ARLINGTON, Texas — If the players inside the Giants locker room are as confident in Tommy DeVito as the 25-year-old rookie free agent quarterback is in himself, the Giants might just shock the Cowboys and the rest of the NFL Sunday at AT&T Stadium, the 17.5-point point spread be damned.
If the Giants are as bullish on DeVito as his father Tom is, then they might just blow out the same Cowboys team that smoked them, 40-0, in the season opener at MetLife Stadium two months ago.
With starting quarterback Daniel Jones out for the season with a torn ACL in his knee and backup Tyrod Taylor out indefinitely with busted ribs, this is Tommy DeVito’s team until further notice.
If you think that’s daunting for a North Jersey kid who went to Don Bosco, played in two different college programs (Syracuse and Illinois) and who’s spent the better part of the season on the practice squad as a developmental player … think again.
“Tommy was born to do this,’’ DeVito’s father, Tom, told The Post this week from his truck in between plumbing jobs he was working. “I’m not surprised, and I’m not trying to sound cocky, but Tommy’s been training for his since he was 5 years old.’’
Tommy DeVito is Jersey born (Cedar Grove) and Jersey tough. He knows what Giants fans are thinking: A third-string quarterback going up against a loaded Cowboys team in its building has no chance.
“The only expectations are mine,’’ DeVito told The Post. “I have high expectations of myself. For me, it’s just playing to my standards and know what I’m capable of doing.’’
DeVito has made believers of his teammates, many of whom spoke this week with a sense of intrigue and excitement about what the kid may bring to the table in the face of such an impossible situation.
You heard players and coaches this past week use the word “juice’’ when talking about what DeVito brought to practice.
Even offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who’s so flatline when speaking to reporters and never cracks even the hint of a smile, smiled when he spoke of the “juice’’ the kid has brought to the field in his first week of practice taking snaps with the first-team offense.
The first thing anyone who came across DeVito noticed about him when he arrived for OTAs, minicamps and training camp was that he conducted himself like he belonged, not like a wide-eyed local kid in disbelief that he had his own locker just a few feet away from the stall Eli Manning used to occupy.
DeVito blends just the right dose of humble with his confidence while not being obnoxious cocky.
“He’s got that Jersey swag, which we all love,’’ tight end Daniel Bellinger said.
“He’s a confident guy, he believes in himself, he plays the game with a healthy level of swagger, and at that position on this league you need some of that,’’ receiver Darius Slayton told The Post. “Confidence is everything. Belief is most of the battle — especially when you’re playing a position like quarterback. That’ll serve him well.’’
Receiver Parrish Campbell: “Man, the dude’s just got swag. He believes in himself. You don’t run into a lot of young players that have that.’’
When Giants guard Ben Bredeson was asked what DeVito was like during practice with the starters this week, he said, “The kid hasn’t changed a bit. He’s dancing in the huddle and still confident. He’s very confident, not in a cocky way, just sure of himself.’’
No one is surer of Tommy DeVito than his father.
“People think, ‘Oh, he’s undrafted,’ and they wonder why he’s here,’’ Tom DeVito said. “He’s here because [Giants coach Brian] Daboll knows he’s got a diamond in the rough.’’
When I asked the father where his son’s uncanny confidence comes from, he said, “If he was in 50 football camps, he won 47 of them. Going across the country, you’re comparing yourself to people and you think, ‘I’m better than them.’ ”
Tom DeVito recalled the year his son competed at the “Elite 11,’’ the nation’s premier quarterback competition, and he was named the MVP of the camp, where Tua Tagovailoa and other players that went to the NFL, were also competing.
Tommy credited his confidence and work ethic to his father.
“He’s in the plumbing and heating business and used to work 100-hour weeks,’’ DeVito said. “He never missed a game. He traveled to every college game I started. He was here for every [Giants] minicamp and practice.’’
Tom DeVito also was at every one of his son’s practices at Don Bosco. He was there to drive his son home afterward when he didn’t yet have his driver’s license. And it was one afternoon in Tommy’s freshman year when the father knew his son was built for this, built for what he’ll be doing on Sunday at AT&T Stadium.
He recalled waiting to pick Tommy up after practice and his son was nowhere to be found.
“At Don Bosco, if you messed up or didn’t do something in class, you got what the coach called a ‘special opportunity,’ ” Tom DeVito said. “That was like torture, like a prison camp. I was waiting for Tommy one day to drive him home and was like, ‘Where’s Tommy? Where’s my son?’
“So, I went back to the field and there was a running back who got a ‘special opportunity’ period and Tommy wouldn’t let him do the period alone, he did it with him. It was like reporting to prison on your own.
“Right there. That’s when I saw this kid’s a leader. That’s when I knew this kid gets it, he knows how to lead. That was the most impressive thing I ever saw him do on the field. You’re nothing if you’re not a leader at that position.’’
Believe in it or not, skeptical Giants fans, that’s who’ll be leading Big Blue on the field Sunday.
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