Da Boot Sports 12/8/2024 Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports By: Ken Trahan Darren Rizzi returned to his home state of New Jersey.A native of Hillsdale who played at Bergen Catholic in Oradell, Rizzi was hoping for a positive return. With his mother on hand watching, the son had to sweat out the desire result but left with the win. It was a game reflective of the records of the two teams, neither of which is any good. The Giants are terrible and were playing their third quarterback of the season and were without key defensive players. They had lost seven straight games, matching the seven-game losing streak the Saints had which got Dennis Allen fired. Brian Daboll is likely not far behind Allen. The Giants have made terrible personnel decisions and are a truly bad team and franchise. The Saints have made bad personnel decisions and some shaky contract decisions and are a franchise in need of even more change, despite changing coaches in midstream. All things considered, this was the kind of game everyone should have expected, two teams shooting themselves in the foot constantly, failing to make plays when needed and trying to give each other the win. The Saints got the win. They’ll gladly take it. Here are my Quick Takes from the 14-11 Saints win over the Giants: **Jamaal Williams dropped the opening kickoff and returned it only to the 16-yard line. **Alvin Kamara ran right on the first play from scrimmage and lost a yard. **The Saints proceeded to go three-and-out. **Matthew Hayball then hit a poor punt, giving the Giants the ball at the New Orleans 48-yard-line. **The Saints defense allowed Drew Lock to run for a first down before Bryan Bresee batted down a Lock pass and the Saints got a stop on fourth down, turning the ball over on downs to New Orleans at the New York 49-yard-line. **Kamara lost yards on three of his first four carries. **The Saints made one first down but stalled and Blake Grupe missed a 53-yard field goal wide left, his first miss from 50 yards or more this season. **Jamie Gillan pinned the Saints back to their own 2-yard-line for their third possession. Derek Carr connected with Marquez Valdes-Scantling for 23 yards to get the Saints out of the hole. **Carr then hit Juwan Johnson off a good play-fake for 31 yards on a perfect touch pass over the linebacker to the New York 41-yard-line. **Kendre Miller showed his ability, making two tacklers miss on an excellent 8-yard run for a first down. **Carr then hit Dallin Holker for 10 yards and a first down, the first catch of Holker’s NFL career. **Kamara ran 12 yards for a first-and-goal to the 8-yard-line. **On the next play, Miller made four tacklers miss and then dragged defenders into the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown to give the Saints a 7-0 lead with 1:19 to play in the first quarter. **The drive covered 98 yards in nine plays, taking 5:11 off the clock. **It was the longest touchdown drive since Sept. 11, 2016 against the Raiders, who were quarterbacked by Carr that day. The Raiders beat the Saints 35-34 with Carr passing for 319 yards and a touchdown. **Drew Lock missed on his first eight passes of the game. **The Saints finished the first quarter with 129 yards to just 29 yards for the Giants. **Bresee sacked Lock halt the next New York drive but Graham Gano kicked a 43-yard field goal to make it 7-3 with 11:20 to play in the first half. The drive covered 26 yards in seven plays and it was set up by a personal four on punt coverage by Williams. **The Saints were stopped again and called for a fake punt and Williams came up just short of a first down, giving the Giants the ball at the New Orleans 48-yard-line. **New Orleans got a stop and Gillan again punted the Saints deep, to the New Orleans 8-yard-line. **Hayball then hit another poor punt and it was returned for a touchdown of 56 yards by Ihmir Smith Marsette but it was negated for holding on Greg Stroman, who grabbed Rico Payton. **Hayball drew the ire of Darrin Rizzi as Hayball did not stay back and play punt-protect as instructed and there was not one left on the back end. **On the final possession of the half, the Giants committed pass interference penalty giving the ball to the New York 42-yard-line with four seconds left in the half. **Grupe tried a 60-yard field goal on the final play of the half but it was partially blocked, leaving the halftime score at 7-3. **The Saints had 154 yards in the half to 86 for the Giants but the Saints had eight negative plays in the half. **Carr was intercepted by Trey Hawkins on a deep ball intended for Kevin Austin Jr. The ball hung up, underthrown, and Hawkins went up and got it. The Giants had ton 11 straight games without an interception. **Chase Young, dropping into coverage, dropped an interception midway through the third quarter. **Carr hit Foster Moreau with a nice 32-yard completion to the New York 11-yard line, dropping it in the bucket just over the defender. **On the next play, Carr hit Johnson with an 11-yard touchdown pass to give the Saints a 14-3 lead with 3:40 to play in the third quarter. Johnson was uncovered on the play on a bust by New York. The drive covered 69 yards in nine plays. **Graham Gano kicked a 48-yard field goal but it was negated by a personal foul on Jake Kubas, which took points off the board and forced a New York punt. **Khalen Saunders came up with a sack midway through the fourth quarter. **The Giants, unable to sustain anything all afternoon, came through