Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera and Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur respond to comments made by Joe Judge.
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New York Giants head coach Joe Judge talks. He talks a lot and unsurprisingly, that occasionally gets him into trouble.
Such was the case last Sunday when Judge, following a humiliating loss to the Chicago Bears, unleased a wild 11-minute rant that spewed venom in every direction.
One of Judge’s most controversial comments was about the state of the Giants organization when he took over.
“When I came here and I sat down with all the players, I wanted to know what it was like in here, what we had to change from their mouths, all right, to a man every player looked me in the eye and said, Joe, it’s not a team, they don’t play hard, we’re out of playoffs, everybody quit, everybody tapped, they stopped showing up to captains meetings, all that stuff. Right? They tapped out. Okay?” Judge said.
The comment seemed to indicate that Pat Shurmur lost the locker-room prior to his termination. And that didn’t sit particularly well with the Denver Broncos’ offensive coordinator, who clearly wanted to address the situation on Wednesday but refrained.
Judge also made a “fist fighting” comment that caught the attention of Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera.
“So this ain’t a team that’s having fistfights on the sidelines. This ain’t some clown show organization or something else,” Judge said. “You talk about the foundation built, you talk about the things that — the toughest thing to change in a team, the toughest thing to change in a club is the way people think. You understand that? That’s the toughest thing. You can get new players, you can’t get out of your damn locker room all you want, you got to change how people thinking.”
Washington, of course, saw a pair of their players get into a scuffle on the sideline earlier this season. So, naturally, Rivera (and everyone else) assumed the comment was directed at them.
“Honestly, I just find it interesting and, I have no response to that,” Rivera told reporters on Wednesday. “To me, the important thing is we play on Sunday more so than anything else, you know? I’m more concerned with getting ready to play a football game as opposed to anything else.”
Judge later denied that his comments were about Washington or any other team. Instead, he says, he was speaking generally.
Either way, Rivera was not interested in engaging.
“As far as I’m concerned, what people don’t know, that’s just the fact that they’re not paying attention or enough attention to understand what’s going on. So I’m not gonna worry about it. I’m just gonna go forward,” Rivera added.
“I have enough respect for the the Giants organization, you know, for, for what Mr. (John) Mara and Mr. (Steve) Tisch have done there. You know, this is one of the staples of the NFL as far as I’m concerned.”
Less is more. If Judge hangs around in East Rutherford, that’s a lesson he absolutely must learn.
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