Tommy DeVito sacked seven times in Giants' loss to Saints

NEW ORLEANS — It was fun while it lasted.

The Giants weren’t eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday, but realistically, it will be almost impossible for them to reach the postseason after their 24-6 loss to the Saints at the Superdome.

There was no chef’s kiss that could lift the Giants. In fact, it was the Saints who mockingly borrowed the gesture after several big plays by their defense.

“Not good enough in any area,” coach Brian Daboll said after his team's winning streak ended at three games. That basically summed up the Giants’ day, and in the locker room, they owned it.

"This probably knocks us out of the playoffs,” a dejected Justin Pugh said. “We were down early in the season. We have to find a way to got out there and play a Philadelphia team that’s damn good next week. They're going to look at this film and we have to correct things, and if we don’t, it’s going to be the same [expletive] result. Sorry for cursing, but it is what it is. We had a lot of confidence coming into this game. For it to go the way it went, it’s definitely disappointing.”

The Giants lost kicker Randy Bullock to a hamstring injury midway through the first quarter. That punter Jamie Gillan kicked in college was fortuitous; he connected on a 40-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

The halftime score was 7-6. You do the math. The Giants (5-9) were shut out in the second half. They ran only six plays in the third quarter, gaining two yards in the process, and went 2-for-16 on third-down conversions in the game.

Tommy DeVito completed 20 of 34 passes for 177 yards and gained 36 yards on four carries but was sacked seven times for a loss of 57 yards. Saquon Barkley managed only 14 yards on nine carries.

“Nothing was where it needs to be,”  Daboll said. “[The Saints] played good. They stopped the run. We had some drops early that could have helped us. They were pretty efficient. Look, nothing was where it needs to be. They played good.”

DeVito briefly left the game late in the second quarter to get checked for a possible concussion and was replaced by Tyrod Taylor, who completed the drive on which Gillan kicked his field goal. DeVito, who left  after a 6-yard scramble on which he slid late and took a high hit from defensive back Isaac Yiadom, was deemed fit to return and finished the game.Daboll said DeVito will start next week against the Eagles.

Saints quarterback  Derek Carr, who was booed during pregame introductions, finished 23-for-28 for 218 yards and three touchdowns. He had a passer rating of 134.8 as New Orleans moved to 7-7. Carr's scoring passes went for 7 yards to Keith Kirkwood, 24 to Juwan Johnson and 1 to Jimmy Graham.

In the three games before this one, the Giants' defense and special teams created 12 turnovers. Against the Saints, they didn’t force any.

“He’s a vet in this league and we didn’t do a lot to get him off his rhythm,” Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke said of Carr. “They were just executing. They were hitting their shots, they were hitting checkdowns. The run game was bleeding on us. They played more of a complete game than we did. History tells us if we get turnovers, we win the game.”

Of the Saints mocking the pursed fingers celebration that the Giants generally had adopted in honor of DeVito, Barkley mostly shrugged.

“I didn’t see it. It comes with it,” he said. “When it’s going good, [it’s one thing]. When it’s not, the other team got your number. It [stinks]. We got to be better. Hats off to the Saints. Their defense played a good game. [Demario] Davis is a heck of a player, probably one of the better linebackers I’ve ever played against. They beat us. You got to win your matchups and we didn’t.”

Barkley lamented the performance of the offense.

“Games like that are going to happen,” he said. “We got to do a better job of putting ourselves in position to make plays. If you look at a lot of our games this year, the games that we lost, the games that got out of hand, we never stopped the bleeding. That’s the common theme for the games that have been bad for us this year. We got to find a way to be better in those situations. They did a great job. I don’t know if I had a run that broke past five, six, seven yards. That’s part of the game. You can’t play with swag, you can’t build confidence when you’re getting beat. That’s all of us.”

One bright spot for the Giants was the return of tight end Darren Waller, who missed five games with a hamstring injury. He caught four passes for 40 yards, including a 29-yarder.

Penalties played a role in the Giants’ only two scoring drives and two of the Saints' touchdowns.

On fourth-and-1 from the Giants’ 34 in the first quarter, the Saints’ J.T. Gray was penalized for running into Gillan, setting up a 56-yard field goal by  Bullock that gave the Giants a 3-0 lead.

On third-and-22 from the Giants’ 28 in the second quarter, Alontae Taylor was called for unnecessary roughness on a 5-yard pass to Daniel Bellinger. That set up Gillan's 40-yard field goal as time expired in the half.

With the Saints leading 7-6 and facing third-and-7 from their 46 in the third quarter, Adoree’ Jackson was called for defensive holding on an incomplete pass, giving New Orleans a first down. That drive culminated in Johnson's touchdown reception.

With the Saints leading 17-6 early in the fourth quarter, Carr threw an incomplete pass on third-and-6 from the Giants’ 6, but Jason Pinnock was called for pass interference, putting the ball at the 1. Carr then hit Graham for a touchdown and a 24-6 lead.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.