Stock up, stock down from Saints-Browns: All-in on Estime

The New Orleans Saints got the win they desperately needed, even if it didn't look pretty, in their 23-22 takedown of the Browns in overtime.

It was a game that featured a revenge game script worthy of a Disney script, at least as far as the main character is concerned, late heroics, late mistakes and one final stand for the win. Oh, and the Saints finally got a win in front of their home fans for the first time this season. Now thing really heat up with five of the next nine games against NFC South opponents. Strap in.

With all that in mind, scroll below for our stock up and stock down players from Week 9.

Hear a podcast breakdown of this list on the latest Inside Black & Gold in the player above.

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STOCK UP

1. ESTIME'S IMPACT

I spent a lot of time leading up to the game talking about the potential impact of Audric Estime's return ... and how much of a blunder it was for the Browns to hand him back to the Saints just in time for his revenge game. In my pregame column I predicted 65 yards and a TD. He ended up with 72 and the score that put the Saints ahead in the final minute of regulation.

To call it poetic would be an understatement. So I'll let his words tell the story.

“This is like a Disney movie, I’m not gonna lie to you," Estime told me coming off the field. "Just being over there last week and just coming right back here, but at the end of the day, this is where I’m supposed to be. I’ve said it multiple times since I’ve been back, this is home, and I’m just happy to be here.”

Kellen Moore said there were no initial plans to even have him active when they claimed him on Monday. But then he got into practice and showed coaches that his recall was excellent. He remembered everything, and he even quickly picked up new concepts that they'd installed since he departed after Week 2. What they saw made them comfortable enough that they cut Kendre Miller. Then they gave him the first three carries of the game. The results: plus-9, plus-5, plus 18.

In three carries he more than doubled the output of the Saints backs in the entirety of their loss to the Steeles in Paris. More importantly, he had zero negative runs. Only five of his 15 carries went for 2 or fewer yards, and one of those was the touchdown.

He was the clear lead back, though Alvin Kamara got reps and produced well, particularly in overtime. The tandem worked. Now, it was against a Browns defense that hasn't stopped the run all year. That can't be overstated.

But the juice he brought to this team was special. He's not from here, but he's said repeatedly that this feels like home. The fans identify with it. His teammates identify with it. He should've never left, and this team is thrilled to have him back.

Whenever I see him out there, I can't help but think of Pierre Thomas. He was another guy that had to win a role, but once he got it, no one ever questioned it again. Travis Etienne will be back with this team before too long. He's the lead back. But Estime should have a role for the rest of the season, and frankly -- I don't see why he can't have one for next year and beyond. He's earned it. He makes the team better. Everyone can see it, definitely the Browns.

2. THE RUSH

There have been a couple times this year that I've had Chase Young in this column, and that's been well-deserved. But against the Browns it was more of a family affair.

The Saints had five sacks. Chase had one and was directly responsible for forcing at least one more. His pressure forced Shedeur Sanders off his spot constantly and torpedoed several other plays. He was getting double-teamed all game.

But the most important thing when you have a player of Chase's caliber: Can the player on the opposite side win? That's definitely been the case for Carl Granderson over the past month. He's gotten his 1-on-1 matchups and he's made them count.

Between Carl and Chase, the Saints have 15.5 sacks combined. Kaden Elliss and Khristian Boyd also chipped in a sack each.

In 2023 the Saints had 35 sacks all year. In 2024, 34. This year that duo might reach that mark on their own. Both rank in the top three of that category, and Chase's 8 trails only Will Anderson, the highest paid edge rusher in the NFL. It's made all the more impressive by the fact that this Saints defense has been one of the least efficient at stopping the run and creating obvious passing situations.

There's a lot that can be criticized about the performance of the defense over the first two months of the season. The pass rush isn't one of them. It's one of the most fearsome we've seen in the team's history.

3. CLUTCH SHOUGH

Let me start by saying I was ready to be very critical of Tyler Shough's performance coming out of this game. I felt like he was a bit frantic at points. He was inaccurate on a few critical throws. Late in the game I wasn't convinced he was seeing the field all that well.

It's all a product of a young player who's taken a few too many hits and has had too much placed on his shoulders.

