New York Giants head coach Joe Judge unleashed a wild rant following a 29-3 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday — one that was not perceived well by the masses.
During the 11-minute verbal word salad, Judge claimed former players who are making more money elsewhere call him weekly to express their desire to return. He also suggested that several impending free agents repeatedly beg him to return.
If that weren’t enough, Judge seemed to take subtle shots at Pat Shurmur, as well as some of his own coaches (see: Rob Sale). He also made comments about Giants fans, Vegas sportsbooks and nearly being fired by the New England Patriots in 2018.
Asked during a Zoom call on Monday afternoon if he regretted any of it, Judge had one simple answer: “No.”
“I was asked a specific question about what the fans are asking and I responded to it. People ask me a direct question, I give direct answers,” Judge said. “Whoever’s listening is going to get a dose of the truth and I was honestly answering to the question to the fans — that’s what the question was asked for — but, obviously, the response can apply to a number of different areas.”
A number of different areas, indeed.
Later during the call, Judge went on another mini-rant. This time, it didn’t near the 11-minute mark but it was equally self-serving.
“I would (we’re a well-coached team),” Judge said. “There are obviously some things we have to do better and I’m not going to sit here and hide behind anything, I’m not going to sit here and say that we’re perfect in anything. There are a lot of things that I — now am I going to go through a diagnosis or an analysis of our team and every unit and every situation? No, I’m not going to do that and I say that very openly in a lot of ways. I’m not going to go ahead and throw players under the bus or try to isolate coaches and look for a scapegoat. That’s not my style, that’s not what I’m going to do.
“But I’ve seen a lot of improvement from our players in a lot of different ways. Sometimes not all that is magnified, but I look at different things that show up with our team, I know the direction that we’re going. I know other teams as well in this league of how they scout us and what we do when we share information-wise sometimes with common opponents and things that happen. I’m very confident in the way that we’re pushing forward right now. There are things we have to improve on. Obviously, the most important thing in this league is winning, so we’ve got to do a better job putting ourselves in position to finalize and finish out some games with a win.”
And as it relates to the former players who are allegedly reaching out to him and expressing a desire to return? Don’t go digging into names or looking for proof, Judge says. Just trust his word.
“I wouldn’t want to try to identify names and I think that would be pure speculation. It’s a small league, I keep in touch with a lot of players I’ve coached elsewhere because, obviously, there are things that we’re very careful with tampering and we never try to get anything in that mix,” Judge said. “But, everyone supports each other. You have guys who have good games from across the way, you may shoot them a text and say, ‘Hey man, I liked the way you played. A certain technique or a certain play, keep it going.’ Guys will reach back out to you.
“There are a number of players who have been here through the years. I’m not going to go into individuals right now, I’m not going to try to open up that kind of chapter of guessing of what it may be, but I just know that we have a strong culture, as players from other teams that I know reach out to our players currently and have reached out to me as well through different avenues. Nothing that needs to be looked into or anything of that nature, but I know this is a place that players want to play. I know this is a place that players want to play. It’s a place that a lot of players are going to want to play for a long time. I’m going to leave it at that.”
Judge may still be selling it, but most are no longer buying it.
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