Da Boot Sports
10/26/2025
By: Terrill J. Weil


   NEW ORLEANS, LA - The (1-6) Saints hosted the (5-2) division leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Caesars Super Dome on Sunday afternoon and fell to the Bucs, 23-3.

   The Saints offense struggled against the Tampa defense all day. 

   Spencer Rattler started the game and finished, 15-21 for 136 yards and an interception. Tyler Shough played in the second half, going, 17-30 for 128 yards and an interception.
   
   Alvin Kamara led the team in rushing with 21 yards on six carries.

   Rashid Shaheed led the team with nine catches for 75 yards.

   The defense was led by Demario Davis and Justin Reid with four tackles each. The defense managed three sacks, but weren't able to force any turnovers.
   
   After a scoreless first quarter, the Bucs were the first team to mount a scoring threat. But the New Orleans defense stood tall with a very impressive goal line stand, stuffing Tampa Bay four plays from the one yard line. 

   But a few seconds later, the Saints were facing a second and one from their ten yard line. Spencer Rattler took a deep drop and was intercepted by Anthony Nelson at the four yard line and easily jogged into the end zone. With 6:41 left in the second quarter, Tampa Bay led, 7-0.

   The Saints managed to drive deep into Tampa territory late in the quarter, but had to settle for a 48 yard Blake Grupe field goal with only 11 seconds left on the clock after the drive stalled at the Buc's 30 yard line.

   The contest went to the halftime break with Tampa Bay holding a 7-3 advantage. 


   Tampa Bay took the second half kickoff and methodically drove down the field. The ten play, 73 yard drive culminated with a one yard touchdown run by Sean Tucker. 14-3 Buccaneers with 10:12 left in the third quarter. 

   The Bucs extended their lead on a 55 yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin. 17-3, Tampa Bay with 4:02 left in the third.

   With the offense sputtering, Tyler Shough replaced Spencer Rattler at the 3:57 mark of the third quarter to try and spark things. Shough moved the team, but the drive ended when Antoine Winfield pulled the ball out of Chris Olave's hands for an interception. It was a nice pass by Shough right into Olave's hands, but Winfield simply took it away. Tampa Bay took the ball over at mid-field as the third quarter came to an end.

   Tampa Bay took advantage of the turnover, settling for a 52 yard field goal to increase their lead to 20-3 with 14:03 left in the contest.

   With the Saints offense still struggling, the Buccanners were able to pad their lead with another Chase McLaughlin field goal. 23-3, Tampa with 9:32 remaining. 

​   The Buccaneers' defense simply dominated, keeping the Saints reeling all day long. New Orleans turned the ball over four times and Saints quarterbacks were sacked five times. 

   With the loss, New Orleans falls to 1-7.  Next up, the Saints will go on the road to play the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday,
​November 2. Kickoff is set for 3:05 pm CST and will be televised on FOX.

​

Photos Below by: Michael Bacigalupi

​John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior)

​*John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Da Boot Sports
10/19/2025
Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports
By: Ken Trahan


   It was a rainy, windy day in the Windy City. Fortunately, the field was covered up until two hours before kickoff and the rain stopped before game time.
   
​   The Bears came in leading the NFL with a plus eight in turnover margin. They left the game with a plus 11 margin, courtesy of Spencer Rattler.

   Caleb Williams and Rattler were once college teammates at Oklahoma with Williams winning out in the battle for the starting job.

   While Williams was nothing special Sunday, it is clear he is the better prospect, based on what we saw today.

   The eight-game win streak for the Saints over the Bears is over. Of course, that was expected.

   Rattler had not been the reason the Saints were not winning prior to this afternoon. He was a prime reason the Saints lost today.

   Good teams seem to get the benefit of most calls. Ask the Kansas City Chiefs.

   The Saints did not get a key call but did not do enough to help themselves to have any shot at winning.

