Giants' QB controversy? At this point, it really doesn't matter who they start
Drew Lock #2 and Tommy DeVito #15 of the New York Giants look on against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Here’s the thing about this current Giants “quarterback controversy”: They don’t seem to have either a clear-cut quarterback or a clear-cut controversy.
As of Saturday, Brian Daboll had yet to decide whether Tommy DeVito or Drew Lock will start when the team next takes the field on Nov. 8 against the Saints — mostly because neither did anything special to stand out in their recent one-game auditions for the job.
“We’ll see where we’re at,” Daboll said on Friday. “We'll see where Tommy’s at. We'll see where Drew’s at… We’ll evaluate the two games that both of those guys played.”
If DeVito is healthy — he did not play in Thursday’s game against the Cowboys because of right forearm soreness — he will likely get the start for no other reason than that Daboll had tapped him for that responsibility in Week 12 against the Bucs, the Giants’ first game after benching and then releasing Daniel Jones.
DeVito completed 21 of 31 passes for 189 yards in that 30-7 loss. He did not score a touchdown but also did not throw an interception.
Lock, forced into the start against Dallas on Thursday without having played a full-speed practice with the starters since the spring when DeVito couldn’t go, gave the offense a bit more of a spark. He completed an almost identical 21 of 32 passes for 178 yards, but also led the Giants with 57 yards rushing, including a 28-yard run to set up their first-quarter touchdown and an 8-yard run for a touchdown that closed it to a one-score game in the fourth quarter. But Lock also threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown and fumbled on a scramble early in the third quarter when Giants were trailing, 13-10.
The Giants scored 20 points with Lock, just three with DeVito. But in assessing Lock’s performance, Daboll continually stressed the turnovers. It’s another hint that he might prefer to return to DeVito.
“We got to make sure we’re taking care of the ball,” Daboll said. “Give our guys a chance down the field to make some plays.”
Lock is probably the better player but a little sloppier with the ball. DeVito makes safer decisions with it, but that also means fewer opportunities to create big gains. At this point, the two players are so similar they are just shades of each other. What to do, what to do?
Like most things in the Giants’ universe these days, this debate feels unwinnable.
“I came into this excited to go show what I can do,” Lock said after the loss to the Cowboys. “I didn’t have enough playing time in the system, like I said weeks ago. It’s one of my first times being that I can play a full game with these guys and show them what I can do.
"Minus the turnovers and a few things, it was up and down. Some good, some bad, some good, some bad. I’m happy I got some time. I’m happy I got some reps. Bank these and be ready for the next opportunity when it comes.”
Lock said he thought he showed his teammates and coaches “that I’ll go out there and fight. I’ll push the ball down the field. [I’ll] run a little bit... I’m an athletic guy that will run around, make plays and take care of the ball.”
None of it will matter, however, if DeVito isn’t cleared. But DeVito said on Thursday he believes he will be by the time the team returns to practices on Monday. He also said that if the Giants had played on Sunday rather than Thursday in a “normal” week he would have been ready. DeVito required extra medical evaluation on Wednesday and had to fly to Dallas separately from the team when his appointments conflicted with the squad’s travel plans.
“It hurts not being able to be out on the field,” DeVito said after the loss in Dallas in which he was the inactive emergency third quarterback [recently added Tim Boyle was the unused backup]. “As a competitor you want to be on the field all the time. The timing of how things happened and when they occurred and playing on a Thursday was really tough. I did everything I could, the training staff did everything they could, just couldn’t happen.”
And so the two players will once again wait to see which of them will get the nod, much like they did two weeks ago when they returned from the bye week to meet the verdict in the decision that, at the time, included Jones as well.
That call was one of the most impactful of Daboll’s tenure with the team. It created uncertainly and skepticism in the locker room, shook up the future of the organization and it’s most important position, and ended a significant chapter in the 100 year history of Giants football.
This one? A choice between two backups-at-best for a team already eliminated from playoff contention and now vying for a high draft pick that will almost certainly be used to select the quarterback of the future?
It will certainly matter plenty to DeVito and Lock. To anyone else it’s more a curiosity than a competition.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
