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Since head coach Joe Judge burst onto the scene in 2020, he’s been credited with everything the New York Giants do that’s viewed in a positive light. On the flip side of that coin, general manager Dave Gettleman continues to be saddled with criticism for everything the team does that’s viewed negatively.
The stark contract between how Judge and Gettleman are viewed by the public has led to some speculation that there’s an internal power struggle; that the Giants have essentially given Judge the keys to the car and Gettleman is just along for the ride.
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It would be alarming if that were true.
When the Giants hired Judge, they deliberately sought out assistant coaches with previous head coaching experience. We saw that with Jason Garrett and Freddie Kitchens, among others.
The reason for that was Judge’s complete lack of exposure. He had never before served as head coach at any level and at just 39 years of age, doesn’t have the wealth of experience many others at his post do.
What would it say about the Giants organization if after just one season as head coach, they subvert the power of the general manager in favor of Judge? That would be an incredible leap of faith after just 365 days — all of which were anchored by other coaches who could help guide Judge through everyday life as an NFL head coach.
That’s not a knock on Judge, who is very likable and clearly intelligent. He’s obviously a good leader with a bright future, but that level of power is obtained over time.
At least that’s what Giants co-owner John Mara implied on Sunday, telling the New York Post that any rumors of an internal power struggle are completely false. Gettleman and Judge function as a team, which is how the general manager-head coach dynamic generally works in East Rutherford.
“I think the combination of Joe and Dave works. They don’t agree 100 percent of the time, but what’s impressed me so far is that neither one is engaged in any kind of power struggle. When it comes to a decision, it’s a Giants decision at the end of the day, not a Dave Gettleman or Joe Judge decision,” Mara said.
Of course, this isn’t to say that Judge didn’t save Gettleman’s job. After the failures of Pat Shurmur, he probably did despite a 6-10 record.
Mara had admitted before and admitted again that Gettleman’s approach to free agency in 2018 was a dud. However, things picked back up in 2019, improved again in 2020 with Judge on board and then, obviously, took off here in 2021 with a massive spending spree.
“We made some miscalculations, to put it mildly, back in 2018, and to a certain extent we’re still paying the price for some of those errors,” Mara said. “But our personnel decisions improved a bit in 2019, and then significantly last year.”
We’ll never know what level of influence Shurmur had in some of those personnel decisions, but it’s safe to assume he had plenty of input — just as Judge does now. The difference between the two is the culture that has been created.
Under Gettleman and Judge, things are flowing in a positive direction because they work well as a team and share similar roster-building philosophies.