EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- So close. But so far away.

The New Orleans Saints are now 0-2 for the third year in a row after another heartbreaking, last-minute loss -- this time a 16-13 defensive struggle that nobody would have predicted against the New York Giants.

“It’s a disappointing game to lose,” Saints coach Sean Payton said – echoing his opening statement from one week earlier, even though the two games played out so differently.

This game was the exact opposite of last week’s 35-34 loss to the Oakland Raiders -- except for the same, painful result.

Somehow, the Saints managed to lose Sunday despite winning the turnover battle 3-0. Last week, the Saints somehow managed to lose despite Drew Brees throwing for 423 yards and four touchdowns.

Those are things that rarely happen in the NFL.

But somehow, these hard-luck Saints just keep finding ways to lose without being able to find that elusive complete game. New Orleans finished 7-9 in each of the past two seasons and hasn’t been above .500 since 2013.

“It’s tough coming on the road and doing a lot of things you need to do in order to win and not getting it done,” Payton said.

Just about everyone in the locker room shared the same sentiment – that the defense deserved a better result after coming up with such a gritty performance despite the adversity of last week’s struggles and injuries that continue to pile up.

But this time, the Saints’ offense and special teams let them down. New York’s only touchdown came on a blocked field goal return in the second quarter.

“If you told me prior to the game that we would get three takeaways defensively and not allow an offensive touchdown, I’d say your chances of winning are pretty good,” said Brees, who credited New Orleans’ defense for an “outstanding” performance in the loss.

“The unfortunate thing is that a blocked field goal that gets returned for a touchdown is a 10-point swing,” Brees added. “That’s pretty devastating when you look at the way the game unfolded.”

Brees was decent (29-of-44, 263 yards, 1 TD). But the Saints weren’t clutch on offense, converting just 3 of 13 third-down attempts.

Everyone was left dwelling on every missed opportunity for the second week in a row.

“It always comes down to a few plays, but literally if we make one more play in each of those games, then we’re potentially sitting here at 2-0,” Brees said.

The Saints’ defense wasn’t perfect -- they allowed Eli Manning to throw for 368 yards, including a spectacular 34-yard catch by Victor Cruz on third-and-8 to set up the game-winning field goal.

But it was a valiant effort -- and really, a stunning effort -- for the much-maligned Saints defense. They were arguably the NFL’s worst defense last year, and they were one of the league’s worst defenses in Week 1. They lost top cornerback Delvin Breaux to a broken fibula in Week 1, then they lost their next-best cornerback, P.J. Williams, to a frightening head injury early Sunday.

Yet they played bend-but-don’t-break for most of the game, with two goal-line stands and three forced fumbles (by safety Kenny Vaccaro, cornerback Ken Crawley and linebacker Michael Mauti).

"Some of the catches that were so great from New York’s side, some of our corners were playing their butts off," defensive end Cameron Jordan said. "We had some young guys today that played out of their minds. That being said, the ball fell where it may, and it didn’t fall in our favor. ...

"There were so many 'wish we could'ves.'"

Sean Payton talked all summer about the importance of New Orleans’ young team developing a winning mentality after so many years of mediocrity. He often repeats mentor Bill Parcells (a guy who did a lot of winning here in New York), saying, “Confidence is born of demonstrated ability.”

But so far, winning has been the Saints’ biggest hurdle.