Should Jameis Winston be the bridge quarterback for the Browns in 2025? NFL Week 11 Fact or Fiction

1. Jameis Winston has earned the right to be the Browns bridge quarterback in 2025

Judgment: Fact.

The Browns were blown out Sunday in New Orleans by the Saints. But Jameis Winston can say he mostly did his part in the loss.

Winston was 30 of 46 passing in the loss for 395 yards and two touchdowns, giving him a traditional quarterback rating of 106.7. One of those TDs was an 89-yard play by Jerry Jeudy, which is the fourth-longest passing game in team history.

But in the game, the defense and special teams failed them. Dustin Hopkins missed three field goals, one of which was negated by a penalty kick. One of the two official misses on the stat sheet was a 27-yard attempt.

The defense also gave up 138 yards and three rushing touchdowns to Taysom Hill on just seven carries, including a 75-yarder to put the game away. Cleveland’s punt coverage team also gave up a 53-yard return by Dante Pettis for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

In three starts, Winston has had two good games and one bad one. To me, he has done well enough to prove that he should be the bridge quarterback for the Browns in 2025.

Unless the Browns finish with a worse record than the Giants, Raiders and Titans, they likely won’t be able to draft Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Miami’s Cam Ward could be an option, but his last three games have shown the warts left on his scouting report.

It also doesn’t help that there really hasn’t been a third quarterback to step up and establish himself solidly.

So for now, if the Browns can’t get Sanders, the best bet might be to play Winston in 2025. Let him have the reigns to start the season instead of having to take over in what has essentially been a Murphy’s Law 2024 season.

Even if the Browns draft Ward, Winston should be the Week 1 starter to let Ward develop in the background.

The way this season has unfolded showed that there are more issues to solve than just the quarterback. Winston and a rookie quarterback right now seem like the best way to go, if possible going forward.

The Winston experience is a roller coaster. But it’s clear the Browns look a lot better with him running the show. That’s why he right now deserves to be the bridge quarterback in 2025.

2. The Steelers have stolen the AFC North from the Ravens

Judgment: Fiction.

The first round of Ravens-Steelers belongs to Pittsburgh after Sunday’s 18-16 win at Acrisure Stadium. Despite the way both teams have played on offense, it looked like a traditional Ravens-Steelers matchup: physical and low-scoring.

The Steelers won despite not scoring a touchdown and now have a 1.5-game lead atop the AFC North.

Although they won, this division race is far from over.

The biggest reason is that Lamar Jackson will only see the Steelers one more time this season.

The Steelers are playing Jackson better than anyone, holding him to a 66.8 traditional quarterback rating, the lowest he has against any opponent, entering Sunday. He had thrown just four touchdowns to seven interceptions in his previous six games against the Steelers.

Jackson struggled again, completing 16 of 33 passes for 207 yards, a TD and an INT. He also rushed just four times for 46 yards.

The Steelers also have a very brutal schedule the rest of the way, facing the Chiefs and Eagles along with all three AFC North road games.

The Ravens also have a tough schedule. But they also get the Browns, Eagles and Steelers at home, which is a huge advantage. Plus, Jackson is just so much better against everyone else than he is against the Steelers.

Therefore, despite the Steelers’ statement on Sunday, it’s still too early to call the AFC North.

3. The Jaguars are the team in greatest need of an organizational blowup

Judgment: Fact.

In possibly the least shocking result of Week 11, the Jaguars lost in Detroit. That doesn’t change the fact that the Lions’ 46-point demolition of the Jaguars isn’t remarkable.

To be fair here, this game shouldn’t change the perception of where the organization is. But it’s an unfortunate validation of how much progress the Jaguars have failed to make over the past two seasons.

The Jaguars became the first team in the NFL to post a losing season in 2024, falling to 2-9. The loss also drops GM Trent Baalke’s record to 23-39 in four seasons.

