Tag: Giants

Which Week 15 results would help the Dolphins most? A rooting guide

Winning is Houston is the top priority, but there’s a few other teams in Week 15 that Dolphins fans should also be cheering on.

The Miami Dolphins can’t afford a misstep after digging themselves into a hole in the first half of the 2024 season. But after four wins in their last five games, the Dolphins could get back to .500 on Sunday if they manage to beat the Houston Texans.

That’d put the Dolphins very much in the mix for a wild card berth with three weeks left. They still need help, though.

Three 8-5 teams currently occupy the trio of AFC wild card entries into the NFL playoffs, and the 6-7 Indianapolis Colts own a tiebreaker over the 6-7 Dolphins thanks to their head-to-head victory back in Week 7.

Getting a win at NRG Stadium on Sunday is paramount for Miami. But here’s what else Dolphins fans should be rooting for in Week 15:

Giants win vs. Ravens (1 p.m. ET)

To catch the Ravens, the Dolphins would need two more wins than Baltimore in the last four weeks. Baltimore would be in serious jeopardy of not doing enough if it can’t go through the easiest opponent left on its schedule.

If the two-win Giants somehow ended an eight-game losing streak by getting a home win against the Ravens, it’d leave the door pretty wide open for Miami. The Ravens would likely need to win at least two — or maybe all three — of its remaining games against the Steelers, Texans, and Browns to hold off the Dolphins.

A Giants win is a long shot, but it’d be a dream come true for Miami.

Buccaneers win vs. Chargers (4:25 p.m. ET)

The likeliest path to the playoffs for the Dolphins is to track down one of the two AFC West teams ahead of them in the standings. The Broncos and Chargers meet in Week 16, meaning that (barring a tie) Miami has an inevitable chance to make up a game on one of them.

So a Chargers loss to the Buccaneers could even mean the Dolphins climb into a wild card spot as early as next week.

Colts win vs. Broncos (4:25 p.m. ET)

The good news for the Dolphins is that (again, barring a tie) one of these teams will lose. The bad news is one will win.

While Miami probably needs Indianapolis to lose at least once down the stretch, the priority for now is catching one of the eight-win contenders.

And even if the Colts rattle off four consecutive wins to end the season — which isn’t outlandish considering they play the Titans, Giants, and Jaguars to close out the year — it might not be a nightmare scenario. That’d move Indianapolis to 10-7, which may be enough to take the AFC South title from the Texans, especially if the Dolphins hand Houston its sixth loss on Sunday.

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Chase Young tied his career-high in pressures against the Giants

Next Gen Stats: Chase Young has the fourth-most quarterback pressures in the NFL, having tied his single-game career-high against the Giants on Sunday

Chase Young led the New Orleans Saints in pressures. against the New York Giants. He may not have brought down Drew Lock, but, per Next Gen Stats, Young recorded 10 pressures, nine of which came against Joshua Ezeudu. This performance ties Young’s career high in pressures.

No Saint has recorded this many pressures in a game this year. To make it even more impressive, Young registered six pressures in less than 2.5 seconds. That’s the most quick pressures by a Saints defender since 2018.

In a way, this game is a microcosm of Young’s season with the Saints. Sacks continue to elude the free agent acquisition, but he’s been getting pressures all year. He entered the game with the fifth-most pressures in the NFL, and moved into fourth place after Sunday’s high output.

Some feel as if Young isn’t living up to the hype because of low sack numbers. He’s only at 3.5 on the season, which ranks fourth on the team. On a similar note, that would be one of the reasons his game could have flown under the radar.

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B/R says Kendre MIller is making the case for more carries

The stat sheet doesn’t wow you, but Kendre Miller had a strong return from injury. Are more carries in his future?

Your opinion of Kendre Miller’s performance differs depends on if you’re looking at the stat sheet or going by the eye test.

The stat sheet would say Miller had a pedestrian return from injury for the New Orleans Saints. That isn’t farther from the case if you watch him play against the New York Giants.

Miller ended the game with 10 carries for 32 yards and a rushing touchdown. The road to those 32 yards wasn’t easy. He was regularly showing the ability to fight through contact and fall forward. Miller also continued to show a burst when running the football.

It was hard day for him and Alvin Kamara. Both rushers were operating in traffic for most of the game. Despite the conditions, Miller felt like a bright spot of the offense.

The 10 carries was enough for Bleacher Report’s NFL staff’s biggest takeaway from the game to be Miller’s emergence. They said, “Kendre Miller flashed enough to earn more snaps in the season’s remaining weeks.”

Miller crossing 10 carries a game is their preference. It would allow Kamara to remain involved in the passing attack without taking on too big of a workload.

