NEW ORLEANS -- Monday marked the 33rd anniversary of the New Orleans Saints franchise. It came one day after the team added a new landmark in the dismal landscape it has created over the years.

	Watching the Saints lose to the Browns was enough to floor Mike Ditka.

Even for a team that waited 20 years for its first winning season, has a 1-15 year behind it, and has never won a playoff game, losing in the final seconds to the expansion Cleveland Browns produced a new low.

As they have so often over the years, the Saints offered solace to a troubled team. The Browns, re-formed just last month, had trouble just moving the ball. They couldn't stop opponents. And, until Sunday's 21-16 victory, they couldn't win.

"It's embarrassing," Saints safety Sammy Knight said. "They're 0-7. They're ranked 31 and 31 in offense and defense, and we lost. Yeah, it's embarrassing."

The Saints won on opening day, then lost six straight -- five in fourth-quarter collapses. They had just clawed their way to a 16-14 lead with 20 seconds left on the clock on Sunday before Tim Couch went to work, capping a three-play, 75-yard drive, with a 56-yard scoring pass that hit Kevin Johnson's hand long after the clock had registered zeros.

"The interesting thing was that (running back) Troy Davis said right before that play, 'That was a good win, coach.' " Saints coach Mike Ditka said. "I looked up and there was about two seconds left, that was about the time Couch let the ball go and when I turned around it was hard to believe, to say the least. It was shocking."

It was the second consecutive game in which the Saints allowed a long desperation pass to work. A week earlier, the New York Giants completed a 53-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first half on their way to a 31-3 thrashing of the Saints.

The Saints are 4-16 in the last 20 games under Ditka.

It was the first time Ditka had been able to run the game plan he has had in mind all along -- getting the ball to Ricky Williams.

Ditka took over the play-calling for the game and focused on the former Heisman Trophy winner he traded eight draft picks to get.

Williams rushed 40 times for 179 yards. He also caught three passes for eight yards. As a result, the Saints held a whopping edge in time of possession -- 40:50 to 19:10.

But the Saints also had five turnovers -- including two fumbles by Williams -- and the offense managed only one touchdown, leaving the door open for Couch's heroics.

"A lot of people think that's pretty boring, but I thought we'd do what we had to do," Ditka said. "I've always believed that two of the main ingredients are running the football and ball control. But with that you also have to score points."

It was the third game in a row that New Orleans' clock management came into question. The Saints called a timeout with 26 seconds left on the clock, rather than letting it tick down before allowing Doug Brien to try a 46-yard field goal. As a result, the Browns had 21 seconds to rally for the victory.

"I don't want to belittle you people," Ditka said. "But if you think by pointing that out and all the rhetoric about clock management that has been going on for the last four or five weeks is what's caused those games to be lost, you really are barking up the wrong tree. The plays were all there to be made, all the way through, right up until the last two seconds."