The New York Giants needed their running game to show up against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, and coach John Harbaugh benched Cam Skattebo to begin the game.

Najee Harris started, and Skattebo didn’t touch the ball all game, the first time that has happened in his career. Skattebo’s overtime fumble a week earlier cost the Giants a chance at a game-winning field goal, and the benching drew sharp criticism as New York lost 34-27.

The Saints scored 34 straight points after the Giants took a 10-0 lead at MetLife Stadium, and a late rally fell short. The Giants are now 3-2-1. They ran for 84 yards on 20 carries, while New Orleans ran for 175.

Cam Skattebo Loses Starting Job to Najee Harris

The fumble came on Oct. 11 at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. The Giants had reached the Washington Commanders’ 24-yard line at the two-minute warning of overtime when Skattebo had the ball punched out.

It was officially his fourth fumble of the season, and the first he lost. The Commanders then botched their own final sequence, and the game ended in a 27-27 tie.

Harbaugh said afterward that Skattebo had played well but needed to learn what kind of running that situation called for. Skattebo didn’t argue.

“At the end of the day, I [expletive] up,” he admitted. He was relieved that the Commanders’ blunder took some of the spotlight off his mistake, but said he still expected to be criticized for it.

On Sunday, Harris got the start, and all four Giants backs played in the first quarter. That included Devin Singletary, who hadn’t played since Week 2. Skattebo’s first snap came on the second possession, when he was a decoy on Darnell Mooney’s 20-yard end-around.

After the game, Harbaugh said Skattebo going without a carry wasn’t the plan.

“It was not by design,” Harbaugh said. “All of those guys were taking equal reps in the first half. We were trying to see who could make something happen and get a hot hand and earn it. Nobody has really taken the bull by the horns. Motor (Devin Singletary) hadn’t really gotten a chance to take the bull by the horns, so we thought we’d get him in the mix too. So we put four guys up to see if we could get something going with the running game. That was the idea. They were all pretty equal, I think, in the first half.

“In the second half, we come out, and now we’re down by a bunch, so after the first series, we go into a no-huddle type deal, and that’s when you start using your third-down guys. And that’s just the way it went. It wasn’t by design for him not to carry the ball. It’s just when he was in there, we didn’t call any runs. You’re not thinking about which back is in the game and how many runs they’re getting.

“We’re going to give them all an equal shot, a chance, and see who got a hot hand maybe and keep going with it. We weren’t planning on being down by 24, that’s for sure.”

The backs who did get the ball in the first half managed nine yards on eight carries. Harris had three carries for zero yards, Tyrone Tracy Jr. had two carries for four yards, and Singletary had three carries for five yards. Tracy also caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jameis Winston for a 7-0 lead.

The half came apart late. New Orleans kicked a field goal with 1:18 left, Charlie Jones fumbled the kickoff return that followed, and the Saints scored a touchdown with one second left to tie it 10-10.

New Orleans’ scoring run lasted into the fourth quarter. The Giants then scored 17 points in the final seven minutes. New York turned the ball over four times, three of them on interceptions. Tracy ended up scoring two touchdowns, as he added a rushing TD. But he totaled just 18 rushing yards on six carries. Harris finished with two rushing yards on four carries, while Singletary rushed four times for 14 yards.

Criticism Mounts Over Skattebo’s Benching

Reaction to Skattebo’s benching started early. At halftime, Fantasy Alarm analyst Howard Bender said Skattebo had played at least one snap, so prop bets placed on him before the announcement wouldn’t be voided.

“Some great decisions being made against the worst run defense in the NFL,” he wrote.

One fan called it “absolutely moronic coaching by the Giants,” arguing that Skattebo and Tracy are the only backs capable of bringing energy to a slow offense.

Going into Sunday, the numbers didn’t separate the top two backs much. Through five games, Skattebo and Harris each averaged 3.6 yards per carry, Skattebo on 81 carries and Harris on 27.

Harris and Tracy had each lost a fumble too. PFN’s NFL RB Impact Score has Skattebo at 71.4 for the season through Week 6, tied for 33rd of 46 graded running backs.

New York Post NFL reporter Ryan Dunleavy still made the case for Skattebo in the second half: “I think we can all agree that Cam Skattebo needs to be RB1 and you live with the negatives for at least some playmaking.” He also raised the idea of trading for a running back.

Harbaugh put ball security first on Friday, when he said, “Turnovers determine the outcomes of games. It has to be the number one priority thing.”

By the fourth quarter, Yahoo Sports fantasy analyst Hayden Winks offered a short tally of Skattebo’s day: “Cam Skattebo more commercials than touches today.”

Late in the game, Jason Moore mocked the idea of benching Skattebo to avoid a fumble.

“The Giants were so wise to bench Skattebo! Don’t want to have him lose them the game by fumbling. Now they can lose the game proving a point!” he said sarcastically.

For his part, Skattebo said all of the right things when asked about his benching.

“I got punished for what I did,” he told reporters. “I understand it so I gotta be ready when coach calls my name and that wasn’t today… It’s hard, but I’ve made mistakes, and I got to own up to them.”

It’s unclear whether the benching was a one-week message or a new pecking order. It remains to be seen who will get the start and the bulk of the carries when the Giants visit the Houston Texans on Oct. 25.