BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — The day after Patriots safety Devin McCourty posted to Instagram that he and his wife Michelle are expecting their second child, Jason McCourty walked into the football facility for the Cleveland Browns and found himself deflecting a few misplaced congratulations.

“I had to say, ‘That wasn’t me. I’m already on my third kid,’ ’’ Jason said.

Sheepish apologies and a few laughs later, Jason chalked it up to yet another side effect of life as a twin, insisting, “You actually get a kick out of stuff like that.’’

Wait, what? Devin and Jason McCourty are twins? Get out!

We jest. We joke. Anybody worth their NFL fan salt surely knows about the two young men from Rutgers who have gained popularity with their football skills, engaging personalities, and a social media brand built straight through their shared DNA (find them both on Twitter at @McCourtyTwins and let the hilarity ensue).

But as easy as it is to hop aboard the train of twindom and go along for a fun-filled ride, to do so without stopping to recognize the special bond that makes it all go would be a shame. These guys play hard, yes. But they love hard, too, and that’s what makes it really matter.

Born Aug. 13, 1987, to Phyllis Harrell and Calvin McCourty, Devin and Jason both checked in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces, with Jason following his brother’s arrival by 27 minutes. They’ve been matching numbers, and accomplishments, ever since.

From the moment she put them in the same crib, Phyllis marveled at their closeness, vowing to nurture and encourage it throughout their lives. When Calvin died of a heart attack only three years after the boys were born, she watched as her sons turned to each other for emotional support.

Friendship, advice, competition, and camaraderie, it all played out during video-game battles or basketball one-on-ones on the backyard court, and it carried all the way into the unbreakable friendship they still share.

“I think it’s pretty amazing,’’ said Phyllis. “Even as kids they were really close. To see them keep that through the years, they’re closer than ever.

“Now that Devin is married and started his family, I see them bond even more, talking about raising kids, planning kid things together. Their wives get along great. They’re very lucky. They have their own best friend with them all the time.’’

“Like two peas in a pod,’’ is how Devin’s wife Michelle describes it.

Michelle would know. She and Devin met at Rutgers the summer after her freshman year and his sophomore one, but didn’t start dating until years later, marrying in 2016 after she finished medical school and he’d become an NFL star. But she’d gotten to know Jason and his then-girlfriend Melissa, too, who met as sophomores at Rutgers and married in 2014.

While Jason would be NFL-bound in the 2010 draft as a sixth-round pick of the Tennessee Titans and Devin went a year later as a first-round pick by the Patriots (a delay due to Devin’s redshirt year), the couples became fast friends, growing tighter as their families expanded and cousins ended up being raised like brothers and sisters.

The NFL road doesn’t make that easy, not as Devin planted enviable professional roots in New England and Jason has moved from Tennessee to Cleveland. About to play in his third Super Bowl in four years, Devin has become one of the game’s transcendent stars.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick gushes about his defensive captain in waves of praise not often heard from his lips, saying again Wednesday, “I couldn’t be prouder to coach a player than Devin McCourty. He’s right up there at the top of the list.’’

Jason hasn’t had the same good fortune, at least not when it comes to postseason opportunity. Eight seasons in Tennessee and one in Cleveland have produced zero playoff appearances. But if that is where the road splits, the twin relationship most certainly has not. Jealousy, anger, or envy has no place here.

“I probably would say in certain years it’s been like, ‘Dang, I really wish we’d gotten there,’ like my last year in Tennessee, when we went 9-7 and just missed,’’ Jason said. “But this year, with the way my season went [0-16 with the Browns], toward the end of the season I was just rooting for Dev every week.

“Against Pittsburgh, when they got the No. 1 seed, once the playoffs started, situations where we were in no chance to make it, for me, watching his journey been the next-best thing being able to play in a playoff game.

“When you watch the guy who grew up alongside of you, who used to wake up Sunday mornings with you before a Pop Warner game and go over all of our plays, you just think back on all those periods in our life, high school football, sharing what our dreams would be.

“The [Super Bowl] in Arizona, being on the field, with the confetti and all of that, just to be able to share those moments with one another, it’s been great for me. Once my season ends, I just become a true brother.’’

A true brother with a strong social media game. It was at the suggestion of Phyllis that the two combined their online profile, figuring they could get plenty of mileage out of their unusual status as NFL-playing twins, a next-generation Tiki and Ronde Barber in a tech-savvy world. A tagline to every post (J-Mac) or (D-Mac) lets you know who’s talking, and lately, with digs at Devin for a loving gaze upon Tom Brady or a height-challenged podium entrance in Rob Gronkowski’s footsteps, Jason has been on his game.

“I’m glad you brought this up, because I think J-Mac kills D-Mac,’’ said Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy. “I love D-Mac, but his brother has the upper hand. He clowns on him. I love it.

“The one where J-Mac says everyone should have someone who looks at you the way D-Mac looks at Tom after dropping the mic? That was great.

“They really have a special bond. They sure do love football, they love life, and they love their families.’’

For now, football does keep them apart. Devin’s family lives full time in northern New Jersey, and with Phyllis nearby, they’d all love to see Jason and Melissa settle down there, too.

But football keeps them together, too. When the Patriots opened their playoff run against the Titans, Jason made his way to Foxborough for the game. As he prepared to leave on the Monday after the victory, not long after Devin had reported to the Patriots facility for team meetings, he could hear the sad cries of his niece, who wanted her dad. Uncle Jay stepped up in his place, granting the child instant relief.

“She believed with all her might that I was Dev,’’ Jason said. “It’s so cool for us. We think about our father, him passing away, and how for us we’ve grown up so close, to have that sense, that obligation really, that I want his kids to be just as comfortable with me and mine with him. One of us will always have them.’’

Makes sense for the two who’ve always had each other.

“My best friend,’’ Devin said.

Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Globe_Tara.