"They all ain't pretty!" New Orleans Saints edge Chase Young bellowed to no one in particular, but to everyone who witnessed the Saints' 23-22, overtime victory against Cleveland on Sunday in the Caesars Superdome.
Young's message was gospel against the Browns, because while New Orleans' first game after its bye week wasn't aesthetically pleasing, the Saints (3-5) scratched out their first home win this season by overcoming myriad, self-created hurdles and potholes.
New Orleans lost a couple of fumbles — rookie receiver Jordyn Tyson's was recovered at Cleveland's 1-yard line as the Saints stalked a touchdown, and rookie receiver Barion Brown was stripped on a punt return and the Browns recovered at the Saints' 19-yard line, both in the second quarter. Kicker Charlie Smyth missed a 52-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter.
The Saints were empty on three of five trips to the red zone, gave up five sacks and couldn't get out of their own way for a good portion of the game.
But the defense produced a goal-line stand in the second quarter – linebacker Kaden Elliss made the stop on fourth-and-goal from the 1 in the second quarter, to erase Brown's lost fumble and keep the score tied at 3-3. The unit generated five sacks of its own, including two by edge Carl Granderson, who became the first player in franchise history to produce multiple sacks in four consecutive games, and it supplied the pressure and coverage on Cleveland's failed two-point conversion in overtime.
The beleaguered run game posted 160 yards on 32 carries after undergoing several major changes, and both touchdowns came in the red zone — a 2-yard run by Audric Estimé (15 carries, 72 yards) in the fourth quarter and a 15-yard pass from Tyler Shough (21 of 35 for 265 yards, with no interceptions) to Juwan Johnson in overtime.
And Smyth made three field goal attempts, the final one a 48-yarder to give New Orleans a 9-6 lead with 5:38 left in regulation.
"We finished when we needed to finish" said Young, who had a sack, two quarterback hits, a pass defensed, a tackle for loss and four tackles. Young has a team-leading eight sacks, a half-sack ahead of Granderson.
"We had a talk (Saturday) night from legendary (basketball) Coach Avery Johnson. And he talked about over-earning it. I think it was the perfect message for this game — we went into overtime, we had to over-earn it. I think we did that."
But the struggle was real for more than three quarters, as the Saints simultaneously found ways to disrupt their offensive rhythm and to hold Cleveland (5-4) in check.
After Smyth's 48-yard field goal gave New Orleans its 9-6 lead with 5:38 left in regulation, the Browns struck on the next play from scrimmage, a 64-yard touchdown pass from Shedeur Sanders to KC Concepcion, to take a 13-9 lead.
The teams traded punts, the Saints took possession at their 45-yard line with 1:48 left in regulation, and drove to the Cleveland 2-yard line in five plays — including a 33-yard completion to Chris Olave on first down from the Cleveland 43 — to set up Estime's 2-yard run with 58 seconds left.
But the Browns drove 41 yards in seven plays to set up the tying field goal, a 51-yarder by Andre Szmyt with 8 seconds left, to knot the score at 16-16.
New Orleans won the overtime coin toss, chose to receive, and marched 74 yards in 11 plays to take a 23-16 lead with 4:17 left in overtime. The Saints converted three third-down plays on the drive, including the 15-yard touchdown pass to Johnson.
The euphoria was short-lived; Cleveland went 67 yards in 8 plays to pull to within 23-22, the final 39 yards coming on a catch-and-run by tight end Harold Fannin with 60 seconds left in overtime.
Cleveland elected to go for the two-point conversion and win but Sanders, pressured heavily, threw incomplete. It was New Orleans' second overtime game decided on a two-point conversion — the Saints' failed attempt ended a 31-30 decision against Detroit in the season opener.
"Feels good," Young said of the win. "You know, get the monkey off your back a little bit...we can go, chill, not have a thought in our mind until (Monday)."
