Let Jameis Fever Commence

Deshaun Watson's last 300 yard game was in January of 2021.  Jameis Winston's last 300 yard game was today.  It's fucking incredible that the Browns kept trying to make it work with Watson when every player in that locker room knew that Winston (and probably DTR) were easily better players.  This is why the Browns are such a shit organization.  They would rather let a season go down the tubes than admit fault.  Would the 49ers or Chiefs let themselves go 1-6 with some cancer of a player destroying the year?  No way.  The insanity of sticking with Watson, when he sucked THAT badly AND you had Jameis in the building is crazy.  

It looked like a completely different team after being unshackled from Watson and his bad vibes.  Suddenly Tillman and Jeudy look like actual NFL receivers.  Njoku is a problem again for opposing defenses.  Winston was able to get the ball down the field, to secondary targets no less, and the team had life.  It is EXACTLY like last year when they got Flacco in house.  I realize that the team must have been desperate to squeeze something out of the QUARTER BILLION DOLLARS they gave to a guy who is blowing it all on sex crime settlements and lime green European sports cars, but there was no blood available from that stone.  As a result, they gave away the 2024 season not reacting to the incontrovertible evidence that Watson was no longer an NFL caliber QB.  If Winston had been the starter from Week 1, what is their record right now?  4-3?  Now they're 2-5 and are basically playing for entertainment purposes only.  

On the upside, it was fun watching the Browns game today.  I remember last year when that Flacco run got going having the odd sensation hit of "fun" when watching the Browns.  It is so unfamiliar to equate "fun" with "the Browns".  Watching Browns games during this Watson era has felt "gross" and "tedious".  To see a professional quarterback like Winston running the offense this week really shows the stark contrast on what a complete piece of shit Watson was as a player.  An even a bigger impact is getting rid of all the baggage of not wanting to see Watson succeed personally while somehow hoping for a positive team result for the Browns.  You can see the team must have exhaled after getting him out of the building finally.  I can't imagine how Watson ever puts on a Browns uniform again.   

The Browns with average quarterback play are a "pretty good" team.  Beating the Ravens is a big win.  If (and when) Winston plays well, the Browns are in that tier of teams like Chargers/Atlanta/Tampa/Indianapolis (also stunningly not starting Flacco).  Those are teams that can sneak into the playoffs and maybe get lucky to win a game in the postseason.  When he tosses gift interceptions like he tried to do late in the game today?  Well, now you're talking about them in the Miami/New Orleans/Giants/Cincinnati group that is talking about which of the top college football players they will mis-evaluate in the NFL Draft.  This is going to be a high variance run of games.   

Now the exciting thing is we get to watch Jameis Winston play with no real stakes.  He is sort of like a higher ceiling version of my all-time favorite Brown Brandon Weeden in that ANYTHING can happen when he lets go of the ball.  Let's be honest, Winston should have thrown 2 or 3 interceptions today.  He didn't though, and you could see the energy he gave the team.  I'm not sure how much of that is coming from Winston's leadership, or the other players knowing they can finally get serious since they have a chance to win games again.  They obviously like Jameis, because let's face it, he's entertaining as hell.  I'm on board.  I don't know how many wins they get, but at least the Browns team itself is likable with Winston.  The Browns just might be interesting on Sundays again.

Go Browns.