New Orleans Saints vs Cleveland Browns Recap – Second Half Report
In the first two quarters of the game on Sunday, Cleveland Browns had created a 17 points lead over New Orleans Saints. The Saints had more yards but crucial turnovers gave Cleveland the edge. Saints’ quarterback, Drew Brees had been intercepted twice and
sacked six times by the Browns. Saints would need a strong comeback to win this game.
The third quarter was significantly slower than the previous two. The Saints' defence, which had already been quite successful in stopping yards, got a bit support from the offence. The offence gave no turnovers in this quarter. There wasn’t even a single
sack in the remaining 30 minutes of play. The third quarter ended without any more point coming on the board. This meant that Browns led and the pressure was still on the Saints to make plays.
Brees realized that he needed to do more than just not make mistakes. Half way through the quarter Brees fired up his game. New Orleans started on the 11 yard line and moved slowly. Brees was making no mistakes now and each of his passes found the intended
receiver while the offensive line successfully protected the quarterback. In six plays, the offence moved 30 yards and then suddenly in one play, 29 more yards were gained. Brees threw a deep left pass to Robert Meachem to take the Saints to Cleveland’s 30
yard line.
Third quarter ended and Saints picked up from where they had left off. In the fourth quarter, the drive slowed down again but continued to cover ground. In 5 plays, New Orleans got to the 11 yard line and from there; Brees threw his first touchdown pass
of the game.
Brees took a long time to find the receiver but offensive line was able to hold off any advances on the quarterback. David Thomas was rushing to the right, with two defenders on him, when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He ran back to the left and
his pursuers were unable to turn back in time. Thomas caught the pass on the 9 yard line.
He ran down to the end zone, diving over Cleveland’s safety, T.J Ward for touchdown. Brees was clearly relieved. The game so far had been a series of disappointing plays and finally, the Saints had something to cheer about. There was still a long way to
go though. Cleveland had a 10 points lead and New Orleans had just 13 minutes to cut that down.
Coming off an entire third quarter without any points, the Browns now resorted to the running game in an effort to make a breakthrough. Peyton Hillis led the run for Cleveland. Starting on the 19 yard line, Hillis pushed through the Saint’s defensive line
six consecutive times to take the Browns to the 45 yard line. Hillis and Michael Bell continued on without a single pass attempt all the way to New Orleans 26 yard line. The Browns attempted the field goal but would have to try again as a false start penalty
pushed them back by 5 yards. Phil Dawson attempted the 48 yard field goal and it was good.
Brees followed up the field goal with a highly successful drive from New Orleans' 20 yard line to Cleveland’s 34 yard line in 8 plays. He was unable to complete 3 passes out of the 8 but back to back 16 and 19 yard passes helped the Saints cover the distance.
However, from the 34 yard line, the drive turned on its head. Brees was intercepted again. David Bowen, who had scored a touchdown in the first half off an interception, caught the ball which was intended for Ladell Betts. Bowens jumped to reach the ball.
Carl Nicks was the only one of the Saints who was close to Bowen but he was unable to stop him. Bowens practically jogged to the end zone while the Saints looked on helplessly, too far away to stop him. With the extra point, the Browns now stood at 30 against
10 from New Orleans.
Just 3 minutes remained in the drive. Enough for another touchdown but far short of what Saints needed to win. Brees did manage that one touchdown 2 minutes after starting the drive. He waited for Marques Colston and threw the 8 yard pass to him inside the
end zone. After the touchdown, Saints weren’t in a festive mood because with just a minute left, they knew they had already lost the game.
McCoy used the time to his advantage and didn’t even try to take in yards. In the final minute, he kneeled 3 times and the quarter ended. Cleveland won 30 against 17.
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