Quarterback Jameis Winston helped lead the Cleveland Browns to a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night. After the game, he described what it was like playing in the snow.
While he didn’t throw any touchdown passes in the game, Winston did score on a two-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. On the play, he broke away from a likely sack, then dove into the end zone — avoiding another would-be-tackler in the process. Adding significance to the play was that it came on fourth down. Calling the game on Prime Video, analyst Kirk Herbstreit said after the play that Winston was “Living a dream.”
And while Winston didn’t use those exact words when describing the play, his comments did support that notion.
“This is really an NFL Films moment,” Winston said to reporters after the game (H/T Daniel Oyefusi, ESPN). “The snow starts pouring down. My feet start getting heavy because I’m squishing through the snow. Man. It was so good. And it was so great to end up getting a win.”
Jameis Winston on the fourth quarter. No words. pic.twitter.com/Ki9mvfqpPK
— Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) November 22, 2024
Winston was not exaggerating about the snow. By that point, it was unavoidable.
What’s interesting is that Thursday’s game was the first of its kind for Winston. It was the 84th start in his NFL career and his 111th start going back to the beginning of his college career. None of the first 110 came in snow. Given that Winston played college ball at Florida State and until 2024, spent his entire NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints. Even knowing that, what may be more surprising is that Thursday was Winston’s first start (again, college or pro) in temperatures below 40 degrees.
While it was his first start in those conditions, it almost certainly will not be his last. The Browns have six more games remaining on the schedule. Two are in Cleveland while the other four are in Denver (at night), Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Baltimore.
Are more cold weather “NFL Films moments” ahead of Winston this year? Time will tell. But he definitely made the most of his first opportunity.
[Daniel Oyefusi on X]
