Jameis Winston and Jerry Jeudy post career numbers, but Winston's three picks result in a 41-32 loss to the Broncos

DENVER – Browns receiver Jerry Jeudy made the decision before returning to Denver for his revenge game and killed it from start to finish.

Browns quarterback Jameis Winston, knowing how much this meant to Jeudy, promised to make his homecoming a happy one.

Unfortunately for the Browns, both players’ career games went in vain as Winston threw his second pick-six of the game with 1:48 left, extending the Broncos’ lead to 41-32, the final result on Monday night’s field strengthening.

Winston threw his third interception of the game with 34 seconds left. The other pick-six was a 93-yarder by defensive end Nik Bonitto.

Winston took over on his 30th with 2:54 to play and the Browns trailed 34-32 after a Broncos field goal.

He was sacked on his first play of the series, but converted a third-and-12 pass with a 14-yard pass to Elijah Moore. Then, just after the two-minute warning, Winston fired a pass to Elijah Moore on the left side, and Denver’s Ja’Quan McMillian skipped the route and hit him for a touchdown.

The loss wiped out a career-high and Browns record 497 passing yards for Winston, and a career-high 235 receiving yards on nine catches for Jeudy, who was playing the game of his life.

Winston completed 34 of 58 passes with four touchdowns and three interceptions, for a passer rating of 88.1.

“It’s hard for any team to win when the quarterback gives the other team two touchdowns,” Winston said after the loss. “I have to play better. …That’s the biggest thing. …I’ve been here before. I have to play better.

“I have to make the play when it matters most. That’s what great quarterbacks do. …I know I’m better than this… …It’s about finishing and making plays when the team needs you most. … I apologized to the boys. … I’m going to keep working and getting better, especially in the fourth quarter when you have to be the best.”

Jeudy’s 235 yards were the most in NFL history by a receiver against his former team.

“We had a plan to get him open,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said of Jeudy. “…Jerry executed the plan and Jameis made some throws, but when you’re losing, it’s hard to feel good about anything.”

The loss dropped the Browns to 3-9 and improved the Broncos to 8-5. The Browns had 552 yards of offense against the NFL’s No. 3 defense.

“… We just have to get through it as a team in the end,” Stefanski said. “…It doesn’t matter if the offense comes through, the defense or the special teams.”

During the week, Jeudy told ESPN Cleveland about his return to the team that traded him to the Browns in March: “I just want to go back there and whip them (expletive),” his close friend Courtland Sutton, the Broncos’ star receiver , told Broncos reporters: “That sounds like my buddy. “He’s a competitor, man.”

Jeudy’s fantastic return included a 70-yard touchdown, a 44-yard catch on the first play of the game, and catches of 35 and 15 on a fourth-quarter touchdown drive. That drive ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Nick Chubb that made it 32-31 for the Browns with 8:57 to play.

The Broncos kicked a 27-yard field goal to take a 34-32 lead with 2:54 left.

Chubb’s goal benefited from Denzel Ward intercepting a pass from Bo Nix intended for Marvin Mims Jr. It was Nix’s second pick of the game.

Denver cornerback Patrick Surtain II, who accompanied Jeudy for much of the game, knew his lifelong friend would have a lot of fun.

“I think he’s going to be fired up, obviously that was his previous team,” Surtain said during the week. “I think he’ll have a lot of juice, a lot of juice flowing. That’s exactly the type of player he is. He is very competitive and will try to make it. I’m looking forward to the matchup. It will be a great duel.”

The teams exchange touchdowns in the third quarter

The teams traded big touchdowns in the third quarter to keep things close.

The Browns held Denver to their 8 on a third-quarter drive, but Nix shot the ball out of his end zone on third-and-12 from the 7 and passed the ball into a tight window over the middle to speedster Marvin Mims Jr. Mims rushed in end zone for a 93-yard TD that made it 28-17 with 10:01 left in the third quarter.

The Browns operated in a reverse Cover 2 defense, with the corners serving as safeties and covering half the field. Linebacker Jordan Hicks ran across the line and was paired with Mims. Ward dived for the ball and missed, and Mims took off running.

