Tyrod Taylor, Darius Slayton providing big plays Giants have sorely missed

The Giants have played three quarterbacks this season.

Generally speaking, that’s not a recipe for success.

And when it comes to these Giants, they have not been successful. They are 5-11 with one game to go.

Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito have quarterbacked the Giants this season.

Jones is rehabbing his torn ACL. He also missed time with the second neck injury of his career.

In his absence, Taylor and DeVito have started. While DeVito became a cult hero, Taylor remained his steady self.

Coach Brian Daboll was asked on Monday’s Zoom call about the offense appearing to be more aggressive with Taylor and DeVito at quarterback than it was with Jones.

“I’ll just talk about [the Rams game] because it’s the one we just played,” Daboll said. “I thought that Tyrod saw some things relative to things opening up and let it go and made the right decisions. Every game is different, but he’s done that the last couple of games for us. Which, in turn, helps. You skip some third downs and usually it gives you points. Had one taken back on a penalty, but those are always helpful to get into the end zone.”

Daboll was referring to the 47-yard pass from Taylor to rookie receiver Jalin Hyatt with the Giants trailing by seven in the fourth quarter. The play was negated by a holding penalty on tight end Daniel Bellinger.

Daboll had previously noted DeVito’s “let it rip” mentality. Taylor is a 13-year veteran and clearly is not afraid to take shots downfield.

Daboll, not surprisingly, tabled further discussion on the topic.

“We’ll look into that once we’re done with the season,” he said. “We’ll finish up with this game, get ready for next game [the Giants’ last game, against the Eagles] and look at all those things when the season is over.”

Taylor has posted some impressive results this season, especially in today’s NFL, when big plays often make the difference.

Consider: Darius Slayton — the Giants’ fastest veteran receiver — hauled in a 69-yard touchdown pass from Taylor in Philadelphia last week. On Sunday, Slayton and Taylor connected for an 80-yard touchdown in the third quarter that cut the Rams’ lead to 20-16.

“I was running for a minute there,’’ Slayton said. “Tyrod must have thrown his whole shoulder out to get it there. He launched it at least 60-something yards, a bomb of a throw. That’s back-to-back weeks he’s done that for me now. Great ball by him, and once I saw it in the sky, I ran it down.”

For the Giants, those kinds of plays have been few and far between.

Incredibly, Slayton has only three touchdowns all season. The other came in the win at Washington on Nov. 19.

As Daboll himself said, “Big plays help.”

The Giants just didn’t have enough of them.

It’s fair to assume they will undergo multiple changes after the season, perhaps at the coordinator level.

Daboll said other discussions, especially philosophical conversations, will be tabled for the offseason.

Which, for the Giants, is right around the corner.

When the autopsy of this season begins, the wide receiver position might be one place to start. Once upon a time, Daboll was a wide receivers coach in New England, but

the use of the receiving corps has been confounding.

It took Slayton a long time — and on throws by a backup quarterback — to make his recent big plays.

Isaiah Hodgins, a key to the Giants’ playoff win last season in Minnesota, has largely been ignored. He did make important catches in wins against the Patriots and Packers.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.