NEW ORLEANS — The Giants fumbled away a sport, the optimistic vibes of their quarterback change and their season Sunday at a rocking Caesars Superdome.
Once more. And once more. And once more.
An avalanche of 5 straight turnovers by Brian Daboll‘s offense did them in.
“I can’t say I’ve experienced that before,” left sort out Andrew Thomas stated after a 26-14 loss to the beforehand winless New Orleans Saints. “But that’s a recipe for disaster.”
Large receiver Darius Slayton, quarterback Jaxson Dart and operating again Cam Skattebo misplaced fumbles on three consecutive drives, starting with Slayton’s giveaway late within the first half.
Dart threw back-to-back interceptions to Saints nook Kool-Assist McKinstry within the fourth quarter. Then the Giants (1-4) technically gave the ball again on a sixth straight possession with a turnover on downs within the sport’s remaining minute.
“We just kind of gave this game away,” Dart stated after his first NFL loss as a starter.
The Giants turned the primary NFL group to commit 5 straight giveaways because the Jets did it 9 years in the past, in accordance with CBS.
“Five in a row,” Daboll stated, “which is hard to do. None of us did a good enough job.”
Skattebo’s purple zone fumble broke their backs.
The Saints held a slender lead, 19-14, early within the fourth. However New Orleans lineman Bryan Bresee ripped the ball out on the Saints’ 14-yard line, and defensive again Jordan Howden returned it 86 yards for a landing with 14:47 to play.
“I just lost it,” Skattebo stated. “It got punched out. I didn’t hold it tight enough, and he got a clean punch on it.”
So Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler bought his first win as an NFL starter after starting his profession 0-10. New Orleans’ Kellen Moore (1-4) picked up his first victory as an NFL head coach.
Now the Giants return dwelling to a gauntlet of a schedule: Thursday evening at MetLife Stadium towards the reigning Tremendous Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, Week 6 on the street towards the Denver Broncos and a Week 7 rematch with the Eagles in South Philadelphia.
They’ll want a greater reply to creating offense than that they had on Sunday of their first full sport with out prime receiver Malik Nabers (torn ACL), who’s out for the rest of the season.
Daboll didn’t present a lot religion in his backup wideouts on Sunday. He selected as an alternative to spotlight tight ends Theo Johnson (two landing catches) and Daniel Bellinger (team-high 52 receiving yards), which labored for New York early.
However the Giants’ beginning receivers weren’t capable of do their half, both. Slayton specifically had a brutal sport.
He dropped a deep goal within the second quarter, misplaced a fumble late simply earlier than the half at hand the Saints a area objective and did not haul in an underthrown Dart flea flicker deep move that was nonetheless inside his attain.
“I gotta be better,” Slayton stated. “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 had been capable of win their battles when Daboll gave them alternatives whereas trailing late, both.
Dart completed the sport 26-of-40 passing for 202 yards, two touchdowns, three turnovers and 55 yards dashing. The Giants managed solely 148 yards on offense within the second half.
The quarterback was most targeted on the turnovers.
“Gotta cut that sh-t out,” Dart stated. “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’ protection was removed from excellent, however Shane Bowen’s aspect of the ball solely allowed one New Orleans landing within the sport.
Captain Bobby Okereke merely stated it nonetheless wasn’t sufficient, and the Giants can’t let a play like Skattebo’s fumble bury them sooner or later.
“Their defense generated five turnovers, we didn’t generate any as a defense,” Okereke stated. “You don’t create any turnovers, it’s onerous to win. However I believe in our maturation course of as a group, you’re down 12 with 4 minutes left within the sport, you’ve bought to be licking your chops and believing that you simply’re going to return again and win. As a result of the actually good groups on 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 regardless of scoring consecutive touchdowns to start out a sport for the primary time in 5 years.
Dart neatly slid on the finish of his early runs in an necessary adjustment to keep away from large hits after his Week 4 debut win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
The rookie QB then threw two landing passes to Johnson to place the guests up, 14-3, with 13:01 remaining within the first half.
However Slayton’s deep drop led to a Giants punt. Security Tyler Nubin bought circled on an 87-yard landing move from Rattler to Saints speedster Rashid Shaheed to attract inside 14-13 with 5:16 left within the half.
Dart underthrew Slayton on a deep flea flicker damaged up by former Large Terrell Burgess. Then, simply when Saints kicker Blake Grupe’s missed area objective seemingly had given the Giants a break with 1:25 to play within the half, Slayton fumbled the ball again to New Orleans.
Linebacker Demario Davis pressured the fumble that security Jonas Sanker returned to the Giants’ 41-yard line. And Grupe tacked on a 3rd first-half area objective for the two-point halftime lead.
That was a tough deficit to abdomen after the Giants had jumped out to a really perfect begin.
The Saints received the opening coin toss and took the ball. Giants punter Jamie Gillan and nook Nic Jones pinned New Orleans on the Saints’ 9-yard line with a squib kickoff and good protection. The Giants’ protection pressured 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, together with an 18-yard reception right down to the Saints’ 1-yard line. Dart slid to keep away from successful on his first scramble. And Johnson caught a 1-yard landing move from Dart for a 7-0 lead lower than six minutes into the sport.
Dart then backed up his opening drive success after a Saints area objective with a second consecutive landing drive.
The rookie quarterback scampered for a formidable 20-yard scramble, sliding once more to keep away from the massive hit. Then he completed the drive by ripping a 15-yard TD move into a good window to Johnson for a 14-3 lead with 13:01 remaining within the half.
That marked the primary time because the 2020 NFL season that the Giants had scored touchdowns on the primary two offensive possessions of a sport.
They hadn’t performed it since Daniel Jones and Wayne Gallman scored for Joe Decide’s Giants in a 27-17 win over the Eagles on Nov. 15, 2020.
Dart wasn’t in a temper to mirror on the Giants’ encouraging begin, although.
“I’m definitely not into moral victories or things like that,” he stated. “It’s a loss. I don’t really care what happened during the game.”
He’s proper. In any case, the Giants could be fortunate to win as many video games as that 2020 group (6-10) this season.
Take into consideration that. Take into consideration what meaning for Schoen and Daboll in the event that they don’t.
Initially Printed: October 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM EDT
