Tyler Shough, who wore a glove on his left hand in warmups, played the whole game. He went 17-of-29 for 226 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions, and he ran 8 times for 44 yards. Nobody on either side moved the ball easily. New Orleans had 313 total yards and Cleveland had 242, and the box shows that gap more clearly than the scoreboard does.
The scoring stayed low most of the way. It was 3-3 at halftime and 6-6 after 3 quarters. Then the 4th quarter brought 20 points, 10 for each side, and the teams were tied 16-16 at the end of regulation. Cleveland went first in overtime and put up 6. New Orleans scored 7 to win it. The defenses played well for 45 minutes, and the game was settled in the last 15 and overtime.
Cleveland's line problems didn't go away. Center Parker Brailsford was inactive again. So was defensive tackle Maliek Collins, part of the front the preview credited for the Browns' 5-3 record. Even so, the defense held New Orleans to 6 points through 3 quarters. The Saints were also short-handed. Jaylan Ford, Christen Miller, John Ridgeway III, Mason Murphy, Mike Reid and running back CJ Donaldson were all inactive, and Zamir White and kicker Charlie Smyth were called up from the practice squad. First-round receiver Jordyn Tyson was active. The box score search didn't break out his line, so his debut gets a mention and nothing more.
The preview pointed to which quarterback stayed upright, and both mostly did. What separated the teams was volume. Cleveland's offense kept up on big plays, but the Saints had 71 more yards and finally finished a drive when the game depended on it. For the Browns, it's a second straight road loss after the 27-6 game in Pittsburgh. Sanders played well enough to make the quarterback conversation more interesting. New Orleans got its 3rd win and stopped a losing run, after the Pittsburgh loss had made it 4 defeats in 5 games.
This was a 5-3 team playing a 2-5 team, and it went to overtime and came down to a single point. Cleveland's season has been full of one-score games, and the Browns lost this one. The offensive line problems will still be the story when the injury report comes out.
