Applause from his Giants teammates washed over Tommy DeVito on Wednesday morning at the team meeting when Brian Daboll announced that Tommy Cutlets himself had won NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Isaiah Hodgins looked over at DeVito. “It was just kinda like a head nod, it was kinda like ‘Thank you guys,’ ” Hodgins told The Post.
A humbled DeVito wore his familiar smile.
“Many times you see him, he’s always walking around smiling,” Hodgins said. “You can’t even like hate him or dislike him as a person, he’s just like a good guy.”
During a month when most Giants fans and most Italian-Americans toast Tommy DeVito, here were his Giants teammates celebrating the folk hero among them.
“Everybody was just cheering for him,” Justin Pugh told The Post. “Guys were excited for him. … He’s a rookie still, so we gotta keep him level-headed. Let him know you don’t win that award without the defense playing unbelievable, without the O-line playing their part, the running backs, receivers — it’s a team award. As a rookie, you can’t let him get too high or too low, you gotta keep him level-headed. You gotta take your shots and give him a couple of jabs when you can.”
DeVito may have an unpleasant surprise waiting for him when the quarterbacks join the offensive linemen for their weekly dinner.
“He’s gonna pay this week,” Pugh announced loud enough for DeVito, who was walking past his locker, to hear. “He’s NFC Player of the Week, so you know … he’s figuring out his tax situation right now, with the Medicare, and union dues …”
DeVito stopped for a minute to listen.
“I’m just trying to have more meetings with you to understand all of the shenanigans. All I know is, they takin’ too much,” DeVito said with a smile.
Another example indeed of the Everyman.
“Uncle Sam, that is,” Pugh said.
DeVito — much like Eli Manning, much like Daniel Jones, much like Tyrod Taylor — would much prefer to talk about others than himself, or his NFC Player of the Week award.
“It’s cool, I guess, I don’t know,” he said quietly at his locker. “I didn’t really think anything of it. Kinda just … outside stuff.”
So much outside stuff to deal with, so little time when you are quarterback of the New York Football Giants. Daboll, thanks to his time with the Bills, thanks to growing up in a suburb 13 minutes from Buffalo, has talked to DeVito about the potential pitfalls of being the Local Boy Makes Good. Of course, no one ever called the coach Brian Cutlets.
“Just trying to continue to be me,” DeVito said. “I’m gonna let my personality show. That’s it.”
DeVito understands the New York market better than, say, Bobby Bonilla did, and so don’t expect DeVito to offer to show anybody The Bronx.
“When everything’s going good, everybody loves you, and when you don’t win, everything is — people don’t like you, right?” DeVito said. “It’s always somebody’s talking this and that about you. So, staying even-keeled through it all.”
He mentioned that he had dealt with the New York crowd when he played at Syracuse. No offense to the New York crowd in Syracuse, this is a New York crowd on steroids by comparison.
“They can love you or they can be the complete opposite quick, depending on how certain things are going,” DeVito said. “I know how it is. People are tough, but they expect the best. That’s what we’re going to try to give them.”
That’s what he has been giving them, with his arm, his legs, his instincts to get the ball out quick and avoid sacks, his poise, his moxie. A $10 bet on DeVito to win Offensive Rookie of the Year on DraftKings would pay $2,510. Who woulda thunk it?
“When I first got into the huddle, we were both on the practice squad the first day that I got here,” Pugh said, “and he had that confidence and demeanor when he was just running the practice-squad offense, so that demeanor hasn’t changed since he’s moved up the ranks and has grown in that capacity. Maybe it’s a product of how he was brought up, how he was raised, his own confidence in his ability. Like he always had that quarterback demeanor, and it’s showing now.”
Isaiah Simmons walked up to DeVito during his media session and stuck his iPhone toward him and asked: “What’s the definition of Italian Stallion?”
“Isaiah Simmons,” DeVito said quickly. Simmons walked off and DeVito said: “Next question.”
Nothing rattles Tommy DeVito.
“The agent [sartorially splendored Sean Stellato] really threw me for a loop after the game,” Pugh said, smiling again. “And then seeing NFC Player of the Week, it just goes to show that no matter how you start, no matter how you come into a situation, if you’re prepared and you do things the right way and you have the confidence, you can succeed.”
Pugh married into an Italian family.
“I get this [Italian hand gesture] emoji from all of ’em,” aunts and uncles and cousins, so it’s good,” he said.
It’s good to be Tommy DeVito. Inside 1925 Giants Drive and beyond.
“Let’s go back to the Jets game — he didn’t throw a pass in the second half,” Pugh said. “To now, NFC Player of the Week, like that progression is … I mean, there should be a movie about it.
“I don’t know how this thing is gonna end, but I’ll be excited to watch, and be a part of it.”
Cheers to, and for, Tommy DeVito.