Saints block field goal to seal loss for Giants

It ended a forgettable day for the Giants’ special teams, which cost the home team 13 points in a 3-point defeat.

In the second quarter, Ihmir Smith-Marsette returned a punt 65 yards for an apparent touchdown that would have given the Giants a 10-7 lead. But it was taken off the board because of Greg Stroman’s holding penalty. The Giants instead took possession at their own 45 and soon punted.

Early in the fourth quarter, Gano seemingly made it a one-score game at 14-6 with his 48-yard field goal. But Kubas was flagged for unnecessary roughness, the points were taken off the board, and Jamie Gillan came on to punt.

“I think they said I grabbed his legs when he jumped up in the air and said that was a penalty,” said Kubas, a rookie free agent who made his NFL debut. “I was just trying to block him as physically as possible. Just trying to finish the play. It turns out it’s a penalty. I was just trying to keep his hands down from blocking that kick, and it ended up getting called a penalty.”

Gano disagreed with the call.

“I guess the officials said that the ball was still in the air when the flag was thrown, which I find that hard to believe because I was already slapping hands with the guys when they threw the flag,” Gano said. “I’ll have to see it on film. I could be wrong, but that’s very, very hard to believe.”

Kubas was also blocking on Gano’s late attempt. Shepherd appeared to push him down, which gave Bresee the opportunity to leap up and get enough of his hand on the ball to keep it well short of the uprights.

“Kept my kept hand down,” said. “They kind of pushed down on the top of my shoulder pads. He cleared me and GV (Greg Van Roten) there and made a play.”

Asked if pushing down on his shoulder pads is illegal, Kubas said, “I think so.”

Graham thought he had tied the game when the ball left his foot.

“I just control hitting a good ball and getting good elevation on it, and I feel like I did, I hit a good kick,” Gano said. “It’s a tough play to stop. They pushed our line down, the same thing we did in Seattle. There’s really nothing much to it. They just made a really good play.

“It’s frustrating for our team. We worked really hard at coming back and it’s tough to have a game end that way. It was still elevating when he blocked it. He got his thumb on it. They just made it a really good play and I wish they hadn’t.”

“Jumped over Kubas it looked like,” Daboll said. “He finished the play before. Got called on it. We changed up a little bit of our technique based on some of the stuff they were doing with their rushes – knocking the guy’s arm out and doing things like that. Ghoby (special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial), I thought, did a good job trying to make sure that didn’t happen. So, then they called the one and it took three points off the board. And get down to the end of it, and they jumped over and made a play.”

Rookie Tyrone Tracy scored the Giants’ only touchdown on a one-yard run with 4:11 remaining in the fourth quarter. Malik Nabers then caught Drew Lock’s 2-point conversion pass that first caromed in the air after hit was hit by Khalen Saunders.

Lock completed 21 of 49 passes for 227 yards and one interception and led the Giants with 59 rushing yards on five carries.

The Giants gained just 86 yards and scored three points in a first half in which Lock said he “absolutely” left plays on the field.

“I’ve just got to be better coming out,” Lock said. “Turned it on a little bit in the second half. But it’s easy when it’s normal ball, when it’s not down trying to come back. We, not we, I have got to be better in that first half.

“Just missed some easy ones. It’s one of those halves where you’re going to go back and be frustrated. They were giving us some stuff and just didn’t maximize the opportunities they gave us. You know as the quarterback and how I feel, it’s the classic shooting myself in the foot. Lots of plays where we had opportunities and didn’t take them, didn’t make them.”

The Saints scored on an 8-yard touchdown run in the first quarter by Kendre Miller and Juwan Johnson’s 11-yard reception on a pass from Derek Carr in the third.

The Giants lifted themselves to within striking distance but had their chance to send the game into overtime blocked by Bresee’s thumb.

“That was a tough one,” said defensive end Brian Burns. “Especially when you’re getting excited to go back in there and win it in overtime. But could never get there. So, tough one.”

“Disappointing game,” he said. “Came down there to the end with the blocked field goal. Jumped over the guard, got the penalty. The other field goal that took three points away. And punt return called back. Had too many penalties (12), obviously. Disappointing, disappointing outcome. Thought the guys that played – a lot of the young guys – did some good stuff. They battled. It’s a disappointing outcome of the game. It’s a tough one.”