One way for Black to make the Jerome Gambit "playable" is to give up tempos without gaining much in return. Bit by bit, White gets more compensation for his sacrificed material, until he has the better game.
angelcamina - shahramkhoshseffat
1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6
10.O-O Kf7 11.f4 Re8
Stronger than the superficially attractive 11...Ng4, as in angelcamina - frn000,1 0 bullet, lichess.org, 2019 (1-0, 23)
12.Nc3
angelcamina has also played 12.d3, in angelcamina - Danielpia, 1-0, bullet, lichess.org, 2019 (1-0, 28)
12...Kg8 13.d4 Ng4 14.Qg3 Nf6
15.f5 Ne7 16.Bg5 Nc6 17.Bh6
This works, but more solid was 17.Rd1.
17...Nh5
This will not turn out well.
18.Qg4 Qf6 19.Qxh5 gxh6 20.Qxe8+ Qf8 21.Qxf8+ Kxf8
White is up the exchange and a couple of pawns. He has only to be careful about the clock.
22.Rad1 Nb4 23.Rd2 Nc6 24.a3 Bd7 25.Nd5 Rc8 26.Re1 a5 27.g4 a4
28.e5 dxe5 29.dxe5 Na5 30.Nf6 Be8 31.Nxh7+ Kg7 32.Nf6 Bf7 33.Rd7 Rf8 34.Nh5+ Kg8 35.e6 White won on time
White's "Jerome pawns" would win the day, in any case.
Chessfriend angelcamina is back with another Jerome Gambit game played online at "bullet" speed - one minute, with no increment.
I tend to rephrase the question "Is the Jerome Gambit playable?" into something like "Under what conditions is the Jerome Gambit playable?" Bullet games like the following tend to expand my understanding as to what the answer is.
angelcamina - Danielpia
1 0 bullet game, lichess.org, 2019
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6
7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6
10.O-O Kf7 11.f4 Re8 12.d3 d5
13.e5 Ng4 14.Qg3 h5 15.h3 Nh6 16.d4 Qh4
17.Qf3 Nf5 18.Qxd5+ Be6 19.Qc5 c6 20.Nc3 Nxf4
A tactical slip, but, at the speed this game was unfolding, I wouldn't be surprised if the defender had yelled out "Three no trump!" instead.
Now, White takes command.
21.Rxf4 Qg3 22.Rf3 Qg6 23.Ne4 b6 24.Nd6+ Ke7
Checkmate is coming.
25.Nxf5+ Kd7 26.Qd6+ Kc8 27.Qxc6+ Kd8 28.Nd6 Black lost on time.