Once again Winston was undeniable.

On the first play of the next drive, Jeudy lined up behind the entire Broncos defense and Winston found him for a 70-yard TD catch.

To celebrate, he turned around and “plunged” backwards into the end zone.

But he wasn’t finished yet. Winston, who had promised to make his homecoming a happy one, completed the two-point pass to him on the right side of the end zone, bringing the Browns within 28-25 with 9:50 left in the quarter.

But the quarter wasn’t over yet.

The Broncos made a 36-field goal to make the score 31-25.

Winston’s incredible performance at the end of the half

Winston always talks about playing one piece after another and forgetting what happened in the last piece. That’s exactly what he did after Nik Bonitto’s 71-yard pick-6 with 1:38 left in the half made it 21-10 Denver.

With steely determination, Winston completed passes 16, 13, 12 and 13 to the Broncos 4 before finding tight end David Njoku for a 4-yard TD pass over safety Brandon Jones on the right side of the end zone to give the Browns a pass to pull to 21-17 with 13 seconds left in the half.

Winston finished the first half 18 of 31 for 245 with 2 TDs and an INT for a 91.5 rating.

Jeudy finished the first half by catching 5 of 8 targets for 97 yards, with a long catch of 44. He nearly had another 89-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter, matching the one in the loss to New Orleans matched, but Winston outran him by at least 3 yards near midfield, where he was wide open and had a clear shot into the end zone.

Moore caught 5 of 7 targets for 79 yards, also with a long lead of 44. Njoku caught 5 of 9 with the 2 touchdowns, but only for 32 yards.

Denver scores two consecutive touchdowns in the 2nd quarter

The Broncos scored back-to-back touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 21-10 lead with 1:38 left in the half.

The first came after a 20-yard run by Michael Burton, his second career touchdown, with 4:03 left in the half. The second was Bonitto’s 71-yard pick-6, his first career interception, to blow the 21-10 lead.

Nix heated up on the TD run, completing passes of 19, 16 and 23 on the first three plays of the drive to the 1. Browns safety Ronnie Hickman made a TD-saving tackle on the 23-yarder, but Burton converted it one play later .

At the pick-6, Bonitto began covering Njoku, but saw Winston’s look and went to tight end Jordan Akins, who the pass was intended for, picked it up and raced back for the score. It was Winston’s fifth interception of the season.

Greg Newsome II’s INT

It was a group effort, but Browns cornerback Greg Newsome II held off Nix with 12:32 left in the half after Myles Garrett applied pressure and Denzel Ward tossed the ball in the air. Newsome managed to start the Browns at the 31.

Winston pushed the Browns downfield and Dustin Hopkins hit a 45-yard field goal to give the Browns a 10-7 lead with 8:49 left in the half.

The pick was just the third for Nix in his last 11 games: he had thrown 16 touchdowns against just 2 interceptions in his last 10 games.

Broncos open score, Browns answer

The Browns forced a three-and-out on the Broncos’ first drive, but let Nix heat up on the second drive with passes 17 to Sutton and 16 to Devaughn Vele.

They scored on a 2-yard run by Javonte Williams to make it 7-0 with 4:13 left in the first quarter.

But the Browns stormed over the right defender with a TD of their own, an 8-yarder to Njoku in the back left of the end zone. The drive included Winston’s second 44-yard completion of the game, but this time they capitalized on the long strike to Moore to the left on third down.

Njoku, who also made an 11-yard left-handed grab on the first play of the drive, caught the TD on the next play.

Jeudy’s 44-yard catch

Jeudy started his revenge on the first play with a 44-yard catch, using a high-low concept that left the safety Njoku short, well over the middle.

Unfortunately for the Browns, they squandered it after Winston and Njoku miscommunicated on a third-down incompletion, Winston blowing the play and expressing his frustration afterward.

The drive ended with Hopkins sailing a 47-yard field goal attempt wide left with 10:16 left in the first.

The Browns visit the first-place Steelers on Sunday at 1 p.m

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Jameis Winston and Jerry Jeudy post career numbers, but Winston’s three picks result in a 41-32 loss to the Broncos