NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Antonio Callaway thought for a moment that he made folks forget about Josh Gordon and helped avoid a 19-game winless streak, but it wasn't to be.

Moments after celebrating his big 47-yard touchdown catch on fourth down that tied the game at 18 with 1:16 left, Zane Gonzalez stepped up and missed the extra point.

It was the third of his four straight missed kicks on his nightmare day -- two field goals and two extra points -- and it opened the door for Drew Brees and the Saints to win it 21-18 on a 44-yard Wil Lutz field with 21 seconds remaining.

"I had more than enough opportunities,'' said Gonzalez, who's 43-yard field goal attempt in overtime last week against the Steelers was blocked to forced a 21-21 tie. "Let the team down, let the city down and it's on me. I take full responsibility for it.''

Gonzalez, the Browns' second-year kicker, got one more chance to tie the game on a 52-yard attempt, but it sailed wide right with three seconds remaining. The first three misses were wide left, and he pressed.

"Yeah, I'm not going to lie about it,'' he said. "Snowballed, I was pulling them and that last one I just pushed it overcompensating but, like I said, there's no excuses for it. We get paid to make those kicks and I have to make them.''

Gonzalez, who also missed an extra point after Carlos Hyde's 1-yard TD that made it 12-3 in the third, and a 44-yard field goal with 14:16 left in the game, was consoled by his teammates and coach Hue Jackson after every one of the misses.



"I told him was going to get a chance to make a kick that was going to win the game for us,'' said Jackson. "He had a couple opportunities.''

The well-wishes didn't ease the pain.

"At the end of the day, I know I let everybody down and that's on me,'' he said.

The loss dropped the Browns to 0-1-1 heading into their home game Thursday night at home against the Jets. The Saints, meanwhile, improved to 1-1 after not

leading until 2:40 remained when Brees (28-of-35, 243 yards, 2 TDs, 114.6) converted a Tyrod Taylor interception with a 5-yard fade to Michael Thomas over his former Ohio State teammate Denzel Ward. Alvin Kamara tacked on a two-point run to make it 18-12.

Taylor (22-of-30, 246 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 94.6 rating) marched downfield and fired the 47-yard TD pass to Callaway in full stride in the end zone, where he got behind cornerback Ken Crawley. Then came the missed extra point and a 44-yard field goal by Wil Lutz that produced the final margin, set up by a 42-yard catch over the middle by Cleveland native Ted Ginn Jr.

After Gonzalez' final 52-yard miss, the Saints could hardly believe their good fortune, and the Browns, who blew a precious fourth-quarter lead over a team that went 11-5 last season, will likely be looking for a new kicker very soon.



"Our players, as I told them afterwards, 'There's a good team in that (locker) room,''' said coach Hue Jackson. "There's no doubt in my mind about that. We've just got to make sure that we are doing the right things all of the time to give us a chance to win."



Antonio Callaway steps up with Gordon out



The Browns' fourth-round rookie made his first start in place of Gordon, who will be released or traded as early as Monday, and responded with the amazing 47-yard TD catch that tied the game.



"That's just a taste of what I can do,'' he said.



"He knows the opportunity that's in front of him,'' said Taylor. "He stepped up to it today in a big way. Of course, it wasn't in a winning effort by us, but I think he made a lot of strides today this will only build confidence for him moving forward."

The Browns insisted that the news of Gordon's impending release on Saturday night didn't rattle them heading into the game. It was the second time this season that Jackson had to explain the release of a key veteran to his players. The first was linebacker Mychal Kendricks, who was let go after being charged with insider trading.

Taylor's INT

Taylor, who executed a conservative gameplan with mostly short passes, was picked off by Marcus Williams with 4:57 left in the game when the safety jumped a short route to David Njoku. It was just the opening Brees needed to pull off the amazing comeback.

"Never can throw late down the middle,'' said Taylor. "It's something I have to be better at. That definitely was not a good point in the game. We're down 12-10, we have control of the game, so can't put the team in that situation. Moved right in the pocket end up being just a little bit late. Turnovers definitely kill a team's morale. We were able to battle back from that but interceptions, I have to be better than that.''

Taylor also threw an interception at the of regulation against the Steelers last week.

But with the shorter passing game, Taylor completed 73.3% of his attempts instead of the 37.5% from last week.

With 21 seconds left, he also got the Browns in gametying field goal range with clutch passes of 25 yards to Jarvis Landry and 16 to Callaway.

"He came back. He put us in position twice to try to win,'' said left guard Joel Bitonio. "That's all you can ask in those situations. That's character. He fought his a-- off.''

Michael Thomas' two TDs

The Browns headed into the game knowing they had to contain Brees, Thomas and Alvin Kamara. They did so for most of the game, but Thomas erupted with two fourth-quarter TD catches to break it open.

He caught a 2-yarder with 8:41 left that cut the deficit to 12-10, and then the 5-yarder over Ward with 2:40 remaining.

"We had him double covered,'' said Jackson. "He made a helluva play. That's two weeks in a row guys have made really good plays. He'll learn and grow from that. Again, just being on top and trying to high point the ball himself as the receiver's trying to do that. Sometimes the ball is coming down and he's trying to get it out, as opposed to being at the height of the ball when those things happen.''

Thomas caught 12 of 13 targets to the set the NFL record for most catches in the first two weeks of the season at 27. The old record was set by Andre Rison with 26 in 1994.



Defense stout again



The defense played well up until a few mistakes at the end, forcing two more takeaways for a total of eight on the season. But the Browns were only able to get three point off the two fumbles, both forced by cornerback Terrance Mitchell.



The Browns also blew up three drives with third-quarter sacks, two by Larry Ogunjobi and one by T.J. Carrie. They held New Orleans to 3-of-12 (25%) on third downs.



"Playing their tails off,'' said Jackson. "I'm proud of them. Honestly, there are some plays that they are going to want back and plays that I want back for them. I think that the guys are competing and competing hard. I think that the whole team is competing. I just think that we have to continue as a team to keep doing the right things offensively, defensively, and special teams."

Ogunjobi, who benefitted from Myles Garrett getting doubled, almost had a third sack, but it was wiped out by a penalty.

Of the defense's eight takeaways on the season, the offense has scored only 10 points, which a major reason the Browns haven't won a game.

"You can only hold teams for so long,'' said Damarious Randall. "Obviously, the world knows how good this defense is now. To come in the Superdome and to hold this team to 21 points, I don't think that many people have done that. It was stifling the whole entire night for Brees.''

Extra points

Emmanuel Ogbah (ankle), Christian Kirksey (shoulder, ankle), Seth DeValve (hamstring) and Gordon (hamstring) were among those who sat out the game. ...Hyde averaged only 2.7 yards per carry. ...Duke Johnson was targeted only twice and caught both, but for only 7 yards...He carried it three times for three yards....Damarious Randall suffered a stinger, but returned to the game.



Next



The Browns will host the Jets Thursday night on a nationally-televised NFL Network game.