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Jameis Winston, Jerry Jeudy dash through to snow to lift Browns to comeback over Steelers
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- Jameis Winston, Jerry Jeudy dash through to snow to lift Browns to comeback over Steelers
CLEVELAND — Jameis Winston came out of the Browns locker room moments after their 24-19 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night singing a tune.
"Jingle bells, jingle bells," the Browns quarterback sang as he went to do a television interview. "Jingle all the wayyyy."
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A week before Thanksgiving, Winston found himself in the mood to sing Christmas carols after a pregame FaceTime conversation with his family. As he spoke to them, he heard his sons singing the song in the car as they went to school.
Hours later, Winston found himself dashing through the snow to help lead the Browns to a fourth-quarter comeback against the Steelers. For the Alabama native who spent his entire life before this season living mostly adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, it was an experience unlike any other.
"When we first got up here to Cleveland, like on the plane, my boys are singing, 'jingle bells, jingle bells' because I told him about my first trip in March where it snowed out of the middle of nowhere," Winston said, recalling his free-agency trip. "I'm getting my physical and it started snowing. So I told them, 'Hey, Cleveland is a place where it snows."
"You know, we were coming from Tampa and New Orleans . They haven't seen snow, really. The only time they have seen snow is when we were back in Alabama."
Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston (5) scores a 2-yard touchdown despite a hit by Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward during the fourth quarter Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Cleveland.
Winston, though, wasn't just a one-horse open sleigh in leading the Browns (3-8) to their second home win over an AFC North contender this season. When he needed a big play, he found himself turning to another player who hadn't spent much time in the snow — South Florida native Jerry Jeudy .
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Jeudy had six catches for 85 yards against the Steelers, catching all six of the passes thrown to him.
"I have a lot of guys that I can trust," said Winston, who was 18-of-27 passing for 219 yards with an interception, a fumble, a rushing touchdown and a 76.0 passer rating. "But, man, when you have someone that is very talented and has a knack for getting open, has a knack when the moment matters most, he makes the play. I'm grateful to be throwing the ball to Jerry Jeudy."
Although Jeudy didn't score a touchdown, he may have made some of the biggest non-scoring plays of the night for the Browns offense. Five of his six catches gave Cleveland a first down, including four on scoring drives.
There may not have been two bigger ones, though, than on the Browns' final drive in the fourth quarter, which started with them trailing 19-18. Jeudy made a sliding 5-yard grab on a fourth-and-3 out route from the Steelers 38 with 2:11 remaining.
"I had an out route," Jeudy said. "I saw how tight [cornerback Joey] Porter was playing, so I used [tight end David] Njoku as a pick kind of and got the first down."
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The bigger one came shortly after that one. After the Browns lost five yards on an illegal touching penalty, pushing them back to the Pittsburgh 29 for third-and-6, Jeudy caught a 15-yard pass to the Steelers 14 to move the chains again.
A post-play penalty on Pittsburgh moved the ball to the 9. Two plays later, Nick Chubb ran it in from two yards out to give the Browns the lead with 57 seconds remaining.
So a running back from Georgia capped a scoring drive that featured an Alabama native consistently finding a South Floridian to help move the chains. All to help a team from the snow belt beat its hated rival in midst of a snow storm.
"It shows you just the love of football, what the love of football will do," Winston said. "Football brings so many people from different areas, different backgrounds together, and how beautiful is it for us to go out there and execute? I mean, Nick's from Georgia. We're doing great things, man, and we have to build off this."
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Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jameis Winston, Jerry Jeudy don't let snow, Steelers slow Browns down
