The Saints may get exactly the break they need when the Giants walk into town: a battered offensive line that could be missing both starting tackles.
Andrew Thomas and Jermaine Eluemunor both got back on the practice field Friday after sitting out all week, but each was limited and each is listed as questionable for tomorrow. If one or both can’t suit up, New Orleans has a clear lane to make life miserable up front.
That would leave the Giants leaning on far less experienced replacements. Thomas’ spot would go to sixth-round rookie J.C.
Davis, who has not taken a snap this season. Eluemunor’s backup would be Marcus Mbow, a second-year player with only three career starts.
For Saints edge rushers Chase Young and Carl Granderson, that’s the kind of matchup they’ve been waiting for.
Young and Granderson have both been on a strong early-season pace. Young is on track for 31 tackles, 14 sacks, and seven passes defended.
Granderson is projected for 68 tackles, 11 sacks, and 17 TFLs. Their pressure has helped a secondary that has quietly been one of the few steady parts of the defense, ranking 11th in the NFL in pass yards allowed per game.
That matters even more against a quarterback like Jameis Winston, who dropped back 60 times last week in an overtime game and has already thrown three interceptions in four starts. If the Giants can’t hold up at tackle, Winston could be forced into more mistakes, and the Saints have one cornerback in Kool-Aid McKinstry who has already shown he knows how to punish that opponent. McKinstry picked off the first two passes of his career against the Giants last season.
He and fellow cornerback Quincy Riley, along with safeties Justin Reid, Julian Blackmon, and Jonas Sanker, stand to benefit if the Giants’ protection breaks down. Winston has already been sacked 11 times through four starts, and New Orleans’ coverage unit has been sharp enough to capitalize when the front gets home. The Saints are allowing 212.2 passing yards per game, good for 11th in the league, and more takeaways would only help a defense that has just one interception so far.
That kind of jump in production would also take some heat off an offense that has been forced to air it out far more than it wants to because the Saints keep playing from behind. New Orleans is 11th in the NFL in passing yards per game at 240.2, but the defense has put the offense in a tough spot almost every week. The Saints have lost three straight, and owner Gayle Benson has made it clear she expects better.
In Other News...
Jameis Winston Still Has Saints Fans Feeling A Certain Way
Jameis Winstons time in New Orleans never followed a straight line, but it left a mark. Over three seasons with the Saints, he spent two of them in a backup role and stepped in for 10 starts when injuries forced the issue, giving fans a look at both his resilience and the personality that helped him win them over. More than just a stop on his rsum, New Orleans became the place where Winstons leadership and presence reshaped the way plenty of people viewed him.
Now, as he gets ready for a familiar kind of spotlight, the old connection is still part of the story. Saints fans never really stopped feeling a certain way about Winston, and that speaks to how much his time here mattered beyond wins and losses. The reunion angle is obvious enough, but the more interesting part is how a player once folded into the Saints daily life still carries that bond with him wherever he goes. [Read more 🡒]
Kellen Moore Enters A Saints Game He Cant Afford To Mismanage
Kellen Moore heads into Week 6 with the kind of margin for error that barely exists in New Orleans right now. A 1-4 start has already put the Saints under a harsh spotlight, and owner Gayle Bensons frustration has only sharpened the scrutiny around a team trying to find answers on both sides of the ball. The matchup with the Giants is more than another game on the schedule because the Saints need cleaner offense, steadier defense and a plan that looks like it belongs to a team capable of climbing out of this hole.
For Moore, the pressure is no longer just about drawing up a sharper opening script. It is about how quickly he can adjust once the game starts going sideways, because the Saints have not given themselves much room to absorb another poor outing. New Orleans does not need a neat explanation for why the season has gone off track. It needs evidence that the coaching can still fix something before the noise around the team gets even louder. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Suddenly Face A Giants Rookie Who Can Wreck This Game
The Saints offense has spent the week mapping out the Giants defense, and the rookie in the middle of it is impossible to ignore. Arvell Reese has quickly become a centerpiece for New York, showing the kind of versatility that lets him move around the formation and affect plays in a bunch of different ways, which is exactly the sort of problem New Orleans cannot afford to overlook.
For a Saints unit trying to clean up its own execution, Reese changes the feel of the matchup. He has been active all over the field and has already shown he can flash as both a tackler and a playmaker, so New Orleans will have to know where he is on every snap if it wants to give itself a real shot at moving the ball cleanly. [Read more 🡒]