Despite reportedly missing on their top candidates for the head coaching vacancy, the NY Giants appear to have potentially hired a great coach in Joe Judge.
There has been a great deal of criticism surrounding the hiring process for the vacant head coaching position with the NY Giants following their firing of Pat Shurmur. While multiple reports indicated that the Giants were extremely high on both Matt Rhule and Mike McCarthy, Rhule would sign a mega-deal with the Carolina Panthers and McCarthy would decline a second interview with the Giants in favor of becoming the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys instead.
Following Rhule and McCarthy’s decision, the NY Giants would agree to terms with former New England Patriots special teams coordinator Joe Judge. The hiring was met with criticism and bewilderment, as Judge was a relative unknown in most mainstream circles.
Giants ownership insisted that Judge was their main candidate following what owner John Mara called the most impressive head coaching interview he has ever been a part of. However, there remains some skepticism as to whether he was actually a top-three candidate or if he simply was the best candidate remaining when the dust settled.
Debating that point warrants no merit, as it doesn’t actually matter in the scheme of things. Regardless of whether Judge was the top candidate for the Giants or not, he is the new head coach of the New York Giants.
Joe Judge did not fail to impress in his introductory press conference, as he came across as eloquent, cerebral and sounded every bit the type of leader that Giants fans have been wishing for since the departure of Tom Coughlin in 2015. In fact, his press conference exhibited why ownership was likely so impressed by his interview.
So while Judge may not be the recognizable sexy head coaching candidate that most Giants fans and perhaps NY Giants ownership were hoping for, it appears as though the Giants may have found themselves the best candidate to be the head coach of their football team moving forward.
In the end, ultimately it does not matter what the process to secure him as the new head coach looked like, or if it was a messy convoluted process that just happened to end with a positive outcome. What matters is the end result.
Here are the five reasons that Giants fans should be ecstatic with the hiring of their new head coach.
1. Pedigree
Prior to being announced as the new head coach of the NY Giants, he spent time as an assistant coach on the staff both of Nick Saban and Bill Belichick, who are two of the brightest minds and most accomplished head coaches in football history.
Judge mentioned that there wasn’t a day that he worked with either coach that he did not come home having learned a plethora of new material. He stated that the key was being willing to accept new information and to apply it accordingly. The idea of him applying what he has learned under the tutelage of both Saban and Belichick is absolutely tantalizing for Giants fans.
In the past seven seasons as an assistant under Saban and Belichick, Judge has been a part of five championship games. He won two college football national championships with Saban at the University of Alabama and won two of the three Super Bowls he coached in with Belichick and the Patriots.
Having been a part of so many championship runs, Judge has undoubtedly learned what it takes to craft a championship-caliber team. It should also be noted that reports have come out that when Bill Belichick was not running practices for the Patriots, he left Judge in charge of doing so. That is notable, given that he had a former head coach and a higher profile head coaching candidate on staff with Josh McDaniels.
Belichick reportedly gave the NY Giants ownership group a glowing report of Judge and was quoted as saying that Judge is one of the best coaches that he has ever been around. That is high praise from a man who is famously short on words, let alone compliments.
2. Focus on player strengths
On multiple occasions during his introductory press conference, Joe Judge referenced identifying the strengths of each player and then utilizing those strengths, rather than making them conform to fit a specific scheme or system that may not allow them to fully exploit their talents.
Judge stated that the most important thing that he learned coaching under Bill Belichick was “to be flexible within your personnel. Don’t try to show the round peg into square holes. Figure out what you have and let them (the players) play to their strengths.”
After the previous coaching regime notoriously tried pounding round pegs into square holes weekly, Judge’s statement has to be a breath of fresh air to Giants fans. After all, previous defensive coordinator James Bettcher famously attempted to play 2019 first-round draft pick Deandre Baker in soft zone coverage on a weekly basis, despite that being a noted weakness of his, rather than allowing him to play to his strengths in a man or press zone coverage where he thrived at the collegiate level.
Judge referenced his need as a special teams coordinator to analyze each player on the roster as an athlete based on ability, rather than looking at them as a position player, so that he could determine how they could best be utilized on special teams. This ability should play well when analyzing potential draft picks and free agents to see how they fit best on the Giants roster, as well as when developing a game plan.
In reference to the game plan, Judge mentioned that it may change on a weekly basis, depending on their matchup. He said in his press conference that they may go with a 4-3 defensive scheme one week and a 3-4 scheme the next if that makes sense. Judge also stated that “there may be times where we throw the ball 50 times and there’s going to be times we throw it 10 times and run the ball 45 times”. The notion of a fluid game plan that changes regularly reeks of Belichick’s influence.
The statement by Judge that there is “a human element to the game and that the coaches need to take care of the players in the locker room and put them in the right situation to be successful”, speaks to his desire to assure that the staff is best utilizing the players on the team.
3. Accountability
Joe Judge referenced holding individuals accountable regularly throughout his press conference. Early in the press conference, he stated: “hold those you expect the most from to the highest standard”.
Accountability is a critical characteristic to instill in a young roster such as the Giants. Assuring that each player knows his assignment and what the expected end result is from the coaching staff is going to be an area that Judge will focus upon as the new head coach of the Giants.
However, just as important was his emphasis on holding his coaching staff responsible for the performance of his players. Judge stated that he plans to hold coaches responsible and accountable for the players making plays and knowing their proper assignments.
