A lead, a chance, a collapse
There was a moment, midway through the second quarter at Caesars Superdome, when the New York Giants seemed to have everything in their grasp. Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart was in rhythm. Brian Daboll’s offense had carved out a 14–3 lead, mixing in tight ends Daniel Bellinger and Theo Johnson to keep the Saints off balance. The crowd was quiet, restless, waiting for another letdown from an 0–4 New Orleans team.
The Giants had the ball inside the red zone, poised to extend their lead to two or three scores.
And then, the bottom fell out.
Running back Cam Skattebo fought for extra yards when Saints rookie defensive tackle Bryan Bresee ripped the football from his grasp. Safety Jordan Howden scooped it up and ran 86 yards the other direction for a defensive touchdown. In one shocking play, the building exploded back to life, and the Saints had all the oxygen they needed.
“It was just a football game until that,” Dart admitted. “We moved it all game—we just turned it over.”
What followed was a cascade of miscues—five consecutive turnovers that flipped a game the Giants controlled into a 26–14 defeat.
“Five to zero, you’re not going to win in this league”
Daboll didn’t sugarcoat it afterward.
“Credit to the Saints,” he said. “It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over five times on five consecutive drives. We missed a couple of opportunities—the flea flicker and some others. On defense, we did a good job in the run game, but gave up some huge plays. Five to zero, you’re not going to win in this league.”
The brutal math was inescapable: five giveaways, no takeaways. A –5 turnover margin. According to NFL history, the win percentage in such games hovers near zero.
The Giants had done plenty right—moving the ball, protecting the passer, forcing the Saints into third-and-long. None of it mattered with the avalanche of mistakes.
Dart’s growing pains
This was Dart’s second career start, and it was the kind of trial that separates “promising” from “proven.”
There were flashes. He scrambled for first downs, threaded passes into windows, and kept the chains moving. But the ball security—two fumbles, two fourth-quarter interceptions—overshadowed all of it.
“I never cared about my age,” Dart said. “I’m the youngest quarterback in the league, but I could care less about that. It’s about winning. I don’t take any excuse for being a rookie. There’s a responsibility when you’re a quarterback to go win games, and that’s the standard I hold myself to.”
He was hard on himself, even more than the media was. “Quarterbacks are measured by wins and losses. I told the guys this one’s on me.”
Daboll struck a balance between tough love and perspective: “Kid, that’s the NFL. Every play matters. There will be ups and downs. We’ll build off this and make sure he’s prepared and ready to go.”
When the haymaker never landed
Before the turnovers snowballed, the Giants had a chance to land their knockout punch. In the first half, Kafka dialed up a flea flicker to Darius Slayton. Dart launched it deep, Slayton had a step, and the play looked destined to become a highlight.
Instead, Saints safety Terrell Burgess broke it up with a perfectly timed play.
“I wish I would’ve tried to go back and get the ball a different way,” Slayton admitted. “End of the day, the quarterback can’t be perfect. Put it near us, it’s our job to go up and fight for the ball. I wish I would’ve gone about it differently.”
It was the kind of missed shot that lingers. Instead of a 21–3 lead, the Giants punted. Instead of control, they gave the Saints life.
The ripple effect of Nabers’ absence
The Giants entered the game without Malik Nabers, their rookie star and vertical field-stretcher. His absence changed everything.
Daboll and Kafka pivoted to heavy tight end sets, leaning on Bellinger and Johnson. Early, it worked. The offense looked structured and balanced. Johnson himself called it “a good change-up, something that gives the defense a different look.”
But without Nabers, there was no explosive outlet when the game tightened. No bailout play. No quick strike to counter New Orleans’ surge. The tight ends moved the chains; they didn’t flip the field.
“We can do a lot out of it,” Johnson said. “Run it, catch out of it, play action. But we have to finish drives. That’s what matters.”
Defensive discipline undone by big plays
Defensively, the Giants had reasons to feel encouraged. They bottled up Alvin Kamara to just 56 yards from scrimmage. They forced New Orleans into multiple third-and-long situations. For much of the first half, they looked the part of a unit that could carry a rookie quarterback.
But like the offense, their miscues came in chunks too big to survive.
The backbreaker: Saints rookie QB Spencer Rattler launching an 87-yard bomb to Rashid Shaheed, the longest play the Giants have surrendered in five years. Add in drive-extending pass interference calls—most notably on Deonte Banks—and the defense’s good work was washed away.
“We’ve got to keep working on our technique,” Daboll said of the penalties. “Too many DPIs. We’ll continue to drill it. You can’t give away those yards.”
Safety Tyler Nubin was blunt: “On the back end, when you make a mistake, it’s a touchdown. We’ve got to be better.”
Accountability in the locker room
If there was one encouraging note in the aftermath, it was the lack of finger-pointing.
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Dart: “This one’s on me.”
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Skattebo: “I handed them a touchdown.”
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Slayton: “I’ve got to fight for that ball.”
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Theo Johnson: “We just have to finish drives.”
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Tyler Nubin: “We’ve got to be better.”
Every offensive leader stood up and shouldered responsibility. For a locker room searching for identity, that matters.
The 1–4 reality
The Giants now sit at 1–4, the optimism of the offseason dimmed by reality. This was supposed to be a year of growth, with a mix of veteran depth (Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston) and youth (Dart, Nabers, Johnson). Instead, it has been a grind of inconsistency, injuries, and missed chances.
The loss to New Orleans was more than just a defeat. It was a mirror, reflecting both the progress and the fragility of this roster.
Daboll’s plan is clear—develop Dart, lean on multiple-tight end sets, tighten the defense. The question is whether they can execute before the standings bury them.
The short week test: Eagles up next
There is no time to lick wounds. The Giants return to MetLife for a Thursday night showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles. Division games are never forgiving, and Philadelphia’s defensive line will test everything New York struggled with in New Orleans: ball security, composure, communication.
“It’s about communication,” Dart said. “On these short weeks we have to play as clean as we can.”
For Daboll, this is where coaching impact is measured—not in easy weeks, but in the wake of disasters. Can he rally his rookie quarterback? Can he stop the turnovers from becoming a theme?
“There will be ups, there will be downs,” Daboll said. “We’ve got to clean up the turnovers and move forward. That’s the NFL.”
Key Stats
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5–0 turnover margin: Giants gave it away five times, never took it back.
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23 unanswered points allowed: From a 14–3 lead to a 26–14 loss.
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87 yards: Longest TD pass against New York since 2018.
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0 takeaways: No defensive counterpunch.
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30% third-down defense: Efficient, but undermined by DPIs and explosives.
The final word
The NFL has a way of teaching lessons quickly. For Jaxson Dart, Sunday was a harsh education: talent and flashes of brilliance don’t matter when the ball ends up in the other team’s hands. For the Giants, it was a reminder that opportunity lost rarely comes back.
They had the Saints on the ropes. They let them off.
At 1–4, with the Eagles looming, the question isn’t about potential anymore. It’s about survival.
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