Saints Beat Browns 23-22 in Overtime as a Two-Point Stop Spoils Shedeur Sanders' First Start

Audric Estime had been a Saint for five days. Charlie Smyth was promoted from the practice squad this week. Jordyn Tyson was playing his first NFL game. Somehow that patchwork held together for 60 minutes and most of an overtime period, right up to a two-point try that would have flipped the whole afternoon.

The New Orleans Saints beat the Cleveland Browns 23-22 in overtime at Caesars Superdome, surviving when Shedeur Sanders' two-point pass for the win fell incomplete with a minute left in the extra period. It was the first home win of the season for New Orleans, now 3-5. Cleveland drops to 5-4 and has lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Three Quarters of Field Goals

For most of the day, neither offense could finish a thing. Smyth opened the scoring with a 30-yard field goal after Carson Schwesinger sacked Tyler Shough on third-and-8 at the Cleveland 9, and Andre Szmyt tied it with a 41-yarder early in the second quarter. Then New Orleans handed away two golden chances. Barion Brown's 52-yard catch put the Saints at the Cleveland 11, and two plays later Tyson made his first career reception, stretched for the goal line and had the ball punched out at the 2 by Schwesinger. Tyson Campbell recovered. Brown later coughed up a punt return when Adin Huntington ran him down from behind, and Donovan McMillon recovered at the New Orleans 19.

Cleveland could not cash that one in, either. The Browns reached fourth-and-goal at the 1, guard Austin Barber bumped Sanders and disrupted the exchange, and Quinshon Judkins was stuffed. It was 3-3 at halftime, and Sanders had 38 passing yards.

The third quarter stayed a kicking contest. Denzel Boston beat Kool-Aid McKinstry for a 60-yard catch that set up Szmyt's 30-yarder and a 6-3 Browns lead. Smyth tied it from 27 late in the quarter, then hit from 48 with 5:38 left in regulation for a 9-6 Saints lead.

Then Everything Happened at Once

On Cleveland's very next snap, Sanders found KC Concepcion Jr. behind Martin Emmerson Jr. for a 64-yard touchdown, the rookie's first career score and Cleveland's first touchdown of the day. Concepcion had been hurt late in the third quarter and returned at the start of the fourth. It was 13-9 with 5:21 to play.

Shough got the ball back with 1:48 left and 55 yards to go. Chris Olave supplied the big play, a 33-yard catch to the Cleveland 10. "We knew we had to get at least one explosive on that two-minute drill," Olave said. At the 2, Shough saw a four-man front and changed the call, and Estime ran it in with 58 seconds left for a 16-13 lead. "Tyler (Shough) actually checked the call. That wasn't even supposed to be the original call," Estime said.

Fifty-eight seconds turned out to be plenty for Sanders. He hit Jerry Jeudy for 30 yards to the New Orleans 33, found Jeudy again for 7 more, and Szmyt drilled a 51-yarder in the final seconds of regulation to tie it at 16.

The Two-Point Gamble

The Browns deferred to start overtime, and New Orleans made them pay with an 11-play, 74-yard march. Alvin Kamara ran six times for 32 yards on the drive, Estime converted a third-and-1, and Shough finished it with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson toward the right corner with 4:17 left. It was just Johnson's second catch of the game. "He makes a really good catch," Shough said.

Sanders answered anyway. With 1:00 left, he hit tight end Harold Fannin Jr. for a 39-yard touchdown, Fannin bulling his way into the end zone to make it 23-22. Rather than kick and extend the game, Cleveland went for the win. Sanders rolled right with Carl Granderson closing in, and his throw for Boston in the end zone fell incomplete. Tytus Howard was flagged for holding on the try as well. Ballgame.

"I thought those were big time stops," Saints coach Kellen Moore said. Granderson, who had two sacks, summed it up: "So that was a good team win on defense." On the other sideline, Todd Monken shared the blame. "He wasn't perfect. I wasn't perfect," the Browns coach said of his quarterback.

Sanders Makes a Case, Granderson Makes a Point

Sanders started because Deshaun Watson was inactive after going through the concussion protocol. Watson was cleared Saturday, according to ESPN, but Sanders had taken the first-team reps all week, and he made his first start of the season count: 19 of 31 for 297 yards and two touchdowns, plus 28 rushing yards. "I would say I feel the best when a lot of pressure's on," Sanders said. Monken said he was "really proud of him" but sidestepped the obvious follow-up. "I'm not getting into quarterback," he said.

There was some needle in this one, too. Granderson took exception to comments Sanders made about the Saints defense before the game. "I think it's disrespectful for somebody to laugh at our defense, took us as a joke," Granderson said. Sanders said afterward that he was never taking a shot at Granderson and apologized if his words were taken out of context.

Cleveland's defense deserved a better fate. Schwesinger was everywhere, finishing with a career-high 15 tackles, two sacks and the forced fumble, and Myles Harden posted the first two sacks of his career. Boston set a career high with 98 receiving yards on six catches, and Concepcion finished with four catches for 85 yards.

The Numbers Behind It

• 396 total yards for New Orleans, the most Cleveland has allowed this season.
• 5 sacks of Shough by the Browns: two each from Schwesinger and Harden, one from Mike Hall Jr.
• 51 rushing yards for Shough on 10 carries, a season high, to go with 21 of 35 passing for 265 yards.
• 72 rushing yards and a touchdown on 15 carries for Estime, who was claimed off waivers five days before kickoff.
• 10 Cleveland penalties for 58 yards, to New Orleans' 4 for 25.
• 0 touchdowns by either team through three quarters, then four after that.

What It Means

The Saints finally gave the Superdome something to celebrate on a day the franchise inducted Mark Ingram and Terron Armstead into its Hall of Fame. "This place is special," Moore said. Olave finished with seven catches for 98 yards, and Tyson, back from a hamstring injury that cost him the first seven games, caught four passes for 30 yards, the early fumble included. "I just wanted him to recognize that it's OK to be upset, but we're going to need him the rest of the game," Shough said. Left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. returned after missing five games with an ankle sprain, but center Erik McCoy left late in the fourth quarter with a biceps injury. New Orleans hosts Carolina on Nov. 15.

Cleveland is still in the thick of things at 5-4 but leaves New Orleans with a quarterback question and a couple of injuries to monitor: Barber was treated for an apparent left leg injury, and safety Ronnie Hickman limped into the injury tent late in the fourth quarter. The Browns host Houston on Nov. 15.

And Estime, five days into his Saints career, explained his overtime third-down conversion simply. "I kind of had the same mentality as I did on the goal line," he said. "My team needs me."

Stats from the official box score via NewOrleansSaints.com and Fox Sports. Game details from the Associated Press. Postgame quotes as reported by NewOrleansSaints.com, ESPN and ClevelandBrowns.com.