The recent change at offensive line coach by the New York Giants has gone off without a hitch thus far, although it had all the signs of becoming a possible disaster.
Two weeks ago, head coach Joe Judge told line coach Marc Columbo that he was bringing in veteran offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo as a consultant. Columbo did not take the news well and and an argument ensued, leading Judge to dismiss Colombo altogether and replace him with DeGuglielmo.
So far, so good. The Giants are 1-0 after the change and are looking forward to further success. DeGuglielmo, who began his NFL career in 2004 with the Giants on Tom Coughlin’s staff, has won two Super Bowl rings — one with the Giants and the other as a member of Bill Belichick’s staff in New England, where he met Judge.
“I guess it would be the equivalent of a plumber called to a different company to do a plumbing job,” DeGuglielmo told reporters on a Zoom call on Monday. It was his first interview since joining the team.
“Generally speaking, this is what I do. Sometimes the circumstances are more advantageous for me personally, but I think there’s a solid system here. Joe Judge and (offensive coordinator) Jason Garrett have a solid system in place. I’m coming in to just do my role as a line coach and try to keep things moving in the proper direction. That’s all.”
DeGuglielmo had said he did not plan on making any major changes but comes in halfway through the season not very familiar with Garrett’s offense.
“It’s not overly complicated or anything like that. And I’m doing the adjusting,” DeGuglielmo said. “I’m having to learn a new language, if you will. It’s like taking a job in Spain and I don’t know Spanish. Well, I still know how to do my job, I just don’t know the language of it. That’s all and that’s really been the adjustment.”
Coach ‘Guge,’ as he is known, was not ready to offer any in-depth analysis of his charges on the call only to just say he’s still getting his feet wet with the Giants.
“I haven’t been with these guys for very long,” DeGuglielmo said. “I have gone back and watched all of the video tape. I think (Andrew Thomas is) doing a good job of trying to work on the problems he had early in the year. That’s the big thing with all of them. If you find a perfect play somewhere, point it out to me because I don’t see that anywhere in the National Football League. Guys are going to make mistakes, and they’re going to grow throughout a season.”
Guge did offer his general view of the Giants’ current offensive line situation and why he sees going forward.
“I like this line is growing,” he said. “I don’t have the same concerns about rotating guys in as other people might have because this is an opportunity for us to take a look at a bunch of players. I think we have some players who are quality players that are sitting on the bench. I believe what Coach Judge believes in, and that’s trying to get guys experience. Guys get injured these days. You’re going to need those other players, those backups, down the road. But in the week I’ve been here with them, I haven’t encountered one guy that resists drill work or resists coaching or resists instruction. I think that’s the key.
“Every day, we just need to work on little things. We have one or two points a week that we emphasize. If we can do that, whether I was the line coach in the beginning or the line coach in the middle or the end, we’d still be doing the same thing. We’d be emphasizing the points that need to be addressed and just focusing on them and getting better every day. That’s all we can do, and they’ve done a great job doing that.”
What more could I ask?”
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