It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win. The New Orleans Saints took the Cleveland Browns to overtime and won on a botched two-point conversion, improving their record to 3-5. If they're going to have any hope of remaining competitive in the still-weak NFC South, they'll need to scrap and claw for every win they can. They wouldn't have claimed this one with several standout performances on defense, but it was far from a perfect day. Here's your Week 9 Studs and Duds.
Stud: EDGE Carl Granderson
Granderson finished with seven tackles (five solo), two tackles for loss,, two sacks, two quarterback hits and a pass deflection. He was all over the field making plays in run defense and on passing downs. That Granderson was one of the loudest voices responding to Shedeur Sanders'
perceived trash talk during the week says a lot about how eager he was to make a play.
Dud: WR Jordyn Tyson
Credit where it's due -- Tyson caught four of his five targets for 30 yards in his NFL debut. You don't want to be too hard on him in his first game back from a monthslong recovery, but it just isn't acceptable to fumble inside the 5-yard line. That turnover in scoring position proved to be a big swing in what could have prevented this game from going to overtime in the first place. We need to see more from him than this.
Stud: LB Kaden Elliss
You can see how badly the Saints missed Elliss for a couple of weeks before the bye week. He led the team with eleven tackles (eight solo), two tackles for loss, four quarterback hits and a sack. Elliss is unique in that he mostly rushes the quarterback from the interior, using his greater speed to cut past slower guards while overwhelming blockers in the backfield with his size. This was a huge game for him.
Dud: Charlie Smyth
Smyth was okay, hitting three of his four field goals from distances of 30, 27, 48 yards while connecting on both extra points. But that miss (from 52) was ugly. This wasn't the confidence-inspiring performance you'd like to see after the Saints finally moved on from Daniel Carlson.
Stud: EDGE Chase Young
Young finished with four tackles (two solo), two quarterback hits, a sack, a tackle for loss and a pass deflection. He also forced the antsy Browns blockers into jumping early for a couple of false start penalties. He's a tremendously important player to the defense and one of this season's best pass rushers. We were reminded of that fact on Sunday.
Dud: Taliese Fuaga and Cesar Ruiz
The right side of the line was a problem. Fuaga led the team with five pressures allowed, while Ruiz gave up a sack. The Saints only had one designed run gain more than five yards behind them, too (Audric Estime picked up nine). There have been too many resources invested into this duo for them to still be a problem. Maybe T.J. Paganetti waasn't the problem?
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Studs and Duds from Saints' overtime win vs. Browns
