Saints Edge Browns 23–22 in Overtime
By Brian Hradsky
The New Orleans Saints beat the Cleveland Browns 23–22 in overtime Sunday at Caesars Superdome, stopping a two-point conversion after Cleveland’s answering touchdown. Tyler Shough found Juwan Johnson for the go-ahead score on the opening overtime possession. New Orleans improved to 3–5 with its first home win, while Cleveland dropped to 5–4.
Shedeur Sanders, starting with Deshaun Watson inactive after concussion protocol, completed 19 of 31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns. His 64-yard touchdown pass to KC Concepcion Jr. gave Cleveland a fourth-quarter lead. New Orleans responded with Audric Estime’s 2-yard touchdown run before Andre Szmyt made a 51-yard field goal with eight seconds left to force overtime.
Johnson’s 15-yard touchdown capped an 11-play, 74-yard overtime drive. Sanders answered with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Harold Fannin Jr., but Cleveland chose to pursue the win and failed on the conversion. Denzel Boston could not complete the catch, and a holding penalty also marred the attempt.
A low-scoring game becomes a late exchange
The final overtime sequence made this look like a game decided entirely by offensive playmaking. For much of the afternoon, New Orleans and Cleveland had struggled to reach the end zone. That earlier difficulty matters because both teams left opportunities unused before the late scoring began. The finish was dramatic partly because the game had remained available through so many incomplete possessions.
Cleveland's defense kept the Saints out of the end zone during the first half. New Orleans had reached scoring range, but a sack and a forced fumble helped prevent those trips from becoming touchdowns. The Browns received useful defensive work without creating a large lead of their own. That left the second half open to the first offense able to produce a more valuable finish.
The Browns generated only 80 net yards in the first half. Their defense had done enough to make that offensive shortfall survivable, but it could not make the lost opportunities disappear. A team can stay involved through stops and takeaways while still failing to establish control of the score. Cleveland eventually needed a much stronger passing response to turn the game in its favor.
The Saints experienced a similar imbalance. Their ability to move into useful positions did not initially produce the touchdowns that would reward the work. Ball security and finishing remained obstacles until the fourth quarter. New Orleans ultimately won by improving at those decisive moments, but the earlier problems remained part of an afternoon settled by one point.
Shedeur Sanders provides Cleveland's explosive answer
Shedeur Sanders completed 19 of 31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns. That is approximately a 61.3% completion rate and 9.6 passing yards per attempt. His production gave Cleveland meaningful downfield value when the offense finally began reaching the end zone. The Browns did not need to complete a huge number of passes for the largest plays to change the game.
Sanders started with Deshaun Watson inactive after going through concussion protocol. A change at quarterback alters the immediate responsibilities of an offense, but it does not remove the need for the surrounding unit to execute. Cleveland eventually found productive connections that gave the new starter useful scoring opportunities. The long touchdown passes show the potential value of those completed answers.
The first went to KC Concepcion Jr. for 64 yards in the fourth quarter. That play gave Cleveland the lead and changed the scoring pattern after both teams had spent much of the game failing to finish drives. A single long completion can make an opponent answer immediately. New Orleans could no longer rely only on its earlier defensive resistance to keep the score manageable.
The second major touchdown connection went to Harold Fannin Jr. in overtime. Sanders found the tight end for 39 yards, giving Cleveland a direct response to the Saints' opening overtime score. The quarterback had helped preserve a chance to win after New Orleans appeared to have created the decisive advantage. The conversion attempt that followed became the final task rather than the touchdown itself.
Cleveland's early opportunities remain costly
The Browns had received opportunities before their late passing surge. A forced fumble on special teams supplied a short field, but Cleveland could not finish the ensuing possession at the goal line. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, a disrupted handoff sequence ended with Quinshon Judkins stopped short. The defense's work had created a chance the offense failed to convert into a touchdown.
That is a different kind of missed opportunity from a drive that begins deep in an offense's own territory. Cleveland did not need to sustain a full-field march to make the takeaway valuable. It needed to complete a small number of critical yards. Failing at that stage meant the earlier defensive contribution did not produce the scoring advantage it could have created.
Carson Schwesinger also made important defensive contributions. His sack helped force an early field-goal attempt, and his forced fumble stopped another Saints threat near the goal line. Those plays preserved Cleveland's position while its offense remained limited. They also raised the importance of making the next offensive opportunity count.
The overtime result should not make those earlier moments disappear from the assessment. A team that finishes one additional short-field chance may never need a final two-point attempt to determine the game. Cleveland's late passing production was valuable, but the need for that rescue grew from the opportunities it had already failed to finish. The Browns need both parts of the story in their review.
New Orleans produces the late regulation drive
The Saints answered Concepcion's long touchdown with a drive that restored their own lead. Tyler Shough found Chris Olave for a 33-yard gain, moving New Orleans close enough for Audric Estime to finish from 2 yards out. The possession covered 55 yards in six plays. New Orleans had connected an explosive passing gain to the short rushing finish it needed near the goal line.
The sequence is useful because it shows two stages of a scoring possession working together. Olave's reception created the major change in field position. Estime's run completed the remaining task rather than leaving the drive dependent on a difficult kick. The Saints had struggled to finish earlier opportunities, but this possession supplied the higher-value outcome at a crucial moment.
