Joe Judge Says Golden Tate Defended Himself in Jalen Ramsey Dustup
Giants head coach Joe Judge said that the ugly postgame incident that developed between Giants receiver Golden Tate and Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey was unfortunate, but that after speaking with several players and staff and reconciling that with what he himself witnessed, it appeared to Judge that Ramsey was the instigator.
“I talked to a number of our players and the guys that were involved and I had enough of a kind of eyewitness standpoint for myself after me and (Rams head coach) Sean (McVay) had an exchange at a midfield,” Judge said.
“I turned around--it was kind of happening right there in front of me, so I got a quick glimpse of that. There was a punch thrown, (and) Golden was defending himself. I was told he wasn't one that threw the punch, and everybody involved was trying to break it up.”
There’s no love lost between Tate and Ramsey, the latter the father of Tate’s two young nieces. Last year, Ramsey reportedly had a messy breakup with Tate’s sister while she was pregnant, Ramsey's treatment of Tate's leaving a sour taste in Tate’s mouth, leading to the bad blood between the two men.
During the game, Ramsey seemed to apply some extra oomph on any plays involving Tate. That and the off-field history seemed to spill over to the postgame ugliness that cameras caught after the fight began.
ESPN reported that after the game, Ramsey waited for Tate outside the Giants locker room supposedly to continue their confrontation, but that the two players didn’t connect.
The incident’s ugliness has led to the league conducting its own investigation, as first reported by the New York Post.
Regardless of how the fight got started or who was at fault, Judge was displeased that it happened.
“I don't want John Mara, Steve Tisch or anybody involved this team to have to deal with something like this after the game,” he said. “This isn't a why we play the game. We have 60 minutes, you know, to beat the hell out of each other, legally between the whistles. We don't need anything extra after.”
Judge also said that as of now, he is not planning to discipline Tate or anyone else who might have been involved.
“There's a number of things we still have to look through as a team, but based on the information I was given and what I saw with my own eyes and what our players gave me, It didn't sound like there's an immediate need for (discipline), but we'll look into it,” Judge said.
