Tommy DeVito and the New York Giants’ Cinderella story turned into a pumpkin in a blink in the Big Easy on Sunday afternoon.
The New Orleans Saints made easy work of the Giants in Week 15 action behind 17 unanswered second-half points, coming away with a 24-6 victory at the Caesers Superdome, all but disintegrating Big Blue’s playoff hopes.
Entering Sunday just one game out of the final NFC Wild Card spot, the Giants (5-9) are now two games out with three games remaining — two of them coming against a Philadelphia Eagles squad that has dominated them in recent years.
DeVito and the Giants offense was a non-factor. After winning NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, the undrafted rookie completed just 20-of-34 passes for 177 yards. After not being sacked once last week against the Green Bay Packers, he was taken down seven times by an overwhelming Saints defense.
“I think they did a good job defensively. Just their D-line just, I guess just watched their film from what happened last week, DeVito said. “They were just ensuring that wasn’t going to happen again. They did a good job and we’ll be better on offense… I just feel like we kind of got in a little bit of a lull at times. I think it just goes with the execution part. But just keep the energy high at all times.”
The running game couldn’t provide much else. Saquon Barkley was held to just 14 yards on nine carries while DeVito added 36 of his own on the ground.
“Collectively, just not good enough,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “Pretty much take any area, (it) just wasn’t good enough. Give (the Saints) credit. They did well, were efficient in the pass game. We weren’t really efficient in the pass game, the run, the quarterback zone reads where really all of that was going… We couldn’t get the run game going, had a number of sacks (allowed).”
The Saints are still in the thick of the playoff picture at 7-7 in 2023. Quarterback Derek Carr, who shook off a shoulder injury suffered two years ago, passed for three touchdowns with 218 yards passing. New Orleans outgained the Giants 296-193 on the day.
New York had an early, slim lead after getting an opening-drive field goal — a 56-yarder from veteran Randy Bullock. It came at a cost, however, as the kicker pulled his hamstring on the ensuing kick-off and was out for the remainder of the day.
The Saints took a 7-3 lead with 29 seconds to go in the first quarter Carr hit receiver Keith Kirkwood for a seven-yard score.
Suddenly shorthanded, the Giants kicked a field goal as the second half expired when punter Jamie Gillan — who was dealing with a knock of his own — connected on a 40-yard field goal
“You don’t anticipate two [kickers] possibly going down,” Daboll said. “So, give him credit, He fought through it. He kicked off. We will see where we are at.”
It came moments after DeVito was forced from the game due to concussion protocol after he took a hard fall following a hit from Isaac Yiadom while scrambling. Backup Tyrod Taylor, who was activated last week after recovering from a rib cage injury, took four snaps in relief.
On their opening drive of the second half, the Saints went up eight when Carr hit Juwan Johnson for a 23-yard touchdown. Following a field goal, they put the game out of sight when Carr connected with veteran tight end Jimmy Graham for a one-yard score with 10:47 to go in the fourth quarter.
“He’s a vet in this league and we didn’t do a lot to get him off his rhythm,” Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke said of the New Orleans quarterback. “So, they were just executing. They were hitting their shots; they were hitting their check-downs. Run game was bleeding on us. They just played a more complete game than we did.”
