NEW YORK — The last place Saints (1-4) are limping into MetLife Stadium Sunday on a three-game losing streak with New Orleans head coach Kellen Moore suddenly on the hot seat.
The first place Giants (3-1-1) are persisting under the leadership of first-year coach John Harbaugh, on the verge of going a full month without losing a game.
Nothing comes easily in the NFL, but Harbaugh’s Giants have raised expectations already.
They can and will handle the Saints on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J., because New Orleans is questioning everything, while the Giants believe.
“Coaching will play a big part of it, and the Giants have a damn good coach with the experience to say, ‘Here’s what we need to do,’ and they’re gonna do it again,” veteran defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast. “And if the fans are loud and turning it up like they’ve been, they should be 4-1-1 after this week.”
They should be 4-1-1 because the Saints are on the verge of wholesale change.
Saints owner Gayle Benson put Moore and GM Mickey Loomis on notice Tuesday night by firing several scathing warning shots during her speech at the New Orleans Quarterback Club.
“Our fans invest their time, money and hearts in the Saints,” Benson said. “They are right to expect more than we have delivered. As an owner, the responsibility does fall on me. I will not make excuses, and I will not accept this level of performance as our standard.”
Loomis vowed that “I am committed to making the decisions necessary to improve this team.
“Everyone in this organization understands the urgency,” she said. “We must prepare them, execute consistently and correct the mistakes that are costing us the games. Words will not restore our fans’ confidence. Our performance must do that.”
Benson went so far as to call out Moore and Loomis by name.
“Kellen Moore and his coaches are responsible for preparing our players to perform,” Benson said. “Mickey Loomis and our football staff are responsible for building a roster capable of sustained success. Our players are responsible for their preparation and execution. I am responsible for holding this organization accountable.”
The Saints have Sunday’s game against the Giants and then a high-profile international game in Paris against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Benson doesn’t like being embarrassed and won’t stand for it.
That makes the Saints desperate coming into this one, or as Harbaugh called them, “a very hungry team, a very talented team and a very well coached team.”
Desperation can bring out a higher level of performance, so the Giants can’t take the Saints for granted. They are led by talented second-year quarterback Tyler Shough, who was selected in the 2025 NFL draft’s second round behind Giants first-round pick Jaxson Dart.
But complacency is never going to be a problem when Harbaugh is the coach. His Giants players are well aware that they are only a few plays away from having a last-place record themselves.
“We’re sitting at 3-1-1 right now,” left guard Jon Runyan Jr. said. “A couple plays here and there, I feel like we could also be 1-4. I still feel like we have a long way to go on this team.”
There is also a greater comfort level now with veteran Jameis Winston leading them as their starting quarterback. The coaching staff is tailoring the offense more to Winston’s skill set, and his production in last Sunday’s second half is the only reason they escaped Washington with a tie.
“It’s tough to just kind of jump in there when the offense is built probably for a different quarterback,” Harbaugh said of the Giants’ original plans for Dart being scrapped for a Winston-friendly system. “I think he did a really good job, but it was really tough. It was awkward, and he fought through it, and he kept his confidence.
“He kept his poise, and he found a way to win football games,” Harbaugh asid. “Now we’re starting to get adapted, I think, a little bit to the game plan and what we’re doing and getting reps on the things that are more Jameis type things. So I think we’re going to keep getting better. That’s the plan, and he’s doing a great job.”
Winston played four seasons for the Saints from 2020-23, so he has a soft spot for New Orleans. But he’s the Giants’ starter now, and he plans to take full advantage of that against his former team Sunday.
“Love that organization,” Winston said. “Man, my heart and soul is with ‘Who Dat.’ But I’m grateful to be a New York Football Giant. And the New York Football Giants have given me a privilege to be their starting quarterback. And I’m going to honor that and do my very best at that.”
The Saints’ defense led by coordinator Brandon Staley has some talent, but they are not even two weeks removed from an embarrassing 45-24 home loss to the division rival Atlanta Falcons on the 20th anniversary of the Superdome’s reopening following Hurricane Katrina.
Saints defensive players were jogging and lollygagging on the field during the blowout loss that infuriated their owner Benson.
The Giants can take advantage of that quit in them by attacking and burying them early, especially because Harbaugh’s team has shown the opposite of New Orleans. They have shown resolve in key moments with goal line stands and late game comebacks.
“If they come out and punch the Saints in the mouth right away and say, ‘This is how it’s gonna be,’ they’ll spit the bit just like they did against Atlanta,” Martindale said. “Leopards don’t change their spots. It should be a game that the [Giants] win.”
What a welcome change it is for the Giants to not be the organization whose owner is putting their head coach on notice for constant losing.
What an opportunity this is for Harbaugh to further stamp the 2026 Giants as being above the fray of dysfunction that plagues mismanaged teams.
It’s time for the Giants to walk up to the teetering Saints and knock them out.