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Saints’ special teams was a tale of two halves vs. Giants

Special teams had their worst half of the season against the GIants, as described by Darren Rizzi. Then, they made the play of the day to close out the game:

Special teams is Darren Rizzi’s bread and butter, and it stood out for the majority of the New Orleans Saints’ Week 14 matchup against New York Giants. But the game’s third phase was in the spotlight for both good and bad reasons.

The two most notable moments on special teams were Rizzi letting loose on Matthew Hayball and Bryan Bresee leaping over the Giants’ blockers to block a game-tying field goals.

The stark contradiction between those moments is a good representation in the difference between each half of play.

Rizzi was extremely disappointed in the way his unit performed at the beginning of the game. “Our special teams had one of, maybe the worst half of the year in the first half.”

Things changed in quarters three and four. “We turned around and made some plays there in the second half. It’s kind of ironic that we ended up winning the game on a special teams play because we were having one of our worst days in recent memory.”

That improvement is highlighted by Bresee’s phenomenal play, but Hayball redeemed himself with two, much more successful, punts later in the game.

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Former NFL head coach says Saints got away with foul on game-winning FG block

Former NFL head coach Jay Gruden says the Saints got away with a foul on their game-winning field goal block. Check the tape for yourself:


There’s no love lost between Jay Gruden and the New York Giants — he coached against them with Washington from 2014 to 2019, going 4-7. The second-to-last game he coached was a 24-3 loss to Big Blue. But the former NFL head coach put the Giants’ close loss to the New Orleans Saints under a microscope when studying this week’s games, and he says the Saints may have gotten away with a penalty on their game-winning blocked field goal.

Gruden highlighted two Saints defensive linemen on the field goal try, Payton Turner and Nathan Shepherd, who pulled and pushed down the left guard and center, creating a gap for Bryan Bresee to leap through, arms extended for the block. That could count as a block in the back or defensive holding, but obviously no penalty was called this time.

“This referee is saying ‘Oh yeah that’s a flag, I got it,'” Gruden said, noticing the umpire’s hand dive into his pocket to grab a penalty marker. But the official decided to keep the flag where it was, and the play stood as a game-winner for New Orleans.

It’s not like referee Clete Blakeman and his crew hadn’t thrown many flags that day. They had fouled the Saints six times for a loss of 40 yards. But they did hit the Giants a dozen times for a staggering 112 penalty yards. They lived up to their reputation as one of the NFL’s most flag-happy officiating crews. So maybe the Saints did get away with one here. Either way, they got a win, and that’s what will be remembered.

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Darren Rizzi explains sideline altercation with Matthew Hayball, Alvin Kamara

Saints coach Darren Rizzi explained what led to a sideline altercation involving Matthew Hayball and Alvin Kamara during their game with the Giants:

Darren Rizzi and Matthew Hayball were embroiled in a sideline altercation that was impossible to miss on Sunday, as the New Orleans Saints interim head coach slammed his punter for what he deemed to be a poor performance up to that point. The FOX broadcast caught Rizzi ripping into his punter after a kick was returned for a touchdown by the New York Giants, though it was negated by penalty.

Some may have referred to it as a moment of passion, if you will.

“That’s what you’re calling it, a passionate exchange?” Rizzi laughed when speaking with reporters after the game. “I’m passionate about everything. Everybody has a job to do. And he wasn’t executing the game plan. I’m going to say this. His last punt, his last two.”

It was not all bad in the eyes of Rizzi, though.

“His last punt was outstanding and it really helped us,” Rizzi said. “Actually, I think has last two punts, the second to last punt in particular, was really, really good.”

Hayball’s effort there accomplished something the Saints had been trying to do all game long. Rizzi continued: “Pinned them back, didn’t get any return yards, that’s what we were trying to do all day. Our first three punts weren’t good enough, so in that passionate exchange, I let him know that’s exactly how I felt.”

All is well though. Rizzi added, “Me and Matt are fine.”

The coach said Kamara was playing peacemaker and showed good leadership by stepping in to help keep Rizzi his cool.

“I love AK,” Rizzi said. “AK is a guy that sees everything and is very observant. You guys who have followed AK know he’s a little bit of lay in the weeds guy… he was just trying to be a peacemaker there.”

Kamara had some words to try to get Rizzi to slow his roll a little bit on Hayball.

“He came back around and said, ‘Riz man, I didn’t know you could lose your (expletive) on a punter like that.’ He was just trying to calm me down,” Rizzi said.

Hayball punted seven times for 292 yards, but just two of them landed inside the 20-yard line. He’ll look to tune that up as the Saints face the Las Vegas Raiders up next on the schedule.

