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Forecast: Saints aren't as bad as they look

The Saints managed to only have 150 yards of offense through 3 quarters, committed 2 turnovers, and missed a field goal for good measure, and still won anyway.

The New Orleans Saints football game Sunday for 3.5 quarters seemed like a TED Talk on how to lose to a team that was 1-31-1 in their last 33 contests. Then just as the saddest TED Talk in history was about to close, the Cleveland Browns barreled through the door and said in a Ron Howard voice “Just kidding. It’s an impossibility to lose to the Cleveland Browns. LEEEE ROY JENKINS”

ALSO: Saints get their kicks in late win over Cleveland

Then the Saints won 21-18. It was equal parts comedy, unbelievability, and in Cleveland’s case, football tragedy.

The Saints managed to only have 150 yards of offense through 3 quarters, committed 2 turnovers, and missed a field goal for good measure, and still won anyway.

The Saints offense through 3 quarters was a guy who spilled his dinner on his pants, washed the dirty pants in sewer water, put pants back on, then spilled what was left of the dinner on his pants again.

Drew Brees, considering the pressure the Browns were delivering, had a very good game but he was human and missed about 4 throws that could’ve made Sunday less stressful.

While Brees was missing potential touchdowns in the first half, Saints receivers were losing 2 fumbles, but the Browns couldn’t cash in on the generosity, and only led 6-3.

Cleveland came out and dominated early in the second but couldn’t create enough distance to bury the Saints.

Let’s be honest, if a bit cruel, the Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez, was the Saints' most valuable player. Poor guy missed 2 field goals and 2 extra points and I’d feel terrible for him if it had happened against another team.

The Saints managed to do just enough to escape, and while Cleveland couldn’t cash in on most of Saints' mistakes, the Saints didn’t reciprocate the generosity.

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The Saints cashed Marcus Williams’ 4th quarter interception into the lead. Even Cleveland’s late fourth down miracle, Tyrod Taylor's touchdown throw to Antonio Callaway, came with the sad Browns bonus of Gonzalez missing his second extra point of the day. To add even more cruelty to Cleveland fans, there was plenty enough time for the Saints to steal the win.

Drew Brees did just that as he connected with Ted Ginn Jr. to set up the game winner. Can we talk about Sean Payton’s play calling and clock management to end the game? We all know Payton’s aggressive nature is a feature not a bug of how he coaches, but my gosh, throwing 2 passes late and allowing the Browns nearly 30 seconds and a timeout is the Sean Payton experience on steroids.

Of course, Cleveland used the extra time to nearly send the wild car ride of a game into overtime.

So the Saints are 1-1 in the most exhaustingly difficult way imaginable.

They were resilient but as Sean Payton said of Michael Thomas, resilience is cool, but not fumbling is cooler, “That’s two weeks in a row. Two weeks in a row with the turnovers. I like his resilience, but I like the ball too."

The Saints are lucky to be 1-1 but they aren’t the mess they appear either. They’ve been horrible on defense and lost and mostly horrible on offense and won. It’s not as if they’ve played well.

The Saints defense feels like some horrible 5th grade science project that can collapse at any moment and I’d recommend getting used to the feeling of never ever trusting them.

The only objective that mattered Sunday was ‘not losing to freaking Cleveland.' It was accomplished, mostly by letting Cleveland be Cleveland and getting out of the way long enough to be given a victory. Enjoy the wins people, no matter how ridiculous and lucky. People in Cleveland would kill for the Sunday ending we just had.

Ralph Malbrough is a Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at saintshappyhour@gmail.com, find him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast or download his podcast at Itunes

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