5 takeaways from New York Giants’ Week 4 loss
By Henry Buggy
No. 5 – Big Blue’s defense collapses in the 4th Quarter
The Giants defense played extremely well in the first half, holding Drew Brees and the Saints offense to four field goals in the red zone. The same couldn’t be said for the second half, especially in the fourth quarter.
When the Giants needed their defense the most, they gave up a 14-play six-plus minute touchdown drive at the start of the final quarter. The Saints converted on three third-downs on the drive, including a 3rd-and-9 from their own 27-yard-line.
The defense clearly doesn’t deserve a bulk of the blame given their play throughout four quarters. But when the Giants offense did bring the game back to within one-score, Big Blue’s defense once again was unable to get a stop in the fourth quarter.
After limiting Saints star running back Alvin Karma in the first half, the 2017 Rookie of the Year exploded in the second half at MetLife Stadium. He finished the afternoon with 134 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
The 170 rushing yards total is the most the Giants have given up this season, and New York’s inability to stop the run is becoming a troubling trend. They have now given up over 130 yards on the ground in three of four games and have the league’s fourth-worst rush defense.
As Alec Ogletree stated after the game, New York’s defense wasn’t able to close out their strong start.
"“We just didn’t make the tackles that we needed to do and we didn’t finish what we started, so they say I wish we started well, but the second half we didn’t finish the way we needed to finish.”"