Saints vs. Giants: Tyler Shough and 34 Straight Points Hold Off J.J. McCarthy's Wild Week 6 Rally

For most of the first half, the New Orleans Saints looked like a team already mentally boarding its flight to Paris. Then linebacker Isaiah Stalbird delivered a big hit on a kickoff return, the ball came loose, and the afternoon at MetLife Stadium turned into a completely different movie.

The Saints scored 34 consecutive points, built a 24-point lead and then had to survive a J.J. McCarthy fireworks show before beating the New York Giants 34-27 on Sunday. Tyler Shough threw three touchdown passes and ran for another, Martin Emerson Jr. picked off two passes, and New Orleans snapped a three-game losing streak on a fourth-down stop in the final seconds. Kellen Moore's team will take the win. It would probably like to skip the last 11 minutes on the rewatch.

From Flatline to Fireworks

It started ugly. Jameis Winston, a former Saint, led the Giants on a 12-play, 93-yard first-quarter touchdown drive capped by a 17-yard throw to Tyrone Tracy Jr., Daniel Carlson missed from 55, and Dominic Zvada's 34-yard field goal made it 10-0 with 2:27 left in the half.

Then came the final 2:27 of the half, which flipped everything. Barion Brown returned a kickoff 41 yards, setting up a 58-yard Carlson bomb. On the ensuing kickoff, Stalbird jarred the ball away from Charlie Jones and rookie tight end Oscar Delp recovered at the Giants' 28. Shough scrambled 25 yards on the next snap, and on fourth-and-goal he found rookie Bryce Lance for a 2-yard touchdown, Lance's first in the NFL, with one second left before halftime. Tied at 10, and the Saints had all the momentum.

The third quarter was a clinic. Alvin Kamara turned a short pass into a 31-yard touchdown, slipping a tackle along the way, and New Orleans led 17-10 before the third quarter was three minutes old. After CJ Donaldson's would-be touchdown was overturned at the 1, Shough sneaked it in himself. Emerson picked off Winston on the next series, Carlson banked a 51-yarder, and when Julian Blackmon intercepted Winston early in the fourth, Shough hit Chris Olave for an 18-yard score on the second play of the ensuing drive. It was 34-10 with 11:31 to play, and plenty of Giants fans decided they had seen enough.

Those fans missed a show. Moore pulled a few starters, the Giants turned to McCarthy, and after Emerson picked him off on his first drive in relief, a CJ Donaldson fumble opened the door. Tracy scored on a 5-yard run, McCarthy added a two-point pass to Isaiah Likely, then hit Likely for a 24-yard touchdown, and Zvada's 41-yarder made it 34-27 with 2:04 left. New York got the ball back at its own 29 with 57 seconds to go, and McCarthy marched it to the Saints' 14 before his fourth-and-1 pass for Likely fell incomplete.

Shough Gets Gritty, Emerson Gets Greedy

Shough's line won't win any fantasy leagues: 16 of 30 for 144 yards, three touchdowns and zero turnovers. He also ran five times for 32 yards and a score, which, as the AP pointed out, was nearly as much as the 34 rushing yards New York's running backs managed combined. He did all of it while playing through broken bones in his left, non-throwing hand.

"It doesn't affect my throwing, just on a couple of handoffs," Shough said.

Emerson was the defensive star, intercepting one pass from each Giants quarterback, breaking up four passes and making seven tackles, all solo. The NFL named him NFC Defensive Player of the Week three days later. Kamara, meanwhile, added a slice of history: his touchdown catch made him just the sixth player in NFL history with at least 5,000 career yards both rushing and receiving, per the Saints. Shough's scouting report on the play was perfect. "It was just Alvin being Alvin, man, he catches a flat route and houses it," he said.

The run game finally showed up too, piling up a season-high 175 yards, with Kendre Miller grinding out 70 on 20 carries. Carl Granderson and Chase Young each had a sack and a half as New Orleans dropped Giants quarterbacks five times.

The Plot Twist Before Halftime

Every wild game has a hinge, and this one swung on special teams. Down 10-0 with the clock bleeding out in the first half, New Orleans turned a long return, a long field goal and a forced fumble into 10 points before the Giants could find the tunnel. Giants coach John Harbaugh didn't sugarcoat it.

"The whole sequence there was big. We let them back in the game," Harbaugh said.

From there it was a landslide until it suddenly wasn't. Moore admitted the decision to rest some starters backfired, saying "obviously it didn't work," which is the kind of honesty you appreciate after the fact and sweat through in real time.

Stats That Matter

• 34-0: The Saints' run from down 10-0 to up 34-10.
• 4: Takeaways, a season high for New Orleans, against one giveaway.
• 3-for-3: The Saints in the red zone.
• 461-319: New York outgained New Orleans and still lost by seven. McCarthy alone threw for 243 yards in just over 11 minutes of work, per the AP.
• 12 for 165: Malik Nabers' receiving line. He got his.

Next Stop, Paris

At 2-4, the Saints are hardly fixed, but they head to Paris to face the Steelers in the NFL's first regular-season game there with a win in their carry-on. The victory was also their fourth straight over the Giants, a series record, and moved them to 18-17 all time in the matchup.

The Giants drop to 3-2-1 with their first loss since Week 2 against the Rams, and they now have a quarterback question. Winston threw two interceptions before giving way, and Harbaugh said it was too early to name a starter. "I myself, personally, just left a lot of plays out there that I could have executed better on," Winston said. Cam Skattebo, apparently benched after his overtime fumble in the tie at Washington, didn't get a carry. "I got punished for what I did, and I understand," Skattebo said. New York visits Houston next before its bye.

Emily in Paris Who?

The Saints' biggest lesson might be the one Emerson spelled out himself. "We will enjoy the win, we earned it, but when we are on a team's neck, we have to step on it and finish, dominate and be resilient," Emerson said. Translation: enjoy the croissants, but next time, close the door before the fourth quarter does it for you.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press and the New Orleans Saints (neworleanssaints.com).