Estime's touchdown also gave Cleveland a specific late assignment. The Browns needed to get into field-goal range quickly enough to preserve another chance. New Orleans had earned the lead, but there was still time for a response. The game required another defensive finish before the Saints could treat the touchdown as the winning play.
That finish did not arrive in regulation. Cleveland completed the necessary passes to move into range, and Andre Szmyt delivered the tying kick. The Saints' late touchdown remained important because it had put them in front. It was not the final answer because the Browns still had enough execution left to extend the game.
Andre Szmyt turns one final possession into overtime
Szmyt made a 51-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining in regulation. The distance made the attempt a significant finishing task even after Cleveland had moved the ball into range. The Browns needed both the offensive progress and the successful kick. Without either contribution, the late Saints touchdown would have decided the result before overtime.
Jerry Jeudy helped create the opportunity with a 30-yard reception followed by another gain. Those completions changed what Cleveland could realistically attempt with the limited time remaining. A late drive does not need to cover the entire field if the required result is a field goal. It does need enough efficient movement to give the kicker an achievable assignment before the clock expires.
The Browns completed that sequence and kept the outcome available. Sanders had already supplied the explosive touchdown pass that gave Cleveland an earlier lead. He then helped move the offense toward the kick that restored a tie. The quarterback's late contributions were meaningful even though the game eventually ended with Cleveland one point short.
For New Orleans, the tying drive is part of the defensive work that still needs review. A lead with limited time remaining changes the priorities of a defensive series. The Saints needed to limit the gains that could establish a long but makeable field-goal attempt. Cleveland created that opportunity, and Szmyt converted it into another period of football.
Juwan Johnson supplies the first overtime finish
New Orleans opened overtime with an 11-play, 74-yard touchdown drive. Shough finished it with a 15-yard pass to Juwan Johnson. That possession required more than one fortunate gain or a short field after a takeaway. The Saints sustained their progress across a complete drive and then delivered the scoring play needed to finish it.
The length of the possession made the touchdown particularly meaningful. New Orleans had to continue finding answers as Cleveland received repeated opportunities to end the drive. The Saints avoided allowing another promising series to stop short of the end zone. Johnson's catch completed the work rather than becoming one more gain that still left the offense needing another difficult finish.
That gave Cleveland a touchdown requirement on its response. A field goal was no longer enough to match what New Orleans had produced. The Browns had to solve the Saints' defense for a higher-value outcome. Sanders and Fannin did so, creating the final conversion decision that would determine whether Cleveland left with a win or a loss.
The two overtime drives therefore show why the game cannot be reduced to a single unsuccessful pass. New Orleans earned its position through 11 plays and a touchdown finish. Cleveland responded with its own major scoring play. The conversion was decisive, but both offenses had already completed important work to make that last snap the determining event.
The two-point attempt decides the final margin
Cleveland chose to attempt a two-point conversion after Fannin's touchdown. Denzel Boston could not complete the catch, and Tytus Howard also received a holding penalty on the play. The unsuccessful attempt left New Orleans ahead 23–22. The Saints had produced the final defensive response necessary to protect the narrow result.
The decision deserves a measured assessment. An aggressive choice can produce a chance to win immediately, but it also concentrates the outcome into one offensive snap. The final result does not by itself establish that every alternative would have been better. The execution still has to be evaluated separately from the willingness to make the attempt.
What Cleveland could control on the play was completing its assignments. Protection needed to hold legally, the quarterback needed a usable answer and the receiving opportunity needed a completed finish. The Browns did not achieve the result. New Orleans benefited from that failed execution after its own offense had supplied the touchdown that created the situation.
The more lasting lesson extends beyond whether Cleveland should make the same choice again. The Browns had left earlier scoring chances unfinished and needed a tying kick to reach overtime. Better execution before the final conversion could have changed the entire sequence. Reviewing those possessions offers more useful information than allowing the last snap to erase everything that preceded it.
Brian's Take: New Orleans finishes enough of the hard work
The Saints improved to 3–5 with their first home victory, while Cleveland fell to 5–4 after a second straight defeat. New Orleans earned the result by producing its best offensive finishes when the game demanded touchdowns. Estime's late regulation score and Johnson's overtime catch each completed an important drive. The final conversion stop then preserved the value of that offensive work.
Cleveland should recognize the passing production Sanders supplied without overlooking the opportunities the team failed to finish earlier. The Browns had enough defensive contributions to create a more favorable position than they carried into the closing minutes. The late scores repaired much of that damage. They could not make the final unsuccessful conversion irrelevant.
New Orleans also has reasons to seek a cleaner performance. Costly fumbles and the late tying drive kept the Saints from earning a more comfortable finish. The win shows the team could respond after those problems. The next improvement is reducing how often it must depend on a final defensive snap to protect an otherwise productive offensive response.
The 23–22 final score captures the smallest possible winning margin. The game itself offered a much broader explanation through lost opportunities, late passing plays, a long overtime drive and the final failed conversion. New Orleans completed enough of those assignments to leave with the victory. Cleveland produced dramatic answers but finished one necessary play short.
Sources
- Game report or statistics — source 1
- Game report or statistics — source 2
- Game report or statistics — source 3