Joe Judge Set to Return to Philadelphia Thursday Night
Joe Judge grew up in the middle of the Giants-Eagles rivalry.
As a Philadelphia native, Judge was raised in a household loyal to the Eagles, a family that viewed the Giants with a degree of disdain.
Well, except for his older brother Jimmy, who would rock a Lawrence Taylor jersey just to be playfully antagonistic toward his Eagle-loving family members.
"My brother walked around in an 'LT' jersey his entire life mostly just to make us mad because we were all rooting for the Eagles," Judge recalled Monday. "But eventually, you get used to seeing it and you understand why he was wearing it."
Now, as the head coach of the New York Giants, Judge has assuredly one-upped his brother's commitment to the Giants by taking on the Giants' head coaching job, a role that puts him in Giants blue from head to toe.
And come Thursday, Judge and his Giants will roll into Lincoln Financial Field for a primetime matchup in which the Giants will be looking to snap a seven-game losing streak against their division rivals.
There won't be any room for any nostalgiac sense of endearment for his childhood Green team for Judge. Judge's 1-5 Giants will be hungry for their second win as they look to make up ground in the NFC East while seeking their first back-to-back stretch of wins since Weeks 3 and 4 of last season.
The Giants-Eagles rivalry's current state is a far cry from what Judge grew up watching as a young child.
Judge was born on December 31, 1981, just four days after the Giants defeated the Eagles in the 1981 Wild Card round at Veterans Stadium for the organization's first playoff win in 18 years.
Judge's early childhood then occurred during a six-year stretch of Giants dominance, as the Giants claimed 10 of the next 12 meetings between the two teams up through 1987.
Still, Judge built a strong appreciation for the nature of the Eagles fans, the rivalry, and the gritty style that the two teams fought with. Judge's family then got to be on the winning side of that rivalry in his early adolescence, as the Eagles would go on to win nine of the next ten meetings up until 1992.
"It's a great city, it's got great passionate fans, it's an excellent team and it's obviously a great rivalry," Judge said.
"I grew up watching these games and they were always tough games, blue-collar type games when the Eagles and Giants played."
Now Judge will look to swing the tide of that rivalry again and reverse the long-haunted fortunes of the Giants, who have lost 20 of the last 25 matchups against the Eagles; a stretch that's featured a handful of painful moments for Giants fans.
While the game will be Judge's first participation in the classic rivalry, he's been conditioned in the act of standing on the opposing sideline at Lincoln Financial Field in a heated and historic matchup.
Judge made the trip to Philadelphia last year as the Patriots' special teams coordinator and helped orchestrate a 17-10 Patriots victory in a rematch of New England's Super Bowl LII defeat to the Eagles in 2018.
"It's not the first time going back to Philly as an opposing coach," Judge said. "You're so focused on the opponent that the emotion doesn't really get tied into it, we just know we've got a heck of a team we got to match up against."
Still, Judge knows what type of treatment the Giants and their fans are subject to in games at Lincoln Financial Field and is preparing accordingly.
"I'll probably wear a helmet too because my in-laws are already buying batteries," Judge quipped.
