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New York Giants head coach Joe Judge became an instant topic of conversation across the football landscape once the outside world got a look at his practices in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Judge faced heavy criticism from pundits and former players for the way he chooses to lead, with former Giants linebacker Emmanuel Acho calling him “imbecilic” and retired tight end Shannon Sharpe promising that his stint with the Giants won’t end well.
The gripe? Judge is too hard on his players and assistant coaches. It’s too much like Bill Belichick, they say, and that “never works.”
Special teams ace Nate Ebner spent eight seasons playing for Belichick in New England, so he has first-hand experience and knowledge when it comes to what that’s actually like. And compared to how Joe Judge runs his ship, it’s a breeze.
“I’d say Joe likes to have more fun,” Ebner told the New York Post with a chuckle. “But when he’s serious, he’s definitely serious, no question about it. I think Bill’s obviously serious all the time too, but I think Joe’s a little more intent on building real relationships with the people that he’s working with as far as his players are concerned.”
That’s not a knock on Belichick so much as it’s a credit to Judge. He genuinely cares about his players despite what those on the outside would have you believe. In fact, like Bill Parcells long before him, Judge makes personal relationships a staple of his leadership model.
“It’s important to have daily connections with every player on your roster. It’s important they know that you know them on a personal level and that you care about them,” Judge told reporters last week.
But don’t let Judge’s personable approach fool you — he’s an extremely intense guy.
“I just think of something like a coaching point that he’s been driving home, and when you do it right, he’s intense about showing the team that that’s a great example that we’ve been talking about, about how to do it right. When you do it wrong, and we’ve been talking about it, he’s just the same way,” Ebner said.
“He’s a great teacher. There’s some serious key points that he wants to drive home, and when he sees those examples, he’s intense on showing the good ones and the bad ones because he’s trying to make that picture as clear as possible for his students if you will to learn the key points he’s trying to teach.”
The way Ebner sees it, Judge has things balanced out perfectly and for players who excel with structure, it doesn’t get much better than this despite what the critics say.
“I think when you really know where you stand and things are very clear about what’s expected, that makes it easier to operate, and Joe’s very good with that,” Ebner said. “It’s kinda refreshing for an NFL coach — he does care.”
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