Taysom Hill rushed for 138 yards and three touchdowns, Derek Carr threw two touchdown passes, and the host New Orleans Saints defeated the Cleveland Browns 35-14 on Sunday afternoon.
Carr passed for 248 yards and Hill added a career-high eight receptions for 50 yards as the Saints (4-7) improved to 2-0 under interim head coach Darren Rizzi.
Former Saints quarterback Jameis Winson passed for 395 yards and two touchdowns, one of which went to Jerry Jeudy, who finished with 142 yards on six catches, for the Browns (2-8).
On the Browns’ first possession of the second half they drove 92 yards and Winston threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore and a two-point conversion pass to David Njoku to tie the score at 14.
The score remained tied through the end of the third quarter and on fourth and 1, Hill ran 33 yards for a touchdown, giving New Orleans a 21-14 lead with 13:22 remaining.
Carr threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson seven minutes later and Hill, who finished with 248 all-purpose yards, ran 75 yards for a touchdown to complete the scoring with 2:26 remaining.
On consecutive plays during New Orleans’ first possession, Hill threw an 18-yard completion to Kevin Austin Jr. on an end around, caught a 3-yard completion and ran 10 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 New Orleans lead.
Winston connected with Jeudy for an 89-yard touchdown that trimmed the lead to 7-6 at the end of the first quarter.
On third and 1 Carr connected with Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 71-yard touchdown pass and a 14-6 lead.
The Browns had a chance to reduce the deficit, but Dustin Hopkins was wide left on a 51-yard field-goal attempt.
New Orleans was threatening to score again when Hill, who threw an interception earlier in the quarter, lost a fumble at the Cleveland seven after catching a pass from Carr.
The Browns drove to another scoring opportunity, but Hopkins was wide left on a 32-yard field-goal attempt and after being given a reprieve by a defensive holding penalty was wide left from 27 yards.