Saints beat the Giants as they now find themselves just a tiebreaker out of the playoffs.
The Good: Defense
The New Orleans Saints defense brought New York Giants QB Tommy DeVito back down to Earth on Sunday, as they sacked the rookie QB seven times and held him without a touchdown pass. The defense also completely took away the Giants’ rushing attack, holding Saquon Barkley to just 14 yards on 9 carries. Tanoh Kpassagnon had his best game of the year sacking DeVito three times, while rookie Bryan Bresee contributed two sacks. The Saints defense has now allowed just 12 points in their last two games, and while it may not have been against the best competition, it is still good to see the defense have success and get some of their swagger and confidence back headed down the stretch, as the Saints now find themselves just a tiebreaker out of first place in the division and a wild card spot.
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
The Bad(ish): Run game
I won’t say this is all bad because the Saints had a decent day on the ground, and it is hard to poke holes in such a complete team victory, but nonetheless if there was anything that could have been better in such a complete game it was the rushing attack. Alvin Kamara ran 16 times for 66 yards, and as a team they ran 28 times for 87 yards. Not a bad day per se, but the Giants were allowing the fourth most rushing yards in the NFL going into Week 15, and an average of 3.1 yards per carry leaves you wanting just a tiny bit more.
The Ugly: Penalties
The Saints committed 6 penalties for 58 yards on Sunday. Again, not egregious but still the most notable hole in this game for New Orleans. The costliest penalty was a running into the kicker call in the first quarter that turned a punt into a first down for the Giants that they would later turn into a field goal. Other penalties include an intentional grounding that all but ended a drive, and an unnecessary roughness on the Giants’ subsequent drive that turned a 3rd and 22 for New York into a first down that they would eventually turn into another field goal. Luckily the Saints cleaned up their act as the game went along, and would go on to win in dominant fashion.
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