Brian Daboll Seeks Spark from Tommy DeVito for Giants' Lethargic Offense

The Giants are dead last in scoring and are stuck in a five-game losing streak.

Aug 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito (15) discusses the next play with New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll during the game against the Detroit Lions at MetLife Stadium. / Scott Rausenberger-Imagn Images

The New York Giants offensive woes aren’t all the responsibility of quarterback Daniel Jones, but with the team continuing to spiral out of control and with head coach Brian Daboll’s footing probably not as secure as that of general manager Joe Schoen’s, someone had to take the fall for the team’s 2-8 record.

That someone is Jones, the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft who was supposed to give the franchise stability at the quarterback position after the Eli Manning era ended. 

What ensued was a nearly six-year struggle that saw the Giants offense go through more changes than what ended up good for them, and which also included injuries and, more importantly, inconsistent play in which, at times, Jones looked like more than a game manager at quarterback while at others, who looked completely lost.

Barring a rash of injuries at the position, Jones has played his last snap as a Giant after being demoted by head coach Brian Daboll to third-string, behind new starter Tommy DeVito and backup Drew Lock. That move surprised people once it was announced.

Nov 8, 2024; Munich, Germany; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) during practice at the FC Bayern Munchen training grounds at Sabener Strasse. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

“After evaluating a bunch of things, looking at a lot of tape, and being around Tommy last year, he created a little spark for us. That’s the reason why we're going with Tommy,” head coach Brian Daboll said on Monday, adding that Lock will be QB2 and Jones, who remains with the team even though that injury guarantee can still be triggered if he’s hurt in practice or on the team’s property.

“It's never an easy conversation to have with the players, but I felt like this was a necessary move for us, and I look forward to working with Tommy and getting him ready to go against Tampa,” Daboll added.

The decision, which Daboll implied was made over the weekend, comes as the Giants are stuck in a five-game losing streak in which the offense has struggled to generate scoring.

“Obviously not playing the way any of us wanna play, and that's on all of us,” Daboll said. “But it felt like this was a decision we needed to make here: try to spark things and change things up.” 

In choosing DeVito over Lock, Daboll pointed to last year, when the Cedar Grove, New Jersey native came in and led the team to three straight wins, keeping their then-slim playoff hopes alive.

“Tommy, we've been with Tommy here for a little bit. He's done a nice job, I would say, throughout practices here. But also, we have something to lean on by going back and watching him operate some of our stuff from last year. This is no indication of Drew whatsoever. He's been excellent for us. It was more about what I felt Tommy gave us.”

DeVito, who at times last year looked very much like the raw rookie he was, has significantly improved his game, according to Daboll.

“You go by the meetings that you have with these guys. He's out there practicing, taking show team reps, and doing those things. I think he has good fundamentals, and he's got a good, quick release,” Daboll said, emphasizing that it wasn’t a matter of DeVito outperforming Lock in practice.

“But it's some of the things in the meeting room when you're talking about the tape; you're talking about pressure packages, re-identifications, checks, and things like that. He's played almost 700 snaps for us, preseason and regular season included. So, experience helps. We'll do everything we can to get him ready.”

With that potential for a spark comes the chance of the Giants dropping into the draft order, as was the case last year when DeVito came in off the bench and won three games, pushing the Giants down to sixth in the order. 

Daboll, however, didn’t seem concerned about that history repeating itself, instead putting his focus squarely on these last seven games.

“We have a lot of football in front of us. I think we all need to be committed to doing everything we can do to close out the season the right way and just take it one week at a time. That's really where our focus is gonna be,” he said. 

BLUE NOTES

Daboll sounded optimistic that outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (wrist), who is on IR, might have his 21-day window opened on Wednesday when the team returns to practice.

“Everybody that can participate will participate, and then we'll decide on Kayvon (Thibodeaux) based on where he's at,” Daboll said.

He also expressed optimism about having some other guys back. 

“I think we'll be good. I don't have the injury stuff with me. You got ahead of me on that one. But we're going to have a walkthrough here today and everybody will fully participate,” he said.  

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