with an 82-yard drive in 13 plays with Tyrone Tracy Jr. scoring on a 1-yard run to make it 14-9. The touchdown was set up by a 22-yard completion from Lock to former LSU star Malik Nabers. **On the two-point conversion, Saunders knocked it in the air and LSU’s Malik Nabers came down with it to make it 14-11 with 3:46 to play in the game. **On the next series, a play-fake keeper for Carr was called. He tried to leap over players for a first down and came down on his left hand and arm very hard, exiting the game with that was later feared to be a broken hand. Jake Haener had to replace him. **On the next play third-and-one, Miller was stopped for a loss of a yard, forcing a punt. **Payton Turner, despite being held with no call made, batted down a Lock pass. ** Demario Davis intercepted Lock with 1:44 to go. For some reason, he did not get up and run despite not being touched. Eventually, Davis turned upfield and ran into the end zone but it was ruled that he had given himself up on the play, which he did. It was a clear mistake. **The Saints got a stop but, for some reason, Klint Kubiak called a bootleg pass by his backup quarterback and Haener, under heavy pressure, took a sack, preventing any chance at making a first down and running out the clock. **Instead, Haener did the right thing not throwing the ball and stopping the clock, forcing the Giants to call a timeout. **The Saints had to punt, giving the Giants another shot. **On fourth-and-10, Lock stepped up and raced 25 yards for a first down to the New Orleans 35-yard-line. **Then, Lock hit Nabers, who broke four tackles, and ran to the New Orleans 17-yard-line. **Gano came on to tie the game with a 35-yard field goal which Bresee blocked to ensure the win. **On the play, Bresee leaped over the center legally, not using leverage, and got his hand on the kick. The New York Giants were playing with replacements up front on defense. The Giants entered the game 29th in the league against the run and were without Dexter Lawrence, among others. The New Orleans Saints were playing with their starting offensive line intact for the first time since week one. It looked like a recipe for success up front. Instead, the Saints ran for just 93 yards on 33 carries and had 12 plays for negative yards. The play-calling was interesting, to say the least. Calling a run play for Carr, not a runner, was first. He was injured. Of course, he got hurt leaving his feet and landing hard as he was competing to make a first down. Then, calling a pass play, with Haener, when the clock was your friend was very shaky. Of course, Haener took a sack, losing a ton of yards and field position. Why Davis, a very smart player, did not get up and run on the interception, is mind-boggling. You stay down if the clock is running out and/or if the opponent has no timeouts remaining. The Giants had all three timeouts left. The Saints were lucky to win. The Giants lost a field goal to a penalty and lost a touchdown to another penalty. That is what bad teams do. The Saints were bad as well, overall, but not bad enough to lose to an even worse team. In the end, it was a win and that is all that truly matters. As a result, New Orleans kept its faint playoff hopes alive, still two games back of Tampa Bay in the NFC South and now just a game behind the Falcons. On the plus side, Miller, once again, showed you his promise with quickness, good vision and the ability make tacklers miss. Bresee had a sack, two quarterback hits, and blocked the field goal. Davis had eight tackles to go with the interception, knocked down a second pass and had a quarterback hit. Saunders had five tackles, including a sack with two quarterback hits. Johnson had four catches for 50 yards and a score. Next Sunday, the Commanders come to town with former LSU great Jayden Daniels running the show. The Saints had trouble containing Lock running the ball. Daniels will certainly lick his chops watching that video, though the scheme will likely be different from the Saints in spying Daniels when possible. Keep hope alive in this Christmas season, Saints fans, at least for another week. Make sure you go to DaBootSports.com for all of your LSU, Saints and Southern University coverage all season long. Also, please Subscribe to our Da Boot Sports YouTube Channel for our live 'Talking Tigers with Da Boot Sports' Football Podcast ever Tuesday night at 8:00pm.. This Tuesday night's special guest will be On3.com's recruiting expert, Shea Dixon.... Thank you for all the support! GEAUX TIGERS!!! **If your a Saints fan, tune into our YouTube Channel next Monday night at 8pm for our new live Saints podcast, Fleur De Lis Focus. Check it out and join us for some fun New Orleans Saints football Talk... 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. A huge Thank You to Cardio Health Solutions owned by Ron Sancho for sponsoring and believing in our publication! CARDIO HEALTH SOLUTIONS The company who cares for your heart and what your heart cares for!! Cardio Health Solutions (CHS) utilizes PET and CPET technology to detect all forms of cardiovascular disease even in its earliest stage. We also provide financing, support, and management services to practices interested in exploring the functional capacity of their patients through detection and ancillary imaging. GEAUX to https://www.cardiohealthsolutions.net/ for more information, or call 1-800-578-0654 DA BOOT SPORTS SUPPORTS AUTISM SPEAKS
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