Where NY Giants Defense Can Poke Holes in New Orleans Saints Offense

The NY Giants defense is ready to face a New Orleans Saints team that’s been struggling to find a win this year.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The New York Giants' defense has been coming alive, especially rushing the passer, and is in a prime position to build on that against the New Orleans Saints.

Personnel

Spencer Rattler is the starting quarterback this season for the Saints, and while that was met with borderline laughter at the start of the year, he’s been respectable for the most part.

Outside of the game against the Seattle Seahawks, where nothing went right for the Saints, Rattler has played solid football.

On the year, Rattler has 765 passing yards, five touchdowns, and one interception with a 67.1% completion percentage, with another 102 yards on the ground.

In the backfield with Rattler will be running backs Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller.  Neither has found much success on the ground yet this year, but that’s more indicative of the offensive line than anything else.

Sep 14, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara (41) runs against the San Francisco 49ers defense during the second half at Caesars Superdome. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Kamara clearly doesn’t look like the Kamara of old. However, he’s still a talented back with the ability to pick up tough yardage consistently, even without the explosive playmaking ability we’ve all grown accustomed to.

Miller had a bit of a breakout this past weekend against the Bills with the most single-game carries he’s seen since his rookie year in 2024 and the second-most rushing yards of his career.

The Saints primarily use three wide receivers: Chris Olave, Brandin Cooks, and Rashid Shaheed, with very little rotation outside of these three.

The passing offense as a whole is holding back all three, but at the same time, Cooks and Shaheed haven’t done a great job of creating separation for themselves.

Olave hasn’t separated much downfield, but he’s done a ton of damage against zone coverage this year, with 20 of his catches and 135 of his yards coming against zone.

Shaheed is still not much more than a vertical receiver, and Cooks has been just a chain-mover.

Tight end Juwan Johnson has been the most consistent part of the offense so far, with 22 catches and 204 yards with a touchdown.

Jack Stoll has been underwhelming as a TE2 in this offense, but they should be getting Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau back soon, although that might not be this weekend.

New Orleans Saints rookie Kelvin Banks Jr has allowed 16 pressures to start the year. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Saints' offensive line from left to right is usually rookie first-rounder Kelvin Banks Jr, Trevor Penning, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, and Taliese Fuaga, but Ruiz will miss this game with an injury he sustained last week.

Replacing Ruiz will likely be Torricelli Simpkins III, who has had a rough year when he has gotten onto the field.

Banks has allowed 16 pressures so far this season, tied for the third-most allowed by any offensive tackle.

Fuaga has allowed 13 pressures, so he’s not far behind Banks, meaning that the Giants’ pass-rush could be in for another big day.

Scheme

Sep 21, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave (12) catches a pass against Seattle Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe (29) during the first quarter at Lumen Field. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The Saints have a predictable trend going so far, as they’ve run the ball 61.2% of the time on first down, the third-highest rate in the NFL behind only the Eagles and Seahawks.

Those first down runs average four yards per carry, but even that number is skewed, as they only gain four yards on 36.6% of those runs, putting their offense behind the sticks more often than not.

As mentioned with some other Giants opponents this year, teams that struggle to protect their quarterback tend to run play-action less, as it is a longer-developing play.

The Saints fall under that umbrella as well, having run play-action just 21.5% of the time, the 11th-lowest rate in the NFL.

Rattler has one of the lowest average depths of targets in the NFL right now, despite the offense not being heavily reliant on screens.

It all comes back to the offensive line not being dependable at all for the Saints this year, as  Rattler has been under pressure on 36.1% of his dropbacks this season.

What this means for the Giants

The Giants' pass-rush should be able to generate pressure on Rattler without being too aggressive in their plan, especially with the way the edge rushers have been playing lately.

A lot of this game will come down to making those early stops in the run game, forcing the Saints to play behind the sticks, and that’s not a place they want to live.

The run game and the underneath passing game comprise the majority of this Saints offense, meaning that secure tackling will be at a premium from the linebackers and middle defensive backs (nickel and safeties).

It’s pretty clear-cut how to beat a Saints offense that doesn’t have the manpower to move the ball against most defenses consistently. 

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