Baker Mayfield, Bucs embarrass Giants as Big Blue’s spiral continues

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.
“It’s a tribute. He’s a good dude,” Mayfield said. “New York fans love Tommy here. I’ll give them something they like.”
This lifeless 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 team visit the Dallas Cowboys 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.
The players had a lot to say, though, when the frustrated locker room opened.
“I personally don’t think everybody is giving 100%,” said left tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, according to ESPN.
A fed-up Malik Nabers, who saw no targets in the scoreless first half, said the Giants’ performance was “soft as f–k.” The rookie vented that he is “tired of losing,” and he implied that Daboll’s game plan and play-calling were the offense’s problems.
“I mean obviously it ain’t the quarterback,” Nabers said in the wake of Jones’ release. “Same outcome when we had DJ at quarterback. I mean, take a look: It ain’t the quarterback.”
Why didn’t he see any looks in the first half?
“I don’t know. Talk to [Daboll] about that. Talk to [Daboll],” said Nabers, who sat by himself at times in the sideline, dejected and ticked off.
Captain Dexter Lawrence, whose defense has only one total sack in the past three games, echoed that the Giants were “soft” and said the Bucs “beat the s–t out of us.”
Even he didn’t finish some plays the way he normally does.
Lawrence actually grabbed his head with both hands after one bad defensive drive to compose himself so he wouldn’t erupt like he’s done before this season.
He had one hand on each side of his helmet, and he rocked back and forth.
“Frustrated. Keeping my cool,” said Lawrence, who described his frustration level as “probably a 10.”
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.
Lawrence didn’t use the offense’s struggles as an excuse for the defense’s ineptitude. But his answer described a harsh reality.
“We had a new quarterback in, so they were gonna do whatever they did, blitz the s–t out of him every play, so we as a defense have to understand that and play harder for the guys across the ball,” he said.
Asked about falling behind 30-0 coming out of the bye week, edge rusher Brian Burns said: “That’s ass.”
Lawrence was asked if there is still a strong connection between coaches and players.
“Of my knowledge I think so,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know. We could have more accountability all around, but to my knowledge I don’t see any disconnect.”
Wide receiver Darius Slayton said “everything was bad” and didn’t want to hear Jones’ name connected at all to Sunday’s embarrassment.
“At the end of the day, DJ wasn’t on the field today,” he said. “So he had no effect on how well the people that were out there did their jobs, and the people who did play today did a terrible job. And that’s why we got beat.”
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.
Daboll coached like someone who knows he is about to get fired.
He went for a fourth and one on his own 37-yard line in the first quarter down 7-0, leading to a Bucs field goal and a 10-0 deficit.
And late in the fourth quarter, trailing 30-7, he called his last two timeouts while trying to get his offense into the end zone a second time to make the final score look more palatable.
But DeVito’s final passes sailed harmlessly out of the back of the end zone incomplete.
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.
Daboll was asked if he’s concerned about his job.
“I just feel for the guys that go out there and play and the result that we had today,” he said. “We’ll focus on getting better for next week.”
It’s almost as if he’s accepted it.
This is the end for Schoen and Daboll, regardless of how long it takes Mara and Tisch to actually make the call.