The good, bad, and ugly from the Saints' first win of the 2025 season

For the first time in their last eight regular season games, the New Orleans Saints emerged victorious after a 26-14 win over the New York Giants. It was the first win for the Saints since a December 8 win over these Giants. The Saints improved their record to 1-4, dropping New York to the same mark in the process while earning the first win in the head coaching career of Kellen Moore.

New Orleans got the game off to an inauspicious start. The Saints elected to take the ball after winning the coin toss but did nothing. On the other hand, the Giants tore easily through the New Orleans defense for touchdowns on their first two possessions. After that, however, the Saints settled down and kept pace offensively and took advantage of an opportunistic defense to eventually pull away for the win.

As with any game, there are ebbs and flows. Here's the good, bad, and ugly from the Saints first victory.

The Good: Saints' Secondary

A three-headed player of the game award needs to be divided between Saints defensive backs Kool-Aid McKinstry, Jonas Sanker, and Jordan Howden. However, it should be noted that the entire New Orleans secondary was the best unit on the field for both sides. New York wide receivers Wan'Dale Robinson and Darius Slayton made little impact in the game, catching a combined 8 balls but for only 61 yards. New Orleans did an outstanding job of blanketing the wideouts, often leaving Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart with nowhere to go with the ball.

Make no mistake though, the stars of this game were McKinstry, Sanker, and Howden. McKinstry had 2 interceptions, the first two of his two-year career, and looked like the top-tier cover corner the Saints envisioned. Sanker built on a strong outing against the Buffalo Bills last week with an even better performance. He had two crucial pass breakups and also returned a second quarter fumble forced by Demario Davis for 30 yards to set up a go-ahead New Orleans field goal. Howden came in for an injured Justin Reid and responded with a few nice pass breakups while capping off a great day by the secondary with an 86-yard touchdown return of a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter to seal the win. It's been a tough start to the year for Saints defensive backs, but their performance against the Giants highlighted the young group's playmaking abilities that could be a big asset going forward.

The Good: Spencer Rattler and his wideouts

Rattler got his first win after an 0-10 start to his career, also becoming the first quarterback drafted by the Saints to earn a win since Danny Wuerffel in 1998. Rattler played pretty well, completing 21 of 31 throws for 225 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers or sacks. Most importantly, he and his receivers made plays downfield for the first time this season. Rattler hit Rashid Shaheed for an 87-yard touchdown strike that seemed to change the momentum of the game in the first half. He also hit three crucial intermediate throws in the second half to Shaheed, Chris Olave, and Devaughn Vele to keep drives alive.

The Saints passing game has received deserved criticism. On this day at least, Rattler and the wideouts quieted those criticisms. Shaheed had 4 receptions for a game-high 114 yards, while Olave pulled in a game-high 7 passes for 59 yards. New Orleans still needs to create more yards after the catch and Rattler must put the ball in better spots more consistently. On this day, the New Orleans passing game appeared to take steps in the right direction with its best outing of the season.

The Bad: Saints' run defense

For the second straight week and the third time in five games, the Saints run defense played poorly. The Giants ran for 136 yards while averaging 4.7 per carry. That total would have easily been a lot more if New York wasn't trailing by two score and had to throw in their last few drives. Jaxson Dart rushed for 55 yards, with most of that coming on scrambles on passing plays but some on designed runs. Rookie back Cam Skattebo had a game-high 59 rushing yards. That doesn't seem like a big total, but Skattebo carried New York on a few of their drives with the Saints unable to stop him.

Only three fumbles, one each by Dart and Skattebo, stopped the Giants on run-heavy marches. Granted, Bryan Bresee had a beautiful strip of Skattebo inside the New Orleans 10-yard line, resulting in Howden's touchdown return. Still, this more resembled the Saints defense from a year ago that was helpless against running plays.

The Ugly: Special teams

Botched kickoff returns by Velus Jones resulted in awful starting field position on two early New Orleans drives. Two more missed field goals by Blake Grupe, albeit one over 50 yards, kept the score fairly close down the stretch. Kickoff return coverage again allowed two long returns to give the Giants excellent field position to start a drive. Another New York drive started in very good position after an awful Kai Kroeger punt late in the fourth quarter. A New Orleans special teams squad that was annually among the NFL's best for several years has plummeted to the worst in the league.

The Ugly: Saints' pass rush

It's a good thing New Orleans got excellent play from their secondary because they got no help whatsoever from an invisible pass rush. Against a New York offensive line that had allowed 13 sacks and over 30 QB hits in the first four games, New Orleans got no disruption at all. Jaxson Dart had enough time to write a book then read it when he dropped back to pass. Thankfully, the Saints were stout in coverage and Dart often had nowhere to throw. It wasn't until late in the game that Cameron Jordan and Carl Granderson mustered some pass rush. Outside of a ridiculous roughing call against Granderson that nullified a sack, Dart was still rarely even touched or hurried.

Despite the flawed performance in some areas, the most important thing was that the Saints finally recorded a win. Nearly as important was the way they did it, with turnovers from the secondary and big plays from the offense that we'd seen little of through the first month. Perhaps it's a sign that the Saints have turned a corner and are ready to build momentum.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Spencer Rattler, Kool-Aid McKinstry soar in Week 5 Good, Bad, and Ugly