Audric Estime had a want.

The New Orleans Saints had a need.

The timing of those two things intersecting couldn’t have played out much better than they did Sunday in the Saints’ 23-22 overtime victory over the Cleveland Browns.  

Just two weeks earlier, the Saints’ running game was downright atrocious in Paris when they ran for just 18 yards in an embarrassing loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Things were so bad that Kellen Moore fired running-game coordinator T.J. Paganetti during the bye week.

The running game was broken, and it desperately needed to be fixed.

The guy to fix it turned out to be someone Moore shouldn’t have let out of the building in the first place.

The Saints claimed Estime off waivers Tuesday, bringing him back to the city he never wanted to leave.

It's why Estime never broke the lease on his apartment in New Orleans, despite the Saints releasing him from injury reserve with an injury settlement in September. He had made the Saints’ 53-man roster just three weeks before that after a solid training camp and preseason. That came on the heels of last year, when he averaged 4.3 yards per carry late in the season for the Saints.

It didn’t take long Sunday to see the rewards of bringing Estime back to New Orleans.  

Estime ran the ball on the first three plays Sunday for 32 yards, almost doubling what the Saints were able to muster in four quarters in Paris.

Estime finished with 72 yards and a touchdown. The Saints as a team rushed for 160 yards and averaged 5 yards per carry.

“His juice and physicality was real,” Moore said.

At least for this one Sunday, the Saints’ running game looked good in a game that was a clunker for about 55 minutes before eventually turning into a thriller.

Making this one even more special for Estime is that it came against one of the two teams he played for since the Saints let him go a little over six weeks ago. He spent the past three weeks playing for the Browns and the two weeks before that with the Minnesota Vikings.

“It’s crazy how this world works, how this life works,” Estime said. “It’s honestly surreal for me. It feels like a Disney movie honestly.”

Estime very well could have been standing on the other sideline of the Dome on Sunday with the Browns, just like he had to do last month when the Vikings came to town. That trip with the Vikings was just another reminder to Estime that he needed to get back to the city and the team that he fell in love with. He remembers passing Don Jose’s Grill, his favorite restaurant in the city. He also remembers some words of wisdom that his aunt once gave him.

“Home isn’t about the location,” she told him. “It’s about the family you have with you. I feel like I have a lot of family here, and the team received me with open arms last year. The team makes it home. And the food.”

Those teammates who are like family to him were glad to see one of their brothers return.

“It’s the greatest feeling whenever you get somebody like him back and you get this crowd pop in the locker room when he gets a game ball,” said Saints quarterback Tyler Shough. “… Audric is one of the team’s favorite guys. He’s such a good dude. It was obviously tough to see him go.”

Here's guessing Moore will keep Estime around this time. He’s just what the team needs now that they have parted ways with Kendre Miller and await Travis Etienne’s return. His blend of power and speed gives them the type back they had with Mark Ingram, who was honored at halftime with Terron Armstead as Saints’ Hall of Fame inductees.

Estime is relieved to be back. When the Browns put him on waivers, he reached out to his agent right away.

“Get me back to New Orleans, no matter what you have to do,” Estime told him. “I had a sense of relief and happiness and joy. I had a lot of work to do back here.”

Moore wasn’t even sure when the Saints claimed Estime this week if he’d be ready to play by Sunday. It took just one practice on Wednesday for Moore to see Estime was ready. Estime remembered the playbook as if he had never left. That’s no easy task, especially when you’ve also learned the playbooks of two other teams in the past few weeks.

“To do what I had to the past month was honestly probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Estime said. “Harder than any test I’ve taken in school. Well, there were a couple of hard tests at Notre Dame. I had to flush what I learned the past five weeks and revert back to what I’ve known the past year and a half. I knew I could do it, but you don’t really know if you can do anything until you’re really tested. I feel like I did well on that test.”

Yes, Audric, you aced it, capping off a special 24 hours. Notre Dame, his alma mater, knocked off No. 1 Miami on Saturday.

“Great weekend,” he said. ”Two wins.”

He earned a game ball for the second of those two wins and broke down the huddle in the locker room.

“I’m glad to be home,” he said.

A struggling Saints’ running game welcomes him with open arms.