The Saints vs Giants score finished 34-27 to New Orleans at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday, October 18, 2026. The Giants led 10-0 behind a Jameis Winston touchdown pass, but the Saints scored 34 consecutive points — three Tyler Shough touchdown passes, a Shough rushing score and two long Daniel Carlson field goals — before J.J. McCarthy came off the New York bench and produced 17 points in the final minutes, taking the Giants to the Saints 14 before a fourth-down throw fell incomplete with five seconds left. The Saints improve to 2-4 and end a three-game losing streak; the Giants fall to 3-2-1.
Up 10-0 and cruising — then 34 straight points, a benching, and a backup's 243-yard fourth quarter that nearly rewrote the ending
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Giants' start was close to perfect. Jameis Winston closed a 12-play, 93-yard drive late in the first quarter by finding Tyrone Tracy Jr. for a 17-yard touchdown, and Dominic Zvada's 34-yard field goal stretched the lead to 10-0. New Orleans, losers of three straight, had shown little to suggest an answer was coming.
The answer started with a kicker and a kickoff. Daniel Carlson put the Saints on the board with a 58-yard field goal — and on the ensuing kickoff, Charlie Jones fumbled after Isaiah Stalbird forced the ball loose, with Oscar Delp recovering at the New York 28. The Saints stalled at the goal line, but on fourth-and-goal, with one second left in the first half, Tyler Shough threw a 2-yard touchdown to rookie Bryce Lance — Lance's first NFL touchdown catch — and a game the Giants had controlled was tied 10-10 at half-time.
Four possessions, four scores — the avalanche
Whatever New Orleans found at half-time, it travelled. Shough opened the second half by turning a short pass to Alvin Kamara into a 31-yard touchdown and a 17-10 lead. Then came a 1-yard Shough sneak for 24-10 — the Saints' fourth score in as many possessions — and a 51-yard Carlson field goal at the end of the third quarter for 27-10. The knockout seemed to arrive when Julian Blackmon intercepted Winston and Shough cashed it in with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Chris Olave: 34-10, and 34 consecutive points since the Giants' 10-0 start.
The Saints were not doing it with volume. Shough finished 16-of-30 for 144 yards, but he threw three touchdown passes, ran for a fourth score, and did it while playing through an injury to his left, non-throwing hand, according to AP. The ground game did the heavy lifting: New Orleans rushed for a season-high 175 yards behind a committee of Kendre Miller, Kamara and C.J. Donaldson, while the defence supplied the short fields — three interceptions, two of them by Martin Emerson Jr., four forced turnovers in all, and five sacks, per Athlon and AP.
Winston's afternoon ended with the Blackmon interception. He finished 14-of-26 for 152 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, and the Giants, down 24 points with under 12 minutes to play, sent in J.J. McCarthy.
The comeback that nearly was
McCarthy's first drive ended the way the Saints wanted: an interception, New York's fourth turnover. What happened next is why this game will be talked about all week. McCarthy led the Giants to 17 points on their next three drives. Tracy ran in a 5-yard touchdown and added the two-point conversion. McCarthy hit Isaiah Likely for a 24-yard touchdown — the two-point try failed — and Zvada's 41-yard field goal cut the lead to 34-27 with 2:04 remaining. New York then forced a punt, and McCarthy broke a 28-yard run into Saints territory before completions to Likely and Malik Nabers carried the Giants to the New Orleans 14. On fourth down, with five seconds left, his throw to Likely in the end zone fell incomplete. Turnover on downs. Game over — by one play.
McCarthy's final line reads like a full game's work done in a single quarter: 11-of-21 for 243 yards, one touchdown and one interception. According to NBC Sports, his 243 fourth-quarter passing yards are the third-most by any quarterback since 2020, and his 28-yard scramble made him the Giants' leading rusher on the day. Nabers was the constant all afternoon — 12 catches for 165 yards — and Nabers and Likely combined for 18 catches and 264 yards.
The numbers behind the Saints Giants score
Start with the swing: 34 consecutive points is the whole story and also only half of it, because the Giants scored the game's first 10 points and its last 17. The turnover count explains the middle. New Orleans forced four takeaways and turned the kickoff fumble into the tying touchdown before half-time; the Saints' five sacks kept Winston from ever re-establishing the rhythm of that opening 93-yard drive. Efficiency beat volume on both sides: Shough threw for only 144 yards but produced four touchdowns, while McCarthy threw for 243 yards in under 12 minutes and still lost. New Orleans' season-high 175 rushing yards mattered most in the third quarter, when the Saints were scoring on possession after possession and the clock became a Giants problem. And the receiving numbers are a warning for New Orleans despite the win: allowing one receiver 165 yards and a tight end-receiver pair 264 yards is how a 24-point lead becomes a final-play stand.
