Browns Found Spark With Jameis Winston, Now A Tough Decision Looms

After a stunning 29-24 win over the Ravens the Cleveland Browns face a difficult decision with the trade deadline fast approaching

Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston (5) looks to throw during the first half of an NFL football game at Huntington Bank Field, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. / Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

They say winning cures all. It certainly felt that way on Sunday.

A 29-24, upset win over the Baltimore Ravens was enough to invoke plenty of smiles inside the Cleveland Browns locker room. It was the first time in quite some time that the locker room didn't feel like a funeral. The win was also enough to reunite Browns fans and players, after the controversy over how some fans chose to react to Deshaun Watson's season-ending injury one week prior.

Suddenly everything is rainbows and butterflies in Cleveland again – as far as it pertains to the city's football team. It helps when that controversial quarterback isn't around to make supporting the team a moral dilemma.

Five weeks ago Cedric Tillman sat at his locker despondent after dropping a critical fourth down pass against the Giants. After a career day in a #Browns win, a much different Cedric Tillman was on full display postgame:https://t.co/9jTXPEK4ME

— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) October 27, 2024

In his absence, veteran backup Jameis Winston took the same, pathetic offense that took the field for seven straight weeks, to new heights. He completed 27 of his 41 passes for 334 yards and three touchdowns, led a game-winning drive in the final two minutes of play, unlocked wide receivers who were nonexistent, and – most importantly – earned the Browns a second win this season.

In the last seven Browns games that featured starting QBs not named Deshaun Watson, those quarterbacks have thrown for 300-plus yards five times. If a season-ending Achilles injury didn't mark the end of Watson's time in Cleveland, those numbers certainly do.

In Week 8 there was just a different energy inside Huntington Bank Field. From the players on the field. To the fans in the stands. Now, armed with a second win and a competent offense, some hope has been restored for a season believed to be lost by most.

Is it really lost though?

That is the key question that looms large for the Browns over the next week. The Browns play one more game, at home against the Los Angeles Chargers, before the trade deadline on election day. Then a bye week awaits them, for a chance to get players off their feet and get healthy for the final stretch of the season.

A week ago, sitting at 1-6 on the season. there was an understanding that the Browns would likely be sellers at the deadline. Trading away certain pieces and parts to stockpile picks for next April's draft. And while getting to 2-6 doesn't change much, Cleveland's brass could very well talk them selves into making a magic run after the bye week – similar to the one sparked by the team's Hail Mary quarterback change last year with Joe Flacco.

One week after calling out #Browns fans, QB Jameis Winston gave them major props following improbable win over #Ravenshttps://t.co/COQsZfBmAA

— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) October 28, 2024

What remains is a much tougher schedule that what Flacco had in 2023. But if the offense and defense can compliment each other the way they did in Sunday's win over Baltimore, the Browns can win any football game they play.

The biggest problem is that the team's margin for error is razor thing. When you lose six of your first seven games that will happen. And, while Winston clearly provided a nice spark for the team, his gun-slinging play style is not necessarily advantageous to winning football games for a team that has to be nearly perfect the rest of the way.

Even in the win, Winston was the beneficiary of some lucky bounces, most notably a dropped interception by safety Kyle Hamilton on Cleveland's game-winning touchdown drive. Winston got a second chance to win the game and took advantage. That won't always be the case though, for the quarterback best known – aside from his vivacious, viral pre-game speeches – for a 30 touchdown, 30 interception season during his time with the Buccaneers.

It's a difficult world to operate in if your Browns vice president of football operations Andrew Berry and company. Names like DE Za'Darius Smith, CB Greg Newsome II, WR Elijah Moore, even Winston could all net Cleveland varying levels of draft capital if the goal is to start planning for next year.

At the same time though, head coach Kevin Stefanski has to try not to lose a locker room full of veterans who expected this season to culminate in a playoff run. Trading any of those guys, but especially Winston after his impressive performance against Baltimore would certainly suggest the opposite. Threading that needle could be very difficult.

And so that sets the stage for what is now the biggest game of the season in Week 9. A win over the Chargers would get the Browns to 3-6 heading into their bye week. A challenging schedule, featuring four more division matchups, some difficult road trips and the Chiefs awaits on the other side. But as Joel Bitonio said in the locker room following Sunday's win, quoting Kevin Millar of the 2004 Boston Red Sox: "why not us?"

Cleveland is a city of perpetual hope. You give this fan base an inch of belief, they'll take a mile. Another win, and the Browns organization may just lean into that hope even more.