If the New York Giants thought the benching and release of Daniel Jones would provide some sort of spark, they were sorely mistaken.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ran roughshod over an embarrassing Big Blue in a 30-7 victory on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, which dropped the Giants to a miserable 2-9 on the 2024 season before a short turnaround and a trip to Dallas for a Thanksgiving Day matchup against the Cowboys.
“There’s a lot of prideful people, but what we put out there wasn’t good enough,” Giants head coach Brian Daboll said. “We can’t make excuses. We have a short turnaround, but we didn’t do a good enough job.”
In his return to starting duties under center, quarterback Tommy DeVito was a non-factor, completing 21 of 31 passes for 189 yards while getting sacked four times by a Buccaneers’ defense that had allowed the fourth-most passing yards in the NFL this season.
Daboll confirmed moments after the game that he will remain the starting quarterback on Thursday in Dallas.
The Giants have now gone six consecutive games without holding a lead. It is the third time in the franchise’s 100-year history that they have gone at least five games without ever holding a lead and the first time since 1976.
Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield ripped an uninspired Giants defense, which looked as though they had given up entirely, for 294 yards on 24-of-30 passing. Running back Bucky Irving added 87 yards and a touchdown, leading a ground game that featured four scores.
In total, the Buccaneers outgained the Giants 450 to 245.
“They did everything better than we did today,” a surly Daboll said. “It wasn’t good.”
Tampa Bay ended the contest before halftime, slapping a 23-0 run on the Giants while outgaining them 290-45 to heap further misery on a franchise that has been wandering the desert for the better part of the last 12 years due to inept management.
The Buccaneers unleashed a 14-play, 70-yard touchdown drive on the opening possession of the game, which ended with a one-yard touchdown rush from Sean Tucker.
Irving went up the middle from six yards out to make it a 17-0 game with 6:23 to go in the second quarter after the Bucs went 82 yards on seven plays. Just before the half, Tampa went 86 yards in 2:45 to go up 23 after Mayfield scrambled into the end zone from 10 yards out and celebrated with DeVito’s trademark Italian hands celebration.
DeVito completed just 3-of-5 passes in the first half for 31 yards, but he was also sacked three times while losing 21 yards in the first 30 minutes of the afternoon.
The Giants’ offense put together something that resembled a methodical drive on the opening possession of the second half, going 65 yards in 4:05, but running back Tyrone Tracy fumbled after bouncing to the left on a direct snap to give the Buccaneers the ball on their own 5-yard line.
New York’s helpless defense offered little resistance as the visitors ate up all 95 yards on 12 plays in 7:10, ending with a Rachaad White one-yard touchdown run to go up 30-0 with 3:45 left in the third quarter.
The Giants found a consolation touchdown with 11:28 left in the fourth quarter. Devin Singletary went up the middle for a one-yard score for his third touchdown of the season to cap off a 13-play, 68-yard drive.
