Looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since the 2023 season, the New York Giants fell back down to earth on Sunday.
Despite jumping out to a 14-3 lead in the first half against the winless New Orleans Saints, the G-Men fell apart both offensively and defensively as the Saints defeated New York, 26-14, dropping them to 1-4 on the young season.
While Jaxson Dart impressed early on in the game, throwing two touchdown passes (both to Theo Johnson), a scoreless second half marked by five straight drives ending in turnovers by Big Blue’s offense opened the floodgates for the Saints to march to their first win of the season. And after watching the collapse unfold in real time, would this be the right grade to hand the Giants?
Giants graded harshly after giving away very winnable Saints game
In an article for CBS Sports, John Breech gave New York a C- grade after their latest loss, writing:
“If you turn the ball over five times in the NFL, you’re almost always going to lose — and that’s exactly what the Giants did in this game,” Breech wrote. “This team simply isn’t good enough to overcome that many turnovers, and the ugly part is that New York’s five turnovers came on FIVE STRAIGHT POSSESSIONS.”
When you turn the ball over on five straight drives, you’re not expected to win. In fact, this grade of C- almost seems generous for the Giants, considering they had an 11-point lead and probably should’ve walked away with the win. But that’s what they were given.
It just wasn’t a pretty effort from a Giants team that was one week removed from upsetting a playoff and Super Bowl-contending team in the Los Angeles Chargers. With their wide receivers not stepping up, Malik Nabers out for the season, the New York secondary continuing to give up chunk plays, and the constant penalties — along with those aforementioned turnovers — one has to wonder when it will end for this team.
At 1-4, there’s not much time left to salvage what has already been a disastrous season (again). The only hope for the Giants right now, on a short week heading into a Thursday night matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, is to somehow right the ship. But with this schedule not getting any easier and the team still very flawed on both sides of the ball, we may see some similar grades down the road.