Tommy DeVito loves New Jersey, and New Jersey loves him back

At Natoli’s Italian Deli in Secaucus, NJ, in the shadow of MetLife Stadium, you can now order the Tommy DeVito hero – chicken parmesan a la vodka – just the way the breakout Giants quarterback likes it.

In the past month, Mr. DeVito, who grew up across the Hackensack River in Cedar Grove, has risen from third to star on the often-gloomy New York Giants, keeping their long-term chances in the playoffs alive remained and became an icon of the greater Meadowlands metro area.

Mr. DeVito, 25, grew up loving the Giants and his mother’s chicken sandwiches and watching his father, a plumber, repair boilers. Now he’s known as “Tommy Cutlets,” a nickname he scribbled on fans’ white tank tops at an event at Primo Hoagies in nearby Wayne. He posed for selfies while puckering his fingers Italian-style during his signature touchdown celebration.

A hometown NFL hero may seem like an anomaly in an era of free agents, multimillion-dollar contracts and teams with no local roots. But when Mr. DeVito appeared at the Meadowlands, he laid bare the truth that a “New York” team has played in one state for nearly half a century. That state is now pursuing a property claim.

Tommy Cutlets has become the toast – or perhaps the bruschetta – of the cities that lie in the shadow of MetLife Stadium.

At Lombardi’s Bar and Restaurant in Cedar Grove, where the DeVitos live down the street and have been customers for years, the owner turned to a mob analogy to describe Mr. DeVito’s sudden prowess.

“He’s the don now,” said the owner, Al Lombardi.

The don still lives with his parents less than 10 miles from the stadium, but he is ubiquitous on the back pages of tabloids and social media.

Mr. DeVito has started and won the team’s last three games, including an exciting comeback at home against the favored Green Bay Packers this week on Monday Night Football. Hardcore fans here have followed his career for years, from pee-wee competitions to a high school state championship for Don Bosco Prep, the football powerhouse in Ramsey, N.J., and then Syracuse University.

Hopes in Hometown disappeared early this year after Mr. DeVito failed to be selected in the NFL draft, leaving him living with his family and uncertain about his football future.

But this spring he headed to the Meadowlands and walked onto the Giants’ practice squad as an undrafted rookie. He was benched when injuries to the Giants’ top two quarterbacks opened up the starting role last month.

The DeVito family root section cheered his plays with the signature hand gesture whose myriad meanings could include a profane, get-a-tax-on-this attitude. His father, Tom DeVito Sr., kissed the cheek of his son’s agent, Sean Stellato, in old-fashioned style.

The cameras love the cop, who calls his client the “Passing Paisan” and dresses in a black pinstripe suit, turtleneck and fedora.

And they love the abundance of DeVito contingent smoking cigars in the parking lot during tailgating, amid tables of chicken parmigiana heroes handmade by a cousin and a feast of Italian food laid out in aluminum containers.

On Tuesday morning, after only an hour of sleep following his son’s triumph, Tom DeVito Sr. back to the boilers.

“It’s heating season, so for me it’s business as usual,” he said. “I am the donkey of the family.”

Considering his son’s sudden fame, he said, “It’s gotten to the point where I tell my employees, ‘I’m not going in because as soon as I walk into the house, everyone has their Giants jersey on.’ I can’t get any work done.”

He added: “Every five seconds my wife sends me another media request – I have 818 text messages to send back. It’s just so overwhelming for him and us.”

The hype hasn’t won everyone over. A crowd of regulars at the Belmont Tavern in Belleville stoically drank Seven and Sevens on Wednesday and debated whether the quarterback had the stamina to earn a spot on the wall of fame.

“A few games don’t make a season; he has to earn his stripes,” said Joe Coviello, a Nutley patron. “Once you start losing, you’re out.”

Anyway, the wall already has two Tommy DeVitos: the gangster character from “Goodfellas” played by Joe Pesci, who also grew up in the neighborhood; and the real-life member of the Four Seasons singing group, another local resident.

They are sold at Natoli’s in Secaucus. Mr. DeVito’s photo sits in the center of a family photo gallery in a corner. The lunch crowd poured over the counter for the Tommy DeVito hero on Wednesday.

“How do you beat a chicken parmum cutlet with vodka sauce? How do you beat this boy? He is a hero,” said Rob Gail, who was busy polishing off his own sandwich. “He is a modest man who lives at home with his father and mother. I lived at home until I was 30 and my mom makes great chicken cutlets. I understand.”

It seems like a lot of New Jerseyans do. About half a million people in the state identify exclusively as Italian-American, or about 10 percent of its 5 million residents, according to 2022 census figures.

Teresa Fiore, professor of Italian American studies at Montclair State University, said New Jersey has the third largest population of Italian Americans in the country. “It is a typical Italian state,” she said. “Tommy DeVito joins a very large family of famous New Jersey Italians.”

The avalanche of stereotypes, from memes of wannabe wiseguys in tracksuits to “Godfather” allusions, amuses Ignacio Urbina, one of the people who coached Mr. DeVito at Don Bosco Prep, a school named after a saint born near Turin, Italy .

Being noticed for being Italian “wasn’t that important at Don Bosco,” Mr. Urbina said. “It’s not exactly uncharted territory for Italian-American families here.”

But Mr. DeVito’s image has become intertwined with his ethnicity. “It’s part of New Jersey: People still talk about ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Jersey Shore,’ and it’s all wrapped up in there, and people seem to eat it up,” Mr. Urbina said.

He called Mr. DeVito a hard-working, confident player who regularly returns to the school, including recently a football open day where he spoke to families of prospective students.

If Mr. DeVito is now far from high school prom, you wouldn’t know it if you saw him as he was swarmed by reporters in his locker after practice on Wednesday. He seemed unfazed. It could have been another afternoon training at Don Bosco.

“I appreciate all the support, and there’s a lot going on right now,” he said. ‘I just try to be myself. I’m going to show my personality.”

He will start Sunday when the Giants play the Saints in New Orleans. Back at Lombardi, Mr. Lombardi said he hoped the drive would continue because of the Giants’ offense. But he was realistic.

“An NFL quarterback and a gangster, there’s no difference,” he said. “It could be over any day now.”