We can’t sugarcoat it – the (2-10) New York Giants are in free fall and face a New Orleans Saints team that isn’t great either. Ever since they released Daniel Jones, players seem to be very annoyed with the team’s direction judging by their comments to the media. Their game against the Cowboys was better than their game against the Bucs, but both were bad outings and the Cowboys are a bad team. To top it off, the Giants got pretty banged up in that game and lost some key players for the year.
The Giants are also bad but haven’t had any change of trajectory. Since their win over the Seahawks on October 6th, they haven’t scored more than 22 points at all, and have only scored 20 or more twice. It’ll be hard for them to win this game against the Saints this week, even on home turf. For the Giants to have a shot at winning, here are the key players in the matchup.
Key Players On The Giants
The Cowboys game got the Giants a couple things – they got closer to the number 1 overall pick, and it knocked some more players out for the year with injuries.
Injury Alert: Dexter Lawrence, their star nose tackle who’s easily the best player on defense and probably on the team overall, is out for the year with a dislocated elbow. Theo Johnson, their 4th round tight end from the 2024 draft, is out for the year with a Lisfranc injury that requires surgery. This is on top of having already lost Andrew Thomas for the year with his own foot injury. Malik Nabers has also been added to the injury report with a groin injury. His status for Sunday is questionable, although there is some reason for concern since he went from fully practicing earlier in the week to a DNP on Friday. We’ll see how he progresses.
Tommy Devito is off the injury report, but it’s still going to be Drew Lock starting, which is the correct decision based off of their on field play. Lock may or may not have his top receiver available, but at least he’s up against a Saints defense that’s bottom of the league in passing yards allowed and rushing yards allowed. Not for nothing, but last week against the Cowboys, Lock did complete 8 of 12 passes last week when pressured.
It remains to be seen if their top receiver Nabers can play. If he can’t, Darius Slayton will have plenty of opportunities and has been able to step into the top receiver role in previous games when Nabers can’t go. Wan’Dale Robinson is good at getting open and is 12th in the league in receptions, but it’s only for short yardage ranking 134th in yards per catch and he’s not great at catching the ball sitting at 80th in catch rate. Hopefully Lock is able to get the most of his receivers.
In the running game the team has Tyrone Tracy Jr., who seems to be a steal for a 5th round draft pick. He’s 10th in the NFL in rushing yards since becoming the starter in week 5, and as a converted receiver has a dual threat ability on the ground and through the air. Backing him up is Devin Singletary, and while he lost his job as the starter and isn’t lighting the league on fire, he’s been a serviceable running back and can produce when called upon.
There’s a big question mark on how the defense will do, now that they’ve lost their best player for the year with a dislocated elbow. Lawrence being gone leaves a huge hole on this team, and it remains to be seen how his absence changes this defense. The team hasn’t recorded a sack in two games and none in 3 of the last 4, so it’s likely they will struggle a lot without their top defender getting pressure.
Their defense has been surprisingly able to limit opposing teams in receiving yards allowed per game ranking 6th in the league on the season, but only have one interception on the season for the entire team and have been struggling through the air as of late. Where they’ve been most vulnerable is against the run, ranking 29th in yards per game allowed. Unfortunately, the Saints have a dual threat running back who’s one of the best in the league and will keep them busy all game.
Key Players For The Saints
The Giants aren’t the only ones with injury issues.
Taysom Hill, who’s excelled in running the ball, catching the ball, and even throwing the ball, is out for the year with a torn ACL. He’s been a huge weapon for the team and his absence will limit their upside. Chris Olave, one of their best receivers, has been on IR with a concussion for a few weeks now and it’s up in the air if he returns at all this season. Rashid Shaheed has also been on IR for weeks.
Derek Carr has been up and down this season, and has been criticised heavily for his poor play. However, over his past three games, he’s 15 of 19 against the blitz for 240 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He’s scored a QBR rating above 125 in two of his last three games played (since Dennis Allen has been fired). Let’s see if he can play well in this plus matchup.
Carr’s best weapon by far is star running back Alvin Kamara. He’s averaging 4.3 yards per carry accumulating 894 rushing yards, and on top of that he’s also accumulated 450 yards through the air. This is a plus matchup for him and he’ll have every opportunity to take full advantage.
Carr’s top wide receiver with Olave and Shaheed on IR is Marquez Valdez-Scantling, who’s primarily used as the deep threat and has scored in 3 straight games. His target volume is low, however, as he’s gotten 3.3 targets a game over the past 3 games. Let’s see if he can keep the touchdown streak going against a struggling defense now missing their top player.
The Saints defense is bad in rushing and receiving yards allowed as already mentioned, but they do have 12 interceptions on the year, which ranks seventh among teams who’ve already had their bye, and rank well in red zone efficiency and third down conversion percentage at 11th and 13th in the league respectively. They have a great matchup against the Giants offensive line that ranks dead last at yards per attempt average (5.3) and has allowed a sack rate of 9.7 percent.
Game Predictions Giants vs Saints
As stated previously, it’ll be really difficult for the Giants to pull off a victory here with all the injuries they’ve sustained and with the ineptitude that the team has demonstrated on the field. The Saints are favored by the betting markets with the line set at 5 points at the time of this writing. All things point to the Saints pulling off the victory.
For the Giants to win, a number of things need to go right for them.
It would be great if Nabers can play and be able to take advantage of a plus matchup showcasing his elite playmaking ability. If not, they need to move the ball effectively with Slayton and Robinson in the passing game. They should also lean on Tracy as the Saints defense has been bad against the run and has been getting worse as of late. His dual threat ability could be a huge boon for an offense needing as many playmakers as it can get.
Their defense needs to keep their red zone efficiency up by keeping Kamara and MVS out of the end zone, or at least limiting them. It’ll be easier to limit MVS than Kamara, but they can be burned in the secondary and if Carr connects with MVS downfield it’ll be bad for the Giants’ chances of pulling off the upset. It would be nice for them to break their sackless streak in this game and get Carr in the backfield, but that remains to be seen.
Can the Giants pull off the victory? Let’s see what happens this weekend.
Evan Solomon
Evan is originally from Queens, NY and grew up on Long Island, and grew to love The New York Giants being surrounded by Giants fans. He's a social media marketer and content creator by day, which is what led him to joining The League Winners creating content about something he loves - football. Keep an eye out for his fantasy content and NFL team breakdowns.