Why this matters
For the Giants, this game may have changed their season more than a win would have. Winston was not benched in a close game; he was benched at 34-10 after two interceptions, with the offence stalled and the season drifting. McCarthy — acquired earlier this season, as covered in our report on the trade that brought him to New York — then produced one of the most productive relief quarters in recent NFL history and came within one end-zone throw of forcing overtime from 24 points down. That creates an obvious question with no comfortable answer. Start Winston in Houston next week and the coaching staff is arguing that 40 minutes of good early football outweigh both his turnovers and everything McCarthy just showed. Start McCarthy and they are handing the offence to a quarterback whose afternoon also began with an interception, in a season where the Giants, at 3-2-1, are still very much alive. Either way, Sunday's final 12 minutes will hang over every snap of the decision.
There are quieter problems in New York, too. NBC noted a Sunday-morning report that Najee Harris would supplant Cam Skattebo as the Giants' top running back; Skattebo played only a handful of snaps and never touched the ball, and the Giants' leading rusher ended up being their backup quarterback on one scramble. A team that cannot settle its backfield or its quarterback room in the same week has an identity problem, not just a depth-chart problem. The injuries compound it: cornerback Greg Newsome was concussed in the third quarter, receiver Darnell Mooney left with a neck injury, and left tackle Andrew Thomas was evaluated for a concussion, according to AP.
For the Saints, weigh the rescue against the near-collapse honestly. The good: a 2-4 record with a three-game losing streak snapped, a defence that took the ball away four times, a young quarterback who produced four touchdowns while hurt, and a running game that finally travelled. A loss would have left New Orleans 1-5 heading overseas, effectively done before November. The bad: the Saints led by 24 points in the fourth quarter and needed a fourth-down stop at their own 14 to survive, lost right guard Cesar Ruiz to a knee injury late in the first half and cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry to illness, and allowed a backup quarterback to throw for 243 yards in a single quarter. Both things are true: this win rescued the Saints' season, and the way it ended showed exactly why it needed rescuing.
What happens next
The Saints now take their 2-4 record to Paris, where they play the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday, before their bye week — a trip that looks very different at 2-4 with momentum than it would have at 1-5. The Giants, 3-2-1, visit the Houston Texans next Sunday before their own bye, and the quarterback question will dominate their week: Winston's experience against McCarthy's 12-minute audition, with a bye week waiting as the natural point to change course if Sunday's evidence was not enough. Nabers, at least, gives whoever starts a genuine No. 1 target — 12 catches and 165 yards in a loss is the kind of performance that usually headlines a win.
More NFL coverage: Giants land J.J. McCarthy in trade as Jaxson Dart's season ends · Giants and Commanders tie 27-27 as Harbaugh's comeback ends a 56-year skid · Bills beat Rams 37-34 in overtime on Monday Night Football
Sources
Reuters / Field Level Media, match report (October 18, 2026) — final score 34-27, scoring sequence (Winston to Tracy Jr., Zvada field goals, Carlson 58- and 51-yard field goals, Lance, Kamara, Shough sneak and Olave touchdowns), Shough and Winston lines, McCarthy's closing drive and the fourth-down stop at the Saints 14, team records and next fixtures (Saints in Paris vs Steelers; Giants at Texans). AP via theScore, match report (October 18, 2026) — Charlie Jones kickoff fumble (Isaiah Stalbird forced, Oscar Delp recovered), Shough's left-hand injury, injury list (Cesar Ruiz, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Greg Newsome, Darnell Mooney, Andrew Thomas), four turnovers and five sacks. NBC Sports Pro Football Talk (October 18, 2026) — McCarthy's 243 fourth-quarter passing yards (third-most since 2020), McCarthy as Giants' leading rusher, Nabers and Likely combined 18 catches for 264 yards, Harris-Skattebo backfield report. Athlon (October 18, 2026) — Saints' defensive totals, three interceptions with two by Martin Emerson Jr., season-high 175 rushing yards.