How Joe Judge Plans to Keep His Players Fresh in Regular-Season Opener

The good news is there were no preseason games. The bad news is that there were no preseason games. But not to worry, as Joe Judge has been building up toward a plan to keep those players who will draw heavy workloads in next week's regular-season opener.

The good news is there were no preseason games. 

The bad news is that there were no preseason games. And that could be a potential problem for any NFL team, such as the Giants, who have to play the early part of their season in warm weather conditions.

The NFL and NFLPA agreed this year to scrap preseason games to allow for a more extended ramp-up period designed to make up for the lack of an off-season program that involved OTAs.

Without preseason games, the players didn't get a chance to engage in game-like conditions where there are no restrictions on hitting, and protected players like quarterbacks are fair game to be brought to the ground. They also didn't get a chance to test their stamina limits beyond what was planned in practice.

As the Giants start their preparation for their Week 1 regular-season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 14, Giants head coach Joe Judge has thought about the conditioning challenge and how he plans to address it.

“I think it's a combination of we want to use all of our players active in every game anyway. Then along with that, just because of the limits on the numbers you can have at games anyway, we're expecting players have to play the full length (of the game) Judge told reporters during a video conference Monday.

“So we'll spell guys as far as we can, but we're going to have to make sure that we have the best guys on the field at all times to execute the plan in place.”

If there is any consolation for Judge, it’s that the Giants aren’t alone in the challenge of ensuring they have enough juice as a team to get through what could be a warm evening of football played at a much higher intensity level.

“No one has been able to put their team through any kind of situation that replicates the entire length of the game, whether that's the three hours of competition the hour-plus leading up to it. So everyone's dealing the same challenges right now,” Judge pointed out.

As a matter of course, Judge ensured the players' conditioning was gradually built up through the acclimation period and ramp-up. 

When the team moved to the final phase of training camp, it was not uncommon for Judge to have the players run wind sprints at the end of practice to gauge their stamina levels.

While the Giants will find out just how well conditioned their players are, the good news is they won’t be alone in their challenge.

“You know, we place a big emphasis on conditioning within our program training as far as acclimating and staying healthy. So that's something we've got to push on going forward.”

Another potential repercussion of the lack of preseason games is the quality of football in the first few weeks of the season. 

Typically, the play's quality isn’t at its sharpest to start the season as teams that maybe gave limited snaps to their starters are still trying to get their legs underneath them.

Judge believes that this year won’t be any different from years past as far as the quality of the game is concerned despite the lack of preseason.

“I think when you watch NFL football in September, regardless of the year, you see a degree of bad football out there in the field,” Judge said.

“That's just the truth of the NFL every year. Obviously, we're coaching to eliminate bad football and that's my goal as a head coach. I don’t know if this year will be any different. I can't turn around and say, it's going to be better or worse, but I think in September, you always see your share of bad football's as it turns up on tape.”