The Giants’ defense has looked better under first-year coordinator Dennard Wilson, and the secondary has been a big part of that jump. Through five weeks, New York is allowing fewer passing yards than all but six teams in the league, and the group has already shown it can make life difficult for high-end receivers.
That said, the pass defense has had its rough patches too. It held CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens down in the opener and mostly kept Terry McLaurin under wraps last week, but it also got burned hard by Davante Adams for 195 yards and two touchdowns in Week 2, while Michael Wilson came close to 100 yards in Week 4.
Now comes another major test. The Giants host the Saints on Sunday afternoon, and even with New Orleans sitting at 1-4, Chris Olave is not the kind of receiver you can take lightly.
Entering Week 6, only Jaxon Smith-Njigba has more receiving yards than Olave, and he’s put together a stretch that demands attention. He has more yards than Amon-Ra St. Brown, CeeDee Lamb, Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson, which says plenty about how productive he’s been in 2026.
The challenge for New York is that Olave has been steady almost from the start. He has only one game this season with fewer than 50 receiving yards, and through the Saints’ first four games he produced either 100-plus receiving yards or a touchdown in every one. He hasn’t scored much, but he remains one of the league’s better downfield weapons.
He’s also Tyler Shough’s clear top option. That matters because New Orleans doesn’t have much going on the ground and doesn’t have many other reliable receiving threats, which has made Olave the center of everything they do offensively. Wilson knows the ball is going there.
That puts the pressure on New York’s corners to hold up. Deonte Banks has been on a major bounce-back run, Greg Newsome has fit well since arriving as a free agent, and Paulson Adebo is another option to help keep the damage manageable.
There is some help on the other side of the ball, too. The Saints will be without star tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. and running back Travis Etienne, leaving their run game with nowhere to go. Shough, meanwhile, has been one of the league’s most pressured quarterbacks, and that has been a common path to beating New Orleans this season.
So the Giants’ best answer may be to attack, not sit back. Wilson can lean into pressure, force Shough off his spot and keep him from finding Olave deep. Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter, if he plays, are key to that plan, and Banks pressing at the line would only add to the disruption.
The path is there for New York. The question is whether Wilson and this secondary follow it.
In Other News...
Giants Catch Saints At A Brutal Time With One Clear Opening
The Saints come into this matchup with plenty of pressure hanging over them, and the Giants are walking into it with a pretty clear idea of where the opening should be. Nic Jennings of Canal Street Chronicles points to New Orleans slow starts and a defense that has had trouble getting settled, while also noting a few bright spots on the roster such as Devaughn Vele and Jonas Sanker. From the Giants side, the takeaway is straightforward enough: this is a game where patience on the ground could matter more than trying to force big plays early.
For New York, that means leaning into the run game and making the Saints answer the question they have struggled with most. New Orleans has not looked especially sturdy against the run, and if the Giants can stay committed there, they can make life uncomfortable for a team already dealing with coaching pressure and broader frustration. It is the kind of opponent-specific opening teams sometimes only get once, and the Giants should know it if they want to make this trip count. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Have A Real Chance To Turn This Stretch Into A Run
The Giants are heading into their matchup with the Saints with a few fixes in mind, and the focus starts where their offense has been least reliable. Coaches and players have pointed to accountability and ball security as the priority, while the scheme is getting tweaked in hopes of giving the run game a cleaner path and a better rhythm.
It is also the kind of stretch that can change a season in a hurry. New York has an opening to bank wins before the schedule tightens later, and around the league there is a growing sense that the NFC East picture is still there for the taking if the Giants can clean up the details and handle the games in front of them. [Read more 🡒]
Giants May Need An Unproven Lineman More Than Expected
The Giants defensive depth is being stretched by injuries, which has made every available body matter a little more than usual. In that kind of week, Darius Alexander starts to look less like a development project and more like a possible answer in a very specific role, especially after showing some pass-rushing ability as a rookie while still logging limited work this season.
The challenge is finding a way to get a real look at him without asking too much too soon. The safest path is to experiment carefully, keeping his responsibilities narrow so the Giants can evaluate whether he can help on passing situations without sacrificing run defense or coverage behind him. [Read more 🡒]