No Giants head coach has ever had a honeymoon era as radiant as Joe Judge. And so far, all the compliment that has been earned has been deserved.
When Joe Judge was hired in January 2020 as the 19th head coach in the franchise, perhaps the most important question other people were asking Array “Who is this guy?”
After almost 8 months, we started to locate each other.
At his introductory press conference, Judge tried to answer this question by promising to form a team that the three-state region would be proud to host. Although he sounded smart like his predecessors, what happened next separated Judge from the hiring of head coaches dating back to Tom Coughlin in 2004.
Over the years, Coughlin has softened his position and made his Giants players fall in love, making a complicated start as the Giants’ head coach.
His predecessor, Ben McAdoo, another head coach for the first time he had been a coordinator for only two years.
For a while, McAdoo’s simple approach, which is similar to what Jude has deployed so far, was a welcome breath of new air, especially when the franchise in 2016 returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
But even though the Giants were minimally successful, things temporarily deteriorated when they showed that they could not take over the growing number of crises that evolved in the locker room at their final time and season.
His successor, Pat Shurmur, was another questionable selection in retrospect. After a successful career as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator, Shurmur was hailed as a field marshal whisperer who would be the best when the Giants nevertheless chose Eli Manning’s successor. But for a guy as good as Shurmur was, there are only guys who, although they’re notable coordinators, ended up being NFL head coaches, and Shurmur, who failed in Cleveland, saw his term end after two hours. Stations.
Judge? At first, it proved a little strange when at first he refused to mention the players through a call when asked about them. However, in retrospect, its logic sounds: how to give an opinion about a player who did not exercise and for whom expectations and roles can simply replace depending on the formula about to be implemented?
Judge’s handling of his rookie season, which was interrupted through the COVID-19 pandemic that forced more schedule adjustments than he would probably like to admit, and prevented him from jumping first to the establishment of costume tenors, is admirable.
The judge, in undeniable terms, spoke. He doesn’t just throw training speeches; He thinks so. For example, top coaches like to use the term “basics,” however, when it comes to performing those same details, many coaches don’t seem to mind spending enough time on them.
The opinion on and his team have done so far. And don’t underestimate the importance of that.
But perhaps the most important and impressive thing that Judge, and by extension, his team, has done is show and show an undisturbed nature in the face of what they cannot while attacking those things with enthusiasm.
After finishing off-season training, no one can simply blame the training if they cut corners and took shortcuts to expand the team.
The approval opinion and its team of teachers took another approach, that of patience, which allowed the team to expand organically. Instead of anointing Player X for one express role and the Y-payer for another, coaches allow players to show what they do more productively and what they don’t do as well. From there, the teachers on whom the opinion delivers the combined judgment make informed decisions about who is in a position for larger and more important roles or who is not.
And yes, Judge even has a softer, more human side. In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the father of four spoke of his reluctance to ask one of his athletes to get on a plane, saying he wouldn’t ask his eldest to travel, let alone someone who doesn’t. a father.
He even showed understanding when one of his assistant coaches, lead defensive counselor and outdoor support coach Bret Bielema, flirted with some homework opportunities at school shortly after accepting his position with the Giants.
“Joe’s very supportive of me, ” said Bielema. “From day one, I told him I was looking to be a part of what we do here. Who knows it’s going to stop in the long run? Take it every single day for what it is. Try to make the most of it for the New York Giants and see where it’s going.
All of these are positive elements for sure, but genuine verification: managing the X and Bones on game day, which Judge chose to do in the role of a CEO-style head coach rather than as an exclusive interlocutor like his previous two predecessors. done — it’s coming. But the good news is that those who know Judge for running with him in other positions is made to last in the NFL as head coach.
“I think when Joe was with us years ago (in Alabama), he was very bright, very eloquent,” said midfield coach Burton Burns, who was a colleague in Nick Saban’s alabama team opinion from 2009 to 2011.
“He is aware of exhausting the responsibilities he had on our staff. I expect it from that point of view.
Burns said the 38-year-old was also meticulously organized.
“Especially on the stage where we are right now, where you need a willing user to navigate through all the demanding situations we face every day,” Burns said.
It is too early to say whether Judge will gain advantages from the same good fortune achieved through Saban or Belichick. Still, Burns, who has been with Saban since he began his tenure in Alabama in 2007, sees many similarities between the two head coaches.
“These two guys are very groomed,” he says. “There are safe steps you want to take in the first year when you are looking to create a program or rebuild a program. I see Joe’s necessarily taking the same steps. I went with Nick in 2007 and it’s like déj vu It’s not because Joe copied Nick, however, that’s how intelligently organized football coaches create a different environment for a whole new team.”
I’ve been accredited in the NFL for 22 years. I am the site administrator/editor of Giants Country, a sports channel in SI.com. I’m also the host of the newspaper Lo
I’ve been accredited in the NFL for 22 years. I am the site administrator/editor of Giants Country, a sports channel in SI.com. I’m also the host of the LockedOn Giants newspaper. My first book, The Big 50: New York Giants: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants, will be published on September 8, 2020.