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Inside the Numbers

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Tommy DeVito adds another chapter to incredible story

TOMMY-DEVITO-TERADATA

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The NFL began tracking the statistics of starting quarterbacks in 1950. In the 74 seasons since, only one starter completed at least 80% of his passes, rushed for 70+ yards, committed no turnovers, and took no sacks in a game. That one quarterback, as @OptaSTATS noted last night and the Elias Sports Bureau confirmed today, is Tommy DeVito.

The best story of the Giants' season, and the team's impressive turnaround, continue.

In his fourth NFL start, the rookie quarterback who has become northern New Jersey's most popular citizen, led the Giants on a game-winning 57-yard drive in the final 1:33 in a 24-22 victory against the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. Randy Bullock scored the deciding points on a 37-yard field goal as time expired, but it was DeVito and the offense who set him up. He completed all four of his passes for 53 yards on the eight-play drive.

After a 2-8 start, the Giants have won three consecutive games with a quarterback who, when the season began, they never expected to play a down this season. In the process, he has become a pop-up celebrity, known for touchdown passes and scrambles and chicken cutlets. His family was on camera almost as much as he was last night.

"I think as a quarterback you have to stay even keel through it all," DeVito said after the game. "Because when you are winning like we are right now, everything is high and when you are losing, everything is low. So, as a quarterback, you have to be able to stay even through it all. I take pride in that, it's something that I've grown over, obviously over time, from when I was playing from when I was five. Throughout high school and college, just continuing to grow that part of my game."

View photos from the Giants' Week 14 matchup against the Green Bay Packers.

Last night, he took it to historic statistical levels. DeVito completed 17 of 21 passes (81%), including 10 of 11 (91%) in the second half. He rushed for 71 yards after totaling 83 yards on the ground in his first five appearances. He did not commit a turnover – running his streak to 87 consecutive passes without an interception – and did not take a sack after going down 26 times in the previous four games.

DeVito is the first Giants rookie quarterback to win three consecutive starts since Phil Simms won four in a row in 1979.

Since the 1970 merger, he is just the third undrafted rookie quarterback to win three games in a season, joining Ed Rubbert, who won three strike-replacement games for Washington in 1987, and Pittsburgh's Devlin Hodges in 2019.

DeVito's passer ratings the last three games are 137.7, 103.9 and 113.9. The only other rookie quarterback this season with three consecutive games with ratings of 103.9 or higher (minimum 20 attempts) is Houston's C.J. Stroud, who was the second overall choice in the 2023 NFL Draft and is the favorite to be named the league's offensive Rookie of the Year. The last Giants quarterback with three straight games with 20+ attempts and 100+ passer rating was Eli Manning from Sept. 21-Oct. 5, 2014. DeVito is the first Giants rookie quarterback to do it.

And to think, he would likely still be on the practice squad if Daniel Jones hadn't torn his ACL in Las Vegas on Nov. 5 and Tyrod Taylor didn't miss four games with a rib cage injury that sent him to injured reserve.

When the Giants returned from their bye last week, Taylor was cleared to play, but coach Brian Daboll kept DeVito as the team's starter. Since joining the team in May, DeVito has demonstrated a versatile skillset and numerous intangibles that many successful quarterbacks share.

"I certainly have confidence in him, that's why he was out there," Daboll said today when asked if he knew DeVito possessed the intangibles to direct the offense on a game-winning drive. "Again, he's done everything we've asked him to do since he's been here. whether it's OTAs, work, leading up to training camp, he knows what he's supposed to do. He knows he's got stuff to work on, but I think he sees the game pretty well, he sees coverages, he's usually one of those guys – not usually, he is one of those guys, for a young player, particularly at that position, which isn't always the case, but when he comes off to the sideline and you are asking him questions about why he did what he did, what he saw, you watch the tape the following day and it's like, 'Yep, that's exactly what happened.' So, he's continuing to improve and that's what we will try to do this week."

The 5-8 Giants visit the 6-7 New Orleans Saints Sunday. Though no question existed whether DeVito would play, Daboll ended any speculation at his postgame news conference last night when he said, "He earned the right to play today, and he earned the right to play the next week. The kid's done a good job."

His teammates couldn't agree more. They are charter members of the DeVito fan club.

"He's all laughing and joking, whatever, in the locker room, but whenever we get out there on the field, it's like he's a stone-cold killer," said wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson, who led the Giants with six catches for 79 yards and added 36 rushing yards against Green Bay. "I feel like that's what you want out of your quarterback. I mean he's laser focused and just letting everybody know this was going to be ours.

"(He is) composed, relentless, I mean everything that you want out of your quarterback. We go through those situations every single day, having a two-minute situation at the end of the game, and it just goes to show how much work he puts in to make sure that we're going out there and getting the W."

Running back Saquon Barkley, whose fourth-quarter fumble led to a touchdown that gave Green Bay the lead with just 1:33 left, was impressed with DeVito's demeanor and performance on the Giants' game-winning drive.

"I think the biggest thing in that situation is just stay calm, don't force anything, two of those throws were check downs, one was a big (32-yard) throw to Wan'Dale," Barkley said. "I think three of those were just reading the defense, taking what they give you, snap it and keep going. That's rare for a rookie quarterback, but with the confidence and swagger he plays with, you could feel it through the stadium, you could feel it on the sideline, and happy we were able to get the win."

And happy they have Tommy DeVito on their side.

*Barkley (101) and Robinson (115) each had more than 100 scrimmage yards last night. The Giants last had a running back and wide receiver each pass 100 yards on Oct. 3, 2021, when Barkley (126) and Kenny Golladay (116) did it in a victory in New Orleans.

*Robinson gained 32 yards on both a reception and a run last night. The last Giants player to do that was Barkley, who had a 40-yard run and a 41-yard catch on Oct. 9, 2022 – also against Green Bay, in London.

*The Giants' three takeaways last night raised their four-game total to 14, the most in the NFL since Week 10. That is their highest total in a four-game stretch since they had 15 from Oct. 14-Nov. 4, 2012.

*Daboll reported no injuries from last night's game.

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