The New York Giants have locked down organizational leaks since hiring Joe Judge as their head coach, but that’s not to say there aren’t entities by his side that could prove to be the ultimate insiders.
However, it’s guaranteed that Judge’s secrets will never be spilled because the only living being that’s heard him utter the name of a Giants player can’t talk.
During a conference call on Wednesday, Judge acknowledged that his golden retriever, Abby, spends 15 hours per day by his side and knows just about everything there is to know about the coach’s prospect evaluations, draft plans and 2020 goals.
Coach Judge and Abby: Work from home vibes pic.twitter.com/DZpmCn2cur
— New York Giants (@Giants) April 15, 2020
“Right now she could probably tell you more about who we’re gonna take in the first round than anybody else” Judge quipped.
For Judge, this is just a part of the new normal — an adjustment being made by most Americans as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The normal for me is my office just moved to my basement,” Judge said. “I operate out of my basement. Same work hours I would hold if I were in the office, up early and stay late. Make sure you get everything done. We still meet on a regular basis as a staff, whether that’s offense or defense or as an entire staff, strength staff, whatever it is. But we’re meeting through online virtual meetings. We have technology that’s allowing us to be very functional and productive. There have been some adjustments by everybody, but that’s our job is to figure it out and move forward.”
Perhaps the most significant adjustment for Judge wasn’t moving his office to the basement, but juggling the presence of his entire family — his wife and their four children.
“I have told my kids there’s times I’m gonna need them to get out of the basement or be present, based on how we set up our draft board so I can have a visual in my basement,” Judge said. “I’ve already talked to them about possibly taking tags off the wall and organizing different things. I’m not looking to make this a vacation for anybody. We got a lot of serious work to get done. But it is still our house and like everyone in America is finding out, everyone’s working with their family always present, and that’s pretty true for us.”
Ultimately, Judge says, perspective is everything. Things could be a lot worse, and for some Americans, they are.
“Look, there’s a lot of people out there right now who don’t have jobs to go to with this situation, there’s police, fire department, there are nurses who leave their house every day, who leave their family behind and they are putting themselves out there to protect us. So, I think there’s people we have to acknowledge with the right perspective who have it a lot tougher than a bunch of football coaches just trying to function to get ready for an offseason and a draft,” Judge said.
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