The Fightin' Joe Judges? Giants' New Moniker Captures Team's Personality
The New York Giants have a new head coach, many new players, a new outlook on the upcoming season, and a new nickname?
Well, not officially, as the Giants have been called the Giants since they were founded in 1925 by Tim Mara. But for a franchise that has been seeking a new identity that breaks with the recent trend of losing, general manager Dave Gettleman had an idea.
"I just feel like the roster is gonna be competitive and it's gonna have the ability to win games." Gettleman said. "You put a team out there, they'll be the Fightin' Joe Judges, no doubt."
Head coach Joe Judge has undoubtedly made his mark on the team since being hired in January. In his introductory press conference, Judge stressed his desire to instill a blue-collar, physical mentality among the players he expected to "punch you in the nose for 60 minutes."
But the Fightin' Joe Judges? Not so fast.
"I'm more concerned that they represent the area of New York and North Jersey a lot more than just Joe Judge," Judge said when told of Gettleman's impromptu nickname. "We want to have a tough, smart, fundamentally sound football team.
"It's important to me that when people watch our team in this area they're proud of our guys."
Despite Judge's desire to stick with the team's original nickname, the new moniker's traction might be beyond his control.
Just moments after Gettleman uttered the name, cries for the production of The Fightin' Joe Judges merchandise flooded Giants Twitter.
Marketing efforts aside, Judge is more concerned about putting together a team that Giants fans will not only embrace but also take pride in.
So far, so good.
"We've had great synergy through all the conversations starting this offseason, free agency, the draft, leading up now through training camp," Judge said.
"I think it's important we're all on the same page with how we see this team going forward and what it's going to take to get us to where this longterm vision really is."
That vision has manifested in a training camp that fits the nickname in some aspects but verbally rejects it in others.
Judge has emphasized physicality, intensity, and aggressiveness throughout the Giants' practices, even employing some old-school drills that seemed to fade away with the last of the old-school NFL football coaches years ago.
But within that old-school mentality, Judge has shown himself to be of the new school variety who considers himself one of the guys.
That was evident when during a team drill in which the rookies had to scramble to recover a loose ball in wet, muddy conditions, Judge got involved in response to the team's chants, diving into the mud of the Giants' practice field for a wet ball while defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson doused him with a hose.
Judge, who playfully joked about still having it with his ball security, has somehow done the impossible, which is to strike a balance between hard work and accountability and having fun as a team.
"We have a lot of fun as a team. We really do. It’s a great group of guys. We wake up every morning as coaches, we’re going to work them hard, we’re going to work them long, but we’re going to make it fun when we can," he said.
"We’re going to make sure that they understand that as we’re pushing them and we’re demanding, there’s a ‘why’ to what we’re doing. It’s important they understand what that ‘why’ is.
"These are intelligent young men that when you explain there’s a purpose to it, they can not only do it with confidence but they can make the right decisions in game action when something’s different."
On the flipside, Judge has also instilled a zero-tolerance policy for behavior that would result in a penalty or ejection from a game, including fights between players by having any offending players who commit such infractions in practice take a penalty lap.
“It’s real simple. If you fight in a game, you’re ejected, you’re fined and it’s a penalty for the team. So, we’re not going to practice anything that we’re not going to do in a game," Judge said. “If you’re going to get thrown out of a game, then you’re going to get thrown out of practice.”
No one knows just how The Fightin' Joe Judges, er Giants will fare this season, but one thing is for sure: They should be ready to roll September 14 when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers.
