No. 2: The Giants Were Unable to Take Advantage of a Struggling Saints Defense

Coming into this matchup, everybody thought it would be a back-and-forth game. The Saints have been in those all season so far, with their point differential being at a plus-1 coming into Week 4.

The Giants were unable to capitalize on plenty of opportunities, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

This shouldn’t be with the level of talent they possess on offense. You have quarterback Eli Manning, running back Saquon Barkley and wide receiver Odell Beckham as your core.

Plenty of teams would do anything to have weapons like that, but the Giants just can’t put it together for whatever the reason.

If there was any week this offense could explode, this week was as good as any for it to happen. In the end, it didn’t go as expected.

Before this game, the Saints were allowing 34 points per game and were allowing 421 yards per game. That’s the definition of a struggling defense.

The Giants were unable to take advantage of it, though, not even coming close to torching this weak defense.

They ended up with 299 yards and just 18 points. Manning got only 255 passing yards on 41 attempts, while Barkley had 44 yards on just 10 attempts (his touchdown was very impressive, though).

.@saquon jumped over the line 😳

(via @NFL)https://t.co/ZNaf4tK4jg

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 30, 2018

Beckham was also held in check with seven catches for 60 yards.

This won’t cut it when you’re facing an offense as high-powered as the Saints offense.

The Giants offense will need to utilize their elite talent better, going forward. If they don’t, they will be a team on the outside, looking in, at the end of the season.