Joe Judge has been fired by the New York Giants, after two disappointing seasons, failing to deliver on promises to change the culture and direction of the franchise
The New York Giants have fired head coach Joe Judge, following two of the more disappointing seasons in franchise history, league sources confirm to FanSided.
Judge, hired by the New York Giants in Jan. 2020, finishes his tenure with a meager 10-23 record after overseeing a team that by the end of the 2021 campaign couldn’t even operate a passing offense.
Under Judge’s tutelage, the Giants finished dead last in points per game, yards per game, yards per play, and red zone offense over the past two seasons.
During his introductory press conference, Judge promised a relentless winning culture but did little winning despite his best efforts to instill a winning environment built on toughness.
“The only culture we’ll have around here,” Judge said during his introductory press conference. “Is a winning culture.”
What led to Joe Judge being fired by the New York Giants?
But, Judge’s old school methods did not translate to wins, and judging by the final half of his final season, did not resonate with his players, who were outscored 106-26 over the final four games.
As recently as last month, it seemed the New York Giants’ plan was to retain Judge and perhaps even hire a general manager whose philosophies aligned with Judge’s.
However, following an embarrassing 29-3 defeat in Chicago against the Bears, Judge laid bare the issues he’s faced in trying to turn around the Giants’ culture in an 11-minute impassioned defense of his program.
It would seem a lack of results and very public airing of the organization’s past struggles melted the already thin ice on which Judge was skating.
Upon his arrival, Judge’s training camps were a throwback to the physical camps led by successful coaches decades ago, featuring Oklahoma drills, full contact tackling to the ground, and sending players on penalty laps for mistakes. At times, even coaches were sent running laps.
Judge is the third consecutive New York Giants head coach to be fired by owner John Mara after two or fewer seasons, on the heels of Ben McAdoo (2017), Pat Shurmur (2019) being shown the door.
A once-proud franchise, the New York Giants are scraping rock bottom after finishing a fifth consecutive double-digit loss season in 2021 and missing the playoffs for the ninth time in the past decade since winning Super Bowl XLVI following the 2011 campaign.
Now, with Judge and presumably general manager Dave Gettleman out, the New York Giants will once again look to new leadership to help turn around what has become one of the losingest franchises in the league.