NEW ORLEANS-The following are some observations and data from the Giants’ 24-6 loss to the Saints in the Caesars Superdome:
*The Giants dropped to 5-9 as their three-game winning streak came to an end. With three games left, they are mathematically still in the running for the NFC playoffs. Philadelphia’s Christmas day is their next performance.
* The Giants will definitely end the season below.500 thanks to this loss.
*Jamie Gillan, the punter, made a 40-yard field goal as the second quarter came to an end to give the Giants their last points. It was the most peculiar sight of the game. In his five-year career, it was his first field goal and second attempt. The emergency holder on the field goal, made by return specialist Gunner Olszewski, brought the Giants’ halftime deficit to 7-6.
Gillan was summoned
to kick after Randy Bullock’s 56-yard field goal in the first quarter caused him to sprain his hamstring during the kickoff. Bullock didn’t come back to play.
*Gillan’s first field goal attempt occurred with the Cleveland Browns against the Jets on Dec. 27, 2020, in MetLife Stadium – likewise on the final play of the first half. Gillan’s 61-yard try was short and to the right. On August 21, 2022, during a preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals, he did make a 31-yard field goal.
This marked the first time since October 23, 1994, when the Giants lost 10–6 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, when two separate players had kicked field goals. David Treadwell had booted a 19-yarder, and Brad Daluiso had added a 49-yarder.
Five minutes into the game, Bullock kicked off the scoring with a 56-yard field goal. Out of his 216 career field goals, this one was the second longest. He made a 57-yard field goal for the Cincinnati Bengals in Miami on December 22, 2019. After 29 attempts, it was his 15th career field goal of 50 yards or more. Bullock’s attempt was the Giants’ first long field goal since Graham Gano’s October 8 51-yarder against Miami. On September 21, Gano kicked a 57-yard field goal against San Francisco to start the Giants’ season.
* The first is Bullock.
Other than Gano, no Giants kicker has made a 50-yard or longer field goal since Aldrick Rosas’s franchise-record 57-yarder against Chicago on December 2, 2018. That distance has been matched twice by Gano.
*This is the first season since 1985 that the Giants have had three different players attempt field goals. In that particular year, Ali Haji-Sheikh added two field goals to the ten that Eric Schubert and Jess Atkinson kicked.
With one more road game left, which is next week in Philadelphia, the Giants are now 2-6.
*The Giants failed to score a touchdown in this game for the fourth time this season, and it was their fifth straight game without an offensive touchdown.
*The Giants went scoreless in the second half for the first time on the road and for the fourth time overall this season (they had also won against Washington and lost to Dallas and Seattle).
*The Giants’ offensive total was 193 yards (60 rushing, 133 passing), marking their seventh game of the season with less than 200 yards.
*Their 60 running yards were their third-lowest total of the year (58 vs New England, 29 at San Francisco).
*They finished the fourth game they played.
with a maximum of twelve first downs. They had ten at the 49ers and against the Patriots, and twelve against the Jets.
*A week after not being sacked at all in a win against Green Bay, Tommy DeVito was sacked seven times for loses of 57 yards. The Giants quarterbacks had been sacked at least seven times for the sixth time this season.
*The Giants converted only two third downs on 16 attempts, their second-lowest total this season; they were 0-12 in Dallas on Nov 12.
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Since Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield’s 84.3 completion rate (27 for 32) on December 20, 2020, the New Orleans quarterback David Carr has completed 23 of 28 passes, an 82.1 completion percentage. This is the highest completion percentage by a Giants opponent.
*Neither team committed a turnover, which is a first for the Giants in a regular season game since October 9, 2022, against Green Bay in London, and the first time since their NFC Wild Card Game victory in Minnesota on January 15, 2022.
*Including the Giants’ victory in Washington last month and their defeats to Miami, Buffalo, and the Jets, this was the seventh game this season in which the team did not make an offensive turnover.
*After four games, the Giants’ streak of at least one interception came to an end. The earlier matchNov. 5 in Las Vegas was the last game they had no interceptions in and the most recent game they had no takeaways from. After four games, the Giants had an NFL-high 14 takeaways going into this one.
*DeVito completed 20 of 34 passes for 177 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, both career highs. He had a 72.8 pass rate. On four carries, DeVito also led the Giants in rushing yards with 36.
*Tyrod Taylor made his game debut from his rib injury on October 29 after DeVito was assessed for a concussion late in the first half. Taylor gained 13 yards by completing two of his four throws.
*Saquon Barkley needed 34 yards from scrimmage going into the game to become a 1,000-yard passer for the fourth time in his six-year career. He hardly understood it. Barkley earned 23 yards from two receptions and carried for a season-low 14 yards on nine carries. The 37 yards brought his total yards up from
2023’s total scrimmage is 1,033.
*The Giants’ top three receivers with four receptions each were Wan’Dale Robinson (24), Darren Waller (40), and Darrius Slayton (63 yards). Waller had not played since he hurt his hamstring against the Jets on October 29.
In the second quarter, Jason Pinnock recorded the Giants’ lone sack after he sacked Derek Carr for a 9-yard loss. It was the safety’s second sack of the year, having taken down Washington’s Sam Howell for eight yards on October 22. In his two seasons with the Giants, Pinnock has accumulated 3.5 career sacks.
*This season, the Giants’ record in indoor games is 1-3; during Brian Daboll’s two years as coach, the team is 1-5; in the Superdome, they are 4-9; and since 1978, they are 34-35.
* Wide receiver Parris Campbell, running back Jashaun Corbin, linebacker Boogie Basham, safety Gervarrius Owens, and lineman Evan Neal (ankle) were the Giants’ inactive players.
