The start of the Tommy DeVito sequel was not as good as “The Godfather Part II.”
Forced into a difficult spot with unrealistic expectations after the Giants benched and then cut starting quarterback Daniel Jones, DeVito did not recapture the magic of last season that head coach Brian Daboll was searching for Sunday in a 30-7 loss to the Buccaneers.
“You always want to be that spark,” DeVito said after throwing for 189 yards and taking four sacks. “I take that hard — [not] being able to get more points going and get things going in the first half.”
Daboll made the strange decision to bypass Jones’ backup, Drew Lock, for the third-stringer DeVito.
The thought was that Daboll trusts DeVito to manage the game and make a few gutsy throws after he went 3-3 in six starts as an undrafted rookie stepping in last season for an injured Jones.
But the big plays from last season were missing, and the big hits — the cost of DeVito holding the ball too long in the pocket — remained. DeVito had to miss a fourth-quarter snap after one shot knocked the wind out of him.
“Nobody did a good enough job,” Daboll said. “Starting with myself.”
Giants fans welcomed DeVito — a North Jersey product whose Italian homage pinched-fingers touchdown celebration went viral last season — onto the field with a big ovation for his first possession.
There were a few DeVito jerseys sprinkled through the MetLife Stadium crowd, which had booed Jones in each of the first five home games this season.
But the Giants punted on three of their four first-half possessions and turned the ball over on downs on the other. DeVito led two long drives in the second half, but one ended when Tyrone Tracy Jr. fumbled at the 5-yard line.
“They were bringing a lot of pressure early on,” DeVito said. “I was just starting to figure that out and just let everybody just play. We started to get going, but it was too late.”
The Giants weren’t surprised to see Buccaneers defensive-minded head coach Todd Bowles attack DeVito.
“We had a new quarterback in,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said, “so they were going to do whatever they did — blitz the s–t out of him every play.”
Daboll confirmed that DeVito will remain the starter Thursday against the Cowboys. The Giants have the lowest-scoring offense in the NFL (14.8 points per game).
“Those little things that just bite you and just kill the drive and just don’t allow you to … put points on the board, it just needs to get nipped in the bud — and it will,” DeVito said. “I know it’s been a while, but it’ll happen.”
The Giants balked at the suggestion that the emotions tied to the team making a business decision on the popular Jones had any impact on the flat performance.
“I think the energy level was up until we started playing badly and were getting beat,” receiver Darius Slayton said. “It just builds at that point.”