Brees makes it look easy against Giants

NEW ORLEANS -- Somewhere in the great frozen north Monday night, Aaron Rodgers likely turned off the TV at halftime and fell asleep with a smile.

Drew Brees picked apart the Giants' defense with the point-and-click efficiency of a Cyber Monday shopper, putting touchdown after touchdown in his shopping cart and leading the Saints to a 49-24 win over the Giants at the Superdome.

It was the third straight loss for the Giants (6-5), who keep talking about preventing a second-half slide but are doing little to prevent one. Now they have a short week to prepare for Rodgers and the undefeated Packers on Sunday, a game that could drop the once 6-2 Giants to .500 and possibly two games behind the Cowboys in the NFC East.

Defensive captain Justin Tuck had warned of a "historical" collapse if the Giants did not win Monday night. The team's performance did little to dispute that claim as they head into what could be a very long December.

"Obviously, we had a tough time stopping them,'' Tom Coughlin said, praising the team's preparation and taking care not to pile on their fragile psyche. "We just weren't able to cover them.''

Brees went 24-for-38 for 363 yards and four touchdowns and ran for a score, accounting for all five TDs as the Saints (8-3) took a 35-10 lead with 4:13 left in the third quarter. New Orleans' 577 yards of offense was the second-highest total allowed in Giants history and the second-most in Saints history.

"It's unacceptable," safety Antrel Rolle said. "If we're going to take pride in being a great defense, it has to start there. Too many points, not getting them off the field. We just didn't play good enough."

Brees was at his best late in the second quarter. The Giants trailed 14-3 -- the game still was competitive -- and were driving with a hurry-up scheme and less than two minutes remaining. But three dropped passes on the drive and a false start by center David Baas forced them to punt. The Saints took over at the 12 with 69 seconds remaining, but that was twice as much time as they needed.

Brees hit Marques Colston for passes of 50, 13 and 15 yards -- plus one that Colston dropped when he was wide open -- before finding Lance Moore for a 10-yard touchdown (his second TD of the game) and a 21-3 edge. The drive went 88 yards in six plays and lasted 34 seconds.

"We felt very comfortable and confident in the two-minute drill," Brees said. "I think it does a lot for your psyche."

Brees went into halftime having put up numbers that most quarterbacks would take in a full game: 17-for-25 for 265 yards and three touchdowns. And the Saints left points on the field on their first drive when they tried a fake field goal from the Giants' 19 but came up short. Jason Pierre-Paul made an outstanding play to stop a first down.

Eli Manning (406 passing yards) and the Giants had the chance to jump out early after that, driving to the 18, but a pass intended for Jake Ballard in the end zone was underthrown just enough for linebacker Will Herring to intercept it.

"I had my fingertips on it," Ballard said. "It died on me at the end. I thought it was going to keep going. It was kind of low. I had my hands on it, and when we hit the ground, he rolled away [with the ball]."

The Giants began the second half by driving 67 yards on six plays to move within 21-10. After weeks of ineffective running, Brandon Jacobs showed a flash of excitement when he cut in the backfield and ran over Roman Harper for an 8-yard touchdown.

All that did was make it interesting for a few minutes because Brees returned serve with a 73-yard drive that allowed him to show off his legs as well as his arm.

On a first-and-15 from the Saints' 46, Brees escaped a potential sack by Tuck, rolled to his right, sidestepped the pursuit of Linval Joseph and found Pierre Thomas for a 15-yard completion. Three plays later, Brees scrambled 8 yards for his first rushing touchdown since 2009, giving the Saints a 28-10 lead.

After a fumble by rookie running back Da'Rel Scott on the ensuing possession gave the Saints the ball at the Giants' 29, Brees went back to throwing for scores, this time finding tight end Jimmy Graham for a 29-yard TD and a 35-10 lead.

"Things were just cooking tonight," said Graham, who caught an earlier 5-yard touchdown pass. "Anything we tried, it seemed to work."

It was just the opposite for the Giants. They tried an onside kick. It failed. They tried a 61-yard field goal. It failed. They tried a direct snap to the running back. Fumble. Fail.

They even tried to run a fake punt and then tried NOT to run a fake punt on the same play. Fail, fail.

On that play, Coughlin said the Giants did not get the look they were anticipating and Tyler Sash turned around and waved off the fake. But Steve Weatherford did not get the sign -- Coughlin made it seem as though Weatherford simply didn't want to get the sign, saying the punter "claimed" to have missed the signal -- and wound up running for no gain. Coughlin called it "foolish" on the part of Weatherford and "a very bad play on his part."

While the losing streak continued, the Giants saw two season-long streaks end. It was the first game this year in which the Giants did not force a turnover and the first time they did not record a sack. They knew coming into the game that pressuring Brees was the only way to slow him down, and they barely grazed him.

Perhaps the oddest part of the game was the creepy detachment in the locker room afterward. A week after they were humiliated by the Eagles and spent the ensuing days ranting and huffing about how they were angry and fired up, they seemed to take this loss in relative stride.

"Obviously, this is not the result we anticipated, but there is no reason to be stunned or shocked," defensive tackle Chris Canty said. "It happened. We were out there on the football field and we lost a football game."

The Giants scored twice in the fourth quarter on passes to Victor Cruz. The first was a 72-yarder, and after the Saints answered with a 12-yard TD run by Thomas, Cruz scored again on a 4-yard pass from Manning. Mark Ingram's 35-yard run completed the scoring for the Saints.

"There were too many mistakes to figure it out right now," linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said. "We have to go back to the film and take a serious look at how they were able to do whatever they wanted to do. I give them credit. They did a good job in pretty much everything they did. We didn't play hard enough, didn't play fast enough. We didn't deserve to win that game."

The Giants have five games left. The most amazing thing is that they still are very much alive because they have two games remaining against the Cowboys.

"We can't get down and we can't get frustrated," Manning said. "We have to figure out how to bounce back."

"Any time you lose three games in a row, it's gut-check time," Ballard said. "We just need to stay strong, stay together. We know we're a good team. We just have to improve and we can't let these three losses determine these next five games for us."

As for Brees, he may have had an all-time terrific game -- he became the first Saints quarterback to throw for four touchdowns and run for another in the same game -- but he was not satisfied.

"I expect perfection," he said. "I understand that's impossible to achieve. Deep down, I know there are some things I can do better."

Consider that a challenge to Rodgers on Sunday.