Rookie running back Quinshon Judkins breaks his silence on the Cleveland Browns' pivotal two-point conversion miscue
Having a short memory goes a long way in football.
Those inside the Cleveland Browns locker room are trying to quickly forget about the botched two-point conversion attempt that ultimately sealed their fate in a 31-29 loss to the Tennessee Titans last weekend.
That includes rookie running back Quinshon Judkins, who was the primary ball handler on the play. On Friday, five days after the debacle, Judkins finally shared his perspective on what happened.
"Unfortunately, I would say, just on that drive, wanting to go out and finish it and score it. Just didn't happen," he said.
Understandably, Judkins wouldn't really get into the specifics of what went wrong beyond that. The Browns very well may try to run that play again, so keeping the details closer to the vest makes sense. Still, it looked like a miscue from Judkins is what ultimately led to the play failing.
With 1:09 left in regulation, Cleveland came out in its patented wildcat formation looking to tie the game at 31. Per usual Judkins was the primary ball handler via a direct snap, and while he usually just powers his way ahead to finish off the play – the Browns have scored multiple touchdowns out of the wildcat that way – this iteration of the pkay was different.
This time, he swept to his right, and WR Gage Larvadain ran past him in the backfield, going the opposite direction. It appeared Judkins was supposed to pitch the ball to the undrafted rookie, but he didn't. Whether he simply forgot to or misread something and thought he could just score on his own he wouldn't say.
The play ultimately ended with Judkins throwing the football all the way across the field to Larvadain in an attempt to salvage the two-point attempt. It fell incomplete and that was that.
"I think definitely frustrated," said of his emotions afterward. "It's been a long season for all of us, and then at that point we just want to try to go out and get a win. And like I said, it didn't happen."
Judkins made it clear that he had repped the play plenty of times in throughout the season, and even leading up to the game, where it was part of the team's two-point package they practiced the Friday before.
Nobody wears those miscalls more than head coach Kevin Stefanski.
"When you come up short like you do, you think about everything and what you could do differently," Stefanski admitted earlier in the week. "Obviously, when you get in those moments you have the calls ready to roll and plays that you’ve talked about pre-game and throughout the week. There are going to be times where you want a call back. There’ll be times where you have success, and it didn’t come off exactly how you wanted it, but bottom line is, we came up short in both those tries. And that’s where I have to look at it and say, are there things that we can do better?"
Stefanski has leaned on the team's rookies a lot this year. All seven members of their 2025 draft class have served in a prominent role throughout this season. He'll continue to do it moving forward, even in those critical game deciding situations. His confidence in Judkins certainly hasn't wavered. Neither has the confidence from his teammates.
"He's the type of person where, sometimes you don't need to say anything, Judkins RB mate Dylan Sampson said on Monday. "I know that moment kind of hurt because it was almost like, there is no next play mentality. All you can do us come in the next day, and you let everybody know that we got your back. Same way my teammates did with me. Nobody wants to mess up, we don't do this intentionally, it's gonna happen. It's about adjusting and bouncing back this week."