He went on to say that he doesn’t want a coach to tell him that they taught the entire room and just one guy didn’t understand it and that is why they failed. Judge stated that the coaching staff must hold themselves accountable for all players understanding the tasks at hand.
This is in stark contrast to what NY Giants fans became accustomed to under the coaching of Pat Shurmur. On a weekly basis, Shurmur would reference that the team was too young and was just not ready to win yet at the NFL level. By doing so, he put the honus of the loss directly on the players, in an attempt to take accountability away from the coaching staff.
Making it a foundational principle to hold coaches accountable and responsible for the play of the players is the very definition of leading by example. After all, how can you expect players to hold themselves accountable for their actions if the coaches leading them refuse to accept accountability?
4. Fundamental football
The focus on fundamentals was a quintessential part of Joe Judge’s introductory press conference. In fact, if one were to go back through and count the number of times that he used the word fundamentals, they would likely find it was one of the most referenced words of the new coach.
In a telling statement, Judge said “you cannot get by with some sort of magic scheme or new gimmick, or think you reinvented the wheel. The same things win football games that have always won football games. It’s fundamentals.”
In an era where teams are quick to find the flash in the pan new offensive scheme that takes the league by storm, only for defenses to eventually figure the scheme out and have it fizzle out, never to be seen again, Judge’s reference to playing old school fundamental football is refreshing.
The NY Giants currently have a good young core of talent on their roster and should improve drastically during the offseason via the draft and free agency. However, what they lacked under former head coach Pat Shurmur were the fundamentals that it takes to win a football game.
Too often under Shurmur, young players seemed to lack the fundamental skills needed to show positive progression. The same could be said about high-priced veteran players such as Nate Solder, who led the team in sacks allowed. Shurmer and his staff seemingly never instilled the fundamentals needed to improve upon and overcome the mistakes that were occurring on a weekly basis.
In a comment that seemed to draw the ire of some former NFL players and media members, Judge suggested that the Giants would be practicing regularly in full pads and partaking in live tackling drills to assure that the team is fully prepared for real-game situations.
While the current NFLPA collective bargaining agreement dictates exactly how much live tackling and full padded practicing a team can do, the message of Judge’s comment should not be overlooked. He wants his players to practice how they would play in a live game so that they are fully prepared.
Judge also stated that teaching the players how to make proper tackles in live tackling drills in practice will allow them to make safer tackles in game situations, which should allow players to stay healthier. He also made reference to assuring that players are doing extensive stretching to avoid soft tissue damage throughout the season. Given the rash of injuries sustained in recent years, the focus on limiting injuries is positive news.
The comments on discipline and practice expectations from the new coach harken back to the times of an old coach of the Giants. Tom Coughlin was known for conducting tough practices and being a stickler about punctuality, accountability, and fundamentals.
At one point, if Giants fans closed their eyes and listened to Judge say that players will be expected to be at practice on time, on-field on time and have the proper dress, they would swear that the words were being projected from the mouth of Coughlin himself.
In what was perhaps Judge’s most referenced statement, he said that what he would instill in the NY Giants would be an “old school physical mentality that plays fast, downhill, aggressive, fundamentally sound football”. He said the team will “punch you in the nose for 60 minutes and play each play like it had a history of its own”.
In addition, he would state that the Giants would have a “relentless, competitive attitude and that we will not beat ourselves”. That statement is sure to resonate with Giants fans who have frequently witnessed a team that has repeatedly defeated itself on numerous occasions over recent years. If Judge can rectify that, he will undoubtedly endear himself to the fanbase.
5. He’s focused on head coaching duties
One of the most maddening things about Pat Shurmur during his tenure as the head coach of the NY Giants was his unwillingness to relinquish the playcalling duties to an offensive coordinator and focus solely on his duties as a head coach. As a result, Shurmur would make a number of game management blunders that would cost the team an opportunity to win games.
Joe Judge does not appear willing to make the same mistakes as his predecessor. In his press conference, he remarked “I’m not going to be the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, or special teams coordinator. I will work with all three sides of the ball, but the primary focus I’m going to have as the head coach, is I’m going to make sure we are fundamentally sound, situationally aware and we play with relentless effort.”
Judge also quipped that “as a head coach you have to be able to manage time and people” as your primary task. This is clearly something that was not grasped by the previous coach who seemed more preoccupied with the desire to be the offensive play-caller than the head coach.
This bodes well for a franchise that needed its head coach to focus on the task of being a head coach. Judge is interviewing and examining potential fits for his coaching staff and stated that he only wants staff members who are concerned with bettering the players on the roster and wants no one with a hidden agenda.
He announced that he will be retaining special teams coach Thomas McGaughey as part of his staff. This move was met with praise, as McGaughey was extremely popular amongst players and had a great deal of success last season.
It was encouraging to hear Judge mention that he has a plan to address his lack of head coaching experience when he stated that he would be relying on general manager Dave Gettleman and the experience of his assistant coaches to “fill in the blanks for his head coaching experience”. That statement would suggest that Judge is searching for assistants with prior head coaching experience to assist him with his inaugural head coaching venture.
While we only have a press conference to use as a baseline for Judge’s head coaching career with the NY Giants at the moment, that is all we can examine until the team begins to practice and play. Going off of what little we have, it appears as though the Giants hired a head coach that intends on bringing in a blue-collar fundamentally sound style of football.
Given how little fanfare Judge had prior to his hire and the amount of criticism that was initially cast upon him and the organization for opting to go with him, he is likely to have a rather large chip on his shoulder.
Hopefully, he is able to parlay that into a long and successful career with the NY Giants.