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Jameis Winston throws for 334 yards as Browns stun Ravens, ending 5-game skid: Key takeaways

28 October 2024Last Update :
Jameis Winston throws for 334 yards as Browns stun Ravens, ending 5-game skid: Key takeaways

By Zac Jackson, Jeff Zrebiec and Lauren Smith

Jameis Winston threw three touchdown passes in his first NFL start since 2022 — including the game-winner with 59 seconds to play — and the Cleveland Browns ended a five-game losing streak with a 29-24 win over the Baltimore Ravens.

In a back-and-forth game Sunday in Cleveland, Winston led the offense on a nine-play scoring drive late in the fourth, and the Browns (2-6) took the game’s final lead on Winston’s 38-yard touchdown pass to Cedric Tillman.

Lamar Jackson led the Ravens as far as the Cleveland 24 on the ensuing drive but threw incomplete to the end zone on the game’s final play.

Winston threw all three of his touchdown passes — two to Tillman and another to tight end David Njoku — in the second half to lead Cleveland to its first win since Week 2.

The Ravens led at the break on Jackson’s touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor late in the second, and Jackson added a second scoring pass to tight end Mark Andrews in the third.

Baltimore (5-3) had taken the lead again late on a 91-yard scoring drive, which Derrick Henry completed with a 2-yard touchdown run with 2:36 left, but Winston answered with the game-winning series.

The loss ends what was a five-game winning streak for the Ravens entering the week.

Winston leads Browns to win in first start

Winston energized the offense. Winston threw the ball down the field, stood in against the blitz and confidently made big throws.

It remains remarkable that the Browns stuck with the struggling Deshaun Watson as long as they did given that Winston was waiting in the wings — and always had the experience and arm strength to provide a spark.

Winston wasn’t perfect Sunday, but the offense was immediately different — and it was really good late.

The Browns scored 23 points in the second half, and Winston capped off the winning drive with a bomb to Tillman for Tillman’s second touchdown of the day.
Watson hadn’t reached 200 yards passing in a game all season; Winston threw for 334. — Zac Jackson, Browns beat writer

Cleveland scores season-high 29 points

The Browns were pretty good for most of the day. Tillman finally had his big game. The defense only gave up a handful of big plays, and though the Ravens had some drops and sloppy penalties, the Browns kept themselves in it — and finally had a competent offense capable of matching scores and creating explosive plays.
The Browns got to 20 points for the first time this season, and Winston kept firing the rest of the way. — Jackson

 

Cleveland injury updates

Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was taken to a local hospital after suffering a neck injury in a collision with Henry. The team said Owusu-Koramoah had feeling in all his extremities.

Cornerback Denzel Ward suffered a concussion in the third quarter. Ward has a lengthy concussion history — this is his sixth since entering the league in 2018 and his second this season.

He missed two weeks of training camp in August with a concussion but said then he had no plans to walk away from football. — Jackson

The Ravens deserved this loss

If safety Kyle Hamilton would have just caught Winston’s overthrown pass with just over a minute to play, the Ravens probably escape in Cleveland with a win.

Instead, he dropped it and Cleveland scored the go-ahead touchdown on the very next play.

However, that shouldn’t obscure the fact that the Ravens didn’t deserve to win. The offense was stuffed on fourth down on its first possession and never appeared comfortable. Jackson was harassed and there were too many Baltimore drops.

Defensively, the Ravens had no answers for a Browns offense that came in as one of the worst offenses in the league statistically. The Browns finished with 401 yards of offense after they entered the game averaging 253.9

Justin Tucker missed a 50-yard field goal and special teams penalties forced the Ravens to start too many drives deep in their own territory. This was a team loss. — Jeff Zrebiec, Ravens beat writer

Ravens’ defense is a problem

A big part of the Ravens’ defensive issues was who was not playing.

They entered the game without two of their top three corners in Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins. They then lost two of their five active interior defensive linemen in the first half when Michael Pierce (calf) and Brent Urban (concussion) went down.

Still, the Ravens lose the benefit of the doubt when it’s the same issues coming up every week, regardless of who is on the field.

The Ravens can’t consistently get to the quarterback and Winston had all day unless the Ravens blitzed. The Ravens can’t get off the field and the Browns repeatedly made plays on third down to prolong drives. The Ravens’ secondary also is a mess and the Browns had players running free downfield all day.

Cleveland’s game-winning scoring drive was emblematic of Baltimore’s struggles all afternoon on defense. — Zrebiec

Required reading

  • Return of the veteran RB? Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley and early glimmers of a revival
  • Defending the 2024 Ravens is the ultimate catch-22
  • Lamar Jackson’s handling of the blitz has fueled Ravens’ surge. Another test comes Sunday
  • Jameis Winston, now Browns’ starting QB, just wants to be his ‘very best’ for Cleveland

(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)

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