   Here are my Quick Takes on the 26-14 Chicago win over New Orleans:

​**Inactives for the Saints included Ugo Amadi, Torricelli Simpkins, Xavier Truss, Jonah Williams, Rezjohn Wright and Isaac Yiadom.
**Blake Grupe continued to struggle on kickoffs, knocking the opening kickoff out of the end zone to give Chicago the ball at its 35-yard-line.
**Chase Young anticipated a quick flat pass and nearly intercepted it on the second play of the game.
**The Saints forced a 3-and-out, getting a stop for the first time in five weeks on the opening possession for an opponent.
**Alvin Kamara gained six yards on a toss-sweep left on the first offensive play for New Orleans. That would prove to be his highlight of the day.
**The good start turned bad quickly.
**Rattler held the ball too long on a pass play, decided to step up and try to run, carried the ball in one hand and was stripped by Motez Sweat. Gervon Dexter Sr. recovered the fumble at the New Orleans 24-yard-line. Rattler did everything wrong, holding the ball too long and holding the ball with one hand, enabling Sweat to strip him.
**Williams fumbled two snaps on the possession, Quincy Riley made a nice tackle in space and Jake Moody had to come on and kicked a 27-yard field goal to give Chicago a 3-0 lead with 9:34 to play in the first quarter.
**The Saints went 3-and-out again on their second possession.
**Young knocked down a second pass attempt from Williams on the next Chicago possession.
**Riley made a huge play, reading Williams, stepping in front of Rome Odunze and intercepting a pass at the Chicago 48-yard-line.
**It did not matter. A poor offense failed to capitalize in any fashion.
**Rashid Shaheed hurt the Saints with a false start, Rattler elected to throw a 1-yard pass to Chris Olave, rather than running for what would have been more yardage, before Blake Grupe missed another field goal, this time from 53 yards.
**As Nick Underhill noted, the Saints were now 1 of 26 on third-and-eight yards to go or longer this season following that possession.
**The New Orleans offense gained 27 yards on 11 snaps in the opening quarter.
**The defense had to defend a short field and held Chicago to a 39-yard field goal by Moody to give the Bears a 6-0 lead with 14:06 to play in the half.
**The Saints killed themselves on the next drive with an illegal formation penalty negating a Rattler run for a first down. Rattler got sacked twice. On both occasions, Kamara was beaten badly in pass protection.
**The Saints were bailed out by a roughing the passer penalty on Jaquan Brisker on a third-and-28, giving New Orleans a first down.
**Rattler then paid the price with another bad throw, behind Mason Tipton and it was intercepted by Nahshon Wright, who returned it to the New Orleans 30-yard-line. Rattler was way late with the throw and way behind Tipton, who was actually open on the play.
**That led to a D’Andre Swift 11-yard touchdown run as Swift scored easily through a gaping hole to give the Bears a 13-0 lead with 9:05 to play in the half, completing a 30-yard, four play drive.
**Oft-injured Kendre Miller left the game early with a knee injury. What else is new?
**Taysom Hill lost nine yards on a quarterback keeper and the Saints went 3-and-out as Rattler went deep for Olave, who returned to the game, but Rattler threw the ball out of bounds, not giving Olave a chance.
**Kai Kroger’s struggles continued as he hit a lousy 31-yard punt.
**Alontae Taylor went out of the game, came back in, and went out again.
**Kyle Monangai scored his first NFL touchdown with a 1-yard run to make it 20-0 with 2:51 to play in the half, finishing a 55-yard drive in eight plays.
**The Saints failed on a fourth-and-one at the Chicago 43-yard-line with 1:38 to play, giving the Bears the ball back.
**Rattler had Juwan Johnson open, threw it behind him but Johnson dropped yet another pass.
**Olave went in motion, Tyrique Stevenson had him in man coverage and Rattler hit Olave in stride for a 57-yard gain. It was just the ninth play of 20 or more yards for the Saints this season.
**The 10th play of 20 or more yards came next as Rattler connected with Olave on a 21-yard touchdown pass on a well-timed, perfect throw to cut the Chicago lead to 20-7 with 22 seconds left in the half.
**The drive covered 91 yards in five plays and took just 46 seconds for New Orleans to score.
**The Saints finished the first half with 104 yards, 91 of which came on the final drive of the half.
**New Orleans continued the momentum to start the second half. The Saints took the kickoff and drove 80 yards in 10 plays with Rattler hitting Olave with a 14-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 20-14 with 9:40 to play in the third quarter. Rattler had completions of 10 and 29 yards to Johnson to set up the score.
**Chicago drove to the New Orleans 2-yard-line and on fourth-and-goal, the Bears decided to go for it. Williams fumbled yet another snap and the Saints apparently had a big stop but a false start was called, giving the Bears a second chance and Moody kicked a 24-yard field goal to make it 23-14 with 4:07 to play in the third quarter.
**The drive covered 66 yards in eight plays.
**Rattler then made another big mistake. While extending a play, he decided to throw deep for Rashid Shaheed but overthrew him badly and Kevin Byard III intercepted it at the Chicago 12-yard-line, the third turnover by the Saints.
**Bryan Bresee and Young combined for the first sack of Williams early in the fourth quarter.
**Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier dialed up a trick play to convert a third-and-20 on a completion to Hill, who then lateraled to Kamara and the play covered 31 yards. Unfortunately, the play was overruled on a successful challenge by Chicago to negate the play. It was extremely close and it was surprising that replay overruled it.
**The Bears increased the lead to 26-14 with a 33-yard field goal by Moody with 6:22 to play in the game to finish off an eight play, 51-yard drive.
**Erik McCoy left the game and Luke Fortner took over at center.
**Rattler threw his third interception of the afternoon and committed his fourth turnover of the game as Tremaine Edmunds picked off an ill-advised throw across his body into three navy blue jerseys, intended for Jack Stoll.
**Chicago got the ball back and the Bears were able to run the clock out.