This is a team that should be much better considering it had the first pick in 2021 and 2022. Trevor Lawrence in 2021 was the best of what we now know is a weak quarterback class. But the Jaguars clearly missed out in 2022 when they took Travon Walker, who has been good but not great, instead of Aidan Hutchinson, who has NFL Defensive Player of the Year potential.

Doug Pederson hasn’t gotten the most out of his team either, going 11-17 in the last two seasons after a playoff win in 2022.

Lawrence isn’t going anywhere after signing a five-year deal worth $275 million back in June. But the Jaguars need to clean up to get the most out of the team around him because Baalke and Pederson simply haven’t gotten the most out of their assets.

4. Anthony Richardson should start the rest of the way for the Colts if he’s healthy

Judgment: Fact.

The Colts decided after last week to put former fourth overall pick Anthony Richardson back on the field after benching him in favor of Joe Flacco the last two games.

Richardson rewarded the move by throwing for a career-high 272 yards in a 28-27 win vs. the Jets.

Richardson was 20 of 30 passing, giving him a career-high completion percentage (66.7%) in a game in which he threw at least five passes. He also had two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, throwing a TD pass to Josh Downs and then rushing four yards for the game-winning score.

When he was drafted back in 2023, Richardson was clearly the quarterback of the top three — along with Bryce Young and CJ Stroud — who needed development the most.

It’s hard to be patient in the NFL now more than ever, which helps explain why Richardson was benched. However, Sunday showed that patience pays off given Richardson’s tantalizing tools. That’s why he should start every game for the rest of the season that he’s healthy enough to play in.

5. Beating the Chiefs proved that 2024 will be different for the Bills

Judgment: Fiction.

The Chiefs’ undefeated start to the 2024 season ended Sunday night when the Bills handed Kansas City its first loss of the season, 30-21. It’s also the Chiefs’ first loss since Christmas Day 2023, when they lost at home to the Raiders.

Josh Allen had two touchdowns, including a 26-yard run on a fourth down to put the game away, and James Cook also rushed for two scores.

But the thing for the Bills is that we’ve seen this story before. Buffalo has beaten Kansas City in each of the last four regular season meetings. That hasn’t been the problem.

They, like the rest of the AFC, need to figure out how to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs.

We also have to acknowledge that while the Chiefs still have the NFL’s best record, they haven’t looked like their usual selves. Their offense entered the game ranked 11th in scoring (24.3 points per game), and seven of their nine wins have been one-score games.

So you could argue that the Chiefs have been very fortunate this season.

However, last season showed that the Chiefs can simply switch to the playoffs. The Bills didn’t have an answer for that a year ago.

We won’t know until January if they finally do. But there is nothing they can do until then.

6. Zac Taylor’s days as Bengals head coach should be numbered

Judgment: Fact.

When the Cincinnati Bengals missed the playoffs last season, everyone could understand why. Joe Burrow was out as early as training camp, and a wrist injury limited him to 10 games this season.

But this year, there’s no excuse in Cincinnati.

Joe Burrow has been healthy, he’s been sensational, and his team has failed him all season. The most recent example came in Sunday night’s 34-27 loss to the Chargers.

Burrow almost single-handedly helped the Bengals erase a 21-point deficit. But his defense gave up a four-play, 84-yard drive in just 27 seconds to cost his team the game and drop Cincinnati to 4-7.

Considering how bad the season started and the fact that it might take a miracle to make the playoffs, it’s hard to imagine Zac Taylor keeping his job after the season.

His team has started the season slowly with three consecutive 0-2 starts, and they opened this year with a 1-4 record. The Bengals have barely been in the mix despite coming off a sixth day in a scoring offense (27.0 points per game).

The Bengals enter their bye week with a ton of questions and not many answers for the rest of the season. But it feels like a team that needs a new head coaching voice in 2025.

Taylor deserves some credit for helping the Bengals get to a Super Bowl. However, it feels like he has taken the Bengals as far as he can take them, and his time in Cincinnati may not be much longer.