New Orleans Saints: 5 takeaways from Week 4 overtime loss to Giants

The New Orleans Saints lost to the New York Giants in overtime on Sunday in what could be a game that comes back to bite the black and gold in the standings down the road. Let’s take a look at some quick takeaways from the 27-21 defeat.

Late-game meltdown

The Saints had a 21-10 lead and it felt like a safe bet that New Orleans would be on their way to an easy victory from there but that was not the case. NOLA’s defense was invisible and the Giants were able to tie the game in the final minute of the game and then blew it in overtime.

This was a horrible loss by the Saints when it felt like they’d be well on their way to a win. They’ll look back at this game, especially their playoff seeding comes down to one game.

Defense not themselves

NOLA’s defense played really well in Weeks 1 and 3 but man, Sunday was a rough day for them. They looked confused all afternoon long and allowed Daniel Jones to throw for over 300 yards and Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney to do pretty much whatever they wanted.

It was a rough performance for this group, which was disappointing considering how hyped the Caesars Superdome was with the team returning to play there. Hopefully, they bounce back next week in our Nation’s capital.

Jameis Winston sets season-highs

While Jameis Winston had a five-touchdown game in Week 1, the former No. 1 overall pick failed to eclipse the 150-yards passing mark through the first three games of the season. Fortunately, he not only passed that mark on Sunday but the 200-yard passing mark as well.

He finished with 226 yards through the air and a touchdown with the touchdown coming to Juwan Johnson. Winston did enough to get his team the win but the defense let everyone down this week.

Taysom Hill show

New Orleans is continuing to use Taysom Hill in so many different areas of the game and we saw him put on his best performance this season as a result. Hill had two rushing touchdowns and one of those involved him trucking four different defenders to get in for the score.

As you can see from Mike Triplett’s tweet, Hill was used in the run game, receiving game, and passing game, making an impact in all three. The only thing he really did wrong was throwing an interception but putting him in there for that throw was a weird decision, so I don’t necessarily put that on Hill.

Welcome to the show, Werner

While the Saints’ defense didn’t look good, rookie second-rounder Pete Werner made a strong statement. The Ohio State rook led the team in tackles with 10 and while there were slip-ups, that’s to be expected of a rookie playing in his second-ever game.

This was a disappointing loss for New Orleans. They were up 11-points on a winless Giants team and allowed them to beat them in overtime. The defense looked confused all afternoon long and the offense, despite a hot second half, didn’t do enough.