DENVER — Every time Browns wide receiver Jerry Jeudy caught a pass, boos followed from the 68,306 fans in attendance at Empower Field at Mile High.
“I heard it,” Jeudy said. “Was a lot of boos, huh?”
Sure seemed like it.
“What’s that mean?” he said. “That was a lot of catches, too.”
Jeudy returned to the place he called home the first four years of his career and probably made at least a few people in the Broncos organization wonder where this was during his time here.
The Broncos traded him to the Browns this offseason in exchange for a couple of Day 3 picks.
Jeudy logged career highs in receptions, with nine, and yards, with 235, the fourth-most receiving yards in team history, joining Josh Gordon and Amari Cooper as the only Browns receivers to have more than 200 receiving yards in a game.
Cooper, who was traded to the Bills earlier this season, set the team record with 265 yards last Christmas Eve while Gordon had 261 yards on December 1, 2013 and 237 yards on November 24, 2013.
Jeudy, however, would give up his record-breaking performance if it would have meant a win.
“Yes I would,” he said. “I would. I need that W. I mean, that was just one step closer to getting to the playoffs. We needed that.”
As it is, the Browns likely wouldn’t have been anywhere close to the Broncos on Monday night without Jeudy’s performance. There were other contributors — Elijah Moore had 111 receiving yards, David Njoku caught two touchdown passes and the Browns defense picked off Broncos quarterback Bo Nix twice — but Jeudy was as much a reason for the Browns keeping pace in a 41-32 loss as anyone.
“I’m so happy for him,” Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton, Jeudy’s former teammate, said. “I wish it wasn’t today because he kept them in the game. He shined really bright when the lights were the brightest. He did his part to help his team be successful and it just came a little bit short. Seeing him have the success that he had today was heartwarming.”
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said they had a plan going in to get Jeudy open and Jeudy executed well. Part of the plan involved moving him around, something Jeudy excels at.
“We were trying to find ways to get him the ball. He’s very, very good after the catch, as we saw. He can run every route in the book. That’s kind of how we’re utilizing him, moving him around,” Stefanski said. “It’s difficult to defend when Jerry’s able to line up everywhere, and I think that speaks really to his intelligence.”
Part of it, too, was keeping Jeudy away from cornerback Pat Surtain II, a former college and pro teammate of Jeudy’s. According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, the two lined up against each other on 34 of 57 routes, with Jeudy catching just two of three targets for 20 yards. He did most of his damage against everyone else on the Broncos defense.
“It’s always fun going against Pat,” Jeudy said. “He’s a great corner in his league. Been going against him damn near my whole life. So he’s always going to give you a challenge. It was fun.”
Broncos head coach Sean Payton wasn’t happy with how the Broncos handled Jeudy’s movement away from Surtain.
“We have to be able to handle that. It is too easy offensively for us to do that,” Payton said. “I’m sure we will look at the tape. We always ask it of the players when we come back, the same as the coaches, ‘How would we play that game if we played it again?’ I think that is coaching. It is us always making sure we put our guys in the best position.”
Jeudy’s biggest moment came in the third quarter, one play after the Broncos scored on a 93-yard pass from Bo Nix to wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. to take a 28-17 lead.
The Browns responded with a deep throw to Jeudy who caught it and ran in a 70-yard touchdown to make it 28-25 — he caught the two-point conversion attempt, too. On the touchdown catch, Jeudy turned backwards, spread his arms and fell into the end zone.
“I ain’t going to say we made that play up on the spot, but we did some adjustments and the coaching staff saw something,” Jeudy said. “We executed.”
Winston said it was clear early in the week that Jeudy was destined for a big game.
“He’s phenomenal, man,” Winston said. “We knew at the beginning of the week what time it was. He was hungry. He was preparing. He was ready to get back here and show up and show out and he did that. It’s important. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get this win for him, but I’m happy that he had a career day. I’m happy that he did amazing. But he’s an amazing receiver.”
That was one of the themes after the game — no one seemed all that surprised that Jeudy, a former first-round pick — had it in them. Count Moore among them.
“To have his career high against his old team, for someone to give up on him and then look what he does now when he’s used right,” Moore said. “He went (in the) first round for a reason. I’ve been watching him since I was little. I’ve been playing with him since I was little. He’s nice. You just got to use your players right. That obviously involves including everybody to win. So we didn’t do that.”
Even the Denver crowd had to admit the former Bronco played pretty well on Monday night, even if they expressed it by booing.
“I loved it. I loved it,” Jeudy said. “They only boo when they know there’s something great in you.”
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