Saints Stop 2-Point Try in OT, Beat Shedeur Sanders’ Browns 23-22

Saints vs Browns came down to one decision: Todd Monken didn’t want a tie. He got a loss instead.

The New Orleans Saints stopped a 2-point conversion on the final play of overtime and held on to beat the Cleveland Browns 23-22 at the Superdome on Sunday. Tyler Shough threw the go-ahead touchdown in overtime, Shedeur Sanders answered with one of his own, and Monken sent his offense back out to win it rather than kick the extra point. Carl Granderson pressured Sanders into an incompletion, and the Saints finally had their first home win of the season.

New Orleans improves to 3-5. Cleveland drops to 5-4 and has lost two straight.

Fifty-four quiet minutes, then chaos

For most of the afternoon, this looked like a game neither offense could finish. It was 3-3 at halftime, and neither team scored a touchdown in the first 54 minutes.

Cleveland had chances early. Two goal-to-go trips ended with sacks on Sanders and produced only three points, and running back Quinshon Judkins was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1. New Orleans wasted one of its own when Jordyn Tyson, making his NFL debut, fumbled at the Cleveland 2 right after Barion Brown’s 52-yard catch set the Saints up.

Charlie Smyth, elevated from the practice squad that week, kept the Saints in front with field goals, including a 48-yarder that made it 9-6.

Then the fourth quarter took off.

Sanders hit KC Concepcion Jr. for a 64-yard touchdown with a little over five minutes left, giving Cleveland a 13-9 lead. New Orleans answered with a 55-yard drive that took just 50 seconds, and Audric Estime punched it in from 2 yards out with 58 seconds left to make it 16-13.

Sanders still had time. Facing third-and-6 from his own 30, he stood in and delivered a 30-yard throw to Jerry Jeudy while taking a hit from Chase Young. Andre Szmyt then drilled a 51-yard field goal with eight seconds left to tie it and force overtime.

Overtime: Shough first, then Sanders

The Saints got the ball first in overtime and made it count. Shough led an 11-play, 74-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock and finished it with a 15-yard timing throw to tight end Juwan Johnson in the right corner of the end zone. That made it 23-16 and meant Cleveland needed a touchdown just to extend the game.

Sanders got one. He completed six of eight passes on a 67-yard drive, and the last one was the play of the day: a short throw to tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who broke several tackles and turned it into a 39-yard touchdown with about a minute left.

That set up the decision.

Why Monken went for two

Under the NFL’s overtime rules, a Browns extra point would have tied the game at 23 with roughly a minute left, and New Orleans would have had the ball back with a chance to win or run out the clock for a tie. Monken didn’t like either outcome.

He went for the win instead: “That’s not me. It was going to be win or lose.”

Granderson made sure it was a loss. He chased Sanders to the right, forced a rushed throw, and the pass fell incomplete. Granderson finished with two of the Saints’ five sacks.

You can argue the call either way. A tie counts as half a win in the standings, and that can matter in December. But Cleveland’s offense had just moved 67 yards in a hurry against a tired defense, and going for two on the road with one play to decide it is a defensible bet. It just didn’t land.

Sanders makes his case

The bigger story in Cleveland this week won’t be the 2-point try. It will be the quarterback.

Sanders started because Deshaun Watson spent part of the week in the NFL’s concussion protocol. Monken had said before the game that he expected Watson to remain the starter once healthy, and Watson was inactive Sunday even after being cleared the day before.

Sanders made the most of his first start of the season. He went 19 of 31 for 297 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions, and he did it while getting sacked five times for 37 yards. Both of his touchdown passes were explosive plays, 64 and 39 yards, and he delivered the throw to Jeudy on the tying drive under heavy pressure.

It wasn’t a clean game. The early red-zone sacks cost Cleveland points, and the offense stalled for long stretches. But a second-year quarterback who started seven games as a rookie just gave his team a chance to win on the road with two late scoring drives. That’s going to be hard to ignore, especially for a team whose five wins have all come by four points or fewer.

The Saints finally exhale

For New Orleans, the win was overdue. Shough finished 21 of 35 for 265 yards and the overtime touchdown, and he was at his best late, leading a 50-second touchdown drive at the end of regulation and another on the first possession of overtime.

Chris Olave caught seven passes for 98 yards. Estime, whom the Saints reacquired after Cleveland waived him in late September, ran for 72 yards on 15 carries and scored the touchdown that nearly won it in regulation.

The Saints did lose center Erik McCoy to a biceps injury, something to watch this week. On the Cleveland side, right guard Austin Barber was treated on the field for a left leg injury, and safety Ronnie Hickman went to the injury tent late in the fourth quarter.

What’s next after Saints vs Browns

Both teams stay home in Week 10 on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. ET.

The Browns host the Houston Texans, and the first question of the week is simple: who starts at quarterback? If Watson is fully cleared, Monken has a real decision to make.

The Saints host the Carolina Panthers and will try to build on a win that took them far too long to find at home.

Sources: AP via CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, OutKick (Fox News), Saints.com recap, NFL.com Week 9 scores