Giants’ Tommy DeVito strikes again! (Insert a finger-purse hand gesture here) | Politi

What if Tommy DeVito is ...

Not just a good story, either. You don’t have to be from North Jersey to recognize why he is quickly becoming one of the most interesting players in the NFL, although — and, please, insert a finger-purse gesture here — it certainly helps.

Forget that he is still living at home with his mother making his bed, or the many tributes to his favorite chicken parm sandwich with vodka sauce, or that the Giants pretty much pulled him off the practice field at Don Bosco Prep this summer.

Forget how he got here, because that uncommon path from undrafted rookie to NFL starter might cloud your vision of what is happening now.

What if Tommy DeVito is ...

The Cedar Grove native is now 2-1 as an NFL starter after the Giants outlasted the Patriots , 10-7, on Sunday afternoon. That they needed New England kicker Chad Ryland to miss a 35-yard field goal with six seconds left and a Herculean effort from their defense didn’t dampen the enthusiasm about the new QB1 in town, not even a little bit.

Devito completed 17 of 25 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown. He wasn’t perfect — the Giants went ahead in the fourth quarter after a seven-play, drive that ended with a field goal — but perfection isn’t the bar to clear for New Jersey’s NFL teams in this season. Anything approaching competence feels worthy of a bust in Canton.

The rookie was that, and then some.

He hit receiver Jalin Hyatt with several nice throws, taking advantage of the rookie’s speed in a way the Giants hadn’t done all season. He protected the football for the most part, which is essential given the team’s microscopic margin for error.

A month ago, when he came off the bench to replace the injured Tyrod Taylor against the Jets, the Giants wouldn’t let him throw a pass in the fourth quarter. Now, he’s dealing darts. Who saw that coming?

“He is the Italian stallion,” veteran lineman Justin Pugh said.

A locker room that looked on the verge of fracturing was now laughing about chicken cutlets. Receiver Isaiah Hodgins told his quarterback before the game that he had a special celebration planned if finally reached the end zone for the first time in eight games. Like a pair of Italian grandmothers, they bumped their hand gestures.

Hodgins had no idea what to call the celebration. “I see Tommy do it all the time but he never really explained it to us,” he said. DeVito, not surprisingly, named it right away.

“It’s a high ”he said.

Before anyone gets carried away: DeVito hasn’t proven that he’s the long-term solution for the Giants. He still holds onto the ball way too long, and given how vanilla-flavored Giants offense since he took over, we still don’t know if he can make all the throws required to be an NFL starter.

But as a backup? DeVito is making himself a lot of money with the way he has played over these past two weeks, because even if the Giants lose their minds and don’t keep him around, it is a lock that some other team is going to find a roster spot.

Put it this way: Would Patriots head coach Bill Belichick would rather have DeVito or either of the two quarterbacks, Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe, that he sent onto the field? Belichick flushed a first-round draft pick on Jones, who was pulled after throwing two awful interceptions in the first half. It isn’t surprising that, according to the NFL Network, the Patriots tried to sign DeVito this offseason.

“He throws the ball with confidence,” Hyatt said. “We talk all the time in practice that, man, if you’re running a slant or a dig, the next thing you know, that ball is on your facemask. He is throwing it was confidence and anticipation.”

Hodgins added: “There’s definitely a lot of juice around him. He seems beyond his years in terms of his confidence, and he’s communicating with us really well.”

Look, it is possible that DeVito might hit a wall after the Giants’ bye week. This team (gulp) still has to play two games against the Eagles. For now, though, he is a good reminder that rooting for a team isn’t all about winning championships. Often, it’s about finding a player worth cheering for — and, when DeVito trotted into MetLife Stadium for pregame introductions, the 80,000 or so fans roared.

“I’m not going to lie, I kind of blacked out,” DeVito said.

He had won over this crowd before he had thrown a single pass. Then, over the course of three hours, he completed them in bunches. The Giants won this game because of their defense, a missed field goal and a bad opponent. No one should forget that, of course, but it’s okay to wonder if the new QB1 is more than just a neat little story.

What if Tommy DeVito is ...

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