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Derek Carr injured vs. Giants, replaced by Jake Haener

Derek Carr injured himself diving for a first down against the Giants. He was replaced by Jake Haener late in the fourth quarter:

This isn’t good. New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr injured himself diving for a first down against the New York Giants. He was replaced by Jake Haener late in the fourth quarter.

Carr tried to jump over a couple of defenders after taking the ball himself on a zone read and cutting to the outside, but he fell awkwardly and landed with his weigh on his left, non-throwing arm. Depending on how the limb folded under him it could be a wrist or forearm issue, but we won’t speculate further.

We can’t rule out a concussion, either. The NFL’s independent neurological consultant met with Carr inside the sideline’s blue medical tent and escorted him to the locker room for further evaluation. Carr’s head struck the turf during his fall, too. This could be a complicated injury for him to deal with.

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

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Saints list just five inactive players for Week 14 vs. Giants

The New Orleans Saints listed just five inactive players for Week 14’s game with the Giants, who will have Malik Nabers in their own lineup:

The New Orleans Saints reported just five inactive players for this week’s road game with the New York Giants, their lowest total of the season. The team is finally getting healthy at some key positions, even if some high-profile playmakers like Taysom Hill have been sidelined by injuries of their own.

But as for the Giants? They’ve had to deactivate seven of their own players, including starting offensive linemen Chris Hubbard and Jermaine Eluemunor. But they will have star wide receiver Malik Nabers. The rookie standout has dealt with groin and hip injuries but will play against the Saints.

In addition to the players listed below, wide receiver Bub Means remains on injured reserve and defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon is still on the physically unable to perform list. One or both of them could be activated next week.

New Orleans Saints inactive players

  • QB Spencer Rattler (emergency third QB)
  • WR Mason Tipton
  • RB Jordan Mims
  • LB Jaylan Ford
  • DT Khristian Boyd

New York Giants inactive players

  • CB Deonte Banks
  • CB Dru Phillips
  • ILB Bobby Okereke
  • OT Chris Hubbard
  • OT Jermaine Eluemunor
  • DL Rakeem Nunez-Roches
  • CB Dee Williams

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Kool-Aid McKinstry is eager for another shot at Malik Nabers

Kool-Aid McKinstry didn’t line up against Malik Nabers as much as he wanted in their last matchup. He’s excited to run it back in Week 14, if Nabers is cleared to play:

Kool-Aid McKinstry wants another shot at Malik Nabers when the New Orleans Saints face the New York Giants.

But whether McKinstry will get his chance is yet to be seen. That’s due to an injury Nabers suffered in practice this week; the rookie wideout has been dealing with both groin and hip issues. Reports, however, say Nabers has a realistic chance to play.

The last time these two players played was last year at LSU and Alabama. Their one-on-one matchups were limited, to the disdain of McKinstry.

“I was definitely mad about that,” McKinstry said, “I feel like I match up good against him.”

His time against Nabers will still be divided between him and Alontae Taylor. When it is his turn, McKinstry likes his chances. They didn’t face off much in 2023, but their time in college overlapped for three seasons.

Defensive coordinator Joe Woods relayed the message he gave McKinstry earlier this week: “You did it in college, now it’s time to do it in the NFL.”

How would McKinstry describe the matchup between two impressive first-year pros? He says, “It’ll be what makes the game beautiful.”

Now all that’s left is to see if the Giants will let Nabers get in the game.

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Bryan Bresee credits his teammates for jump in sack production

Bryan Bresee has already exceeded his sack total from his rookie season. What changed from Year 1 to Year 2? He credits his teammates:

Bryan Bresee has surpassed his sack total from his rookie year, and he has a chance to lead all defensive tackles in sacks this season. Dexter Lawrence leads the league with 9 sacks at the position but is on injured reserve. The New Orleans Saints won’t have to face him when they play the New York Giants this week.

When the New Orleans Saints drafted Bresee in the first round, explosiveness was one of his featured traits. That quickly translated to his ability to get after the quarterback in the NFL.

What has contributed to the bump from 4.5 sacks a year ago to 6.5 sacks with five games remaining this season?

Bresee said how sacks are a team stat: “I think a lot of people look at sacks as a single person stat, but at the same time you have to look at the defensive backs covering. You have to look at the other defensive linemen you’re running games with. There’s a lot that goes into sacks.”

On an individual level, the improvement came from a better grasp of the game. Bresee continued, “Being able to understand what I’m going against every week, who I’m going against, what I think is going to work on them and being able to develop plans.”

It wasn’t immediate, but Bresee has began to piece together what he needs to craft a more intentional pass rush plan. It’s resulted in a more productive sophomore season.

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