NEW ORLEANS — The Giants fumbled away a game, the optimistic vibes of their quarterback change and their season Sunday at a rocking Caesars Superdome.
Again. And again. And again.
An avalanche of five straight turnovers by Brian Daboll‘s offense did them in.
“I can’t say I’ve experienced that before,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said after a 26-14 loss to the previously winless New Orleans Saints. “But that’s a recipe for disaster.”
Wide receiver Darius Slayton, quarterback Jaxson Dart and running back Cam Skattebo lost fumbles on three consecutive drives, beginning with Slayton’s giveaway late in the first half.
Dart threw back-to-back interceptions to Saints corner Kool-Aid McKinstry in the fourth quarter. Then the Giants (1-4) technically gave the ball back on a sixth straight possession with a turnover on downs in the game’s final minute.
“We just kind of gave this game away,” Dart said after his first NFL loss as a starter.
The Giants became the first NFL team to commit five straight giveaways since the Jets did it nine years ago, according to CBS.
“Five in a row,” Daboll said, “which is hard to do. None of us did a good enough job.”
Skattebo’s red zone fumble broke their backs.
The Saints held a narrow lead, 19-14, early in the fourth. But New Orleans lineman Bryan Bresee ripped the ball out at the Saints’ 14-yard line, and defensive back Jordan Howden returned it 86 yards for a touchdown with 14:47 to play.
“I just lost it,” Skattebo said. “It got punched out. I didn’t hold it tight enough, and he got a clean punch on it.”
So Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler got his first win as an NFL starter after beginning his career 0-10. New Orleans’ Kellen Moore (1-4) picked up his first victory as an NFL head coach.
Now the Giants return home to a gauntlet of a schedule: Thursday night at MetLife Stadium against the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, Week 6 on the road against the Denver Broncos and a Week 7 rematch with the Eagles in South Philadelphia.
They’ll need a better answer to creating offense than they had on Sunday in their first full game without top receiver Malik Nabers (torn ACL), who is out for the remainder of the season.
Daboll didn’t show much faith in his backup wideouts on Sunday. He chose instead to highlight tight ends Theo Johnson (two touchdown catches) and Daniel Bellinger (team-high 52 receiving yards), which worked for New York early.
But the Giants’ starting receivers weren’t able to do their part, either. Slayton in particular had a brutal game.
He dropped a deep target in the second quarter, lost a fumble late just before the half to hand the Saints a field goal and failed to haul in an underthrown Dart flea flicker deep pass that was still within his reach.
“I gotta be better,” Slayton said. “Pretty frustrated, mostly with myself honestly. I left a play or two out that there that would have put us in a position to get a lead in the game and probably given us a chance to run away with it.”
Neither Jalin Hyatt nor Beaux Collins were able to win their battles when Daboll gave them opportunities while trailing late, either.
Dart finished the game 26-of-40 passing for 202 yards, two touchdowns, three turnovers and 55 yards rushing. The Giants managed only 148 yards on offense in the second half.
The quarterback was most focused on the turnovers.
“Gotta cut that s–t out,” Dart said. “And I think that starts with me being a leader. Some of those came from me, and I’ve got to be a better example.”
The Giants’ defense was far from perfect, but Shane Bowen’s side of the ball only allowed one New Orleans touchdown in the game.
Captain Bobby Okereke simply said it still wasn’t enough, and the Giants can’t let a play like Skattebo’s fumble bury them in the future.
“Their defense generated five turnovers, we didn’t generate any as a defense,” Okereke said. “You don’t create any turnovers, it’s hard to win. But I think in our maturation process as a team, you’re down 12 with four minutes left in the game, you’ve got to be licking your chops and believing that you’re going to come back and win. Because the really good teams in this league do.
“I thought we fought hard until the end,” he added. “Just gotta clean up stuff execution wise and create more turnovers on D.”
The Giants trailed, 16-14, at halftime despite scoring consecutive touchdowns to start a game for the first time in five years.
Dart smartly slid at the end of his early runs in an important adjustment to avoid big hits after his Week 4 debut win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
The rookie QB then threw two touchdown passes to Johnson to put the visitors up, 14-3, with 13:01 remaining in the first half.
But Slayton’s deep drop led to a Giants punt. Safety Tyler Nubin got turned around on an 87-yard touchdown pass from Rattler to Saints speedster Rashid Shaheed to draw within 14-13 with 5:16 left in the half.
Dart underthrew Slayton on a deep flea flicker broken up by former Giant Terrell Burgess. Then, just when Saints kicker Blake Grupe’s missed field goal seemingly had given the Giants a break with 1:25 to play in the half, Slayton fumbled the ball back to New Orleans.
Linebacker Demario Davis forced the fumble that safety Jonas Sanker returned to the Giants’ 41-yard line. And Grupe tacked on a third first-half field goal for the two-point halftime lead.
That was a difficult deficit to stomach after the Giants had jumped out to an ideal start.
The Saints won the opening coin toss and took the ball. Giants punter Jamie Gillan and corner Nic Jones pinned New Orleans at the Saints’ 9-yard line with a squib kickoff and good coverage. The Giants’ defense forced a three-and-out.
Then Dart directed an 8-play, 59-yard scoring drive led by New York’s tight ends.
Bellinger caught two passes for 32 yards, including an 18-yard reception down to the Saints’ 1-yard line. Dart slid to avoid a hit on his first scramble. And Johnson caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Dart for a 7-0 lead less than six minutes into the game.
Dart then backed up his opening drive success after a Saints field goal with a second consecutive touchdown drive.
The rookie quarterback scampered for an impressive 20-yard scramble, sliding again to avoid the big hit. Then he finished the drive by ripping a 15-yard TD pass into a tight window to Johnson for a 14-3 lead with 13:01 remaining in the half.
That marked the first time since the 2020 NFL season that the Giants had scored touchdowns on the first two offensive possessions of a game.
They hadn’t done it since Daniel Jones and Wayne Gallman scored for Joe Judge’s Giants in a 27-17 win over the Eagles on Nov. 15, 2020.
Dart wasn’t in a mood to reflect on the Giants’ encouraging start, though.
“I’m definitely not into moral victories or things like that,” he said. “It’s a loss. I don’t really care what happened during the game.”
He’s right. After all, the Giants would be lucky to win as many games as that 2020 team (6-10) this season.
Think about that. Think about what that means for Schoen and Daboll if they don’t.
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