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New York Giants head coach Joe Judge may bleed blue right now, but it hasn’t always been that way.
The 38-year-old grew up in Doylestown and went to school in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, which is roughly 35 miles away from the city of Philadelphia. His household was packed with Eagles fans with the sole exception brother, Jimmy.
“My brother walked around in an [Lawrence Taylor] jersey his entire life just to make us mad because we were rooting for the Eagles,” Judge told reporters on Monday.
During his time with the New England Patriots, Judge coached a few games at Lincoln Financial Field, but when he returns on Thursday night, things are going to be a bit different.
Judge, now the head coach of one of Philly’s longest-standing rivals, will return to his hometown as the enemy. And with his family of Eagles fans expected to be in the stands, Judge intends to take a few extra precautions.
“I’ll probably wear a helmet because my in-laws are already buying batteries,” Judge joked.
Judge still has some love for the city of Philadelphia, however.
“It’s a great city, it’s got great passionate fans,” Judge said. “It’s an excellent team, it’s obviously a great rivalry. I grew up watching these games, they were always tough games, blue-collar type games when the Eagles and the Giants played when I was growing up watching the games. You’re so focused on the opponent the emotion doesn’t really get tied into it.”
Calling Eagles fans “passionate” is a bit of an understatement. After all, they are the same group of people who pelted Santa Claus with snowballs, violently assaulted Washington super fan Chief Zee and punched police horses.
Judge is unlikely to receive that same treatment with only a limited number of fans in the stands, but you can bet he and his players will certainly hear some things that give them pause in Week 7.
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