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Saints DeskThe TapeGame center →

Saints survive a failed two-point try to beat Browns 23-22 in overtime

New Orleans scored seven in overtime, then watched Cleveland's 39-yard touchdown fall one point short when the two-point conversion failed.

Barion BrownThe TapeW 23–22vsBROWNSWRBarion Brown
By Saints Desk, Pigskin NightlyNov 8, 5:41 PM ET3 min read

The deciding stretch

With 1:00 left in overtime, S.Sanders hit H.Fannin on a 39-yard touchdown pass to pull the Browns within one point. Cleveland went for two. S.Sanders' pass to D.Boston fell incomplete, and the Saints held a 23-22 win. The play cost New Orleans 89 points of win probability, which is how close the game came to turning on that snap.

The Saints had scored seven points in overtime to the Browns' six. Both teams had 16 after four quarters, so the whole game came down to that extra period and a failed conversion.

New Orleans was a 4.5-point favorite at the Caesars Superdome, and it needed all of the extra period to cover that gap.

The swing

The fourth quarter set this up. With 5:21 left, S.Sanders threw deep right to K.Concepcion for a 64-yard touchdown, and the Saints lost 38 points of win probability on the play. Concepcion got through the middle of the Saints' defense for the longest play of the day by either team.

The Saints pushed back with a 33-yard completion from Tyler Shough to Chris Olave at the Cleveland 10 with 1:16 left, worth 29 points of win probability to New Orleans. Then A.Szmyt kicked a 51-yard field goal with 0:08 left for the Browns, a 28-point swing against the Saints. Regulation ended level, and the game went to overtime.

The Saints' drive chart was ordinary. They scored on 5 of 12 drives, with 2 touchdown drives and 3 three-and-outs. Cleveland also scored on 5 drives, from 13 possessions, with 2 touchdown drives and 2 three-and-outs. The Saints' longest drive ran 11 plays for 74 yards and a touchdown. The Browns' longest ran 8 plays for 67 yards and a touchdown.

Third downs were close to even. The Saints converted 7 of 16, and the Browns converted 8 of 18. The Browns also took 10 penalties for 58 yards, against 4 for 25 on the Saints, and one of them was an offensive holding call on the Fannin touchdown play.

Who moved the needle

EPA, or expected points added, measures how much each play changes a team's scoring outlook. By that measure the Saints finished at minus-0.04 per play, with a success rate of 44 percent. The Browns were at minus-0.114 per play and 33 percent. Neither offense was efficient, but New Orleans was less inefficient.

The ground game made the difference. The Saints ran for 160 yards at 5.0 per carry, and the Browns managed 95 at 2.8. Cleveland's EPA per rush was minus-0.405. Audric Estime carried 15 times for 72 yards and a touchdown, and the 15 plays added 2.0 points of EPA. Shough ran 10 times for 51 yards, and Alvin Kamara added 32 yards on 6 carries, a 5.3 average.

In the passing game, Juwan Johnson caught 2 passes for 34 yards and a touchdown, and the two plays added 4.1 points of EPA, the best total on the team. Barion Brown made one catch for 52 yards, worth 3.4 points. Olave led the receivers with 7 catches for 98 yards on 12 targets. Jordyn Tyson caught 4 of 5 targets for 30 yards, and those 5 plays cost 2.7 points of EPA.

Shough finished 21 of 35 for 265 yards with a touchdown, no interceptions and a 93.2 rating. The Saints took 5 sacks for 29 yards, and the Browns took 5 for 37. Carl Granderson had 2 sacks and 2 tackles for loss, Kaden Elliss had 11 tackles, a sack and 2 tackles for loss, and Chase Young added a sack.

Where it leaves them

The Saints are 3-5 and have won one straight. They have scored 185 points and allowed 216, a differential of minus-31. They are 1-4 at home and 2-1 on the road, and they rank 13th in the conference.

The division is bunched together. The Buccaneers, Panthers and Saints are all 3-5, with the Falcons at 3-6, and New Orleans sits third.

The next game is against one of those teams. The Saints host the Carolina Panthers in Week 10 on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1:00 PM ET on Fox, with Carolina a 1.5-point favorite. The Saints are 1-4 at the Superdome this year.

How this was reported. Every number in this piece comes from the play-by-play, drive, injury and snap data Pigskin Nightly collects for every game. EPA (expected points added) is from the open nflverse model. We do not use anonymous sources or invent quotes. Read how we write; spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it in the open.