The New Orleans Saints needed a win in the worst way, and that's exactly what they got -- along with some defensive heroics -- in a 26-14 win over the Giants.
The Saints forced turnovers on five consecutive possessions and got the Caesars Superdome crowd fired up for the first time all season. A win in more ways than one.
It's a 1-4 start, but positive vibes to build on.
With all that in mind, here are my stock up and stock down players after a fun day in the dome.
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STOCK UP
1. The winners
Look, I'm not exactly breaking ground here, but the most important thing that needed to happen for this Saints team finally happened: Spencer Rattler and Kellen Moore won a game.
It was inevitable. It was going to happen. But if it didn't happen this week, that'd have felt like a major red flag. We can now stop with that conversation and move onto more practical matters ... like just how far this team is from being a contender.
But for today, we'll focus on the good things. The Saints have continued to protect the ball at an elite level on offense. Spencer Rattler has thrown just one interception on the year compared to his five touchdowns. He's giving his team a chance, even if he's not pushing the envelope as much as I'd like to see at points and as much as I think he'll probably need to to be the difference-maker in more difficult matchups.
For now I'll settle for the QB playing the way he needs to play to find wins, and today was a proof of concept that those wins can be found -- particularly with some complementary play from an opportunistic defense.
The winless start ended at 10, so we won't have to discuss Rattler with Troy Aikman and Deshone Kizer for the rest of his career. Now we can start talking about whether Rattler has what it takes to be a starter, or if he's simply keeping the seat warm for the next guy. Another win stacked up next to this one would go a long way.
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2. Big-play offense
This is less a stock up in the Saints ability to hit explosive plays as it is in the impact they can have when they land.
It's been a conversation and a fair one: Where are all the big plays? The Saints found one in this game and it had as big an impact as you'll ever see.
The Saints were trailing 14-6 and had just been pinned deep in their own territory. They'd settled for a pair of field goals, and it sure didn't seem at that point that the Saints defense would be shutting down Jaxson Dart and the Giants. The Saints sent on 13 personnel and looked for all the world like they'd keep pounding the ball. Instead they ran a hard play action, the pass protection held up and Rattler hurled a perfect deep ball that found Rashid Shaheed in stride, with the speedster getting Tyler Nubin's hips turned the wrong way on the double move.
It was over. Nubin never had a chance to recover, and Shaheed's top speed of 21.72 mph is the 5th-fastest of any ball-carrier this season. The Superdome, which had seemed hesitant to get loud, erupted and that noise continued throughout the second half.
The play was a shot in the arm for an offense that simply hadn't hit those plays to this point in the season.
"Any time you have an explosive touchdown," center Erik McCoy told me, "it gets everybody rolling."
Sure did. The Saints scored 23 unanswered points to close out the game and turned the Giants over five times. All the frustrations from the beginning of the game were reflected to the opposite sideline.
It was the longest pass play of Rattler's young career, and the longest receiving touchdown of Shaheed's career, a much-needed moment for the WR who hadn't gotten into the end zone since early in the 2024 season and spent the offseason rehabbing a knee injury.
"It felt good," Shaheed said. "I feel like we were waiting on a play like that to hit for the last two weeks. When the opportunity came, like, we executed and that's always a great feeling and I felt like it built momentum for the rest of the game."
The Saints will continue to set up big plays. The Saints have the players that can hit big on big play opportunities. Hopefully the confidence to throw those balls continues to build, too.
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3. The kids are all right
The Saints allowed a quick touchdown drive to open the game, then immediately lose veteran safety Justin Reid to a concussion. Jordan Howden stepped in and the Giants drove the field again. Jaxson Dart found Theo Johnson in the end zone both times.
That's when the the airspace was shut down, and what made that fact so cool was the youth movement that led it. You had second-year pro Kool-Aid McKinstry continuing to come into his own with his first career interception, followed by his second only a few minutes later. You could argue that the first should've just been knocked down, but that's a tough request to make of a guy in that situation.
On the opposite side it was rookie Quincy Riley who played sticky coverage and didn't have his name called much at all, always a positive for a young DB.
On the back end it was rookie Jonas Sanker continuing to be a revelation and always around the ball. He picked up a fumble, made strong open-field tackles and served as a calming presence. He was paired with Howden, effectively the old guy as a third-year pro, who made the defensive play of the day with an 86-yard scoop and score touchdown that felt like it put the game away.
"I think they’ll be a foundation of this team for years to come," center Erik McCoy said. "Super proud of all of them today, but those two especially have just continued to impress me.”
I don't typically quote offensive centers about the secondary, but I just happen to agree wholeheartedly. What makes this performance so encouraging is that those young DBs will be the players relied on for years to come. So far, so good.
