Giants Head Coach Joe Judge Focused on Future Ahead of Return to New England

As Giants head coach Joe Judge gets ready to take his team to New England for a pair of joint practices, he's focused on the goals ahead rather than the past.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Aug 23, 2021 3:24 PM EDT

This week, Giants head coach Joe Judge is headed back to New England, the place where his NFL coaching career took shape.

But don't expect this former member of Bill Belichick's Patriots staff to get all sentimental about returning to his NFL roots.

No, Judge is locked in and focused on the task in front of him, which is getting the New York Giants ready for the upcoming season.

"This isn't some kind of trip down memory lane," he said Monday. "I wouldn't take the team up there for any kind of personal reasons. It's just the team that we're gonna play anyway in the preseason. This should be a week that helps our team."

Unlike last week's joint practices against the Browns, whose head coach Kevin Stefanski knows Judge from their days in high school, Judge still knows many faces in the Patriots organization, from the front office to the coaching staff to a lot of the players.

"I'm sure it will be a little bit different coaching against a lot of those players for the first time, but to be honest with you, I'm a New York Giant," he said.

"My focus is on getting our team developed and ready for the season. This is a great opportunity to work against a good opponent and to go up there and make sure that we hit some specific situations and focuses that both teams need entering the season."

Judge also said that there have been talks with the Patriots about making the joint practices an annual event since the two teams usually play against each other in the preseason anyway.

"To continue working with a team that you have an established relationship with is very important," Judge said.

Judge and Belichick have had some discussions regarding the outline of the practices for the week.

"We're going to have a lot of situational football this week as part of the emphasis going up there and working against New England," Judge said. "This time of year, going to the third game, really making sure that we get the opportunity to go through a lot of situations that otherwise you might not get the opportunity to go in a competitive situation because they don't come up in every preseason.

"So want to make sure we go ahead and we'd go up there as a team and gain experience of going against a foreign opponent before we get into the regular season."

The Giants will be in Foxborough on Wednesday and Thursday before returning to East Rutherford Friday. They'll then host the Patriots in the preseason finale Sunday.