Jameis Winston's 3-TD start gives Browns some belief, momentum heading into matchup with Chargers

CLEVELAND (AP) — Jameis Winston doesn't plan the fiery, sometimes funny and always emotional pregame speeches he delivers to teammates. The animated quarterback prefers to let his Sunday sermons happen naturally.

“I’m not rehearsing things,” he said.

Winston likes to wing it. He seems to like playing that way, too.

One week after providing the Browns with a badly needed jolt by throwing three touchdown passes in his first start in more than two years, Winston will get the chance to do it again on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers (4-3) and the NFL's stingiest defense.

As debuts go, his performance in Cleveland's 29-24 upset of Baltimore was historic and also vintage Winston.

His 334 yards passing were the most by any of the 39 quarterbacks who have started for the Browns (2-6) since their 1999 expansion rebirth. But if not for the Ravens dropping several potential interceptions, Winston might not even be starting this week.

Winston's game — in the aftermath of Deshaun Watson's season-ending injury — earned him AFC offensive player of the week honors and something of an endorsement from Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, who said the plan is for the 30-year-old to start the rest of this season.

“But as you know,” Stefanski said, "in football we’re all day to day.”

That's particularly true in Cleveland.

The Browns started five different QBs last season, reinforcing the need to have a quality one behind Watson. Once the team passed on re-signing Joe Flacco, who led it to the playoffs a year ago, Winston became the plan at backup.

Winston's talent has never been questioned. The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2015 has a powerful arm and the pocket elusiveness to keep plays alive — or kill them.

In 2019 with Tampa Bay, Winston led the league in yards passing (5,109), yards per game (319) and interceptions (30). He takes chances, and sometimes they backfire.

Even in the afterglow of last week's win, Winston acknowledged he's a “great” quarterback while providing a caveat.

“I am certain when I am making great decisions, one play at a time, I am a great NFL quarterback,” he said.

Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh was impressed with Winston's ability to jump-start Cleveland's offense (the Browns scored 20 points for the first time this season) against a Baltimore team coached by his brother, John Harbaugh.

“Played a great game, top-flight quarterback,” said Jim Harbaugh, whose defense is allowing just 13 points per game. "Have always had a ton of respect for him. I don’t know if the offense changed significantly, but he operated extremely well moving the team and playing the game. I’ve always been a fan of his game.”

Winston has won over teammates in Cleveland since he arrived. He typically is the first player at the facility in the morning and one of the last to leave.

His impassioned pep talks, whether in the locker room or huddle, also have been well received.

They've come in many forms; Winston is as comfortable reciting Bible verses as rap lyrics. Last week, he left the field after quoting Eminem's “Lose Yourself” during a TV interview. The message was that "you only get one shot.”

“I encourage everyone to just have that mentality because that’s so true,” Winston said. "In all of our professions, opportunities only come around once, and we have to be grateful and receive them with authority and make the most of them.”

Cleveland has a special place in Harbaugh’s heart.

Not only did his first NFL touchdown pass come at old Municipal Stadium, it's where he spent summers as a kid while visiting his mom’s family.

“My first appreciation of yard work came from my Grandpa Joe," the Chargers coach said. "Kind of the work ethic that's been passed down through the generations all very much comes from Joe Cipiti.”

Before the start of the season, Harbaugh gave his players old-style work shirts embroidered with their names, like the ones worn by gas station attendants and mechanics. The shirts paid homage to his grandfather, a self-taught mechanic who ended up teaching at a trade school in Cleveland.

Week by week, Browns running back Nick Chubb is showing signs of being himself again following a second devastating injury to his left knee.

Chubb had only 52 yards on 16 carries last week, but his cuts were sharper and he appeared more decisive.

Browns Pro Bowl guard Joel Bitonio noticed the difference on one particular run.

“(Ravens nose tackle) Michael Pierce — the depth chart says 355 (pounds), but he’s like 390 or something — he almost jumped on his back one time and he kind of stayed up and gained another five yards up the edge,” Bitonio said. “So I’m like, ‘That looks like Nick Chubb that I know.’”

Chargers rookie right tackle Joe Alt is preparing for another test. He has passed all the big ones so far.

The No. 5 overall pick in this year's draft, Alt held his own against Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby, Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt and Kansas City’s Chris Jones, three of the league's top edge rushers.

This week, he gets the matchup Alt said he was looking forward to before the draft when he takes on Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.

