{"id":376423,"date":"2026-10-18T21:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T21:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376423\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T21:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T21:12:18","slug":"instant-analysis-giants-fall-to-saints-34-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376423\/","title":{"rendered":"Instant Analysis: Giants fall to Saints, 34-27"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT THE OFFENSE<\/p>\n<p>Making his fourth consecutive start in place of Jaxson Dart, Jameis Winston completed 10 of 18 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. He also threw two interceptions in the second half, which led to 10 points as the Saints extended their lead.<\/p>\n<p>Najee Harris started for the first time since Jan. 11, 2025, when his Steelers fell to the Ravens in the first round of the playoffs. The Giants dressed all four running backs on Sunday. That group included Tyrone Tracy Jr., who opened the scoring not on the ground but through the air on a 17-yard catch-and-run. He dove at the front right pylon for a touchdown with 5:14 left in the first quarter. Tracy scored again on a five-yard run with seven minutes left in the game.<\/p>\n<p>Six different Giants \u2013 three running backs, two quarterbacks and a wide receiver \u2013 had a rushing attempt on Sunday. Cam Skattebo was not one of them.<\/p>\n<p>The Giants gained just 84 yards on 20 rushing attempts, including a 28-yard scramble by McCarthy on the final drive.<\/p>\n<p>Malik Nabers (167) surpassed Puka Nacua (159) for the second-most receptions by a player in his first 25 career games in NFL history. Only Odell Beckham Jr. (176) has more.<\/p>\n<p>Nabers finished with 12 catches for 165 yards, his third consecutive game with 100 receiving yards. Before Sunday, there had been only six instances of a Giant recording at least three consecutive games of 100+ receiving yards in the same season:<\/p>\n<p>Odell Beckham Jr.: 6 (2015)<\/p>\n<p>Odell Beckham Jr.: 4 (2014)<\/p>\n<p>Mario Manningham: 3 (2010)<\/p>\n<p>Trailing 34-10 at the time, J.J. McCarthy replaced Winston with 11:25 left in the game and threw an interception on his first drive for the Giants&#8217; fourth turnover of the afternoon. His second drive ended with Tracy&#8217;s second touchdown and successful two-point conversion on a pass to tight end Isaiah Likely.<\/p>\n<p>Then things got a little interesting late in the game. A 49-yard completion to Charlie Jones led to a 24-yard touchdown pass to Likely, the tight end&#8217;s fifth score in six games as a Giant. The Giants had a chance to cut it to one possession with 5:06 left but failed the ensuing two-point conversion.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, McCarthy completed 11 of his 21 passes for 243 yards with one touchdown and the interception.<\/p>\n<p>Right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor missed his first game of the season after sustaining a calf injury last week at Washington. Marcus Mbow, a second-year pro who played the remaining 45 snaps in Week 5, made his fourth career start. The fifth-round pick started three games (two at left tackle and once at right tackle) as a rookie.<\/p>\n<p>Left tackle Andrew Thomas started the game as he continues to deal with a groin injury. He then left in the fourth quarter to be evaluated for a concussion and was replaced by rookie J.C. Davis, a sixth-round pick.<\/p>\n<p>Bryan Hudson made his third consecutive start at center after taking over for John Michael Schmitz.<\/p>\n<p>WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT THE DEFENSE<\/p>\n<p>The Giants held the Saints to three punts and a missed field goal on their first four possessions. New Orleans proceeded to score 10 points in the final 78 seconds to tie the game at halftime as part of 34 unanswered points overall.<\/p>\n<p>It started with a 58-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson, followed by Charlie Jones&#8217; fumble on the ensuing kickoff to set up the Saints at the Giants 28. Quarterback Tyler Shough scrambled for 25 yards and eventually punched it in with a two-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Lance on fourth-and-goal as time expired.<\/p>\n<p>The Saints received the ball to start the second half and picked up where they left off with a five-play, 79-yard touchdown drive in less than three minutes. Running back Alvin Kamara finished it off with a weaving 31-yard catch-and-run as New Orleans took its first lead of the day at 17-10.<\/p>\n<p>In the previous two weeks, the Saints ran 36 times for 105 yards (2.9 yards per carry) and three touchdowns. On Sunday alone, they had 175 yards on 38 carries (4.6).<\/p>\n<p>Cornerback Greg Newsome II was ruled out with a concussion in the third quarter and replaced by Nic Jones. The Giants were already playing without rookie cornerback Colton Hood (concussion).<\/p>\n<p>WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT SPECIAL TEAMS<\/p>\n<p>Dominic Zvada made both of his field goal attempts, including a long of 41 yards to cut the deficit to 34-27 with 2:04 remaining. It came a week after he became the first NFL rookie with four field goal attempts of 50+ yards in a single game \u2013 and just the second player overall to do it.<\/p>\n<p>The first turnover of the game came when Isaiah Stalbird jarred the ball loose from Charlie Jones on a kickoff return, leading to the Saints&#8217; first touchdown to end the first half.<\/p>\n<p>NYG: CB Greg Newsome II (evaluated for concussion), WR Darnell Mooney (neck), LT Andrew Thomas (evaluated for concussion)<\/p>\n<p>NYG: CB Colton Hood (concussion), QB Jake Haener (3rd QB), S Tyler Nubin (neck), RT Jermaine Eluemunor (calf), TE Theo Johnson (neck), DL C.J. Okoye<\/p>\n<p>NO: QB Zach Wilson (3rd QB), EDGE Anfernee Jennings (knee), S Mike Reid, LB Kaden Elliss (calf), DL Nathan Shepherd (illness), DL John Ridgeway III<\/p>\n<p>NYG: OLB Trace Ford (standard elevation), OL Josh Gesky (practice squad addition), DL C.J. Ravenell (released from practice squad), LB Malik Harrison (signed to active roster from practice squad), OLB Dawuane Smoot (practice squad veteran addition)<\/p>\n<p>NO: LS Zach Wood (activated from injured reserve), WR Cedric Tillman (standard elevation)<\/p>\n<p>Week 6 vs. NO: QB Jameis Winston, WR Malik Nabers, CB Dru Phillips<\/p>\n<p>Week 5 at WAS: LB Tremaine Edmunds, CB Nic Jones, CB Deonte Banks<\/p>\n<p>Week 4 vs. ARI: DL D.J. Reader, RT Jermaine Eluemunor, LB Micah McFadden, RB Cam Skattebo<\/p>\n<p>Week 3 vs. TEN: S Jev\u00f3n Holland, FB Patrick Ricard, LB Zaire Barnes<\/p>\n<p>Week 2 at LAR: OLB Abdul Carter, OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux, QB Jaxson Dart, S Elijah Campbell<\/p>\n<p>Week 1 vs. DAL: OLB Brian Burns, DL Chauncey Golston, P Jordan Stout, OT Andrew Thomas<\/p>\n<p>Preseason 3 at NYJ: LG Jon Runyan, S Tyler Nubin, LB Zaire Barnes<\/p>\n<p>Preseason 2 at MIA: QB Jameis Winston, LB Micah McFadden, CB Greg Newsome II<\/p>\n<p>Preseason 1 vs. MIN: QB Jaxson Dart, P Jordan Stout, OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT THE OFFENSE Making his fourth consecutive start in place of Jaxson Dart, Jameis Winston&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[138416,2468,9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-376423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-2026-giants-vs-saints-wk-6","tag-homepage","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}