Giants' Tyrod Taylor solid in return to lineup but misses potential winning 2-point conversion

Updated Dec. 31, 2023 7:07 p.m. ET

Associated Press

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Many fans were unhappy when New York Giants coach Brian Daboll decided to switch quarterbacks this week and had veteran Tyrod Taylor start in place of popular rookie Tommy DeVito.

Taylor missed a wide-open open Saquon Barkley with a short pass on a potential game-winning 2-point conversion try and fumbled a fourth-down snap in Giants territory to set a Rams' touchdown, but was otherwise impressive in a 26-25 setback to red-hot Los Angeles on Sunday.

The 34-year-old Taylor was 27 of 41 for 319 yards and a touchdown and scrambled 31 yards in the final minute to set up a potential winning 54-yard field goal by Mason Crosby in the waning seconds. Crosby missed wide left and might have been short.

Taylor also threw an interception in the second quarter that resulted in some fans chanting: “Tommy! Tommy!” but he put up more passing yards in this game than DeVito did in any of his six starts. The undrafted rookie's best was 246 in a win over Washington.

Taylor's 319 yards passing were two shy of the team high of 321 set by Daniel Jones in the second week of the season. His 80-yard TD pass to Darius Slayton was the team's longest offensive play from scrimmage this year, besting the 69-yarder he had to Slayton on Christmas after replacing DeVito in the second half against the Eagles.

“I think I played well, but like I told you, I judge myself off wins and losses and ultimately today wasn’t a winning performance, so it’s room to grow,” Taylor said.

The play that will stick out is the 2-point try after Gunner Olszewski broke a tackle and returned a punt 94 yards to get the Giants within a point with 3:27 to play. New York was going to go for the tying extra point, but an encroachment penalty changed those plans and the Giants went for the win from the 1-yard line.

Taylor rolled right and saw Barkley crossing the field open after he faked an inside run. But Taylor was indecisive and his pass fell to the ground, leaving many in MetLife Stadium stunned.

“Saquon was open,” Taylor said. “Was kind of caught in between running it and throwing it and didn’t do either one of them, but yeah, I've got to be better. It’s a routine throw, something I’ve hit plenty of times before. But yeah, that moment I didn’t execute.”

After the defense held, Taylor's run got New York to the Rams 35. With no timeouts, the ball was spiked on first down. The coaches followed that with a draw call that Los Angeles stuffed. Following an incomplete pass, Crosby missed the kick which was at his maximum range.

“As a competitor, any time you lose, it’s never a good feeling,” Taylor said. “I can’t say whether one is harder to shake off versus the other, it’s just about looking at it with a critical eye. Like I said, looking in the mirror, asking yourself what you could’ve done better and attack those for the next week.”

Barkley, who carried 12 times for 39 yards, would not question the coaches on the draw call.

“Any time it’s a one-score game or a close game, any team can feel like they should’ve won, but at the end of the day, only one team gets a ‘W’ in the win column and we didn’t do that,” he said. “We had opportunities, we had a chance to win, but we failed to as a team.”

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