For a second consecutive week, the New Orleans Saints, led by a defensive mastermind in head coach Dennis Allen, swarmed the opposing offense to mount a 24-6 victory over the New York Giants.
Though the Saints opened up Sunday’s game slow offensively, the team was able to catch a second wind late to close out the final home match with a win over one of the hottest teams in the league in recent weeks.
“I was proud of our guys for playing the way they did and I thought our guys played well in all three phases, I felt like this was a complete game,” Allen told the media after the game. “Our team has battled with plenty of adversity, I thought we got better in some areas that we needed to get better at. We have a veteran group that had a great week of practice, and they know what we need to do.”
New Orleans entered the game prepared to face a high-powered Giants offense led by an unexpected hero in quarterback Tommy DeVito. Ahead of Sunday’s match, DeVito, an undrafted rookie, had taken the sports world by storm after leading what appeared to be a squad that was dead in the water to three consecutive victories.
Nonetheless, DeVito’s magic ran out on Sunday as the Saints’ defense sacked the signal-caller seven times and held him to under 200 passing yards and zero scores. All six Giants’ points came from first-half field goals on drives that were extended by penalties committed by New Orleans.
New Orleans only reached the end zone once in the first two quarters with quarterback Derek Carr finding Keith Kirkwood to take a lead that the Saints would not relent.
After only scoring seven first-half points, the Saints went on a 17-0 run to end the match. The touchdowns in the final two quarters came as a result of passes from Carr to tight ends Juwan Johnson and Jimmy Graham.
Carr led the team in passing, completing 23 of 28 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns.
“Our quarterback played well and our protection was outstanding. I thought our guys defensively did a good job of run lane integrity. We mixed up our packages a little,” Allen said. “Confidence breeds confidence, I think it’s unfair criticism of Carr and I think the media should recognize this. I thought our Tight Ends played great this week.”
Saints running back Alvin Kamara had another productive day, leading the team with 21 touches (both rushing and passing) for 110 yards. Kamara, for a seventh season, amassed over 1,000 total yards — etching himself as the first to accomplish the feat in team history.
Despite recording no turnovers, Brandon native Demario Davis led the Saints defensively with 10 tackles, one sack, and two tackles for loss. Tanoh Kpassagnon and Bryan Bresee combined for five more sacks and five tackles for losses.
As Dennis Allen stated, all three phases went well for the game, and the special teams certainly played their role. Rookie placekicker Blake Grupe converted all three extra points and booted a 50-yard field goal while. Punter Lou Hedley contributed to the Giants’ offensive woes by having two punts downed within the 10-yard line.
The Saints will begin a short week in preparation for a Thursday night road match against the Los Angeles Rams in SoFi Stadium at 7:15 p.m. CT.
