Gaints super star punished by Saints as Giants…..
The Giants’ brief respite from their disastrous season, the three-game win streak, and the nice distraction provided by their undrafted rookie quarterback, Tommy DeVito, all evaporated in a drab 24-6 loss at the hands of the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
In the first half alone, the Saints sacked DeVito four times, and then mimicked his signature “Italian hand gesture” that had become so popular during the three-game winning run.
After holding a 7-6 lead at the half, the Giants (5-9) were completely outplayed in the second half as quarterback Nick Foles couldn’t get the ball out of his hands and defensive breakdowns allowed Derek Carr (three touchdowns) and the Saints (6-7) to re-invigorate what had been a stagnant popgun offense.
This could be the end of the road for the Giants, who carried a slim playoff hopes into mid-December after going 2-8 in their first 10 games and were on the cusp of the top two picks in the draft. Now that they’re 5-9, though, they’re out of contention, and the loss leaves them trailing the Saints by just three games with a mathematical chance of making the playoffs.
DeVito completed 20 of 34 passes for 177 yards, improving his record as a starter to 3-2, and will face the Philadelphia Eagles on Christmas Eve in Philadelphia for the first of two games against the defending NFC champions in the final three weeks of the regular season.
This was a complete collapse on offense, and it left DeVito looking lost, unable to elevate above the problems that were piling up around him. On the offensive line, it was back to its old self, with DeVito getting hit seven times, while Saquon was unable to break through the Saints’ front wall. On the defensive side, the Giants’ coverage on the secondary was all too often poor.
On the opening series, the best thing that happened was for DeVito to avoid a sack on third down and instead get a nice 2-yard reception. Those were big yards, and on the very next play, the Giants’ Randy Bullock missed a 56-yard FG wide right with very little room to go for a three-point conversion to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. On the next play, Bullock tweaked his hamstring and was ruled out for the rest of the game.
There was some jeering from the crowd after Carr and the Saints’ offense went three and out to open the game, but the jeers soon subsided as Carr took advantage of the lack of pressure to find Keith Kirkwood on a 68-yard scoring pass to give the Saints a 7-3 lead.
The Giants’ offense didn’t have much of a chance to move the ball at all after their first series, as DeVito continued to take sacks. In the first half alone, there were four sacks for a total of 34 yards. On two of those sacks, DeVito didn’t have a chance to get the ball out of his hands, and on one, he was forced to scramble and lose the ball at the goal line.
On the third down of the drive, receiver Darren Waller made a nice 29-yard reception over the middle of the field to give New Orleans a 14-point lead. It was Waller’s first game back after a five-game absence due to a strained hamstring.
The drive ended with a third-down sack by defensive end Bryan Bresee.
The Giants responded with a bizarre drive that saw them convert on fourth down on Barkley’s run. After DeVito was penalized for intentional grounding on third down at the Los Angeles 22, his pass to Bellinger was incomplete, resulting in a short gain for the Giants. On the next play, the Giants got a first down as a result of a roughing-the-passer penalty on Bellinger, which was apparently too rough and gave them a gift-wrapped first down.
DeVito slipped and went down after a 6-yard reception and was hit in the head by former Giants cornerback Isaac Yiadom. There was no penalty and as DeVito lay on the turf, his teammates started a scrum with Saints players. He had to go to the locker room to get checked out.
Tyrod Taylor replaced Taylor at quarterback and completed two of his three passes for 13 yards. The Giants punter, Jamie Gillan, was called on to try a 40-yard FG — his second field goal attempt in his NFL career — and Gillan is usually the holder in a field goal operation.
Gillan took over as the emergency holder and with his strong-legged legs drilled the kick at the buzzer to give the Giants a 7-6 lead in the first half.
The Giants gained just 99 yards in the first half and Barkley was virtually non-existent, with just six carries for eight yards.
Although he returned for the second half, his play did not improve.
The Saints had the ball to start the second half and Carr took advantage of some poor Giants defense coverage to complete a 10-play, 23-yard scoring drive for wide-receiver Juwan Johnson, cutting past the Giants’ Cor’Dale Flott at the line of scrimmage. The big play was Carr’s 18-yard handoff to A.J. Perry, and the Saints then had a 50-yard Blake Grupe field goal late in the second half to make it 17-6. The Giants did not force a turnover in the second half after forcing 12 in their three-game winning streak.
Carr hit a streaking Jimmy Graham for a 1-yard score early in the fourth