But here's the thing about the quarterback position: All it takes is winning plays in critical moments, and all that gets erased -- at least until the film review starts. Certain quarterbacks just have the ability to lock in when during winning time, and the Saints quarterback has that gene. The NFL is built on one-possession games. There's no pro league on the planet with more parity. Who steps up in the clutch and who wilts? That's often what decides games.

In this one the Saints got the ball back at their own 46 with just under two minutes to go and no timeouts, needing a drive for a touchdown to take the lead. It's the type of situation we see this team rep constantly in camp. Here's what happened:

- Shough short left to Estime, +5
- Shough incomplete deep left to Olave
- Shough short middle to Tyson, +7, first down
- Shough deep left to Olave, +33, first down
- Shough short middle to Kamara, +8
- Estime left tackle, +2, TD

The only play in that sequence that wasn't a Shough pass was the TD run, which was a check at the line made by the quarterback. You know, that thing a Steelers linebacker suggested the young QB wasn't doing for himself.

The Saints got the ball first in overtime and ran the ball well. But it was an inch perfect, 15-yard touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson that created the winning margin.

Oh, and when you go back and look at the story of that game, 10 carries for 51 yards doesn't tell the full story. It's more about when they happened. Here are a few:

- Q1, 2nd & 10 at NO 48: Shough middle, +14 ... first down
- Q1, 2nd & 7 at CLV 34: Shough right end, +11 ... first down
- Q3, 3rd & 7 at CLV 20: Shough right end, +9 ... first down
- Q4, 3rd & 16 at CLV 38: Shough left end, +8 ... 48-yard FG (Smyth)
- OT, 1st & 20 at CLV 23: Shough middle, +8 ... go-ahead TD

Earlier this season I was critical of Shough for not finding his opportunities with his legs. He certainly found those opportunities in this game and it had a massive impact on the result. The same could be said for the win over the Giants in Week 6.

The game marked the QB's 17th start as a pro. He's effectively played one full season, as of today. There's a lot of room left to grow, but his ability to deliver in winning time is why the Saints know -- and everyone else should, too, by this point -- that the franchise cornerstone QB is in the building. It's now on the Saints to keep improving the picture around him.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

- Will Sherman gets the gold backup star this week. He took over for Erik McCoy ahead of the final drive of regulation and the Saints delivered with back-to-back touchdown drives after being held out of the endzone all day. It's a familiar theme. It was Asim Richards taking over for Kelvin Banks late in the Week 2 win over the Ravens. It was Jeremiah Wright taking over for Cesar Ruiz in the Week 6 win over the Giants. Hopefully McCoy's injury isn't significant, but it's good to know Sherman is capable if they need to turn to him in a starting role.

- Alvin Kamara's role was a major question coming into this season, but I have to give him credit for melding into this offense as a role player and getting the job done there. This wasn't a hugely productive game, but he got the job done on his six carries for 32 yards. Three of those carries for 28 yards came in overtime. He also had an 8-yard catch down to the 2 that set up Estime's TD. It's not easy for a star player to accept a smaller role, but he's done it well and he deserves a lot of credit for that.

- Khristian Boyd continues to be a bright spot for this defense. He's just a constant presence. In this game he had four tackles, a sack and a pass defensed. He also did Shedeur's Rolex celebration. He's turning into one of the Saints' better late-round picks in recent memory.

- The Saints run defense showed up in this game. Now, this isn't exactly a prolific Browns rushing attack, but still, progress is progress. The Saints held Cleveland to 95 yards on 34 carries, a 2.8-yard average. They also made a goal-line stand to keep points off the board late in the first half. Progress.

- Chris Olave continues to be a star, and more importantly, a consistent one. In this game it was 7 catches for 98 yards, including a key 33-yard reception on the late drive in the first half. He's now up to 56 catches for 734 yards and is on a pace for 119 catches and 1560 yards. It's possible that number dips with the return of Jordyn Tyson, but it's also possible his life gets easier with defenses forced to account for another WR weapon.

- David Edwards is a tough dude, so I want to give him credit here. He was in clear discomfort in the second half of this game. He played through it and I thought he played well.

STOCK DOWN

1. SHUTDOWN DEFENSE

The Saints defense had a pair of opportunities to win the game cleanly. They didn't deliver.

