What looked like, and should have been, a rout by the New Orleans Saints instead turned into a last-second nail-biter at the New York Giants on Sunday. Nevertheless, the Saints emerged with a 34-27 victory to improve their record to 2-4, with both wins coming on the road. Like everything with this team, they made it a lot harder on themselves than it should have been.
Quarterback Tyler Shough accounted for 4 touchdowns, but had only 144 passing yards on 16 completions in 30 attempts. Shough was responsible for a couple of gutsy plays, including with his legs, but didn't throw with his usual accuracy. The Saints were also victims of a few puzzling coaching decisions and some late-game breakdowns. Despite all this, the team persevered to snap their three-game losing streak. Here are the top performers that were key in making that happen.
Game Ball: Offensive line, run game
This unit has absorbed a bunch of criticism in 2026 and has deserved every bit of it. Sunday started as another long day at the office with consecutive holding calls and abysmal pass protection from Asim Richards at left tackle. However, the line came together to pave the way for a season-high 175 yards on the ground.In the second half, New Orleans rushed for 109 yards with a 4.4 average. This was after right guard Cesar Ruiz was sidelined with a knee injury. He was replaced by rookie Jeremiah Wright, who had a strong second half. Saints running backs accounted for 143 of those yards, by far their best output of the year. Often aided by an extra tight end, this line still played their best ball of the year. As a result, the Saints were able to sustain drives and limit the hits on Shough while setting up a few key play-action throws.
Game Ball: Alvin Kamara
Kamara didn't lead the Saints in rushing. That stat went to Kendre Miller, who had a good game with 70 rushing yards on 20 carries. In fact, Kamara wasn't even the Saints second leading rusher, with undrafted rookie CJ Donaldson picking up 39 on 6 attempts. Kamara's output was 7 rushes for 34 yards and 2 receptions for 35 yards and a touchdown. The 69 total yards was his highest output of the season, but are not what earned him this game ball.
Kamara made two incredibly crucial blocks in the first half. The first was on a blitz pickup that allowed Tyler Shough to escape on a 9-yard scramble. That ended in a missed 55-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson, who did comvert vital 58-yard and 51-yard field goals later on. Kamara's second huge block was on the final drive of the first half. After a spectacular hit by Isaiah Stalbird to force a fumble recovered by Oscar Delp on a kickoff, the Saints owned excellent field position. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Kamara's block sprung Shough for a 20-yard scramble down near the Giants goal line. A few plays later, Shough hit rookie Bryce Lance for a short touchdown to tie the game at 10-10 heading into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room for the second half, Kamara took a swing pass from Shough 31 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. It was vintage Kamara, as he weaved through traffic and showed elite balance while breaking three tackles for the score. The play also put Kamara over 5,000 career receiving yards. He is now one of only 6 players in NFL history to have over 5,000 rushing and receiving yards, joining the elite company of Christian McCaffrey, Marshall Faulk, Tiki Barber, Marcus Allen, and Lenny Moore. The play was a throwback to the greatness that Kamara once showed and could not have come at a bigger time for the Saints.
Game Ball: Martin Emerson Jr. and Quincy Riley
The Giants opened the game with two quick passes to star wideout Malik Nabors in hopes of taking advantage of soft New Orleans coverage. Riley was up to the task on both, cutting Nabors down for a 2-yard loss on the first and in position to do the same on the second. Up until a botched breakup on a fourth quarter deep pass to Charlie Jones for 49 yards, Riley surrendered very few significant plays on the day. He was responsible for a defensive backfield effort that allowed no receptions to a Giants wideout other than Malik Nabors until late into the third quarter.
Emerson saw increased snaps when Kool-Aid McKinstry suddenly became unavailable. Predictably, he was targeted often by Jameis Winston and later by J.J. McCarthy. Emerson responded with 2 interceptions and nearly a third while breaking up a 2-point conversion and another throw in the end zone. It was a good effort through three quarters by the entire Saints defense, headed by a secondary that had 3 interceptions and a front seven that recorded 5 sacks and held the Giants to 84 rushing yards. The stars of the defense on this day were corners Riley and Emerson Jr.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Game Balls from Saints’ thrilling Week 6 win against the Giants