Browns 1st and Goal Report: Browns fall short to Saints in OT

Photo via Reuters

The Cleveland Browns lost to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday 23-22 in overtime. In a game that was tied at 3-3 at the halftime break, things got moving in the latter stages of the fourth quarter. Cleveland however wasn’t able to convert a critical 2-point conversion in OT to win it and the Saints held on for the win. 

1st and Goal: Shedeur Sanders got the start and almost the comeback win

The Browns started Shedeur Sanders at quarterback in place of Deshaun Watson, who was recovering from a recent concussion. Sanders struggled for a large part of the game as did his offense. But then things changed in the fourth quarter as he began to make some big plays. The biggest one was to his receiver KC Concepcion who caught a deep pass and then sprinted across the football field for a 64 yard touchdown.

That score gave the Browns a 13-9 lead with 5:21 remaining in the game. The Cleveland defense wasn’t able to hold the lead though as the Saints scored a touchdown with 58 seconds left. Sanders however, was able to get his offense in position for a game tying 51 yard field goal by Andre Syzmt.

The teams went to overtime. After New Orleans scored a touchdown, Sanders wasn’t done as he found tight end Harold Fannin for a 39 yard touchdown to put the Browns a point behind at 23-22. The Browns then tried to win the game in overtime but the pass from Sanders to Denzal Boston was dropped. 

Sanders finished the game going 19 for 31 and 297 yards and two touchdowns. Is the performance enough to start him in next week’s home game against the Houston Texans? We’ll wait and see what Cleveland coach Todd Monken decides this week. 

2nd and Goal: Browns defense fails in critical moments

For all the good things the Cleveland defense did for a majority of the game, they failed in two key drives by the Saints late in this game. The Browns grabbed the lead 13-9 late in the game. The Saints got another shot at taking the lead with 1:48 and they scored on the Browns in 50 seconds to grab the 16-13 lead with only 58 seconds left.

The Browns offense was able to tie New Orleans though with only 8 seconds left that sent the game into overtime. But again the Cleveland defense couldn’t stop the Saints in that overtime as they scored a touchdown. It forced the Cleveland offense to score their own touchdown. 

When both sides of the ball can get on the same page then the Browns will start winning games again. 

3rd and Goal: Where was the Browns run game?

The answer to that was there wasn’t one. Again, the Cleveland backfield including Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson didn’t do enough to help their team and offense in this game. The offensive line of the Browns is to blame for this problem too. Judkins had 15 carries for 43 yards and Sampson had 10 carries for 28 yards. Sampson contributed a bit more in the pass game as he also caught three passes for 27 yards. 

Until the Browns can establish a run game, the pressure will continue to be on Sanders or Watson to make plays and that’s never a good formula to winning. 

4th and Goal: Penalties, Penalties. Penalties!

Another problem with this Browns team is their poor fundamental play especially with the number of penalties that get called on them. The Browns led the NFL with 82 penalties called on them coming into this game. They added to that with another 10 penalties in this game. 

On the last play of the game, Sanders almost completed the 2 point conversion to wide receiver KC Concepcion. But the play, even if it had been successful, would have been called back because Browns offensive lineman Tytus Howard got called for a holding penalty. It was kind of the appropriate way to end the game and described how the day went for the Browns.

If this Cleveland team would cut down the mistakes, they would be winning more games. A part of this issue also falls on the Browns coaching staff and head coach Todd Monken. This team is very young, but many of these problems are being made by veterans.

Hopefully, Monken and his staff work on addressing this glaring problem of the team.