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New York Giants head coach Joe Judge isn’t interested in hearing your criticisms over the team’s decision to forego two field goals in the first half on Sunday night.
On two separate occasions, the Giants loaded up and went for it on fourth down inside the Cleveland Browns’ 10-yard line. And on two separate occasions, they were stopped short and turned the ball over on downs.
In total, the Giants left six points on the board and missed out on regaining a second quarter lead, ultimately falling to the Browns, 20-6, in prime time.
“Field goals weren’t going to win this game. I’m not afraid to call things aggressively. I’m not afraid if I think we have a good scheme in the kicking game to call a fake. I’m not afraid to run the ball on fourth-and-one,” Judge told reporters after the game.
Facing a fourth-and-5 at the Cleveland 8 on their very first drive of the game, the Giants set up in field goal formation before fanning out. Punter Riley Dixon then uncorked a throw to a well-covered Nick Gates, which sailed over his head and out of the back of the end zone.
“Look, they did a good job. They obviously fell off and made the coverage. Mike (Priefer) does a real good job of coaching those guys. They were situational — there was a little confusion at first, but they settled on down. We thought we had a chance at it,” Judge said. “It was worth rolling the dice right there and playing to our defense. They made a play, we didn’t. That’s all right. I thought the scheme was sound going in and if we have something else, we’ll always look to use it in the right opportunity.
“I thought it was a well-designed fake. We’ve executed and practiced that consistently throughout the year. I thought the timing was right. You look to go ahead and just roll the dice sometimes and take a chance. You hit that thing, you’re the guru. You don’t hit that thing, everyone wants to second-guess your decision. I understand that completely. But when the coaches come up with a good scheme and we think it’s got a chance to be successful, we’re going to go ahead and play that right there.”
Two offensive series later, the Giants faced a fourth-and-1 from the Cleveland 6. This time they handed the ball to running back Wayne Gallman, who appeared to fall at the line to gain. The game officials ruled it short and it was not challenged.
“Look, I’m not afraid to call it aggressively,” Judge said. “We went into that game with that mindset. We have to do a better job of making sure that we coach the right way, execute it the right way and come out with the results we want. With that being said, we’re going to call this game aggressively and we’re going to play it aggressively. When you make calls like that, you let your players understand that you have confidence in them and that they can play the game aggressively.
“We have confidence in our players. I want them to go out and play aggressively. I can’t tell them all week that they have to go into this game with an aggressive mindset and then hold them back at some point where we feel like we have a chance to make a play.”
Asked if he would have remained so aggressive had he known Cleveland would only score 20, Judge stuck to his guns.
“You don’t go in with some sort of crystal ball and say they’re only going to score 20 points. We knew when we got down there that we were going to have an aggressive mindset to go ahead and finish it,” Judge said. “Look, that’s the way that you have to go ahead and play it sometimes. We have to go ahead and make the decision to be aggressive. Obviously, their team scored a lot of points throughout the year, with an explosive offense that does a very good job of moving it, sustaining it – they’ve really been on a hot streak lately. We knew coming in what type of team they were and we had to call the game a certain way.”
Even if the Giants had settled for two Graham Gano field goal attempts and he connected on each, the additional six points would not have been enough to shift momentum. And it certainly would not have been enough to keep the Giants in the game later.
Had New York scored touchdowns on each of those drives however, well… We’d all be praising Judge as a brilliant aggressive genius and calling for Freddie Kitchens to permanently take over for Jason Garrett, but that’s just not the way the cookie crumbled.
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