In his first start at Metlife Stadium since his state championship at Don Bosco Prep as a senior in high school, Tommy DeVito bested one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time, Bill Belichick. He became only the seventh rookie to beat Belichick since 2000 and, more importantly, he has shifted the culture of the locker room and has his teammates buying in.
After delivering a strike to Isaiah Hodgins and shaking a tackle to get into the end zone for the Giants’ lone touchdown of a 10-7 victory, nearly everyone on the field and DeVito’s parents in the stands celebrated with a brand new high-five.
Some simply call it the Italian hand where one turns their hand upward, pinches their fingers together, and shakes the hand at the wrist.
“There is no word for it. I don’t think there is a word for it. Is there a word for it?” DeVito pondered. “Usually when you type in an emoji on like iMessage, like it’ll pop up. I don’t know if there is like a [pinched fingers].”
The new “DeVito” celebration is not only an ode to DeVito’s New Jersey roots, but a sign that Giants locker room culture is shifting.
“Everybody is doing it at this point, I don’t know,” DeVito said. “I’m cool with it. It’s just a vibe, it’s a lot of fun.”
As DeVito has gotten more reps under his belt, he has looked more comfortable in Mike Kafka’s offense while adding his own personality.
“Bring your own kind of confidence and swagger,” he said. “Let your personality show, and I just try to do that every play.”
The New Jersey native has brought an infectious confidence that has changed the Giants on both sides of the ball. For the first time all season on Sunday, the Giants had a receiver go over 100 yards with Jalin Hyatt’s five catches for 109 yards.
The energy can be felt on the defensive end as well. Big Blue’s defense forced three turnovers and even had a hand in the Patriots benching Mac Jones at halftime. All 10 of the Giants’ points came off of turnovers that put DeVito on the opponent’s side of midfield, and he capitalized.
“All three units, offense, defense, and special teams. It takes all that to win,” DeVito said. “We needed all three and the defense and special teams helped out the offense a lot.”
While DeVito had support from special teams and defense on the field, the New Jersey native had over 100 friends and family members in the stands for an extra boost of “Jersey Juice.”
“ I know my family is out there, so I’m going to be excited to see all them, I had a lot of friends and family here, so just excited to see everybody,” he said postgame.
While it is hard to quantify vibes and momentum, both seem to be at a season-high with DeVito leading the charge. Now heading into a bye week riding back-to-back wins, the G-Men have plenty of time to prepare for Jordan Love and the Packers in a primetime matchup.
Granted, DeVito’s spot under center is secured yet. Tyrod Taylor is expected to be back from a ribcage injury and could take over.
Regardless, DeVito is ready to ride the high of a second-career victory.
“You know you’ll be able to really decompress, relax a little bit, but then get back into this next week, but really just enjoy it,” he said. “I mean to have two back-to-back, we are starting to get some real energy back, get some swagger back across the team, so I think it was really important to get it, especially before this bye week.”
With the extra boost of “Jersey Juice” and Italian high fives, the Giants may have found a temporary recipe for success.
