Grading the Giants' Week 6 loss to the New Orleans Saints

OFFENSE

It’s hard to say that 461 yards and 27 points wasn’t good, but it certainly wasn’t good enough. And that the majority of that production came in the fourth quarter after the Giants fell behind 34-10 makes those numbers a little suspect. The biggest issue was the turnovers, including two interceptions thrown by Jameis Winston and one by J.J. McCarthy. There were other matters, too, including the five sacks allowed. The Giants got hardly any push from their running game; the three running backs who took handoffs managed just 34 yards on 14 carries with none for more than 9 yards.

Grade: D

DEFENSE

They didn’t allow a point for the first 28:42 of the game, and in the last 11:31 they forced three critical three-and-outs, but the in-between was a mess. It wasn’t all on them as the Saints had strong field position off turnovers but the Saints scored on six of seven possessions during that stretch. They allowed the Saints, who came in struggling to run, to gain 175 rushing yards on the day. After two weeks of getting after quarterbacks, the Giants did not record a sack and they allowed Tyler Shough to scramble far too often, including a 25-yard run.

SPECIAL TEAMS

This time the Giants didn’t need to miss any field goals to flunk the class. It felt like the whole game swung on the Charlie Jones fumble on a kickoff return late in the second quarter. That was certainly a very costly play but there were other bad ones too, including allowing the 44-yard kickoff return that set up the first Saints points on a field goal, three penalties that negated three decent Jones kickoff and punt returns, and an average of 13.6 yards allowed on five punt returns. Down the stretch, the Giants tried two onside kicks but couldn’t give themselves a decent chance to recover either. They also wanted to put their last kickoff out through the end zone to preserve the two-minute warning but they did not.

Grade: F

COACHING

John Harbaugh said the idea was not to limit Cam Skattebo to zero touches but it wound up working out that way as the former starter who lost his job after last week’s fumble played just six snaps — two on QB sneaks — without a carry. It’s great that Harbaugh emphasizes accountability but at some point the Giants also needed the kind of energy that Skattebo provides. They put McCarthy in at the right time in the fourth quarter but the decision to put him on the field for a gimmicky snap late in the second quarter felt like it caused the offense to stall in the red zone. The clock management at the end of the game was not as egregious as some of the gaffes we’ve seen by others throughout the league this year but they certainly didn’t get everything they wanted from those situations; Harbaugh said he wanted to kick the field goal before the two-minute warning with about 2:13 left (it went through at 2:04) and then put the ensuing kickoff through the end zone (it was 8 yards deep and returned, which took the two-minute warning away from the Giants and effectively cost them about 45 seconds on their final drive).

Grade: D

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.