Giants at Saints Recap: Giants Avoids a 0-4 Start

The New York Giants led by quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley erased a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit that gave them their first win of the season on Sunday. With about 6 minutes to play in regulation, it looked as if New York was going to drop to 0-4, but the Giants showed a fiery urgency in this fourth quarter that will now be known as one of Daniel Jones’ signature games.

The Saints were sparked by quarterback Taysom Hill in the second half where he accounted for two rushing touchdowns that gave them a 21-10 lead to start the fourth quarter, this was then followed by a Giants punt. Jameis Winston fired a deep potential game-winning pass to Kenny Stills that would have put Joe Judges team down 18 only for it to be called back by a holding penalty on Adam Trautman.

Jones then drove the Giants 59 yards down the field before settling for a Graham Gano 48 yard field goal that would send this game to overtime. Giants Safety Jabrill Peppers won an emotional coin toss and got his team the ball to start the extra period. Jones crafted a 9 play 75-yard drive with help from John Ross, Kadarius Toney, and Kenny Golladay that got them to a first and goal from the six-yard line-. Barkley then scored on a 6-yard run that quieted Mercedes Benz Stadium for the last time on Sunday and ruined the home opener for New Orleans.

As for the Saints, allowing 17 unanswered fourth-quarter points against one of the worst offenses in the league was not a good look. Their identity on offense still seems to be missing. The Giants may have allowed 120 yards on the ground to Alvin Kamara but him not catching a pass was a huge win for this New York defense, who was also missing their best linebacker, Blake Martinez. Without Michael Thomas this is a young inexperienced receiving group that was exposed yesterday, the Saints relied on Hill too much and it cost them when he threw a questionable interception to James Bradberry right after the Stills touchdown was called back.

Sean Payton gave the keys to this offense to Jameis Winston. The offense that they ran yesterday is only going to uncover weaknesses Winston has been dealing with for years. If Sean Payton wants to run a slower run-based offense he needs to give Hill the job, the Giants had trouble all day on defense until it was Winston’s turn to close the game out. New Orleans needs to find other ways to get Juwan Johnson and Marquez Calloway the ball until Thomas makes his return. The Saints will make a trip to Washington next week.

For New York, this was a monumental win and one that many coaches and players needed. Daniel Jones threw for a career-high 402 yards and proved that he and newly acquired Giant Kenny Golladay can work together nicely. Barkley showed that he is getting more comfortable off his injury and still has the speed and explosiveness to be the player that the Giants drafted him to be. Jason Garrett was finally able to call a game that played towards the Giants strengths on offense. The former Cowboy head coach needed that explosive performance out of his offense on Sunday that potentially saved his play-calling duties if not his job.

The defense wasn’t great on Sunday but came up with timely stops that continued to give their offense chances. Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence played with an energy that fired up the defense all day long. After not being able to stop the Falcons game-winning drive last week Patrick Graham’s defense got a huge stop inside the last 5 minutes that set up the game-tying drive. In no way does this mean the Giants are back and are going to compete with the Dallas Cowboys for a division title but, if Jones looks like he did yesterday for the rest of the season, the chances of the Giants being in the quarterback market next offseason are slim to none.

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-By: Sam Kirk