He came on in relief again the following week when a returning Jones was lost for the season with an ACL tear. DeVito was 15 of 20 for 175 yards and a touchdown in a 30-6 defeat to the Las Vegas Raiders.
With little choice other than to trust a free-agent QB off the streets, the Giants decided to start the rookie off his parents’ couch.
DeVito showed some fight, but the Giants’ dreary season continued with a 49-17 beatdown at the hands of the hated Dallas Cowboys.
Then it all turned around against the Commanders. With DeVito tossing a trio of TD passes, New York beat Washington, 31-19. A week after that, DeVito and Co. came away with a 10-7 win over New England.
Then came Monday night, plenty of fanfare, a host of family members rooting him on and a finish that was prognosticated all the way back in the 1988 comedy classic Coming to America.
DeVito captained a pair of scoring drives capped by Saquon Barkley touchdown runs. Then he found Isaiah Hodgins after a sprinting scramble to his right before launching a beauty of a pass into the back of the end zone for a stellar Hodgins TD catch.
Despite the Packers’ late heroics, though, Monday night belonged to DeVito and the Giants.
“I think he’s a young player that’s doing the right things,” Daboll said. “Making the most of his opportunity. Earned the right to play today, and he earned the right to play the next week. Kid’s done a good job.”
At 5-8, the Giants sit in third in the NFC East and 12th in the conference. They’re a long shot at best to return to the playoffs. After last year’s postseason run, the Giants have fallen well short of expectations.
The unknown DeVito has emerged from out of nowhere, however, to become a story and offer a respite from the doldrums the Giants had been submerged in for the first 10 weeks. Right now, that’s been plenty good enough for the G-Men.
“I think in every game we’ve played this year, we showed that we never gave up on any snap, no matter what the score was,” DeVito said. “Never looked up at the scoreboard. Just kept on fighting each and every play, each and every game. And it’s starting to come to fruition with these games in the past now, and just going to keep trying to go 1-0 each week.”