If this isn’t a tank by the Giants, it sure looks like one.
Baker Mayfield saw what a joke this is Sunday.
The Buccaneers quarterback pumped both of his arms to the sky after a 10-yard touchdown run and basically flipped off all of MetLife Stadium by doing the Double DeVito:
He pinched two fingers to his thumb with both hands and raised his arms up and down, taunting the Giants, their leadership, quarterback Tommy DeVito and the entire fanbase.
Mayfield was calling this out for what it is: a punchline, a circus, a poor excuse for an NFL opponent.
This 30-7 blowout loss, the Giants’ sixth straight defeat to fall to 2-9, confirmed the locker room’s skepticism of Joe Schoen’s and Brian Daboll’s operation after their shutdown and release of Daniel Jones.
How can John Mara and Steve Tisch continue to employ Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll after this? Better yet, how can the NFL make America watch this on Thanksgiving Day?
Mara briskly walked past reporters late in the fourth quarter and declined comment.
“Have a Happy Thanksgiving,” Mara said as he passed.
Schoen and Daboll skipped over season-long backup Drew Lock to start DeVito to “spark things,” in Daboll’s words. And it sparked things alright.
It sparked a five-alarm fire.
The Giants were shut out in the first half for the second straight game and the third time this season. It also marked the fifth time in 11 games that they have scored three or fewer points in the first half.
Incredibly, Schoen’s and Daboll’s Giants haven’t even held a single lead in their past six games since their last win Oct. 6 in Seattle.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles blitzed DeVito and the Giants offense into oblivion, holding DeVito to five yards passing in the first quarter and the Giants to 45 yards of offense the whole first half.
Lock eventually had to replace DeVito for one snap in the fourth quarter when DeVito got smoked by Bucs lineman Calijah Kancey and had to catch his breath on the sideline.
Malik Nabers had no targets in the first half and was sitting by himself on the sideline. Dexter Lawrence had his head in his hands after a bad defensive drive.
This is a team that doesn’t believe in where the program is going. This is a locker room that saw Jones scapegoated and didn’t like how it went down.
This is the end for Schoen and Daboll, regardless of how long it takes Mara and Tisch to actually make the call.