Jameis Winston came in unbeaten as the Giants' starter and lost that status in the second half. He went 14-of-26 for 152 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, both after halftime, one to Martin Emerson Jr. and one to Julian Blackmon. In the 4th quarter John Harbaugh benched him for J.J. McCarthy. All week Harbaugh had talked about McCarthy as a change-of-pace scrambler, not the guy you go to when you need the game back. The preview's question was whether Winston could protect the ball against a Saints defense down linebackers Kaden Elliss and Anfernee Jennings. He couldn't.
It didn't start that way. The Giants scored the only points of the 1st quarter and went up 10-0 before New Orleans scored. The Saints got 10 back before the half to tie it at 10. Then came the 3rd quarter, the one that decided the game: New Orleans 17, New York 0. That's where both Winston picks landed, and the Saints turned a coin-flip game into a 27-10 lead going into the 4th.
The Giants made it close late. They scored 17 in the 4th quarter, including stretches with McCarthy under center, while the Saints managed 7. That last touchdown is what kept New York from finishing the comeback. Still, the 1st-half-heavy Giants offense went silent for a full quarter, and against a defense the preview called 2 starters short, that's on the offense. The Saints' defense had given up 35 to the Raiders and 45 to the Falcons in back-to-back home losses. Here it held the Giants scoreless for the stretch that mattered.
Both teams paid for this one physically. The Giants lost corner Greg Newsome II to a concussion, in a secondary already missing Colton Hood and Tyler Nubin. Left tackle Andrew Thomas was evaluated for a head injury and receiver Darnell Mooney (neck) was questionable to return. On the New Orleans side, guard Cesar Ruiz (knee) was ruled out and corner Kool-Aid McKinstry (ankle) was questionable to return. Alvin Kamara left with an undisclosed issue and came back. The box score search didn't turn up lines for Chris Olave or Abdul Carter, so their days go unanswered here beyond the fact that both were active.
New Orleans moves to 2-4, and its only 2 wins have come on the road, at Baltimore and now at MetLife. The Giants fall to 3-2-1 and lose their perfect home record. They now have a quarterback question that didn't exist at 1:00 PM ET. If Shough can put up 4 touchdowns with a broken hand, Kellen Moore's defense of him looks a lot better than it did a week ago. For Harbaugh, the question is whether the 4th-quarter switch to McCarthy was a one-game jolt or the start of something.