Giants legend blasts team after Tommy DeVito debacle vs. Jets

New York Giants legend and current CBS Sports NFL analyst Tiki Barber blasted his former team after head coach Brian Daboll clearly didn't trust backup quarterback Tommy DeVito to throw the football in what became Sunday's 13-10 overtime loss to the New York Jets at a rain-soaked MetLife Stadium. 

"This is a professional football team, and you don’t trust the guy under center to throw the football? I know the conditions were bad…but this was a game you were supposed to win," Barber said during Monday's edition of the WFAN "Evan and Tiki" program, per Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "You put yourself in a winning position. The fact that this game was lost this way is an indictment on everything the Giants have started to build over the last year and a half."

Primary backup Tyrod Taylor started at quarterback for the Giants with Daniel Jones sidelined for a third consecutive game due to a lingering neck injury. Taylor suffered an injury to his ribs in the second quarter against the Jets, however, so Daboll had to turn to the undrafted DeVito to take snaps under center. 

While DeVito notched a rushing touchdown in his regular-season debut, he was permitted to attempt only seven passes despite chants from fans inside the stadium pleading with Daboll to let the rookie throw the ball more. Taylor and DeVito ultimately accumulated negative nine net passing yards, the fewest for any team in an overtime game in NFL history.

According to the Giants website, Daboll said after the three-point defeat that "we were going to run the ball regardless" of who was playing quarterback because of the rainy conditions and the fact that the Giants defense repeatedly stopped the Jets offense throughout the contest. Barber suggested Daboll turned a win into a loss via multiple controversial decisions, including accepting the ball at the start of overtime. 

The DeVito-led offense went three-and-out on the first series of the extra period and never got the ball back. 

"It felt like you were just waiting to lose," Barber continued. "I know Brian Daboll said it was going to be a field position game…but the decisions weren’t congruent. If it’s a field position game, why are you accepting the ball in overtime? They know you’re gonna run the ball." 

Per ESPN's Jordan Raanan and others, Jones seems on track to play against the Las Vegas Raiders this coming Sunday. With Taylor considered week-to-week, logic suggests the 2-6 Giants should look to sign a backup they trust to do more than simply hand the ball off before the Week 9 encounter.