• Wed. Feb 19th, 2025
New York Giants

On Sunday afternoon, the New York Giants (2-11) hosted the New Orleans Saints (5-8) at home. Despite the Giants’ elimination from playoff contention, this game remained filled with people in their seats and tons of energy. That said, there were numerous reasons to find joy on both sides if success was achieved. While being an extremely low-scoring game, nonetheless the game proved to be a thriller. Ultimately, ending in a blocked field goal, the Saints prevailed on the road, 14-11

Today, both teams struggled severely to move the ball. Despite two long gritty and long-winded drives by the Saints, there wasn’t much to harp on offensively, however those two drives determined the game. The Saints drove down the field in nine plays on both drives and displayed their toughness and relentlessness to the Giants. The New Jersey native Saints head coach Darren Rizzi discussed the importance of the two drives and how they determined the game. Most importantly, how 

“Really those two long drives are the game, when it comes down to it,” Rizzi stated. “… They [Giants] had all the field position in the first half, so when we got pinned back and we went on a long touchdown drive, it was a big deal.”

“We talked all week about not being good coming out of halftime, … so the whole picture may not have been super pretty today offensively, but those two drives are the ones that mattered the most. We have to do a better job at finishing games,” he continued.

@Saints @Giants
“We talked all week about not being good coming out of halftime, … so the whole picture may not have been pretty today offensively, but those two drives are the ones that mattered the most. We have to do a better job at finishing games,” Darren Rizzi stated. pic.twitter.com/CDhJrvRi6m— John “Woods” Armwood III (@J_Armwood908) December 10, 2024

Takeaways for the Giants

The Giants have numerous issues to address, as it appears they will continue to lose to possibly strengthen their draft stock. That said, the Giants had an opportunity to win this game, but more importantly, they proved to be effective. The Giants’ strength consists of their defense, and they didn’t disappoint. In fact, they held him to two touchdowns for the entirety of the game. While the Giants are finding success, they continue to have things to build on moving forward. 

“We’re trying to build on some of the things that we quote-unquote didn’t do quite as well. Some of those things were self-inflicted,” Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton explained. “Those are the types of things that you want to try to eliminate going into a new week against a new opponent and try to shore those things up while continuing to do the things well that you’ve already done well.”

Their run game was nonexistent in this game, forcing interim quarterback Drew Lock to make plays. Throughout the game, he struggled to do so, however late in the fourth, he began to find success. Due to the defense playing exceptionally, Lock was granted ample opportunity to build momentum. Towards the end of the game, he drove the Giants down 13 plays for 82 yards to make it a one-possession game in the final minutes. Unfortunately, their efforts were spoiled by an amazing play by the Saints to block the game-tying field goal

“Again, every season’s different, every game’s different. It was ebbs and flows to yesterday’s game,” Giants head coach Brian Daboll stated. “We had some opportunities there, I’d say, in all three phases. We had 13 points basically that we had, and then we didn’t have them, or we got blocked. And then we had some opportunities, we had far too many third downs offensively, didn’t convert on those.”

Ultimately, the loss for the Giants doesn’t bring too much of a concern because the desperate need for a quarterback in this upcoming draft increases dramatically for the Giants. Therefore, many were disappointed in the losing efforts, but excited about their future as well. 

What’s Next From the Giants?

Nest Sunday, the Giants are set to take on one of the most exciting teams in all of the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens, led by 2024 MVP candidate Lamar Jackson. 

PureSportsNY: John Woods

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