The Cleveland Browns had a clear path to force a tie against the New Orleans Saints, but one late-game overtime decision cost them the win. Now, former Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry is calling out head coach Todd Monken for the controversial play call.
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“Well, listen, I’m gonna say this: a tie is better than a loss. You can’t go into these games, into these situations,” former Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry said on 4th and South. “Listen to the time market press conference after the game. He said it was either tie or lose, or tie or win or some s—. Is this that confusing, as confusing as the decision that he made to go for two?”
“You’re on the road, you have your backup quarterback who is doing the best he can to stay on his feet to throw the ball down the field, and you’re gonna go for two. I think it was I think it was a horrible call,” Landry added.
With one minute left in overtime, Shedeur Sanders threw a short pass to Harold Fanin Jr., who ran 39 yards into the end zone for a touchdown. This brought the Browns’ score to 22, just one point behind the Saints at 23.
Under NFL overtime rules, a successful kick only ties the game and gives the opponent a chance to drive downfield to win it with a field goal. Going for two carries a higher risk of losing immediately, but it avoids putting a tired defense back on the field against an opponent holding timeouts.
Instead of kicking an extra point to tie the game, the Browns went for a two-point conversion to try to take the lead. Sanders attempted a pass to Denzel Boston, but Boston could not catch it. The attempt failed, leaving Cleveland at 22 points. This decision raised a lot of questions about Monken.
Despite the backlash, Monken stood by his decision and explained his reasoning.
“You make that decision as the clock winds down a little bit, because you’re at that point where they still have their two timeouts,” Monken said after the game.
“So if you kick the extra point, the nature of the way the overtime rules are with 10 minutes is that, OK, they’re going to be in two-minute with two timeouts and need a field goal to win it. So you’re not going to get the ball back, probably.”
Apart from Monken’s tough call, the team’s quarterback situation also took an interesting turn. Despite losing 23-22 in overtime, Sanders delivered a strong performance. He completed 19 of his 31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns. He also had some struggles as Sanders was sacked five times. However, he took full responsibility for his mistakes.
“All that’s on me, because I scrambled on that,” Sanders said after the game. “Next time we get in that situation, I will have a better plan of what to do.”
His performance showed that he could compete at the NFL level, but his starting role became uncertain for Week 10.
The Cleveland Browns are expected to make Deshaun Watson their starting quarterback again for Week 10 against the Houston Texans. This comes after Shedeur Sanders started against the New Orleans Saints in Week 9. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, a source revealed that Watson will take back the starting role.
Watson missed the Saints game after entering concussion protocol earlier in the week. Although he was cleared on Saturday, the Browns did not activate him to play. Instead, they gave Sanders the starting opportunity, while Dillon Gabriel served as the backup.
Now, it will be interesting to see whether Shedeur Sanders starts against the Texans or Deshaun Watson makes his return to the field.