Big plays allowed on defense nearly overshadowed what was easily the best day all season for the Saints defensive line. The first was on a 60-yard completion to Denzel Boston. Kool-Aid McKinstry was beat in coverage, but recovered well and had a chance to take away an underthrown ball. Unfortunately Denzel Boston is 6-4, and he used it to take the ball just out of Kool-Aid's grasp.

It's easy to say in hindsight that he should've gone up to break the pass up rather than play it like a receiver, but I can't fault a guy for trying to make a play. Still, big momentum swing in a game that, at that point, hadn't featured much offense.

The next massive misstep came in the 4th quarter, and I still can't fully grasp what happened. It didn't even really look like a double move by KC Concepcion, but Emerson bit to the outside anyway. It almost seemed like he was convinced Sanders wouldn't challenge them deep. He was wrong. Almost more troubling was Julian Blackmon, who absolutely should've been able to make a play to prevent a touchdown. He took a bad angle and never got all that close. Just a bad look all around.

Speaking of a bad look. I'm not sure I even have to dig into the Harold Fannin touchdown. Fannin is good. He's not that good. Both Justin Reid and Pete Werner were stiff-armed into the dirt in a situation where the Browns were quickly running out of time.

It's an OT game. Guys are gassed. But simply too many failed opportunities in what should be relatively simple defensive situations. And to have them come in what need to be lockdown moments made them even worse.

The Saints came up with the stop on the final play. They won the game. But coaches will not be pleased when they go back through the film of those moments.

2. ROOKIE MISTAKES

I don't want to dogpile too much on rookies. They know they messed up. Still, this is a stock down column, and these types of situations are why you often would prefer to not rely on rookies in the first place.

The first blunder came from rookie Jordyn Tyson, who made his first catch in his NFL debut deep in the red zone and promptly had it punched out as he dove toward the goal line. It was a great play by the defense. It's the first real hit Tyson has taken in months. It was brutal. He'll learn from it.

The next blunder came just a few plays later when Barion Brown had a play that can go in the encyclopedia next to the phrase "trying to do too much." He fielded a punt at about the 30 yard line. Reversed field once, got outflanked, reversed field again, then had the ball punched out. Both of these mistakes happened in a 3-3 game. The Saints defense actually escaped without allowing any points after a goal-line stand, but oof. That just can't happen.

Brutal. He'll learn from it.

Another rookie WR Bryce Lance also had a high ball tip off his hands for a near interception on the Saints next drive. He escaped that play, but not this column.

What I'll say for Brown and Tyson is they both bounced back and had strong games. Brown had already hit on an explosive play prior to the fumble, but this also was arguably his best returning game of the season, even with the gaffe. He was constantly setting the Saints up with elite field position.

Here's how those went...

Punt returns: +11 to NO37; +23 to NO37; lost fumble at NO19; +18 to NO37; +20 to NO45
Kick returns: +26 to NO36; +31 to NO 37; +21 to NO26

Tyson also made an impact on a pair of third downs in the second half, moving the chains on one and setting up a 4th and 1 on another that the Saints converted as they drove for the go-ahead TD.

Both will be key pieces for this team going forward. Learning opportunities, which are always better after a win.

3. BALLHAWKING

I don't have a ton to say here that I haven't already, but this team simply doesn't create its own luck consistently enough.

The Saints lead the NFL in fumbles, and they rarely take the ball back. The Saints have four interceptions on the season, and three came in one game against the Giants. The other was on a desperation throw from Lamar Jackson late in the game. They've recovered five fumbles, but two of those are credited to special teams.

This game was the second in a row that the defense didn't record a single takeaway, and the fourth time in eight games that has happened. The Saints actually bucked one of the most consistent stats of the Kellen Moore era, winning a game despite losing the turnover battle. They had been 0-12 since the start of last season.

The Saints have still never lost under Kellen Moore when they win the turnover battle, but that's only happened six times in 25 games.

It's simply an area this team has to be better.

A FEW MORE

- I'm not going to go too hard on Charlie Smyth, but Daniel Carlson was cut for struggling from 50-plus ... and so far Charlie hasn't done anything to prove he's any more consistent from that range. I'll give him a mulligan for this one, but if he wants to keep the job, gotta step up.

- I don't want to bang too hard on a rookie, particularly one that didn't play in the game. But it's hard not to see Christen Miller's healthy scratch as anything but a significant red flag. He's a young player who has time to develop, but second round picks aren't supposed to be healthy scratches.