For the first time since week two of the season, the New Orleans Saints put together a complete performance. The Saints used a balanced offense, spreading the ball around to multiple offensive players to rack up 473 total yards en route to a 35-14 win over the Cleveland Browns.
The win is the Saints’ second straight victory since Darren Rizzi took over as the team’s interim head coach. He is only the second head coach in franchise history to win his first two games. The other is Sean Payton.
Taysom Hill reprised his role as the Saints’ Swiss Army Knife, rushing seven times for 138 yards and three touchdowns, including a 75-yard scoring run with 2:26 left in the game. Hill also completed one out of two pass attempts for 18 yards and an interception and made eight catches for another 50 yards.
Quarterback Derek Carr completed 21 out of 27 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns. Carr’s quarterback rating of 129.6 was his highest since the opening week matchup against Carolina.
Alvin Kamara led all rushers with 67 yards on 18 carries. Marquez Valdes-Scantling led all receivers with 87 yards on two catches and a touchdown.
Cleveland quarterback Jameis Winston performed well in his return to the Superdome, completing 30 of 46 passes for 395 yards and two touchdowns.
The Saints defense set the tone early by forcing a turnover on downs. Linebacker Demario Davis stopped the Browns on a fourth down at the New Orleans 49-yard line, stuffing running back Nick Chubb for a loss of two yards to give Carr and company excellent field position for their opening drive. The Saints offense relied on two of their biggest offensive talents to spring them into the end zone. Kamara carried the ball on two of the first three plays to pick up a total of 18 yards. Hill then took over. Hill lined up at quarterback and delivered a wide open pass to Kevin Austin to put New Orleans in the red zone. Hill then lined up at tight end and caught a pass from Carr for three yards. On the next play, Hill, back at quarterback, took off on a draw, rushing 10 yards for his first touchdown of the day.
The Browns struck back two possessions later. Winston connected with an open Jerry Jeudy on a drive route. Jeudy ran the ball untouched to score an 89-yard touchdown. A failed two-point conversion allowed the Saints to maintain a 7-6 lead.
Cleveland followed up their score by intercepting a Hill pass intended for Valdes-Scantling, but they failed to sustain the momentum. After the Saints defense forced the Browns to punt on the ensuing possession, Carr connected with Valdes-Scantling on a counter drive for a 71-yard touchdown, the longest passing touchdown by the Saints since 2021.
Winston then led Cleveland on a drive into New Orleans territory, but Bryan Bresee’s sack of Winston at the Saints 33-yard line on third down forced the Browns to attempt a field goal. That 51-yard attempt by Dustin Hopkins sailed wide left, keeping the score 14-6 in favor of New Orleans with 6:45 left in the second quarter.
The Saints took over and went on a long sustained drive into the Cleveland red zone. It appeared the Saints would score another touchdown, but Taysom Hill fumbled the ball at the Cleveland seven-yard line. Browns cornerback Denzel Ward stripped the ball out of Hill’s hands and recovered the fumble to give the Browns the ball back inside of the two-minute mark of the first half.
A second Saints error kept the ensuing Browns drive alive in the waning seconds of the half. Winston led the Browns 79 yards down field to set up Hopkins for a 32-yard field goal attempt. Hopkins shanked his kick wide left, but a holding call against New Orleans gave Cleveland more chances to score. After two Winston incompletions, the Browns sent Hopkins out to attempt a 27-yard field goal. Again, Hopkins missed wide left, allowing the Saints to escape into halftime with a 14-6 lead.
The Browns didn’t leave anything to chance with their kicker to open the second half. After the Browns defense forced the Saints to punt, Winston led Cleveland on a 92-yard drive that ended with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore in the back of the end zone. Winston then connected with tight end David Njoku for convert a two-point try to tie the game at 14 with 8:49 remaining in the third quarter.
After the two sides traded punts, the Saints regained control of the game. Despite being sacked twice during the drive, Carr ran the Saints balanced offense to near perfection, spreading the ball around to Kamara, Hill, tight end Foster Moreau, and receiver Jordan Mims. Hill capped off the drive with a 30-yard designed quarterback run for his second touchdown of the day, giving the Saints a 21-14 lead after the extra point.
On the ensuing drive, the Saints defense brought heavy pressure to their former teammate Winston. Bresee and Chase Young combined for one sack, while Carl Granderson recorded a solo sack to force Cleveland to punt.
Saints return man Dante Pettis appeared to have returned that punt 88 yards for a touchdown, but replay review determined that Pettis stepped out of bounds at the Cleveland 35-yard line. The Saints then let their run game get them into the end zone. Kamara and Hill alternated carrying the ball until the Saints got to the one-yard line. That’s when Carr floated a pass to the right back corner of the end zone to Johnson to extend the Saints lead to two scores.
The Browns threatened to make the game a one-possession affair when Winston led his offense to the Saints 22-yard line. The drive stalled there, and the Browns turned over the ball on downs. Two plays later, Hill rattled off his 75-yard touchdown run, the fourth-longest touchdown run in Saints history.
The win improves the Saints’ record to 4-7, only two-and-a-half games out of first place in the NFC South as the late window of Week 11 games begins.
New Orleans will have a bye next week. They’ll return to action on Sunday, December 1, against the Los Angeles Rams in the Superdome.