   The thought here was that Tyler Shough would get his shot after the bye week following week 10. Will his shot come earlier now?

   The Saints are going nowhere fast at 1-6.

   Have they seen enough of Rattler?

   At some point, you have to see what you have in Shough.

   After today’s game, that may become more of a focus for Kellen Moore.

   Defensively, the Saints started well but were awful in the second half against the run, a reminder of who they were a year ago.

   Chicago gashed New Orleans for 220 yards rushing, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Chicago rushed for 13 first downs. When you run it that well and get turnovers, you dominate time of possession. Chicago had the ball for 36:19 to just 23:41 for the Saints. That contributed to the New Orleans defense wearing down against the run.

   Conversely, the Saints cannot run the ball.

   New Orleans rushed for just 44 yards on 17 carries, an average of 2.6 yards per carry. Kamara is not the same player he once was, Miller is hurt again, Hill is still coming back from a serious injury and Devin Neal is a rookie. Still, the offensive line play is a clear part of that failure, just as it was part of Rattler being sacked four times.

   The kicking game remains poor.

   Grupe kicked off in the end zone again and missed a field goal while Kroger hit a 31-yard punt and the return game was nominal.

   We learned nothing new today.

   The Saints are a bad team and remain that way.

   The Saints cannot score.

   The Saints are still below average against the run.

   The Saints kicking game is below average.

   That defines bad.

   The Saints return home to play their first division game against the top dog in Tampa Bay next Sunday.

   The only question now is when Shough will get his shot.

   Though it may not move the needle, it is certainly worth a look in this otherwise predictably forgettable season.

Da Boot Sports
10/12/2025
Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports
By: Ken Trahan


   The New Orleans Saints were catching the New England Patriots coming off an emotionally and physically draining victory over their biggest rival, the Buffalo Bills.
   
   While one though process is that momentum would carry over, the other thought process was that New England would not be able to match the emotional and physicality of the previous week. Unfortunately for the Saints, the Patriots showed up and played well. As a favorite with better personnel, that was enough to get the job done.

   Drake Maye and former LSU wide receiver Kayshon Boutte of Westgate High School combined to inflict pain upon the home team.

   Here are my Quick Takes on the 25-19 New England win over New Orleans:

​**Inactives for the Saints included Ugo Amadi, Khristian Boyd, Torricelli Simpkins, Xavier Truss, Rezjohn Wright and Isaac Yiadom
**With Cesar Ruiz active, the Saints had their starting offensive line begin the game for just the second time this season.
**On the first play from scrimmage, Spencer Rattler hit Chris Olave for 53 yards to the New England 22-yard-line.
**The Saints could not full capitalize, doing nothing on the next three downs and Blake Grupe kicked a 34-yard field goal to give New Orleans a 3-0 lead with 12:50 to play in the opening quarter.
**Grupe’s shaky kickoffs continued as he booted the ensuing kickoff in the end zone, giving New England the ball at its own 35-yard-line.
**Drake Maye put New England on top with a 53-yard touchdown pass to DeMario Douglas and it was 7-3 with 10:52 to play in the first quarter. Douglas ran a deep cross and was wide open with only safety Jonas Sanker in pursuit and he missed the tackle. It took just four plays to go 65 yards for the score.
**The Saints had a good drive which reached the New England 3-yard line on a completion from Rattler to Devaughn Vele but Kelvin Banks was flagged for holding, killing the possession. Grupe connected on a 48-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 7-6 with 5:05 to play in the first quarter.
**The Patriots had a 61-yard touchdown pass from Maye to Douglas negated by an offensive pass interference penalty on Stefon Diggs. Maye extended the play and Douglas was wide open.
**It did not matter. On the next play, Quincy Riley committed pass interference penalty on Kyle Williams, giving the Patriots a first down and a gain of 21 yards to midfield.
**Then, Jonathan Bullard was flagged for defensive holding, giving New England another first down.
**Maye hit Boutte with a 25-yard touchdown pass, a perfect throw as Boutte was blanketed by Kool-Aid McKinstry to make it 14-6 with 33 seconds left in the first quarter. McKinstry and Boutte had simultaneous possession and that is always awarded to the offensive player.
**The drive covered 69 yards in six plays.
**The Patriots had 118 yards while the Saints totaled 114 in the first quarter.
**Kevin Banks Jr. went down with 14:10 to play in the first half. Asim Richard replaced him at left tackle briefly. Banks was able to return on the same possession.
**Taysom Hill scored on a 2-yard run to cut the deficit to 14-13 with 9:42 to play in the first half, capping an 11 play, 60-yard drive in 5:51. It was an impressive drive mixing runs and passes.
**Danny Stutsman replaced Pete Werner at linebacker in the second quarter. Werner did not appear to have an injury.
**New England elected to go for a fourth-and-seven at the New Orleans 39-yard-line but a bad snap from center forced Maye to fall on the ball at the New England 47-yard line, a loss of 14 yards on the aborted play.
**Rattler made a very good deep throw in the end zone to Olave against tight coverage, the ball hit Olave in the hands but he failed to make the catch. That led to a 38-yardfield goal by Grupe to give the Saints a 16-14 lead with 1:51 to play in the half. The drive went 27 yards in eight plays, taking 3:59 off the clock.
**Werner returned on the next defensive series.
**The Patriots had plenty enough time to answer and did, driving 73 yards in seven plays, taking just 1:20 with Maye hitting a wide open Boutte for a 29-yard touchdown. Maye snuck in the 2-point conversion to give New England a 22-16 lead with 31 seconds left in the half.
**The only defensive stop for the Saints in the half was on a bad snap, an aborted play.
**New England amassed 217 yards to 188 for the Saints in the half.
**Rattler was 12 of 14 for 129 yards in the half while Maye was 11 of 13 for 185 yards and three touchdowns for a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
**The Saints were penalized for a personal foul face mask penalty on Chris Rumph III, giving New England great field position at its own 43-yard-line.
**The Patriots drove to the New Orleans 1-yard-line but Jonathan Bullard made a tackle for a 4-yard loss, followed by a delay of game penalty and New England settled for a 24-yard field goal by Andy Borregales to increase the lead to 25-16 with 7:26 to play in the third quarter.
**The drive was 12 plays, 50 yards and took 7:34 off the clock, more than half the third quarter.
**Trevor Penning was penalized for holding on the next possession, stopping a promising New Orleans drive.
**Kai Kroger punted, the first punt of the game for either team, and hit an awful 23-yard effort.
**The Saints then got a stop and forced the first punt of the game by New England.
**Erik McCoy committed a false start on the next New Orleans series.
**The Saints cut the deficit to 25-19 on a 54-yard field goal by Grupe with 13:41 to play in the game.
**New Orleans got a stop, got the ball back, Rattler completed a pass to Juwan Johnson for 14 yards to the New Orleans 49-yard-line but he fumbled it away and Craig Woodson recovered for the Patriots, a costly turnover.
**The play was originally ruled down by contact but Mike Vrabel challenged it and won the challenge. It was a close call.
**The Saints got another stop but were unable to mount a drive and had to punt.
**New England got the ball back and the Saints forced a third-and-11 but Maye made a perfect back shoulder throw to Boutte, who was working on McKinstry and the Patriots were able to run out the clock.

   Once again, the Saints competed well.

   Once again, as has been the case many times, the Saints had chances but simply could not finish drives. You are not going to win with 19 points. You are not going to win with one touchdown.

   Rattler played well, completing 20 of 26 passes for 227 yards.

   Olave had six catches for 98 yards but had a chance to make a touchdown catch and did not and had a chance at one other pass.

   The Saints did not run the ball well enough, rushing for just 73 yards.

   After a brutal first half, the New Orleans defense was better in the second half but could not get off the field when it needed to.

   Davon Godchaux had his best game as a Saint, in on seven tackles, including one for a loss against his former team.

   Werner had a sack and another quarterback hit.

