New York Giants head coach Joe Judge has coaches and players running laps each time they make a mistake, names have been removed from the back of jerseys and the intense practices in East Rutherford are already the stuff of legend.
For the current crop of Giants players, this is life now and they seem fine with it.
“The way I see it, it just goes with Coach Judge’s philosophy. He said we’re going to be detail oriented and there will be consequences for our actions that aren’t good for the team,” veteran guard Kevin Zeitler said. “It’s just a way of playing it through, for players and coaches. We all need to get better every day and there are no exceptions.”
“It’s going to take everybody to buy in if we want to be the team that we said that we wanted to be. I think we have to buy into what Coach Judge has in store for us. If that’s what he has in store for us, running laps for mistakes, just don’t make mistakes. That’s a simple way to get out of doing that,” wide receiver Sterling Shepard said. “I’m embracing the change and I’m all for it.”
Outside of the building, there’s a very different perception taking shape.
This isn’t going to end well https://t.co/aPB1uOKPtx
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) August 18, 2020
Trying to act like Bill Belichick on steroids hasn't worked for other coaches. Good luck here https://t.co/eWwTcilJzI
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) August 17, 2020
Seen this act before. Twice.. when will they learn 🤦🏾♂️ As a rookie, players and coaches had to dive in mud like 5 year old kids and go out and practice lol but what didn’t kill me only made me stronger. https://t.co/dY6lWqtWAr
— Robert E. Ayers Jr (@1_900_ayersjr) August 18, 2020
Former Giants linebacker Emmanuel Acho (2013) took his criticism a step further, apologizing to Big Blue fans for what he believes will be the team’s upcoming 2-14 record.
“Giants fans, on behalf of everyone intelligent everywhere, I apologize for your 2-14 record this season.”@EmmanuelAcho reacts to NYG HC Joe Judge making players & coaches run laps for mistakes pic.twitter.com/h4boIj8XAx
— Speak For Yourself (@SFY) August 18, 2020
“Giants fans, on behalf of everyone intelligent everywhere, I apologize for your 2-14 record this season,” Acho said, giving his best Skip Bayless performance. “And it’s not your fault, Giants fans. It’s not your fault that you have dedicated yourself to an organization that [hired] a coach that is instilling imbecilic practices.
“The practices that Joe Judge is instilling are so dumb that ‘imbecilic’ is the only word that will fit the crime.”
The premise of Acho’s argument is that Giants players don’t need any additional motivation. Of course, if Acho took even a singular moment to actually listen to Judge or his players, he’d know out of the gate that’s not at all what these practices are about.
Despite that, we can expect to see more shock jock-like takes on Judge, the Giants and their practices in the weeks and months to come.
[lawrence-related id=654265,654249,654246]