course of the game with a major assist from former Broncos receiver
Jerry Jeudy. Winston connected with Jeudy for 235 of his 497 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown, and he also facilitated a 100-yard performance for
Elijah Moore while tallying a pair of scoring tosses to
David Njoku (eight and four yards) and another to
Nick Chubb (five yards). However, Winston's last two interceptions snuffed out any hope of a Cleveland victory, with
Ja'Quan McMillian recording the Broncos' second pick-six of the night at the 1:48 mark of the fourth quarter to expand a 34-32 lead, and
Cody Barton then snagging a pass intended for Njoku in the end zone with 44 seconds remaining. Despite the unpleasant finish for Winston and the Browns, the veteran signal-caller has raised the ceiling of Cleveland's offense several notches above what it was under
Deshaun Watson, but he'll have another tough assignment on paper in a Week 14 road rematch with the Steelers.