From Our Contributors, Sports

Judge Banished After 2 Years

 

Another Giants Coach Gets The Ax
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon

 

By Andrew Rosario

“I am humbled and honored. I want to thank John Mara, Steve Tisch, Dave Gettleman and Kevin Abrams for this opportunity. Over the past couple of days we had great conversations about where this team is and where it is headed and how we are going to get there. My job is to lead our players and coaches. The mission is clear, to win games. There is a process to reaching that objective, and we will implement that process and work that process starting today.”

 

Tisch Not Happy With The Teams Direction
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon

 

That was the statement released by Joe Judge when it was announced he was hired as the new head coach of the New York Giants. It was reported that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick highly recommended Judge. Under Belichick, Judge was special teams coordinator as well as the receivers coach. Judge also received a ringing endorsement from Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban. Both Belichick and Saban have been friends for years.

Whatever Judge learned under the man considered by many as the best head coach in the history of the NFL and whatever advice he got from Saban (7-time National College Football Champion) it did not translate in his two years with Big Blue. Yesterday, after two embarrassing seasons, Judge was fired as head coach of the New York Giants.

If there was one thing Judge was good at, it was talking and justifying his every move. It never translated on the field.

This past Monday, General Manager Dave Gettleman “retired” leading to speculation Judge would be given another year. Meaning the new GM would have to put a roster together for a coach he may not have any history or share a philosophy with. That may have led to the decision to dismiss Judge as most new GM’s like to hire a head coach they are familiar with. But there were other things over the course of the two years that led to the downfall of Judge.

Year One: The Giants lose of their first 6 games of the year and 7 of their first 8. After beating the Washington Football team in week 6, they would lose the next two games (Philadelphia 20-19 and Tampa Bay 25-23) before going on a 4-game winning streak elevating their record to 5-7. Whispers of making the playoffs began in a watered-down NFC East. Reverting to the start of the season, Big Blue would lose their next three games dropping their record to 5-10 needing a miracle to win the division.

Taking out Washington twice gave them the tie breaker if they ended up with the same record. Philly had nothing to play for (except spoiler) when they faced Washington in the last game of the season. Down by only 3, the Eagles inexplicably decide to bench starting quarterback Jalen Hurts, who Washington had trouble containing him all night, for third string QB Nate Sudfeld. Washington went on to win the game eliminating the Giants for another year. This is how Judge summed up the season:

“I’m proud of the culture and the foundation we’ve laid and the work ethic and urgency we’ve instilled in these players going forward. That being said, there are a lot of things we need to do better as an organization across the board going forward. We have to keep building this thing in the right direction. But I know there’s a vision going forward and there are a lot of people pointing in the right direction right now.”

Year Two: It didn’t start out as bad as the year before but they still lost 4 of their first 5 games. They shot themselves in the foot losing to Washington after a penalty gave the Football team a second shot as they converted the game winning field goal. Big Blue was up late against Atlanta at MetLife Stadium only to give up 10 points in the last 5 minutes in the 17-14 loss. After taking out the Eagles (13-7) getting their record to 4-7, the wheels fell off again and the next 6 games were the worst stretch in the history of the organization.

It began in Miami December 5th when they lost to the Dolphins 20-9 and ended at Metlife last Sunday in a 22-7 loss to the Washington Football team. In between, the Giants were outscored 121-40. Here are more head scratching stats from both sides of the ball:

 

 

The Giants failed to score a touchdown in 44 straight possessions. The streak ended when third string quarterback Jake Fromm connected with wide receiver Darius Slayton on a 22 yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter against Washington. 

 

 

They averaged 9.3 points per game. Only scored double digits in 2 of the 6 games. 5 straight multi turnover games, 16 overall. Threw for only 117 yards per game and did not surpass 200 yards in any of those games. 4 touchdown passes (including the one against Washington). 11 interceptions. Completed only 50% of their passes.

 

 
All of this after firing offensive coordinator Jason Garrett after losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30-10. The defense wasn’t much better. See these stats: Before the game against Washington: 31st in giving up yards 6,032. 31st giving up 416 points. 24th giving up 2,193 rushing yards and 31st in giving up 4,044 passing yards.
 
Many point to the Joe Judge 11-minute rant after the team lost 29-3 in Chicago as his downfall. Judge started with the fan base. “The fans have every right to have an opinion. You buy a ticket, come to the stadium, you have every right to boo me out of the stadium. That’s the way it is. That’s what we sign up for. It’s New York. It’s supposed to be a tough place to be.” Judge talked about the relationship between him and his players. “I talk to the players all the time, guys. I talk to them very openly and transparently. We don’t even have captains because the majority of four captains are no longer playing for the remainder of the season, so we have a leadership meeting now. I look at the guys at the end of the day and say, Guys, hey, listen, this is your time to talk to me, you speak for the team. You tell me what’s going on. You tell me, How’s the team? How’s the beat of the team? What do I got to be aware of? What’s something I don’t know? Because everyone always tells me what I want to hear, right”? Judge would go on and on sounding like a guy trying to talk his way off the firing line. It didn’t work.

 

President John Mara issued the following statement:

“Steve (Tisch) and I both believe it is in the best interest of our franchise to move in another direction. We met with Joe yesterday afternoon to discuss the state of the team. I met again with Joe this afternoon, and it was during that conversation I informed Joe of our decision. We appreciate Joe’s efforts on behalf of the organization. I said before the season started that I wanted to feel good about the direction we were headed when we played our last game of the season. Unfortunately, I cannot make that statement, which is why we have made this decision. We will hire a general manager and that person will lead the effort to hire a new head coach.” Tisch added: “It is an understatement to say John and I are disappointed by the lack of success we have had on the field. We are united in our commitment to find a general manager who will provide the direction necessary for us to achieve the on-field performance and results we all expect.”

Since 2016, the New York Giants have gone through 4 head coaches who have a combined record off 33-64. Since they won their last Super Bowl, they have lost 100 games, 10 games a year. The near future is not looking good for Big Blue.