Jameis Winston, Corey Bojorquez, 2 offensive linemen lift Browns with skills | Takeaways

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jameis Winston's value to the Browns since signing to be their backup to quarterback Deshaun Watson was always more nuanced than what he did on the field. However, the veteran showed his on-field value as well during Sunday's 18-13 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars .

Winston played three offensive snaps in the game. All three of them came when the Browns faced fourth-and-short situations.

The Browns converted all three of them, and two of those conversions even led to points.

"Any way that I can serve the team," Winston said with a smile afterward, "I'm willing to do it and I'm going to do it."

Winston was directly responsible for two of the conversions by simply taking the snap and keeping it for a short gain. He did that twice, once by gaining two yards on fourth-and-1 on the Browns' opening touchdown drive , and once by gaining two yards with 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter to set up a 53-yard Dustin Hopkins field goal.

The third, though, may have showed the true value Winston could provide to the fourth-down package. Instead of keeping the ball, he turned around and handed it off to running back Jerome Ford, who was running a sweep to the left.

The fact the Jaguars defense was all tight in to defend against Winston sneaking left Ford with an alley to run through once he got to the edge. He gained 36 yards to set up another Hopkins field goal.

"Man, that's just great coaching," Winston said. "They playing it up, and when the opportunity presents itself it's our job to go out there and execute it. I'm happy we did."

Corey Bojorquez shows the value of his leg to the Cleveland Browns

The first time Corey Bojorquez came on the field to punt for the Browns on Sunday was four plays into the third quarter. He may have had a late arrival to the action, but the punter's impact on the win was significant.

There's even an argument to be made the Browns may not have escaped from Jacksonville with a win without the leg of Bojorquez. It was his 39-yard punt that went out of bounds at the Jacksonville 2 with 1:48 remaining that set up Alex Wright's sack of Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence for a safety to give the Browns a five-point cushion.

“Hey, backed up equals points," defensive end Myles Garrett said. "That's our motto, so looking forward to someone making a big play, and I was looking forward for myself but he stepped up and he stepped right into Alex's arms, and I couldn't be happier for my guy.”

Bojorquez averaged 43.6 yards on second-half punts. His two shortest were his last two, both of them with him trying to pin Jacksonville deep.

There was the 39-yarder that led to the safety. Then, with 1:33 remaining, Bojorquez had a 28-yarder that put the Jaguars on their own 10, needing to go 90 yards to win the game.

"I mean, during the week we practice hitting those kinds of punts from all over the field," Bojorquez said. "So it's just kind of treating it like that, really, get out there, set my line, kind of look downfield when I'm trying to go, and then after that I'm not really thinking about much, just kind of let it happen."

Bojorquez has averaged 47.9 net yards on 12 punts through two games.

Nick Harris, Zak Zinter provide extra beef to extra-heavy Cleveland Browns sets

The type of role the Browns were going to give their heavy sets in the game plan against Jacksonville showed up on the very first offensive play. That's when both rookie guard Zak Zinter and fifth-year center Nick Harris checked in as eligible.

It wasn't the final time. Zinter took 14 snaps as a tackle eligible, and Harris was in for 10 snaps.

The two of them were on the field together for seven snaps.

"They called on us to step up this week and learn some new positions and move around and stuff like that," Harris said. "I think Zak did a great job as a rookie. That's a lot on his plate, obviously learning motions and formations and stuff like that. So I think Zak did an excellent job in that aspect on a short week and realizing that he has to step up in that aspect.

"So I think obviously he — I've done it before, you know what I'm saying? But obviously that's probably new territory for him, so I give him more credit, if anything."

The Browns were down near the goal line on their opening drive when they put Harris in the backfield at fullback. They had two plays inside the Jacksonville 10 on that drive, but neither went to him.

Was he disappointed he didn't get a chance to get into the end zone?

"Nah, man," Harris said with a laugh. "Nah. I do what's called and just make sure we get in end zone. I don't need the (expletive) ball. I just want to score however we can."

Denzel Ward on 'rep count' due to shoulder issue

Cornerback Denzel Ward joined his teammate Myles Garrett as Pro Bowl Browns defenders who found themselves being watched by the coaching staff in terms of their reps. Ward, specifically, was being watched due to a shoulder issue that put him on the team's injury report, but never prevented him from practicing.

Ward was limited to just 11 defensive snaps during the game, which was well below the three-time Pro Bowler's normal workload. Generally speaking, it was third down where he worked the most.

"Yeah, it was just precautionary," Ward said. "They just had me on a rep count this game, and was coming in on key downs. They were really controlling it. I was trying to get out there even more, but they was kind of pulling me back a little bit. So they just had me on a little rep count."

The trickle-down affect was that Greg Newsome II played more on the outside than his typical inside spot when Ward and Martin Emerson Jr. are both on the field. Newsome ended up being the cornerback Jacksonville rookie Brian Thomas Jr. beat — although Newsome had good position — on his 66-yard reception.

Emerson also left for a couple of plays at one point in the second half after staying down for a moment. It was the same ankle he had an issue with during the opener.

Amari Cooper continues to struggle to connect with Deshaun Watson

Watson was able to get a number of skill players involved in the passing game against the Jaguars. Nine different players caught at least one pass, and four caught at least three.

One of those who caught three passes was Amari Cooper, for 11 yards. However, the connection just seemed off between he and Watson, with the latter targeting him eight times for those three catches.

It seemed more about timing between the two than anything, with passes either a touch ahead or behind Cooper. The most noticeable missed connection was a throw on third-and-6 from the Jaguars 35 that hit Cooper's hands only to be dropped at around the Jacksonville 15.

“Yeah, sometimes it takes time and it depends on how the defense is going to scheme against certain situations but when those opportunities come up, we got to capitalize and that's on both of us," Watson said, "but there's nothing to get frustrated with. That's part of the game and once we find our way, we can be very explosive.”

The struggle was also real in the opener against Dallas, where Cooper had just two catches for 16 yards on nine targets. That game also saw the two miss on a couple of deep connections.

Cooper caught 49 passes from Watson in 12 combined games in their first two seasons as teammates for 848 yards and four touchdowns. However, in the last four full games in which Watson played last season, the 2015 first-round pick out of the University of Alabama had 443 yards and two touchdowns on 25 catches.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jameis Winston, Corey Bojorquez, 2 offensive linemen lift Browns with skills | Takeaways