Saints Score 34 Straight Points, Then Hold On to Beat Giants 34-27 at MetLife

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.

For three quarters, this was the afternoon the Saints had been waiting a month for. For the last eleven minutes, it was the kind of afternoon that gets coaches fired. New Orleans scored 34 consecutive points, built a 24-point lead behind Tyler Shough and a takeaway-happy secondary, and then held on — barely, breathlessly — to beat the New York Giants 34-27 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, snapping a three-game losing streak and improving to 2-4, Reuters and NBC Sports reported.

The final minute told the whole story. The Giants, left for dead at 34-10 early in the fourth quarter, got the ball back at their own 29 with 57 seconds left and no timeouts after forcing a third straight Saints punt. Backup quarterback J.J. McCarthy scrambled 28 yards on the first snap, hit Isaiah Likely for 20 and Malik Nabers for nine, and suddenly New York was at the Saints’ 14-yard line with the tying touchdown one completion away. McCarthy spiked the ball on third-and-1 with 13 seconds left, and on fourth down his throw to Likely in the end zone fell incomplete under pressure from Chase Young, according to game coverage. Five seconds remained. The Saints took a knee, and a stadium that had been booing its own offense an hour earlier stood in stunned silence.

Ten down, then 34 straight

Nothing about the first quarter suggested a Saints rout. The Giants’ second possession was a 12-play, 93-yard march that ended with Jameis Winston finding Tyrone Tracy Jr. for a 17-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead, and Dominic Zvada’s 34-yard field goal early in the second quarter made it 10-0. New Orleans, which came in 1-4 and unable to run the football for most of the season, looked headed for a fourth straight loss.

Then the game flipped in about ninety seconds. Daniel Carlson got the Saints on the board with a 58-yard field goal, and on the ensuing kickoff Charlie Jones fumbled — Isaiah Stalbird forced it, per the Associated Press, and Oscar Delp recovered at the New York 28. Given one more chance before halftime, Shough converted on fourth-and-goal with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Lance with one second left in the second quarter to tie the game 10-10. It was Lance’s first NFL touchdown, and it changed everything: the Saints would score on four straight possessions and never trail again.

The third quarter was a clinic. On the first possession of the second half, Shough dumped a short pass to Alvin Kamara, who made two defenders miss and raced 31 yards for a touchdown and a 17-10 lead. On that catch, Kamara also became just the sixth player in NFL history with 5,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards in his career, joining Marcus Allen, Tiki Barber, Christian McCaffrey, Lenny Moore and Marshall Faulk. Shough added a 1-yard sneak for a 24-10 lead, and after Martin Emerson Jr. intercepted Winston, Carlson drilled a 51-yard field goal to make it 27-10 heading into the fourth. The Saints’ ground game, a weakness all season, piled up a season-high 175 rushing yards behind the committee of Kamara, Kendre Miller and C.J. Donaldson.

Emerson, Blackmon and the pick party

The Saints’ defense did the rest — at least until it didn’t. Emerson, who stepped in opposite Quincy Riley at cornerback, intercepted Winston in the third quarter on a pass intended for Nabers, then picked off McCarthy in the fourth for his second interception of the day and the Saints’ third. In between, safety Julian Blackmon intercepted a Winston overthrow early in the fourth quarter and returned it to the New York 21, setting up Shough’s 18-yard touchdown strike to Chris Olave that stretched the lead to 34-10 with 11:31 to play.

Shough’s final line was efficient rather than spectacular: 16-of-30 for 144 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, plus 32 rushing yards and the sneak for a score. It looks even better in context. ESPN reported this week that Shough has been playing with two broken bones in his non-throwing left hand, an injury suffered against Atlanta on Oct. 5; he practiced fully all week, was not on the Saints’ official injury report, and has been handing off with his right hand while his taped-together ring and pinkie fingers heal. Four total touchdowns with a broken hand, on the road, in a must-win game — that is the sort of line that quiets a quarterback conversation for a while.

McCarthy nearly stole it

Winston’s day ended with the Blackmon interception: 14-of-26 for 152 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, plus four sacks taken. Head coach John Harbaugh turned to McCarthy, the former first-round pick the Giants acquired from Minnesota last month, with just over eleven minutes left and the game seemingly over. McCarthy’s third pass was intercepted by Emerson. What happened next was the full McCarthy experience.

After the Saints pulled starters and Donaldson fumbled at midfield, McCarthy drove New York to Tracy’s 5-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion to cut it to 34-18. He then needed just three plays and 48 seconds for the next score, hitting Charlie Jones for 49 yards before finding Likely for a 24-yard touchdown — McCarthy’s first as a Giant — to make it 34-24. A 46-yard strike to Nabers set up Zvada’s 41-yard field goal, his second make in two tries, and with 2:04 left the Giants were within 34-27. McCarthy finished 11-of-21 for 243 yards and a touchdown, all in the fourth quarter; NBC Sports noted his 243 fourth-quarter passing yards are the third-most by any quarterback since 2020, and his 28-yard scramble made him the Giants’ leading rusher on the day. Nabers was brilliant in defeat: 12 catches for 165 yards.

It still was not enough, and now Harbaugh has a decision. Asked after the game about evaluating McCarthy for the starting job, Harbaugh said the process “starts right now.” Winston had kept the Giants afloat since Jaxson Dart’s season-ending knee injury in Week 2, but two more interceptions and a benching have a way of ending debates. The Giants also left with injury concerns. Cornerback Greg Newsome II was ruled out for the rest of the game after a concussion evaluation. Left tackle Andrew Thomas left in the fourth quarter to be evaluated for a concussion. Receiver Darnell Mooney was listed as questionable to return with a neck injury.

What it means

For New Orleans, the win changes the math of the season. At 2-4 instead of 1-5, the Saints fly to Paris on Sunday night to face the Pittsburgh Steelers next week ahead of their bye, and a win there sends them into the break at .500 in the loss column with real momentum — the “run” Shough promised this week after agreeing with owner Gayle Benson that the 1-4 start was not acceptable. For the Giants (3-2-1), the loss is their first since Week 2, and they remain atop the NFC East, but they head to Houston next Sunday with a quarterback controversy, a banged-up offensive line and the knowledge that they wasted a 10-0 lead at home against a 1-4 team. Around the league on Sunday, New England beat the Jets 26-19 behind three Drake Maye touchdown passes, and Carolina stunned the Eagles behind Bryce Young. Keep up with the rest of the day on our sports front and in the newsroom.