Jason Pinnock shows off ballhawking skills in Giants’ preseason opener

Ralph Vacchiano

NFC East Reporter

Tommy DeVito threw a touchdown pass to his old high school teammate. Jason Pinnock made yet another interception. And Cole Beasley showed there might be something left in his 34-year-old legs.

Those were just a few of the highlights from the Giants‘ preseason-opening 21-16 loss to the Detroit Lions on Friday night, in which almost every one of their starters remained on the sidelines.

Here are the takeaways from the game:

Pinnock proves he’s a playmaker again

It’s been some summer for safety Jason Pinnock, who continued his roll with an interception on the first play of the game Friday night. Then he followed that up on the second series with a tackle for a loss and a pass breakup.

Not bad work considering he played just five snaps.

“I knew I had a 15-play cap,” Pinnock said. “I had to make something shake.”

Giants coach Brian Daboll said: “We were going to play him in roughly 10 to 12 plays, but he had some productive plays early on. So we got him out, gave some other guys some opportunity. But (a) pretty productive day for a short amount of time.”

Indeed. Then again, the 24-year-old Pinnock has been producing all summer. He’s been terrific in training camp and had the summer highlight of the NFL when he made a leaping, one-handed interception in front of tight end Darren Waller in practice.

The Giants have been high on him since they plucked him off the waiver wire from the Jets last August, after scouting him when the teams held a joint practice for a day. He’s probably the favorite to take Julian Love’s spot starting next to Xavier McKinney. Of course, his main competition — Dane Belton — had an interception in the game, too.

“He’s athletic. He’s explosive. He was a good addition to our team last year,” Daboll said. “I think he’s done a good job here in camp.”

Banks-ing on a young secondary

It was a strong debut for cornerback Deonte Banks, the Giants’ first-round pick. He seemed to have consistently strong coverage, including a deep crossing pass to Detroit’s speedy wideout Jameson Williams. Banks was beaten by a step, but Williams dropped the ball. But Banks actually made a nice recovery and just as the ball dropped through Williams’ hands, he grabbed both of Williams’ arms and pulled them back.

He had another heads-up play when he got shoved off the ball by Lions wide receiver Chase Cota, but recovered a split second later to break up the pass.

And he wasn’t the only young corner to play well. Tre Hawkins, a sixth-round pick who has been competing for a starting spot, made some nice plays. And so did Cor’Dale Flott, who is battling for the nickelback job, before he left with an abdominal injury.

“I thought they did a pretty good job,” Daboll said. “Competitive. Had some pass breakups. They went at ‘em a few times. A good learning experience.”

Center of attention

The Giants didn’t play four of their offensive line starters and a few of their backups had injuries, so there’s no reason for concern over what was a poor showing by the line overall. But that really made rookie center John Michael Schmitz stand out even more.

He looks like a beast. He’s strong, agile, and got consistent push on the defensive tackles in front of him. There were even a few plays where he showed some impressive quickness, blocking one guy back before switching off to block another. Daboll wouldn’t say much about him before looking at the film, but it’s a good bet he’s going to like what he sees.

A slot for old men

I’m not exactly sure either of them are going to have a role on the team — if they make the team at all — but for one night the Giants got some production out of 34-year-old slot receiver Cole Beasley and 30-year-old slot receiver Jamison Crowder. Beasley had four catches for 33 yards and Crowder had two catches for 32 yards.

Presumably, they’re battling for one possible spot. If everybody’s healthy the Giants have a deep receiving corps and they’re overflowing with slot receivers. And at least one “old” spot is probably going to the 30-year-old Sterling Shepard. But if they keep producing — and show they can do it against something other than third-stringers — Daboll might find room for a veteran with sure hands.

Jersey Boys revival

It was a relatively impressive performance by rookie quarterback Tommy DeVito, who played almost the entire game for the Giants. He played really well considering he was constantly under pressure the entire game as the offensive line crumbled in front of him. He went 15 of 24 for 155 yards with a touchdown and a game-ending, desperation interception.

“There were a lot of things to clean up, a couple throws that I missed that will haunt me tonight, that I’ll be sitting up thinking about,” DeVito said. “But I think it’s just a step in the right direction.”

His best moment was a 14-yard touchdown pass to former Bills tight end Tommy Sweeney. DeVito and Sweeney were teammates at Don Bosco Prep, a high school football powerhouse in New Jersey. Sweeney was a senior when DeVito arrived as a freshman.

“I know they’d like to get a couple more of those,” Daboll said. “But I think it was probably pretty cool for those two guys.”

Speed trap

There’s a lot of summer hype about wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton, a 6-foot-3, 224-pounder with blazing 4.38 speed. The Giants made him a priority undrafted free agent out of West Virginia, giving him a contract with $236,000 guaranteed. In his first NFL action, though, he didn’t catch any of the three passes thrown his direction, dropping one and falling down on another route (the ball likely would’ve been short anyway). He also got called for offensive pass interference on one pass he did catch.

The other speed demon on the roster — third-round pick Jalin Hyatt — was only targeted once, and it was a short route that was well-covered, resulting in a 4-yard loss. The Giants did appear to send him on deep routes a couple of times, but for the most part the Lions had him guarded in bracket coverage — something he’s likely to see often as teams try to prevent him from breaking away deep.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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