DeVito-Sweeney connection years in the making

Aug 12, 2023 at 09:36 AM

DETROIT – The Giants' only touchdown in their preseason opener was years in the making.

Quarterback Tommy DeVito threw a 14-yard scoring pass to tight end Tommy Sweeney with 4:55 remaining in the second quarter to give the Giants a 10-point lead against Detroit. The Lions rallied for a 21-16 victory Friday night in Ford Field, but for the Giants the DeVito-Sweeney connection was one of the game's highlights.

In 2013, the two Tommies were teammates at Don Bosco Prep, a renowned prep powerhouse in Ramsey, N.J., about 20 minutes from MetLife Stadium. DeVito was a precocious freshman and Sweeney a wizened senior. Now they are both recent additions to the Giants competing to remain with the team into the regular season. They helped their cause by teaming up for a touchdown, which was Sweeney's only reception of the game.

"That's a pretty incredible thing," said Sweeney, who got a step on linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin before catching DeVito's perfectly thrown ball. "I don't know that that's happened many times in the history of the NFL, so that's pretty cool. He played a great game today, showed his toughness. That was a great one.

"A lot of connections up in Ramsey. It's nice to get one out here in Detroit."

Second-year safety Dane Belton set up the touchdown by intercepting a Nate Sudfeld pass and returning it 42 yards. Sweeney scored six seconds later.

"I know they'd like to get a couple more of those," coach Brian Daboll said. "I think probably pretty cool for those two guys."

DeVito is a rookie free agent who began his collegiate career at Syracuse and concluded it at Illinois. Sweeney played 24 games for the Buffalo Bills from 2019-22.

"We had one season together," Sweeney said. "I remember he was young, confident, not in a bad way, in a good way. He was the quarterback. That's a big part of playing the position in sports and he came in and had that. (He) threw the ball really well and that's the main thing. He was 14 or 15 at that point, showing that ability to come up and play with the older guys as a 14-year-old kid is good, obviously turned that into a state championship for himself."

"There was definitely a gap - I was a freshman, he was a senior, " said DeVito. "At Bosco, they have senior, they have J.V. ball, sophomore ball and freshman ball. As a freshman, I was kinda playing freshman, sophomore and J.V. I would dress for varsity games. I would practice with varsity as well, so that's how we connected. But we weren't super, super close. We always stayed in contact from when he graduated and so-forth."

DeVito entered the game after Tyrod Taylor played the first two series. He completed 15 of 24 passes for 155 yards and ran for 11 yards on four carries. DeVito was also sacked five times and threw an interception on the Giants' final play, a desperation fourth-and-15 from their own 33-yard line.

"I thought he did a nice job," Daboll said. "He operated well. He had a play, obviously we threw the interception there at the end, but it was fourth-and-15, and he had a play like that in camp early on where it was fourth-and-15, and he threw a checkdown for five yards. And obviously he threw it up to try to give him a chance. They made a play on it. But I thought he operated well. Made some good decisions. Used his legs. He was under some pressure sometimes there. Took care of the ball on some of those sacks. So definitely a performance to work off of."

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