The Giants didn’t get buried by a huge passing day from Tyler Shough. They got run over, scrambled on, and asked to absorb 34 unanswered points after building a 10-0 lead they couldn’t protect.
Shough finished with 144 passing yards on 16 completions in 30 attempts, but that modest throwing total didn’t stop New Orleans from taking control. He threw three touchdown passes, ran for another score, and the Saints added 175 rushing yards overall, including 32 on five carries from their quarterback, according to the Saints’ box score.
That’s the part that should matter most coming out of Sunday: New York’s problem wasn’t just one thing, and it wasn’t fixed by a quarterback change. The Giants gave up too much on the ground, lost control of the edges, and let short fields turn into points. Even a limited passing day became plenty productive because the defense couldn’t stop the other parts of the attack from piling up.
Charlie Jones’ kickoff-return fumble was a perfect example of how quickly things tilted. Shough’s 25-yard scramble right after that mistake helped New Orleans get in position to tie the game before halftime. The Giants also had four turnovers, which created more field-position damage and made the defense’s job even harder.
Still, the defense doesn’t get a pass just because the offense and special teams made life messy. Harbaugh was direct afterward, calling out the run defense, quarterback containment and the number of scrambles allowed. Those issues are where the repair work has to begin.
The fix starts with a more disciplined rush. There’s little point in forcing the quarterback off his spot if the escape lane is wide open and the play turns into a bigger gain downfield. New York has to account for that movement better, especially when the offense has already put the defense behind the chains with a turnover.
That could mean some help with containment or a defender assigned to track the quarterback in the right spots. But turning a spy into a default answer isn’t a cure-all, either. Every adjustment carries a cost elsewhere, and Sunday’s box score doesn’t spell out which assignment broke down on each snap.
The aggressive calls still have a place. The challenge is making sure the rest of the defense can live with the consequences when the quarterback starts to escape.
Harbaugh has already named the problem. Now New York has to show it has a better answer when that pocket breaks down.
In Other News...
Giants May Need To Find Out What Malachi Fields Really Is
Malachi Fields has been one of the quieter but steadier parts of the Giants passing game through his first five NFL games, giving the offense a little bit of reliability as it sorts out bigger-picture roles at receiver. He has been on the field enough to matter and productive enough to keep showing up in the game plan, even if his usage has still felt more like a taste than a full look.
With Theo Johnson ruled out for Week 6 and Darnell Mooney fully participating, the Giants may have some interesting personnel decisions to make as they figure out how to spread the ball around. The next question is whether the staff wants to use this stretch to find out what Fields really can be as an early target, without cutting into the work of the teams primary receivers. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Hurts' Absence Just Changed Everything In The NFC East
Jalen Hurts season has apparently come to a stunning halt, and the ripple effect reaches well beyond Philadelphia. The Eagles quarterback had been trying to push through a serious health issue, and his absence now reshapes the entire NFC East picture, where every divisional game tends to carry extra weight and the margin for error is already thin.
Hurts had even played in London against the Jaguars without sleeping because sleeping was considered risky, a detail that underscores just how precarious the situation became before the decision was made. With the Eagles suddenly facing life without their franchise quarterback, the division race has taken on a very different look, and the Giants, along with everyone else in the NFC East, now have to adjust to a far less predictable stretch ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Have A Cam Skattebo Problem Fans Can Clearly See
Cam Skattebos role has become one of the more interesting subplots around the Giants after his overtime fumble against Washington. In the Week 6 loss to the Saints, the rookie did not get a carry, a notable turn for a back who had been part of the offenses early plans and a player the team has been trying to develop as part of its future.
Head coach John Harbaugh pushed back on the idea that Skattebo was being outright benched, saying the usage came down to game situations and an attempt to spread reps around the backfield. Skattebo, though, has already acknowledged he felt the fallout from the turnover, and the bigger question now is whether this is just a temporary reset or the start of the Giants looking for a different answer at running back. [Read more 🡒]