The Saints went to New York (New Jersey) and beat the Giants - the team that leads the NFC East - 34-27! But the Saints began with another slow start and the Giants jumped out to a 10-0 lead.
Sometimes a win doesn’t mean you put forth your best effort - whether it’s a football game or a sales presentation. Winning is important - but it’s also important to challenge yourself to always put forth your best effort. Any great coach will look beyond winning a game and assess whether the team played their best.
The Saints were behind 10-3 and toward the end of the first half - QB Tyler Shough hit receiver Bryce Lance along the back of the end zone for Lance’s 1st NFL touchdown and the Saints tied the score at 10-10.
In the 3rd quarter - Alvin Kamara ran for 11 yards and then faked his way through defenders to score a touchdown - which put Kamara in a special group of players that have 5,000 yards rushing and passing. At that point the Saints took the lead 17-10.
At one point - Kamara left the game and went into the blue tent. I don’t know what they did to him in there but after his visit to the blue tent Kamara came back in the game and seemed like the old Alvin Kamara.
Placekicker Daniel Carlson missed a 55-yard field goal - but in the 3rd quarter Calrson hit a 51-yarder and the Saints then led 27-10. The Saints defense was crushing the Giants and QB Jameis Winston.
Then Shough connected with Chris Olave’ with a perfect pass and Olave’ made a perfect catch and the Saints were dominating the Giants 34-10. The Saints scored 34 unanswered points.
And then the Saints defense relaxed. Winston was pulled after his 2nd interception and JJ McCarthy came in a ran and passed all over the Saints defense. It seemed the defense felt a false sense of security with the 34-10 lead and suddenly the Giants were back in the game and lead 34-27.
Not only did the Saints defense seem to relax - but when the Saints offense had the ball the play-calling went totally conservative as if the Saints were clinging to the lead instead of having a killer instinct and going for the kill.
The Saints survived a win. BUT it was a win and the Saints are 2-4 and tied for 2nd place in the NFC South with the Falcons - who lost to the Bears yesterday. And the L.A. Rams were believed to be one of the teams expected to be in the Super Bowl and the Rams are also 2-4 and so are the Cowboys who have a lot of talent and QB Dak Prescott is one of the highest paid players in the league.
We should all be thrilled the Saints went on the road and beat the Giants - but Coach Moore and the team need to look at how the defense and the offense changed after the Saints got to a 34-10 lead.
This is an exciting win for the Saints - who flew to Paris after the game to prepare for their game with the Steelers next Sunday - but it’s fair to figure out what happened to let the Giants back in the game because other teams could come back and erase a big Saints lead if the team doesn’t learn to put teams away when they have the opportunity.
The Saints wore a uniform I’ve talked about - all-white with the white helmets. They looked great and they won!
The Saints were a 1.5 favorite to beat the Giants and that was a surprise to me. Friday on the show I predicted the Saints would go on the road and beat the Giants and they did.
The Saints won - but let’s hope the coaches and the team work on their mistakes because we want that victory against the Steelers!
