Joe Judge Has Strong Words for Those Who 'Disrespect' Game's Integrity
New York Giants head coach Joe Judge knows that at the end of the day, the reason why his football team isn't in the postseason is that they didn't make enough plays to win enough games.
As a result, their fate landed in the Philadelphia Eagles' hands, without question the Giants' most bitter division rival, to win their game against the Washington Football Team.
The Eagles went on to lose the game, 20-14, but it was how they lost that has resulted in heavy criticism of Eagles head coach Doug Pederson.
Pederson inexplicably benched starting quarterback Jalen Hurts after three quarters, down 17-14 at the time, and replaced him with Nate Sudfeld, a seldom-used backup player, whom Pederson claimed he wanted to get some meaningful game snaps.
Sudfeld's quarter of play was a disaster, and Pederson has come under fire for compromising competitive integrity.
While the Giants players who spoke earlier in the day side-stepped any direct criticism of the Eagles, Judge did not hold back his thoughts on the matter.
Though he never mentioned the Eagles directly, it was clear they were in his crosshairs as he strongly stated his disapproval of anyone who tried to circumvent the competitive nature of the game, especially given the sacrifices made to have a complete season during a global pandemic.
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"The one thing to keep in mind with this season is we had a lot of people opt in to this season--coaches, players, and that includes family members as well," Judge said.
"So to look at a group of grown men who I ask to give me effort on day-in, day-out basis and to empty the tank so that then I can look them in the eye and ensure them that I'm always going to do everything I can to put them in a competitive advantage and play them in a position of strength...
"To me, you don't ever want to disrespect those players in our effort and disrespect the game. The sacrifices that they made to come into work every day and test before coming in, to sit in meetings spaced out, to wear masks and to have shields over those masks, to go through extensive protocols, to travel in unconventional ways, to get text messages at 6:30 in the morning telling them practice is going to be canceled; we have to do a virtual day ... to tell them, 'Please don't have your family over for Thanksgiving,' 'Please avoid Christmas gatherings,' 'We know what your wife's birthday--let's make sure we put that one off to the offseason' ...
"There's a number of sacrifices been made by all the players and coaches in this league. There are number of sacrifices that come along as well with the family members of the people connected to them.
At this point, the anger in Judge's voice really started to poke through as he delivered his strongest words yet.
"To disrespect the effort that everyone put forward to make this season a success for the National Football League, to disrespect the game by going out there and not competing for 60 minutes and doing everything you can to help those players win--we will never do that as long as I'm the head coach of the New York Giants."
