Notebook: Latest on Giants’ quarterback situation

The Giants’ three longest plays in the game were Boyle passes – a 25-yarder to Wan’Dale Robinson, Nabers’ touchdown, and a 17-yarder to tight end Daniel Bellinger. Not bad for a quarterback who prior to the game had worked solely with the scout team and had not taken a single practice snap with the Giants’ offense.

“What you saw today was my first time playing with those guys,” Boyle said after the game. “So, definitely a cool learning experience. Feeling the speed, the O-line, I think they really did a good job today. The O-line did a good job. The Ravens presented a lot of tough looks, especially on third down. I think our guys up front handled it really well. So, kudos to our guys up front.”

Boyle impressed his head coach and teammates.

“I thought he made some nice throws,” Daboll said. “He was decisive with the football. He was ready to go. He was prepared. He’s worked extremely hard since he’s been here. He made the most of his opportunity, the chance he got to be in there.”

“It looked like he knew the offense just as a first-string quarterback,” Nabers said. “For him to toss the ball around, give us chances on footballs, try to do the best of his ability to get another win, I think he played a great game.”

In his six NFL seasons, Boyle has personified the term “journeyman quarterback.” He has been cut six times, including by the Giants nine days ago.

Boyle entered the league as rookie free agent with the Green Bay Packers in 2019, from Eastern Kentucky. After throwing four passes in two seasons, Boyle played for Detroit in 2021, Chicago in 2022, the Jets in 2023, and Miami and the Giants this season. He has played in 23 regular-season games with five starts (three with the Lions, two with the Jets) and completed 141 of 233 passes (60.5%) for 1,210, five touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

This season, he played in two games for the Dolphins before being released on Oct. 26. The Giants signed him to their practice squad on Nov. 19, to the active roster on Nov. 23, waived him on Dec. 7, re-signed him to the practice squad three days later, and back to the active roster on Saturday.

And yesterday, he was called on to play against one of the NFL’s best teams.

“It’s kind of one of those weird things,” Boyle said. “As a backup, you have to go into the game knowing you’re going to play and if you don’t play, it’s one of those, all right, you came out clean. But I’ve been around long enough now, kind of back in my Green Bay days where I’d go into a game and it kind of jumped on me a little bit. I wasn’t really ready for the moment. But as I progressed as a backup in this league, you have to just be ready to play.

“I prepared all week knowing that there was a chance for me to go play in this game, and I had to go play well. The moment when it came, there was no heart pounding, there was no dry mouth, I just kind of went out there and played ball and got in the huddle. It was really good to play football again. It’s been kind of a weird year for me. I’ve been on three teams over the past, I don’t know, five, six months. So just getting back in the huddle and playing ball, throwing a touchdown pass, it was all very nice for it to come full circle.”

Depending on what happens to DeVito and Lock, that circle could continue turning in Atlanta.