There’s a lot we do not know about Joe Judge, and may not know until the moment arrives.
Fourth-and-3rd of his own 47-yard line, with three halves through the fourth quarter. What does judge do? Point it out or tell Daniel Jones to get the first down? Will judge play the percentages or roll the dice?
A brutal loss. Does Judge blow his stack or roll with it?
A winning streak with two games (imagine that!), Can Judge keep a sense of satisfaction from filling the socially distant locker room?
No one can say for sure, at the moment the job, in its entirety, is not too big for Joe Judge. His record with won loss has not yet been activated and that is the tabulation that matters. What can be explained, less than a week into the full pads part of his first training camp with the Giants, is that THIS part of the job is not too big for Joe Judge.
There are in the building feeling happy Judge was hiring the candidate at this time, feeling happy that he is the individual entrusted with the shepherd of the Giants by an unusual concoction of COVID-19-induced anxiety and uncertainty.
He is young (38) and has never been this way, so not put in his ways. His precise urge to maximize every minute on the field is what is needed now, with limiting ‘ramp-up’ speed bumps installed by the league and the players’ union.
To those who ask themselves why Judge is the way he is, did they not pay attention to his resume? Three years working for Nick Saban and the past eight for Bill Belichick reinforces an impressive coach, otherwise he gets mad at the company. It’s stupid to shut down Judge is a Belichick clone and uses a few rounds of fines and a live attacking drill as evidence.
About those penalty kicks. There were five of those met in the first three days of practice – six when you consider that two rookie linebacker Cam Brown was sent off to run. That, it’s not like every misunderstanding gets Judge’s refurbished. And by ‘running’ we are friendly. Sometimes Brown looked like he had dragged his feet into place. So, please, spare the scare that this is some form of brutal physical expenditure.
Emmanuel Acho, the former Eagles linebacker who makes a name for himself in the broadcast world, is the latest to mark Judge as out of touch. ‘Stupid’ and ‘imbecile practices” were his buzzwords – from a distance, of course – for Judge’s coaching style. Rounds of error, Acho said, are “tactics to use on children.”
Are these the inner thoughts of Giants players on the field with Judge? Is brewing a riot? On the subject of insurgents, there were veterans – boys who ended up as important starters for one or two Super Bowl teams – in secret revolt when Tom Coughlin arrived in 2004 and began his drill-sergeant deal. Some of those veterans actually pushed Coughlin out to the NFL Players Association to go overboard on organized team activities.
Was there any shame when Brian Flores – another former Belichick assistant – forced the Dolphins to ‘take no talent wall’ last season every time a mistake was made in training camp? This was actually carried over into the regular season, as Flores’ team – expected to win just one game as two – won five of their last nine games and finished 29th in the league in penalties.
The Giants have had more losses (36) than any team in the NFL the past three seasons. They are a young group. Sometimes it seems like receiver Sterling Shepard is coming right here and yet he is the longest-serving Giants player. There is currently no Giants Way, not until Judge completes the installation process.
However heavy it may seem.
“They understand that it’s about the message, not about how the message is always delivered,” Judge said. “We train hard. We are very demanding. This is a difficult job. We’re in New York City. This is a difficult place to play and coach. We need to have guys who are fat and understand that we need to operate in high pressure situations. We can not go out on the practice field and just sing ‘Kumbaya’ together and think we will move forward. ”
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The live drill? Now backing off, not without one game for preseason to get some hits inside.
‘Listen,’ he said, ‘we can not get the boys ready to drive on I-95 by driving backwards. When we think of the Pittsburgh Steelers [in the season opener] come in here to hug us, we are all sadly mistaken. ”
That, for now, is a little more mugging than hugging. If the Giants can’t handle this now, what can they handle later?
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