The New York Giants’ culture is changing this year under new head coach Joe Judge. No longer will players be coddled — they will be held accountable for their mistakes.
As we have seen thus far in training camp, players who make mistakes are required to take laps as penance.
When it comes to the offense and second-year quarterback Daniel Jones, he is held to the same standard as the rest of the team. The mistake-prone Jones fumbled 18 times during the 2019 season, losing 11 of them. He also threw 12 interceptions.
This year, the Giants will not stand for such sloppiness from their quarterback.
Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett was asked Tuesday if he would “tolerate” mistakes as the team learns a new scheme and it’s early in the process.
“I don’t know if we ever use that word ‘tolerate’ as coaches. That’s not really in our vocabulary,” Garrett told reporters on a video conference. “You don’t really tolerate anything. We coach everything every single day with every player we have. That’s really what our job is. That’s not to say mistakes aren’t going to happen. They are going to happen. But you never use the word ‘tolerate.’ You’re always trying to learn and grow from the different experiences that we have.
As for Jones specifically, Garrett was not about to lambaste Jones, who is looking to turn over a new leaf in 2020.
“Daniel’s done an excellent job. He comes in here and, again, he’s so prepared, he’s so into it, he wants to know every detail. To play quarterback in this league, or really play any position in this league, there are a lot of different things that happen over the course of a play or the course of a practice,” Garrett said. “There’s so much to learn from. I’ve never been around a player who played a perfect game. I’ve never been around a player who had a perfect practice. We’re always striving for that. We’re striving for excellence in everything we do, and that’s really what our objective is.
“We try to set high standards for our players. We try to give them the tools to achieve those standards. We try to instill belief in them, and we hold those to them each and every day. Daniel is one of those guys who’s really embraced that. He’s getting better and better in everything we do.”
That is the difference between this Giants team and teams from the recent past. This team will do things right or not do them at all. That comes from Judge, but Garrett, a former head coach in this league for over a decade, knows how much mistakes — whether they are ones of omission or commission — can hurt a team.
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