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Honorable mention
Terrell Burgess had one of the biggest plays of the game when he stayed calm and ran down Darius Slayton to break up a deep ball on a flea-flicker. Dart left the ball short, which allowed Burgess to make the play, but what made it impressive was that in a lot of situations you'll see a DB panic and simply run through the receiver for a penalty. If he doesn't make the play the Giants are set up for another big score. Burgess could be an important piece for this team going forward. ... Bryan Bresee had an impressive all-around game. He had a tackle, a QB hurry, a pass defensed and a forced fumble (the 86-yard TD). But his impact was more than that. There were multiple third downs where he won his matchup clean and forced Dart to take an early checkdown, with the Saints coming up to make a tackle. With Chase Young still yet to get on the field, the Saints need someone to make an impact and.he was that guy in this game. ... The Saints didn't allow a sack in this game. The OL (Kelvin Banks, Trevor Penning, Erik McCoy, Torricelli Simpkins and Taliese Fuaga) deserve high praise for that, as does Spencer Rattler. All we hear about this Giants team is how great that pass rush is. Keeping them out of the sack column should be praised. ... Taysom Hill's stats don't jump off the page, but just having him out there is a boost for this offense. He immediately becomes the best short-yardage option on the team, and he even had a 19-yard completion in this game. He looked a bit rusty, which is to be expected, but it's easy to see that Kellen Moore is excited about incorporating Taysom into the offense. He's a weapon and the only question was whether the head coach wanted to take advantage of it. Clearly, he does.
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STOCK DOWN
1. Red zone offense
I don't want to bring down the vibes, but I think the takeaway fest and Rashid Shaheed bomb will gloss over a glaring issue: The Saints were atrocious in the red zone against the Giants.
In three opportunities they settled for short field goals three times. Two of those were goal-to-go scenarios. Negative plays were a problem, including one penalty and one ill-advised Taysom Hill sweep that never seemed to have a chance.
You really need to threaten the run in those areas to have a chance and I don't think the Saints did that well enough, but I also think the risk-averse nature the coaching has instilled in Spencer Rattler is a factor here. I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe run more fades? The Saints are suddenly flush with some big-body receivers and I'm not sure they're taking advantage. Devaughn Vele has been here for a month now and show probably be as close to fully integrated as he'll be. Why isn't he a more featured player in those situations?
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2. Early returns
The only thing that went right for the Saints in the kickoff return game was that the Giants didn't have to do it for the entire second half.
It truly was a problem, and I do have to give Jamie Gillan credit for executing in that part of the game, but I'd argue that all three returns were misplayed. The first saw Kendre Miller field the ball in play while his momentum took him into the end zone. He returned the kick and brought it to the 9. The right play would've been to let the ball bounce into the end zone and take it at the 20. It's not ideal, but it's better than what happened.
On the next kickoff it was Velus Jones who did take a knee in the end zone, but he fielded it in play before that happened. It sure looked to me like the ball would've gone into the end zone if he let it go. Worst case if it doesn't is you get it at the 20 anyway. Another mistake that potentially cost 15 yards.
The third was Jones again, this time fielding the ball much like Kendre on the first kick with his momentum going backwards and bringing the ball out to the 16. Again, the touchback would've been preferable.
Look, I understand these situations aren't simply. These are split-second decisions and they won't always be perfect. But it just goes to demonstrate what I've seen as a larger issue of consistently inconsistent execution from the special teams units. Something isn't clicking there and the poorly executed kickoff returns played a big part in why the Saints had to battle from behind in this game. A team playing with the type of margins the Saints are simply can't afford to be giving away yardage in that part of the game.
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3. Kicker woes
I'm as big a Blake Grupe fan as you'll find, but this just hasn't gone well and it doesn't seem to be getting better.
In fairness, Blake did make four kicks -- including a 53-yarder -- and both of his PATs. But the larger trend of inconsistency has remained and it's just a matter of time before it costs the Saints a game. Today the misses were from 52 and 46, but I'm more concerned with how they happened. The first had a draw and missed slightly left, something you don't often see with Blake's kicks.
The next was laser straight and missed slightly to the right. That's a miss that would seem to indicate an aim correction to account for the draw, but the draw didn't happen. That's an indicator that Blake isn't striking the ball the way he wants and isn't trusting his kicks. Anyone who plays golf will understand this: Sometimes you miss and the only explanation is that you hit the ball where you were aiming. You aimed there because you didn't expect it to end up there.
We've also seen Blake mishit two kickoffs this season and leave the ball short of the landing zone. I don't know if it's simply a crisis of confidence or an injury, but something isn't right. I don't think you're at the stage where you make a change at kicker, but at the very least it has to be a conversation.
Blake is 10-for-15 (66%), already missing more kicks (5) than he did in his entire 2024 season (4). The misses have come all over the map.
I do have to give Blake a good slice of credit for his tackle on a kickoff that he would've been fully justified not making with Ugo Amadi in position to mop things up. He'll always be that guy. I need him to be the guy that also makes a much higher percentage of his kicks.
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A few more
I was a little disappointed in the production of the run game against a porous run defense group. Just 88 yards on 30 attempts (2.9 yards per carry), and that's got to be better. Kendre Miller seemed to have the hot hand late in the game and I was disappointed they didn't ride it more. I'm really happy with how he's progressed, but the blocking really needs to be better. ... Can the refs just get their stuff together already? This was a rough game even by their standards, and the roughing call on Carl Granderson's sack in the 4th quarter was as soft a call you'll ever see. Be better.