Butterfinger Giants destroyed by turnovers in brutal loss to Saints

NEW ORLEANS — The Giants’ future doomed them in the present.

Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo, the two players who excite the Giants fan base most and whom the team figures to build around, left a game the Giants desperately needed to win on the Superdome carpet Sunday against a winless opponent.

Though they were hardly the only culprits in the 26-14 loss in New Orleans, Dart and Skattebo handed the game to the Saints and left the Giants floundering at 1-4 one week after Dart had played so well in his NFL debut victory.

Dart, the Giants’ first-round-pick, lost a crucial fumble and threw two interceptions. Skattebo, the rookie running back with a bull-running style, lost a killer fumble in the second half.

Those were part of a dreadful five-turnover performance on the part of the Giants in this waste of an afternoon if you were one of the many Giants fans who made the trip to New Orleans. Hopefully, the Hurricanes from Pat O’Brien’s helped soothe the stress.

With the Giants trailing 16-14 and on their first possession of the second half, Dart, making his second career start, inexplicably simply dropped the football as he tried to avoid pressure after not finding anyone open.

Saints defensive end Cam Jordan recovered the gift by Dart, making his second career start, just eight seconds into the second half.

The Saints turned that into a field goal and a 19-14 lead.

On the Giants’ next possession, Skattebo, straining for extra yards, was stripped of the ball by Saints defensive tackle Bryan Bresee with defensive back Jordan Howden returning it 86 yards for a TD and a 26-14 lead just 13 seconds into the fourth quarter.

The Giants had the game where they wanted it in the first half. They had the ball and a 14-13 lead and were driving for another score before the break.

Dart, who completed 26 of 40 for 202 yards, connected with Darius Slayton on a 9-yard pass over the middle inside the New Orleans 35 and, when Slayton tried to squirt between Saints linebacker Demarius Davis and cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry, things became uncool for Slayton and the Giants.

Davis punched the ball out of Slayton’s hands and into the arms of Jonas Sanker, who returned it 27 yards to the Giants’ 41-yard line with 1:02 remaining in the half.

Seven plays later, the Saints took a 16-14 lead on a 29-yard Blake Grupe field goal as time expired.

For Slayton, it was a nightmarish first half.

Earlier in the second quarter, he dropped a long pass from Dart deep in Saints territory that would have given the Giants a first down inside the 20.

On the next Giants possession, Slayton was wide open deep on a flea flicker and could not haul in the Dart’s underthrown pass. New Orleans safety Terrell Burgess made a play on the ball.

In between these gaffes and missed opportunities, Saints receiver Rashid Shaheed burned the Giants secondary (and held onto the ball) on an 87-yard bomb from quarterback Spencer Rattler, cutting the Giants’ lead to 14-13 with 5:16 remaining in the half.

What the Giants secondary was doing on the play is anyone’s guess, because it appeared Tyler Nubin was in coverage, though he wasn’t within five yards of Shaheed, and nor was fellow safety Jevon Holland.

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The Giants built a 14-3 lead on a pair of Dart scoring passes to tight end Theo Johnson.

Dart hit Johnson from 1-yard out with 9:34 remaining in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead. On the play before, Dart connected with tight end Daniel Bellinger for 18 yards to the 1–yard line to set up the TD.

The Giants, without their top offensive weapon, receiver Malik Nabers, for the rest of the season, used a lot of two-tight-end sets.

They, too, used a lot of up-tempo no-huddle to stay in rhythm and on the front foot.

They took a 14-6 lead on their second offensive possession when Dart hooked up again with Johnson, this time from 15 yards out with 13:01 remaining in the second quarter.

It was Dart’s most impressive pass of the game, a dart that split Sanker and McKinstry as Johnson kept keen focus and held onto the ball.

Then the Giants opened the second half exactly as you should never open a second half on the road inside the raucous Superdome with a rookie quarterback making his first career start on the road: They fumbled twice on their first two possessions, leading to 10 New Orleans points.

There was probably one thing the Giants needed to avoid doing in this game against the Saints, one of the dregs of the league.

That was to not turn the ball over and avoid committing a bunch of penalties.

So, they turned it over five times and committed 10 penalties for 95 yards.

In short, the Giants did what bad teams do.