Saints make Giants pay for mistakes as late rally led by J.J. McCarthy falls short
Giants quarterback Jameis Winston is sacked by New Orleans Saints defensive end Carl Granderson at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Ed Murray
The Giants spent the last three weeks like a team living on the edge. On Sunday, they fell off that edge into defeat.
A furious fourth-quarter rally fell short in a 34-27 loss to the Saints at MetLife Stadium. The final margin made an ugly game end prettier than it looked but couldn’t overshadow the mistakes, errors and poor execution.
Whether it was Charlie Jones’ fumble on a kickoff in the second quarter or a defense still giving up too many big plays, the Giants (3-2-1) couldn’t sustain a 10-0 lead. They stayed out of sorts while the visiting Saints (2-4) marched up and down for 34 unanswered points.
The Saints were held scoreless for the game's first 28-plus minutes, then scored 17 points in 3:57 . . . 27 in 15:06 . . . and 34 in 19:47.
Only a quarterback change with J.J. McCarthy in the fourth quarter saved the Giants from total embarrassment. He led three fourth-quarter scoring drives and had the Giants in position to tie the game. But on fourth-and-1 from the Saints' 14, McCarthy's final pass intended for Isaiah Likely fell incomplete with six seconds left, snapping the Giants' three-game unbeaten streak. John Harbaugh said he would've gone for two and the win had the Giants scored a touchdown.
"For me it was, we got a shot if the clock is not at zero,” McCarthy said. "You felt the juice coming on the sideline, the defense making plays, the offense making plays. Things just got together a little too late."
McCarthy, who finished 11-for-21 with 243 yards (all in the fourth quarter), did his best with his first extended action since the Giants traded for him on Sept. 28.
After an interception on his second pass, he settled in and moved the ball downfield well. His 49-yard pass to Jones and 46-yard pass to Nabers were the team’s two longest completions of the season
He also threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Likely that brought the Giants within 34-24. McCarthy started the Giants’ final drive with a 28-yard run, the team’s longest rush of the season.
What made it more impressive was McCarthy said those were his first live reps with Nabers, Likely and the first-team offense.
“He came in and gave us a fighting chance to be able to win the game,” said Likely, who finished with 99 yards on six catches. “Played good. Definitely showed what he’s capable of.”
Nabers had 12 catches for 165 yards, his third consecutive game with over 100 yards. But the bigger issue was the Giants beating themselves with four turnovers, a poor run game and a porous run defense.
It started unraveling in the second quarter. After Saints kicker Daniel Carlson converted a 58-yard field goal with 1:18 left in the half, Jones fumbled the kickoff return after being hit by Isaiah Stalbird. The Saints recovered and Tyler Shough connected with Bryce Lance on a 2-yard touchdown catch with one second left in the half to tie it at 10. The Saints opened the third quarter with Alvin Kamara’s 31-yard catch-and-run touchdown to take the lead.
The Giants’ first drive of the second half was marred by three penalties, including false starts on Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Andrew Thomas. A quick three-and-out was followed by the Saints scoring again on Shough’s 1-yard touchdown run that made it 24-10.
“These guys are going to fight and they’re going to compete and there’s a lot of good things we can do,” Harbaugh said. “But we’ve got so many stretches where we’re not playing good football. There’s so many stretches that are not winning football.”
Winston, who finished 14-for-26 for 152 yards, threw two interceptions, his second multi-interception game this season. Two plays after his second, Shough found Chris Olave for an 18-yard touchdown pass that made it 34-10. Shough finished with four total touchdowns, three passing.
The Giants' run game again couldn’t get going even with a change at starter. Najee Harris started at running back in place of Cam Skattebo and had just two yards on four attempts. Skattebo was demoted after his fourth fumble last week and played only six snaps, none in the second half. He had zero carries.
Harris, Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary combined for 34 yards on 14 carries.
A week after giving up 202 rushing yards, the Giants gave up 175 rushing yards to a team ranked 29th in rushing. Through three quarters, the Saints averaged 5.7 yards per carry.
The Giants held the Saints to just 49 yards in fourth quarter. But the defense took a hit with cornerback Greg Newsome II exiting with a concussion in the second half.
Even with McCarthy providing a late spark, the Giants got burned Sunday and need to figure out how to play a balanced game instead of this uneven style.
“We want to get to a point where we’re making those adjustments a little bit earlier,” linebacker Tremaine Edmunds said. “But it’s still early. It’s still something that we’re going through. Still something that we’re battling through as a defense, as a team. But we’ll get it together.”
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
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