Six games more of this?
Oy vey.
It might be better for all involved in this complete and embarrassing mess to pack up and go home. What the Giants are putting out on the field is not doing anyone any good, and this slop is making it harder and harder to make a case that those employed in the front office and the coaching staff deserves to come back to give it another try in 2025.
The easy throwaway line at this time is to say, “Guess it wasn’t all Daniel Jones’ fault.’’ Anyone watching the Giants stumble and bumble in the first 10 games knew that to be true. Well, Jones was benched and waived and is looking for a new team. Tommy DeVito was inserted at quarterback and the entire operation on both sides of the ball was inept.
There were rows and rows of empty gray seats at the finish of Sunday’s pathetic 30-7 loss to the Buccaneers, with no traffic concerns exiting MetLife Stadium.
DeVito did not spark anything and the Giants did not stop anyone. This was a bad team on display in every way possible. Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield might as well have been throwing from a rocking chair. He was having so much fun he mimicked DeVito’s Italian hand gesture celebration, unveiled last season, after vaulting into the end zone in the closing seconds of the first half to make it 23-0. Ouch.
The Giants (2-9) have now lost six consecutive games and are 0-1 in the post-Daniel Jones era. The Buccaneers (5-6) came in on a four-game losing streak, but the Giants are the feel-better team of the NFL. They are healers for whatever ails their opponent.
DeVito, rocked all day, was forced out with five minutes remaining for two plays and then was able to finish things out. DeVito’s numbers — 21 of 31 for 189 yards — were not indicative of how much he struggled. He was sacked four times and the offense was barely functional.
This was never competitive. It was 30-0 late in the third quarter before DeVito ran for 17 yards and Devin Singletary scored from a yard out to put the Giants on the board early in the fourth quarter. Hurray.
The Giants have not led in a game since Week 5 in Seattle. That was back on Oct. 6. It is almost Thanksgiving. That’s a long time to be constantly trailing.
Down 23-0 on their opening drive of the second half, the Giants flirted with scoring when DeVito hit three passes to Malik Nabers — untargeted in the first half — and they advanced to the Tampa 5-yard line. Rookie Tyrone Tracy, fighting for extra yards, lost the ball on a fumble — just as he did on the first play of overtime two weeks ago in Munich. The Bucs proceeded to go 95 yards in 12 plays to make it 30-0, with Mayfield having the time of his life playing pitch and catch with his guys. Mayfield ended up 24 of 30 for 294 yards and did not have to do much after halftime.
The Giants would have been better off staying on their bye week. They came out and looked either disinterested or disassociated with each other. The Buccaneers with the greatest of ease built a 23-0 lead with this degree of domination: They outgained the Giants 290-45 in yards and 17-3 in first downs. Mayfield was 19 of 23 for 230 yards. DeVito was 3 of 5 for 31 yards.
DeVito, who went 3-3 starting six games in 2023 as an undrafted free agent, received a nice ovation — it was more like polite applause — when he took the field for the first series on offense. He was the choice of head coach Brian Daboll over Drew Lock, the backup quarterback the first 10 games. DeVito stepped on the field and was already in a hole, with the Giants having allowed a 14-play, 70-yard drive to open the game, as Mayfield completed seven passes and Sean Tucker ran it in from a yard out to make it 7-0.
Anyone hoping for a lift from DeVito would have been better off searching for a unicorn. Changing one player was not going to enliven this sad-sack bunch. DeVito on his first drop-back was sacked in an instant and it did not get any better for him.
On the next series, the Giants faced fourth-and-1 on their own 37-yard line and Daboll, showing his desperation, went for it. The play he called in was not a power run by Tracy — far from it. Daboll called for a jet sweep to diminutive Wan’Dale Robinson and it surprised no one, as Robinson was hauled down by linebacker Yaya Diaby for no gain. That made it easy for the Bucs to move into field goal range — Mike Evans beat Deonte Banks for 26 yards — for a 10-0 lead.
DeVito was sacked by Anthony Nelson to start the next series. Mayfield hit tight end Payne Durham for 26 yards and Evans for 30 and Bucky Irving then ran it up the gut of the so-called Giants defense, virtually untouched for a 5-yard touchdown to make it 17-0.
Stop us if you heard this one before: DeVito was sacked on the next series. This time it was Vita Vea who power-rushed center John Michael Schmitz, driving him back, back, back directly into the helpless quarterback. The only surprise here was that it took until late in the second quarter for the boos and jeers to waft down from the stands.
Showing no interest in actually stopping the opponent, the Giants sat back and watched the Bucs go 86 yards for another touchdown to make it 23-0. By then, some were heading for the exits. More would soon follow.