Giants J.J. McCarthy rally falls short in wild loss to Saints as Jameis Winston gets benched
If the Giants do not make the playoffs, they will rue the final 83 seconds of the first half and first 159 seconds of the second half Sunday as the point where a promising season slipped off the rails.The defense allowed three scores in that decisive span and the special teams committed a turnover as a comfortable 10-point lead disappeared in a hurry. By the time the Giants turned to J.J.McCarthy after allowing 34 straight points and McCarthy turned in a magic fourth quarter, it was too late to prevent a 34-27 loss to the spiraling Saints at MetLife Stadium.With Cam Skattebo benched due to ball-security issues, the Giants didn’t have enough playmaking until McCarthy led the offense to 17 unanswered fourth-quarter points and forced the Saints to get one first down to close out the game in the final two minutes. When the Saints couldn’t get that first down and punted for the third time in the fourth quarter, McCarthy led the Giants to the 14-yard line on fourth-and-1 but fell one completion short.
He orchestrated three scoring drives in a seven-minute span and finished 11 of 21 for 243 passing yards, setting up a quarterback controversy for next week. Get texts from Paul Schwartz with all the latest Giants news and insights, exclusive to Sports+ subscribers.The Giants (3-2-1) lost for the first time since Week 2 but remain atop the NFC East. The second-half ugliness included a stretch of three straight offensive-line penalties – drawing boos from the home crowd – and a Jameis Winston interception on the edge of field-goal range, when the Giants were trying to cut into a 24-10 deficit.Winston’s second interception set up another Saints touchdown and was his final pass of the day.
McCarthy replaced Winston for the final 12 minutes of the fourth quarter.The Saints fueled their comeback and snapped their three-game losing streak by scoring 17 points and running 17 offensive plays in between true offensive snaps for the Giants.How does that happen?Danie...