   Grupe quieted critics, making all four field goal attempts.


   Maye looks the part of a very good young quarterback. He finished 18 of 26 for 251 yards and three touchdowns and he hurt the Saints with six carries for 32 yards, extending several plays.

   Boutte had five catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns in his return to south Louisiana.

   The Saints had their chances. They simply could not get it done.

   The Saints (1-5) travel to Chicago to face the Bears next Sunday, going against former New Orleans head coach and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, now the defensive coordinator with Chicago.

   Rest assured, Allen will dial up everything in his arsenal to beat his former team.

​   Then again, it is not that tough a task against the 2025 New Orleans Saints. While the Saints are competing hard, the hard truth is they are simply not good enough, though we knew that already.

​   

Da Boot Sports
10/5/2025
Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports
By: Ken Trahan


   The 2025 New Orleans Saints lacked big plays in their first four games of the season; all were losses. That trend ended Sunday.It did not good look good early as the Giants scored touchdowns on their first two possessions. It looked very good late after the Saints shut out New York the rest of the way.

   The last time the Saints had two touchdowns of 86 yards or more was in 1998 against Minnesota when Aaron Craver had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and Sammy Knight returned an interception 91 yards for a score. Ironically, the Saints lost that game.

   The Saints scored on an 87-yard touchdown pass and an 86-yard fumble recovery and return for a score. That anomaly from another century did not occur Sunday. When you make big plays, you win games. New Orleans came up with huge plays on offense and defense.

   When you win the turnover battle, you typically win games. When you win the turnover battle by a whopping margin of five, you are unquestionably going to win.

   The result was obvious for New Orleans against the New York Giants at the Caesars Superdome. Kellen Moore has his first win as an NFL head coach.

   After 10 straight losses, Spencer Rattler has his first win as an NFL quarterback.

   The Saints won their third straight game in the series with the Giants and evened the all-time series at 17-17.

   Here are my Quick Takes on the 26-14 New Orleans victory over New York:
**Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau were both active for the first time this season.
**Inactives for the Saints included Devin Neal, Isaac Yiadom, Cesar Ruiz, Xavier Truss, Khristian Boyd and Chase Young.
**The Saints won the toss and elected to receive. Hill and Moreau led the “Who Dat?” chant to loud applause.
**The opening kickoff ended up on the ground and Velus Jones Jr. could only return it eight yards to the 9-yard-line.
**The Saints got a false start penalty by Juwan Johnson and went three-and-out as Rattler passed incomplete into traffic twice. Moreau was in on the series.
**Kool Aid McKinstry committed a pass interference penalty to sustain the first drive of the Giants.
**Jacson Dart hit Daniel Bellinger for 18 yards to the New Orleans 1-yard-line.
**On the next play, Dart hit a wide open Theo Johnson for a 1-yard touchdown to give the Giants a 7-0 lead, capping an eight play, 59-yard drive in 4:05. Dart was 5 of 5 for 45 yards and the score on the drive.
**Taysom Hill was back in his familiar up back position calling signals on the first New Orleans punt and he was in on offense, lining up at quarterback on the first play of the second offensive series for the Saints. Rashid Shaheed was penalized for being offside on the play.
**Rattler was picked off but Deonte Banks was flagged for pass interference, a 25-yard penalty, giving the Saints the ball at midfield.
**The Saints continued the drive and reached the New York 10-yard-line and stalled. Blake Grupe kicked a 28-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 7-3 with 1:40 to play in the opening quarter.
**The drive covered 70 yards in 14 plays, taking 7:54 off the clock.
**Bryan Bresee broke up a pass on the next New York possession but Dart scrambled for 20 yards to the New Orleans 24-yard-line to end the first quarter.
**The Giants had 93 yards to just 54 for the Saints through one quarter.
**Justin Reid went out for the game in the first quarter with a concussion. Reid has had several injuries already this season while Julian Blackmon, his running mate, is out for the year. Jordan Howden replaced Reid.
**Dart finished the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Theo Johnson to give the Giants a 14-3 lead with 13:01 to play in the half.
**The drive covered 70 yards in eight plays, taking 3:39 off the clock.
**It marked the first time since 2020 that the Giants scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of a game and it was the second straight week that Dart, starting just his second game, led the Giants to a touchdown on their first possession.
**New Orleans had a decent drive and Grupe connected on a 53-yard field goal to make it 14-6 with 7:41 to play in the first half. The drive was 12 plays, 49 yards, taking 5:20 off the clock.
**The Saints finally hit the big play as Spencer Rattler connected with Rashid Shaheed on an 87-yard touchdown pass on a deep corner route. Shaheed beat two defenders, with safety Tyler Nubin in pursuit, and the throw was right on the mark. Shaheed outran two defenders for the score to make it 14-13 with 5:16 to play in the half.
**The Giants were flagged for pass interference on consecutive plays. The second was on former Saint Paulson Adebo.
**That lead to a 52-yard field goal attempt by Grupe which he pulled wide left.
**That gave the Giants the ball at their onwn 42-yard-line with 1:25 to play in the half.
**Dart completed a pass to Darius Slayton but Demario Davis forced a fumble and Jonas Sanker returned the fumble to the New York 41-yard-line with 1:02 to play in the half.
**That led to a 29-yard field goal by Grupe on the final play of the half to give the Saints a 16-14 lead at the break. The drive covered 30 yards in eight plays.
**With four catches in the first half, Alvin Kamara now has 590 career receptions, surpassing Tiki Barber and Marcus Allen for fifth all-time in receptions among running backs.
**On the opening drive of the second half, Dart, with an enormous amount of time to throw the ball, simply dropped the ball and Cam Jordan recovered for the Saints at the New Orleans 46-yard-line.
**That gave the Saints the ball with the lead for the first time this season, with 10:52 to play of the third quarter of game five.
**Hill extended the next drive with a third down pass completion to Juwan Johnson for 19 yards to the 7-yard-line of New York after Rattler hit Chris Olave for 19 yards.
**Torricelli Simpkins committed a false start penalty, pushing the ball back to the 12-yard-line and that hurt the possession.
**Grupe kicked a 28-yard field goal to extend the New Orleans lead to 19-14 with 6:55 to play in the third quarter.
**The drive went 44 yards in 10 plays, taking 3:57 off the clock.
**The Giants were driving for a potential go-ahead score and Howden came up with a huge play. Bryan Bresee forced a fumble by Cam Skattebo and Howden picked it up and returned it 86 yards for a touchdown to give the Saints a 26-14 lead.

