The Saints are back in New Orleans. Finally. They're coming off a bye, and the week before, they played a “home game” in Paris. Hopefully, the time away was enough to put that loss to the Steelers behind them and get ready for another AFC North opponent.
The Browns are coming to town with a new quarterback. Shedeur Sanders will get the start this week, and with Deshaun Watson having cleared concussion protocol but still questionable, there will be a quarterback controversy in Cleveland next week. Sanders will present some challenges for the Saints this weekend, too.
First-year head coach Todd Monken has led the Browns to a 5-3 record, and while there's some tape on Sanders from last year, we've yet to see him run Monken's offense in a regular-season game. That means the Saints' D won't know exactly what to expect, but they know he'll be throwing to two Offensive Rookie of the Year candidates in Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion. Both wideouts can make explosive play at any moment.
The Browns' youth has shown up in negative ways, too. They've been inconsistent on offense this year, struggling to put points on the board despite some big plays. They're averaging just 17.4 points a game, which suggests this could be a get-right game for New Orleans… and the struggling Saints D needs to take advantage of Cleveland's inexperience to win.
The Tailgate Kings expect a low-scoring affair here. As we've seen all season, Shough & Company like to wait until the fourth quarter to get going. We expect more of the same here: a game that stays close and likely comes down to who scores last, with the Saints playing catch-up, as usual, and intent on giving everyone in the Dome a thrill, win or lose.
We're split on the outcome. Matt has Shough winning it with a late-game TD. Jay has the Browns' D stopping them. But we're in agreement on taking the under.
