The football adage that the most popular guy in town is the backup quarterback doesn’t apply to the Giants. The most popular guy — at least among a portion of the win-starved fan base — is the backup to the backup quarterback. Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of Tommy DeVito’s first NFL touchdown pass, which was the beginning of the tristate mania that injected life into a dead season for the Giants.

As an undrafted rookie raised in Cedar Grove, N.J., DeVito made six starts and developed a cult following that formed huge autograph lines at his appearances and copied his Italian-roots homage pinched-fingers touchdown celebration.