Giants QB Tommy DeVito thrills friends and family in first NFL start

Tommy DeVito will always remember his first NFL preseason start.

So will his family members and friends, especially those in attendance.

Giants starting quarterback Daniel Jones did not play against the Lions on Friday night at Ford Field.

Backup Tyrod Taylor left the game after accounting for 14 total yards.

By coach Brian Daboll’s decree, this was always going to be the DeVito show.

In a coincidental meeting with Newsday at Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport on Saturday afternoon, the DeVito contingent detailed the excitement and emotion they shared in watching 25-year-old Tommy play in an NFL game for the first time.

His parents, Mike and Lexy, and his brother Max, who is two years younger, were there. Family friend Tom Courtney, whose kids, like the DeVitos’, attended Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, New Jersey, was on the trip.

Vinnie Pantusa, known as “Cousin Vinny,” also was along for the ride.

Even Tim and Luanne Hoey, friends from the University of Illinois, where Tommy played last season, drove seven hours to be there.

At Ford Field, Tommy had his own cheering section.

On Saturday, shortly before his family boarded the flight home, Tommy texted his brother from the Giants’ facility.

The message, according to his brother: “He said he’s excited to come home, play with the dogs and to get in the hot tub.”

For Tommy, Friday night represented a great achievement.

For his dad, it meant he’d need his own box of tissues, especially after his son threw his first touchdown pass.

“The emotion was crazy,” Mike DeVito said. “I’m always an emotional guy for all his games. For this one, I had to keep calm to not get that anxiety attack.”

Tommy told his family that Jones and Taylor had given him tips before his start.

Tommy told his dad, “I couldn’t ask for two better mentors.”

Said Mike DeVito: “Tommy loves both of them. Daniel’s an amazing person to him. We couldn’t be happier.

And Tommy said Tyrod is probably the smartest person he’s ever met in his life, on and off the field. He glows about them.”

As the veteran quarterbacks looked on, DeVito threw a 14-yard scoring pass to tight end Tommy Sweeney — his former teammate at Don Bosco — with 4:55 left in the second quarter to give the Giants a 10-point lead.

That the Lions rallied for a 21-16 win? On this night, incidental.

“You have to enjoy the process,” Mike DeVito said. “Appreciate, enjoy it and soak it in.”

Tommy completed 15 of 24 passes for 155 yards with the touchdown and an interception on the final play of the game. Under constant pressure, he was sacked five times.

For an initial performance, DeVito seemed to play about as well as could be expected of a developmental quarterback — a third-stringer.

Before the game, the DeVito family had tunnel passes and saw Tommy. He seemed a bit nervous, his dad thought, which was unusual. “No matter what it is, Tommy’s motto is ‘don’t panic, don’t panic,’ ” Mike said.

Said Max: “You could hear it in his voice. It was different to see him like that because he’s always pretty confident.”

The nerves weren’t apparent when DeVito took the field. “He did great,” his brother said. “There are some [adjustments] they’re going to figure out. I’m excited to see the next two games.”

He’s not alone.

Lexy said the family has heard from “an enormous amount of people” from Cedar Grove and from Syracuse — where Tommy played before transferring to Illinois — who plan to be at the two remaining home games on the preseason schedule.

There’s a lot of anticipation in and around the Giants these days.

If Tommy DeVito already has captured the hearts of the fans, that sounds about right.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.