Mike DeVito left MetLife Stadium a winner Sunday, but he won’t be able to smile for a long time.
The veteran defensive tackle was just beginning to mourn the loss of University of Maine teammate Jovan Belcher — the Chiefs linebacker from Long Island who murdered Kasandra Perkins, the 22-year-old mother of his daughter, before taking his own life Saturday — before the Jets hosted the Cardinals.
“I couldn’t be more saddened, more disappointed,” DeVito said after the Jets’ 7-6 victory. “It’s so tough for both families. It’s incredible. It shows you how fast things can happen.”
DeVito has been agonizing over Saturday’s tragic turn of events when police said Belcher shot Perkins multiple times and turned the gun on himself in the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot in front of head coach Romeo Crennel and Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli. Belcher and the Chiefs came to MetLife last December for a game against the Jets, and the two former Maine teammates reminisced about old times. They exchanged a few text messages back and forth, but had not talked in quite some time.
“It makes me wish I would’ve stayed in better touch with him,” DeVito said, his voice cracking. “When you leave college, you start going your separate ways. I wish I would’ve stayed in contact with him. You always think how you could’ve helped or done something, been there for [him]. I’m praying for both families constantly.”
For a few hours on Sunday, DeVito was able to get his mind elsewhere, on the football field where he first met Belcher several years back. Belcher helped Maine reach the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs in 2008.
DeVito was a part of the Jets’ dominant defensive effort against the Cardinals, who were held to 137 total yards and went 0-for-15 on third down.
“I’d have to say it was probably our best defensive game of the year,” said DeVito, who registered a tackle.
The ecstatic feeling that usually comes with a victory wasn’t there for DeVito. He could not escape the image of his college teammate and how he could have helped him in his time of need, before everything went awry.
“It’s something I’m upset with myself about because I do remember Belcher from college, the type of person he was,” DeVito said. “It’s really upsetting.”