NY Giants 10, Patriots 7: Tommy DeVito wins second straight start for Big Blue
EAST RUTHERFORD - Tommy DeVito walked off the MetLife Stadium field a winner for the first time Sunday afternoon as the starting quarterback of the New York Giants.
The last time he did that in victory: DeVito was the quarterback for Don Bosco and he led the victory over St. Joseph for the New Jersey State championship in high school, albeit seven years ago.
This time, DeVito and the Giants beat Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
DeVito finished 17-of-25 for 191 yards and a touchdown, but the Giants could not celebrate until Patriots kicker Chad Ryland pushed a potential game-tying field goal from 35 yards out wide left with three seconds left.
Giants 10, Patriots 7.
Randy Bullock booted a 42-yard field goal with just over eight minutes to play to put the Giants ahead. Xavier McKinney's interception set up the decisive points.
The stakes were high once again with the Giants facing the Patriots, only not in a conventional sense.
No, the Vince Lombardi Trophy was not on the line. The losing team might actually benefit from the game in the long run more than the side that prevailed.
Neither the Giants (4-8) nor the Patriots (2-9) entered in the playoff hunt. They've actually both in the quest for a top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. This isn't your father's Giants or Patriots from Super Bowls XLII and XLVI. The play overall from both sides was ugly at times.
New England benched quarterback Mac Jones at halftime, replacing him with Bailey Zappe. With the Giants playing without star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, the Patriots were having success running up the middle.
Yet for some reason, New England kept throwing and the Giants got three interceptions from Jones and Zappe combined, including rookie Tae Banks' second of his career in the first half.
Giants rookie Jalin Hyatt finished with the first 100-yard game of his career with five receptions for 109 yards.
Bobby Okereke INT sets up Giants TD
Last week, Giants assistant trainer Phil Buzzerio told DeVito what needed to be his TD celebration: a playful nod to his family's Italian culture known as "mano a borsa," the finger purse.
Victor Cruz joked in an interview this week with NorthJersey.com that it's becoming DeVito's salsa dance.
The Giants' rookie quarterback broke it out again in the second quarter Sunday after firing a 12-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Hodgins, who broke away from a tackle and raced into the end zone. The scoreboard screen showed Tom DeVito, Tommy's father, doing the gesture, and his Giants teammates, Hodgins and right guard Ben Bredeson, greeted DeVito with the finger purse as well. Let's just call it The DeVito and be done with it.
The scoring play was set up by Bobby Okereke's interception of Jones.
Tommy DeVito gets loud cheers before first home start
In an alternate NFL universe, DeVito would have been competing with Jones and Zappe to see who would start at quarterback for the Patriots on Sunday afternoon.
Instead of celebrating a homecoming, DeVito made his first start at MetLife Stadium after making the last two on the road because he trusted his gut and stayed home. The last time DeVito started a game that counted at MetLife was as a high school junior at Don Bosco against St. Joseph in the State championship, which the Ironmen won.
Back in August, when the Giants waived DeVito, they wanted to sign him the next day to the practice squad, the anticipated step in his developmental plan as an undrafted rookie quarterback.
There was a wrinkle in that, however: the Patriots had coached DeVito in the Shrine Game in Las Vegas on the walk-up to the 2024 NFL Draft, and they extended a practice squad invite to compete with Zappe as the No. 2 quarterback behind Jones, and then they’d see what happens.
DeVito believed in his immediate future with the Giants, and even though he was behind Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor with no clear path to playing time, he re-signed with Big Blue and stayed.
The rest is history and now DeVito has made history, becoming the first Giants quarterback since 1950 to throw for five touchdowns in his first two starts.
So as Bill Belichick opted for gamesmanship with his refusal to announce a starting QB against the Giants until Sunday morning, promising that Jones and Zappe must be ready, DeVito continues to settle into a job he never thought would be his.
Daniel Jones is out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair the ACL in his right knee this week. Taylor will be eligible to return to the active roster following Sunday’s game; he’s been on injured reserve due to cracked ribs suffered against the Jets back on Oct. 29, the injury that opened the door for DeVito.
Belichick’s career record against rookie quarterbacks (22-6) created a daunting challenge for DeVito and the Giants, who were seeking their first two-game winning streak of the season.
“It's a challenge I look forward to,” DeVito said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to continue to do what I do and prepare and continue to just try to lead this team and lead this offense and not think too much about it.What you see is what you get [with Belichick and the Patriots’ coaching staff]. The way he acts, he's always, like, even if there's a touchdown when you see him on TV and he's just standing there just looking, no emotion, it's kind of how he is, or that's how he was at least for that one week. I don't really know him besides that. But yeah, he's an awesome coach.”
Dexter Lawrence absence glaring
Dexter Lawrence missed practice all week with a hamstring injury he suffered in last Sunday's game and he did not play against the Patriots. It was a big loss for the Giants, obviously. Lawrence has been dominating whichever player lined up opposite him.
That marked the first game of Lawrence's career that he missed due to injury. He was forced to miss a game due to COVID protocols and did not play in Week 17 last year when the Giants rested most of their starters against the Eagles.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Giants vs. New England Patriots: Live updates, in-game analysis
