EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Is there a more fun NFL story right now than Tommy DeVito?
The Giants' rookie free agent quarterback lives with his parents in his childhood home 15 minutes from the team's facility, he's a lover of chicken cutlets and vodka sauce, has a sandwich named after him at a local Italian restaurant, and has mastered staying calm and cool in a potentially chaotic situation.
Oh, and he's also playing some pretty good football and posting impressive and even unprecedented numbers.
DeVito made his second professional start and threw three touchdown passes in leading the Giants to a 31-19 victory Sunday against the Commanders in Washington. He completed 18 of 26 passes for 246 yards and did not throw an interception. His 137.7 passer rating was the highest by a Giants quarterback since Daniel Jones' 153.3 in Week 10 of the 2022 season.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that was the highest rating by a rookie free agent quarterback with 15+ attempts in common draft era (1967).
DeVito is the first undrafted rookie quarterback to throw five touchdown passes in his first two starts in the common draft era.
He is the first Giants quarterback since 1950 with at least five touchdown passes in his first two NFL starts. DeVito is the fourth rookie quarterback to throw five or more touchdown passes in his first two starts, joining Buffalo's Johnny Green in 1960, Cincinnati's Greg Cook in 1969, and
Minnesota's Todd Bouman in 2001. DeVito and Bouman were undrafted.
On third down against the Commanders, DeVito completed seven of eight passes for 113 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions for a perfect rating of 158.3.
DeVito is the fourth Giants rookie to throw at least three touchdown passes in a game. The others were Phil Simms (Dec. 9, 1979, at St. Louis), Eli Manning (Jan. 2, 2005, vs. Dallas), and Jones (who had two four-touchdown passes and one-five touchdown pass games in 2019).
DeVito joined Chicago's Tyson Bagent as the only free agent rookies to start and win a game this season. Bagent led the Bears to two victories, both at home. DeVito is the first rookie free agent quarterback to win a road game since Pittsburgh's Devlin Hodges on Dec. 18, 2019. Before DeVito, undrafted rookie quarterbacks had lost seven consecutive road starts since Hodges' victory.
DeVito was the first rookie free agent with a passer rating of 80+ in a road start since Hodges (who had a 117.5 rating in his victory four years ago).
On Sunday, DeVito and Cleveland's Dorian Thompson-Robinson increased to nine the number of rookie quarterbacks to start and win a game this season, the most in a season since 1950 (excluding the 1987 strike season).
*DeVito was the first undrafted rookie quarterback to beat Washington since Dallas' Chad Hutchinson in Week 13, 2002.
*DeVito threw for those 246 yards and three scores Sunday despite being sacked nine times for losses totaling 45 yards. This is the first victory in Giants history in a game when their quarterback(s) was sacked at least nine times. The last team to win despite taking nine sacks was the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 17, 1999, at New England. Hall of Famer Dan Marino started but injured his shoulder and left the game after two series. He was replaced by Damon Huard, who was sacked nine times in Miami's 31-30 victory. The last starting quarterback to absorb 9+ sacks and win was Philadelphia's Randall Cunningham on Dec. 13, 1992, at Seattle (10 sacks).
View photos from the Giants' Week 11 matchup against the Washington Commanders.
*The Giants had six takeaways in their victory Sunday, the first NFL team this season with that total. They had no turnovers. It certainly states the obvious to say forcing all those Washington turnovers helped the Giants win the game. Indeed, it would have been a statistical shock had they lost. Since 2000, teams are 32-1 with a +6 or more turnover differential, including 20-0 when not committing a turnover and opposing team had six or more.
The trend would have held up even if Isaiah Simmons did not intercept a Sam Howell pass and return it 54 yards for a touchdown with 16 seconds remaining. Since 2000, teams are 137-4-1 when having a 5+ turnover margin and 91-0 when committing zero turnovers and opponents have five or more.
*Before Sunday, the Giants had lost their previous four regular-season games in which they did not commit a turnover. Their most recent victory had been … at Washington, on Dec. 18, 2022. The Giants had no turnovers in their NFC Wild Card victory at Minnesota on Jan. 15.
*Saquon Barkley caught two touchdown passes Sunday, the first Giants player to do so in a game since wide receiver Darius Slayton on Sept. 14, 2020, vs. Pittsburgh. Barkley was the first Giants running back with two touchdown receptions since … Barkley, at Carolina on Oct. 7, 2018.
*It was the second time this season Barkley scored twice in a game. In a victory at Arizona on Sept. 17, he scored on a one-yard run and a nine-yard reception.
*Since returning in Week 6 after missing three games with a sprained ankle, Barkley leads the NFL with 537 rushing yards and is second with 658 scrimmage yards. Dallas wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is first with 688 yards.
*Hall of Famer Frank Gifford was pushed down on two career lists Sunday. Barkley exceeded 100 scrimmage yards for the 34th time in his career Sunday, breaking a tie with Gifford and moving into second place on the Giants' career list. He has a way to go to catch No. 1 Tiki Barber, who had 81 100-yard games.
*Sterling Shepard had one reception in Washington to increase his career total to 368. That broke a tie with Gifford (367) and moved Shepard him into a tie with Ike Hilliard for sixth on the Giants' career list. Jeremy Shockey is fifth with 371.
*The Giants had eight plays that gained 20 or more yards (six passes and two runs) in Washington, their highest total since they had eight in New Orleans on Oct. 3, 2021.
*That was also the most recent game before Sunday in which the Giants had two touchdown receptions of more than 20 yards. In New Orleans, Daniel Jones threw touchdown passes of 54 yards to John Ross and 52 yards to Barkley. On Sunday, DeVito tossed scoring passes of 24 yards to Barkley and 40 yards to Slayton.
*Kayvon Thibodeaux, who leads the Giants and is tied for fifth in the NFL with 10.5 sacks, has 14.5 sacks in his first 25 career games. That is the most by Giants player since individual sacks became an individual statistic in 1982. Jason Pierre-Paul had 14.0 sacks in his first 25 games.
*The Commanders had just one accepted penalty on Sunday, the fewest by a Giants opponent since Oct. 4, 2020, when the Rams had one in a 17-9 victory in Los Angeles.
*The Giants will face New England Sunday, a week after the Patriots have their bye. Since 1990, the Giants are 16-11 when their opponents are coming off a bye and they are not – including their Oct. 29 loss to the Jets.
*The Giants will have their bye after the game. They have the NFL's fifth-highest winning percentage in pre-bye games:
Seattle Seahawks 28-7-0 (.800)
Minnesota Vikings 24-10-0 (.706)
Dallas Cowboys 24-11-0 (.686)
New Orleans Saints 23-11-0 (.676)
New York Giants 22-12-0 (.647)
*The Giants finished 1-2 on their three-game road trip to Las Vegas, Dallas, and Washington. The Tennessee Titans were 0-3 playing three road games during the same period.
NFL three game road trips since 2010: 56 instances
3-0: 6
2-1: 19
1-2: 19
0-3: 12
Game 1: 24-32
Game 2: 26-30
Game 3: 25-31
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