The New York Giants have won two games in a row with rookie Tommy DeVito under center. In a season where the wheels came off the wagon early for Brian Daboll’s crew, the DeVito narrative has kind of saved the season as the holidays roll in.
Giants co-owner John Mara has always said his worst nightmare is to be playing meaningless football in December. Thanks to local boy done good DeVito, Mara has a story to hang his hat on for the next few weeks.
That, and the fact the Giants aren’t quite mathematically eliminated from the postseason as of yet, should keep the fans engaged for the remainder of the season.
Now, with primary backup Tyrod Taylor eligible to return after this week’s bye, head coach Brian Daboll has a decision to make — insert Taylor back into the lineup, or stick with DeVito and all the trimmings that go along with him.
After the Giants’ 10-7 win over New England on Sunday, Daboll wasn’t quite ready to address the situation.
“We’ll have our bye week here. We’ll discuss a lot of things. Look at a lot of things. So, over the next few days, that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
When meeting with reporters again on Monday morning, Daboll remained noncommittal when it came to DeVito starting in Week 14 against the Green Bay Packers and beyond.
“We’re just getting started on that process now,” Daboll said on deciding what to do at quarterback.
DeVito did something on Sunday that very few rookie quarterbacks have been able to — beat the Patriots under head coach Bill Belichick.
“He made a lot of good decisions for us,” Daboll said of DeVito. “Didn’t turn the ball over. We had that one fumbled snap on the jet sweep. I don’t know, what a 107-quarterback rating, and made good decisions. We gotta help him out too. We had a couple, two drops in there, and a few things that we can clean up, but his job is to do what he needs to do to help us win and he did a good job.”
DeVito won his first start at MetLife in front of a gaggle of family and friends and the vibe was certainly not lost on his teammates.
“I try to bring that energy all the time,” he said. “I respect this game so much, but at the same time, it’s a child’s game in my eyes. So, I try to have fun with it. Like I was when I was kid, when I was five years old playing with my friends in the backyard and I try to just bring that throughout practice.
“It is a job, it is stressful. You are in all-day meetings and workouts, so it’s like when you’re on the field, enjoy it and have fun with it. Bring your own kind of confidence and swagger. Kind of talk about that a lot, Kaf (offensive coordinator Mike Kafka) talks about that a lot in our offensive meetings. To let your personality show, and I just try to do that every play.”
It will be two weeks before we’ll see if DeVito gets his second consecutive home start when the Giants host the Packers two Monday nights from now but if he does, expect the vibe to be higher than usual for a 4-8 team.
If he doesn’t, fans aren’t going to be happy.