**Kool Aid McKinstry came up with his first of two turnovers with an interception of Dart on the next possession at the New Orleans 5-yard-line.
**Then, McKinstry secured his second interception of Dart with five minutes to play.
**That marked five consecutive possessions with a turnover for the Giants. The last team to commit a turnover on five straight possessions in the NFL was the New York Jets against Kansas City on Nov. 25, 2016.
**The five turnovers are the most since the Saints came up with five in a win over Chicago on Nov. 5, 2023 when the Saints won 24-17.
**Grupe missed a 46-yard field goal wide right.
**Carl Granderson got a sack of Dart but was flagged for a personal foul. It was a simply terrible call. Granderson did nothing wrong.
**McKinstry broke up a pass in the end zone in the final minute.

   Rattler is the first quarterback drafted by the Saints to win a game since Danny Wuerffel did so in 1998. The second-year pro finished 20 of 30 for 225 yards and a touchdown and rushed six times for 21 yards.

   The secondary, without Blackmon and Reid, was considered a weak spot for the Saints. It was a definitive strength against the Giants. Jonas Sanker missed a potential interception but was good with seven tackles and the fumble recovery.

   McKinstry had a breakthrough game with his two interceptions and broke up a pass in the end zone. Pete Werner led in tackles with 11 and he had a quarterback hit.

   Shaheed had four catches for 114 yards and a touchdown. Kendre Miller ran hard, with 10 carries for 41 yards. Olave had seven catches for 59 yards. The Saints were 7 of 15 on third down conversions.

   Dart, who started in fantastic fashion, was less than fantastic overall. Dart was 26 of 40 for 202 yards and two touchdowns but with two interceptions. He rushed seven times for 55 yards.

   The only negative was the kicking game/special teams for New Orleans, an ongoing issue.

   Coverage teams were not good enough, Grupe missed two more field goals and put a kickoff in the end zone, giving New York the ball at the 35-yard-line. Kickoff returns were abysmal, with poor decisions to field the ball and weak returns.

   Now 1-4, the Saints look for a win streak next Sunday at home against New England.

   For the first time since Nov. 17, 2024, Saints fans could finally chant “Who Dat” toward game’s end, snapping a 6-game home losing streak.

   Enjoy it, Saints fans!
​

Photos Below By: Michael Bacigalupi

Post-game press conference Below