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Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS — Tommy DeVito and the New York Giants‘ three-game win streak is over. Among the reasons for their 24-6 loss to the New Orleans Saints — the young quarterback doesn’t believe they played with enough swagger and his play was “average.”
DeVito went 20-of-34 passing for 177 yards with no touchdowns and interceptions as the Giants were kept out of the end zone in the contest. A good chunk of his yards came late in the contest when the game was out of reach.
“Average” was DeVito’s assessment of his play.
He added: “Two throws I want back for sure. Just need to be that spark for the offense and just get us to score points more.”
Still, coach Brian Daboll committed to the undrafted rookie as his starting quarterback again next week against the Philadelphia Eagles on Christmas Day.
“He believes in me,” said DeVito, who missed several plays at the end of the first half after he was checked for a concussion. “I’ll continue to try to earn his trust each play that I’m on the field.”
It has been quite the ride for the quarterback who had ascended from practice squad to starter and thrown seven touchdown passes and just one interception in his first four starts prior to Sunday. The DeVito craze has been highlighted by his now trademark pinched fingers celebration that represents his Italian heritage. It had caught fire and been adopted by pretty much the entire team during the recent three-game winning streak.
The Saints clearly noticed, and they had some fun with that. Defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon did it after sacks. Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, a new Jersey native who went to Bergen Catholic High School, a rival of DeVito’s Don Bosco Prep, wore a T-shirt from his alma mater pregame.
Rizzi also copied DeVito’s celebration after punter Lou Hedley pinned the Giants at the 8-yard line in the fourth quarter (and got Hedley to do it, too).
Saints rookie DT Bryan Bresee, who had a career-best two sacks, came up with the idea for the celebration.
“I can’t take credit for it,” Kpassagnon said. “I’ll give it to our rookie, he definitely had the idea of putting the Italian fingers up and I think it definitely worked out.”
DeVito noticed Kpassagnon. He had three sacks in the game. The Saints had seven as a team. But DeVito didn’t notice the Saints using his pinched fingers celebration while lying on his backside.
“I didn’t know until you just said it,” he told reporters after the game. “But it comes with it. You see it in all sports. Anytime someone does something and something else happens, they are going to retaliate.
“It’s fun and games. Part of the game.”
What seemed to irk DeVito more was the offense’s lack of energy, beginning with him. The Giants had just 193 total yards in the contest. The Saints dominated throughout.
“We just lacked execution on offense. We weren’t good on third downs. We have to be better,” DeVito said. “I don’t think we played with enough swagger. I put that on me because I take that personally as far as playing with energy, playing with juice. So I need to be better with that.”
It didn’t help that the Giants couldn’t get their running game going against a Saints defense that had allowed at least 120 yards rushing in seven of its past eight games. New York finished with just 60 yards on the ground.
Standout running back Saquon Barkley had just 14 yards on nine carries on Sunday.
“You can’t get your swag on when there is nothing you can do [well],” Barkley said. “You’re losing. Personally, I know this for a running back, you’re not able to get into a flow. I think they did a really good job with me personally and not letting me get into a flow and build confidence. I don’t even know if I had a run that broke past 5, 6, 7 yards. That is part of the game. You can’t play with swag, with confidence, when you’re getting beat. That’s all of us.”