Alt didn’t allow a quarterback pressure last week against New Orleans on any of his 38 pass blocking snaps, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has been impressed with the former Notre Dame lineman.

“They’ve asked him to do so many different things — left side, right side, inside — and he can do everything. He can drop into pass coverage and he’s a complete player,” Herbert said.

AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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Los Angeles Chargers offensive tackle Joe Alt (76) runs onto the field before an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb (24) gets past Baltimore Ravens linebacker Odafe Oweh (99) as he runs during the first half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh calls out from the sideline in the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski on the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens in Cleveland, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) passes between New Orleans Saints defensive end Carl Granderson (96) and defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd (93) in the first half of an NFL football game in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston (5) throws over Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Broderick Washington (96) during the first half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) passes in the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston (5) celebrates a touchdown pass to wide receiver Cedric Tillman (19) against the Baltimore Ravens during the second half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/David Richard)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Washington state man who authorities said killed at least 118 eagles as part of a wildlife trafficking ring that operated on a Native American reservation in Montana was sentenced Thursday to three years and 10 months in prison and must pay more than $777,000 in restitution.

The trafficking ring over more than a decade sold eagle feathers and parts on a black market that exploits high demand among tribal members who use them in powwows and other ceremonies. The defendant and others killed at least 107 hawks and as many as 3,600 birds overall, prosecutors said.

The poaching operation centered on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana, which researchers say has some of the highest concentrations of eagles and other birds of prey in the U.S.

Travis John Branson of Cusick, Washington, pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy and wildlife trafficking charges.

Prior to being sentenced, Branson apologized to the court and his family.

“It’s my own fault,” he said. “I know what I did was wrong.”

He declined to comment further after the hearing.

A second person has been indicted in the case and prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office have said others were also involved.

Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula to impose a “significant” prison sentence and order Branson to pay restitution of $5,000 for each eagle killed and $1,750 for each hawk.

Branson faced up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge. But his public defender asked for a sentence of probation and claimed that prosecutors overstated the number of birds killed.

Federal Defender Andrew Nelson also disputed the restitution amount, saying it was too high for the eagles and the hawks should not be counted.

Branson had no prior criminal history, according to Nelson. Because of the criminal charges, he lost his job as a maintenance supervisor for the Kalispell Tribe in Washington, Nelson said, and the defendant suffered a stroke in April.

The criminal case underscores the persistence of a thriving illegal trade in eagle feathers despite law enforcement efforts over the past decade that netted dozens of criminal indictments across the U.S. West and Midwest.

Bald eagles, once highly imperiled by the pesticide DDT, have bounced back in recent decades and are now abundant. The recovery of golden eagles has been more tenuous and researchers have warned that the population is on the brink of decline due to shootings, poisonings, electrocutions on power lines, collisions with wind turbines and other threats.

It’s illegal to buy or sell eagle feathers or other parts. The government has sought to offset strong demand for feathers among Native Americans by providing them for free from a government repository. But they’re unable to keep up with demand and the repository has a yearslong backlog.

Branson made between $180,000 and $360,000 from 2009 to 2021 selling bald and golden eagle parts illegally, court records said.

Court documents quote Branson as saying in a January 2021 text that he was going on a “killing spree” to obtain eagle tails.

“It was not uncommon for Branson to take upwards of nine eagles at a time,” prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana wrote in a court filing. “Not only did Branson kill eagles, but he hacked them into pieces to sell for future profits.”

The second defendant, Simon Paul, of St. Ignatius, Montana, remains at large. A federal judge issued an arrest warrant for Paul in December after he failed to show up for an initial court hearing. Court documents have suggested he fled to Canada.

Federally recognized tribes can apply for permits with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take a bald or golden eagle for religious purposes. Enrolled tribal members can apply for feathers and other bird parts from the National Eagle Repository in Colorado and non-government repositories in Oklahoma and Arizona.

The exterior of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's National Eagle Repository is seen in Commerce City, Colo., on March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

Eagle feathers adorn a headdress during a powwow in Montana, on April 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

FILE - An adult golden eagle circles overhead in a remote area of Box Elder County, Utah, May 20, 2021. (Spenser Heaps/The Deseret News via AP, File)

Man who killed eagles and trafficked their parts faces sentencing Thursday

Man who killed eagles and trafficked their parts faces sentencing Thursday

FILE - This undated photo from a court document provided by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana shows golden eagle feet recovered by law enforcement officers from a Washington state man's vehicle. (Courtesy of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana via AP, File)