The Giants lost another game and that is no longer news, although the specifics and particulars of this latest loss are specifically and particularly galling, as far as sameness and also innovativeness.
If there is a unique way to get beat, the Giants will find it.
And so, having a punt return for a touchdown called back, having a made field goal taken off the board by a penalty and then having a field goal to send the game into overtime blocked because a guy on the other team leaped over THE SAME GUY that ruined the other field goal is creative stuff.
What else is there to say about Saints 14, Giants 11 at MetLife Stadium — the eighth consecutive loss for the Giants? Here are a few thoughts:
Sure, people can spend their hard-earned money on whatever they want, as long as it’s legal and socially acceptable. Knock yourself out if you want to rent a small aircraft to display a message to spark your favorite team out of its doldrums.
You know what was most interesting about what was displayed up in the air 90 minutes before kickoff on Sunday? It was the actual message itself.
It did not implore co-owner John Mara to sell the team — that is an always-popular (and never successful) plea at times like this. It did not insist on wiping the slate clean with the firing of general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll. This message was more of a plea than a demand and it was actually respectful in the wording: “Mr. Mara Enough – Plz Fix This Dumpster Fire.’’
It was a passionate request for Mara to do something. In some ways, the sentiment actually entrusts Mara to fix the franchise. No doubt, he has received harsher and more emotionally-charged letters and emails as this season has spiraled out of control. The plane deal is a public display, of course, and that is more embarrassing.
Long after the for-rent aircraft landed, the Giants completed the loss to the Saints. A nice comeback from a 14-3 deficit early in the fourth quarter went for naught when Graham Gano’s 35-yard field goal attempt was blocked with eight seconds remaining in regulation, preventing the Giants from taking the game into overtime. Given what has transpired, perhaps it is better for all concerned that there was not even a single extra minute added onto this sorry season.
Given the way many passing attacks operate, finding completions is often fairly routine. There are all sorts of dump-offs and shovel passes and quick-outs available to find easy, routine completions to allow a quarterback to settle into a game. Those attempts were made and they all failed with Drew Lock in his second start for the Giants. His first eight passes were not completed. A few of them did not come close. There were a couple of drops. There was nothing good and it set a bad tone for the day.
This is not commonplace. The last quarterback to fail to connect on his first eight passes in a game was Cam Newton of the Panthers — back on Dec. 31, 2017. The Panthers ended up losing that game, 22-10, in Atlanta, blowing a chance to win the NFC South. They finished 11-5 and still made the playoffs, though.
Getting a field goal blocked because rookie Jake Kubas got pushed down by Nathan Shepherd and leaped over by Bryan Bresee, who made the block, fell into Can’t Make It Up territory.
Kubas was making his NFL debut because Jon Runyan Jr. was forced out during the game with an ankle injury. That was not bad luck as much as it was bad form and it cannot be overstated how bad teams find ways to lose.
There are so, so many differences between the Giants (2-11) and Chiefs (12-1) but it is worth noting that the Chiefs gained their most recent great escape when their third-string kicker, Matthew Wright, clanged off the left upright a 31-yard field goal as time expired. The ball, of course, deflected through to give the Chiefs a 19-17 victory over the Chargers. Luck? Perhaps. Good teams find or manufacture luck. Bad teams are repelled by good fortune.
Malik Nabers went into the game with a new hip flexor injury and a lingering strained groin issue and was listed as questionable to play. The expectation was a limited role because of these ailments. No dice.
He played 73 of the 78 snaps on offense. The passing game was disgraceful in the first half and Nabers, targeted only twice, caught one pass for 17 yards. He hung in there and finished with five catches for 79 yards, helping to spark a mini-rally in the fourth quarter. He admitted afterwards he was “sore, hurting.’’
This was a good look for the prize rookie, battling through his physical discomfort. Nabers now has 80 receptions, the most by an NFL player in his first 11 games (he missed two games in concussion protocol). The record of 79 was previously held by Odell Beckham Jr., set in 2014 with the Giants.
If you owned Alvin Kamara in fantasy football, you had to be salivating at this Week 14 matchup. The Giants came into the game as the 29th-ranked run defense and they were set to play this game without two of their best interior defenders, Dexter Lawrence and Bobby Okereke, both out with injuries, and also without Rakeem Nunez Roches, a starter on the defensive line.
The Giants had to use on their defensive line two rookies, Elijah Garcia and Casey Rogers, elevated from the practice squad. It was the NFL debut for Rogers and the Giants debut for Garcia. They had to use Elijah Chatman, a rookie backup. They had to use backup Jordon Riley for his first NFL start. They had to use Cory Durden, signed off the Rams practice squad, making his Giants debut.
This makeshift defensive line did the job.
For those needing Kamara to put up big numbers to get their squad into the playoffs, sorry about that. Kamara ran it 17 times and gained only 44 yards. Chatman (56 of the 68 snaps on defense), Riley (38 snaps), Garcia (29) and Durden (23) all contributed to the surprising run-stopping proficiency.
The Giants received big efforts from their inside linebackers. Micah McFadden (five of his team-high 11 tackles were for loss) was active and rookie Darius Muasau had eight tackles as the fill-in for Okereke.
“They battled,’’ Daboll said of his rejiggered defensive line. “I’m proud of them. The four of those guys [Garcia, Durden, Rogers and Chatman] – they were in there. Took this one hard. They were battling. They got an opportunity. Again, we did a few different things defensively, front-wise, to try to mix things up on them. Those guys battled. I’m proud of the way those guys competed.’’
The Giants are down to one healthy team captain — long snapper Casey Kreiter – and so Daboll opted to give Kreiter company for the opening coin toss. He selected K Graham Gano, OLB Brian Burns, G Greg Van Roten and RB Devin Singletary to accompany Kreiter.
The Giants won the toss and elected to defer.