Lock completed three of eight passes when he replaced Jones in a late 28–3 loss to Philadelphia on October 20. He started 23 games for Denver and Seattle before joining the Giants this season. This season, DeVito has been the Giants’ designated third quarterback in every game and hasn’t played a down, leading to questions about why he’s getting the call instead of the more experienced Lock.

“I have a lot of confidence in Drew, the way he’s handled himself since he’s been here, and he’s handled this well,” Daboll said. “As a professional, we’ve been here with Tommy for a while. He’s done a good job, I would say, in the training here. But we also have something to lean on by going back and seeing how he does some of our things last year. This isn’t indicative of Drew at all. He’s been excellent for us. It was more about what Tommy gave us.”

A year ago tomorrow, DeVito, who made the team as an undrafted rookie, started his second NFL game when the Giants visited the Washington Commanders. DeVito threw three touchdown passes in a 31-19 Giants win.

DeVito would start and win the next two games and was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week after a win on Monday night against Green Bay. He was the first Giants starting quarterback to win three consecutive games since franchise icon Phil Simms in 1979. DeVito energized the locker room, animated the fan base and as a local product, playing for his hometown team was one of the best stories from the nfl history. Season 2023.

The glare eventually disappeared. The Giants lost DeVito’s last two starts and he was replaced by Tyrod Taylor after halftime of a Christmas Day loss at Philadelphia. But the Giants’ performance in DeVito’s Washington start remains the last time they reached the 30-point mark (they might have scored 30 in Seattle on Oct. 6, but Jones took a knee instead of a late 2 point conversion in a 29-20 win). That was the only game in Daboll’s three seasons in which they threw three touchdown passes, and since the three-game winning streak ended, the Giants have won just three of fourteen games, none in a row.

“We’re clearly not playing the way we want to play and that applies to all of us,” Daboll said. “But it felt like this was a decision we had to make here and try to stir things up, change things. We were going to do it with Tommy. Again, we’ve spent a lot of time here over the last week evaluating a lot of things and just felt it was best for us.

“We have a lot of football in front of us. I think we all have to commit to doing everything we can do to finish the season the right way and take it week by week. That’s where our focus goes. ” The only thing we can control is how the season has been so far. It doesn’t determine where the season will go. We are putting a lot of time, effort and energy into this and that is what we will all do.”

Jones’ last game as a starter was a 20-17 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers eight days ago in Munich. The Giants scored just two touchdowns against the NFL’s lowest-rated defense. Jones threw for 190 yards and no touchdowns (although he did score on a 2-yard run).

Jones, the sixth selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, has been the starter when healthy since replacing Eli Manning three games into this rookie season. Two years ago, Jones led the Giants to a 9-6-1 record (he didn’t play in the season finale), plus a victory in the NFC Wild Card Game in Minnesota. But neither Jones nor the team have been able to recreate that success.

“I think this is all-encompassing,” Daboll said. “That goes for everyone. It just doesn’t go for Daniel (Jones). That’s on me. That goes for a whole attacking performance. So again, I made this decision to try to fuel it and give Tommy a chance “He did some nice things when he was there and he played as a rookie, and I know he’s eager for this opportunity.”

Jones is 24-44-1 (.355) as a regular-season starter with 85 total touchdowns (70 passing, 15 rushing) and 83 turnovers (47 interceptions, 26 fumbles). He threw 24 touchdown passes as a rookie, but his highest total since then was 15 in 2022. Jones missed games due to injury in four of his six seasons and was limited to six games in 2023 due to a neck problem and a torn ACL.

Jones has started every game this season and has thrown eight touchdown passes and seven interceptions in 10 games.

His future will be decided later. The immediate concern for Daboll and the Giants is beating Tampa Bay on Sunday.

“I’m excited to see what Tommy brings to the table,” Daboll said. “That’s why he’s there. We’ve had a lot of conversations. We’ve studied a lot of things. Again, we have confidence in Tommy and that’s why he’s there.”