Joe Judge on What He's Learned During an Unprecedented Off-season

Adversity will either make a person sink or swim. For Giants head coach Joe Judge, whose first season as a head coach has been far from normal, there wasn't any other option.

When Joe Judge was named the 19th head coach of the Giants franchise back in January, no one could have prepared him for the unusual and somewhat unprecedented off-season he’d faced in his first six months.

The COVID-19 pandemic all but slammed the door shut on Judge conducting his off-season program, which was to include an extra voluntary minicamp since the Giants have a new coaching staff, the way he wanted, which was to be in front of his players and coaches to form bonds organically.

Instead, he’s tried to make lemonade out of the lemons and along the way and apply the lessons he’s learned into being the best possible coach and mentor possible.

Judge, who spoke with Giants Country by phone this week, said one of the biggest positives that have come out of the circumstances was that it’s reinforced to him and his staff the importance of adjusting on the fly.

“I worked for a guy who used to say to me every day, ‘Adapt or die,’” he said. “That's the kind of mentality we have to have. It’s like, ‘All right, we have to do our spring classroom work through a computer? Good. Let's get the most out of as possible.’”

Adjusting on the fly really isn’t something new for a coach, not when injuries or the flow of the game warrant flexibility every week. But for some people, too much uncertainty can be a scary proposition that results in disorganization and panic rather than focusing on what’s important.

Judge believes that the constant adjusting the players have had to make as a result of COVID could end up benefiting them for when they have to adjust on the fly during games.

“Yeah, I think our players are picking up on that,” he said. “We didn't focus the spring of what we didn't have an opportunity to do. We focused the spring on what we did have an opportunity to do. 

"We were given time every day with our players and we're given extra time with our rookies to develop them. We had a vehicle that we could get the players to look eye to eye through Zoom.

"That was what we used to the best of our ability to try to break down some of the walls. I think our coaches and players did a phenomenal job of, you know, developing some chemistry as a team and developing some relationships.”

Finding a way to build those relationships was of the utmost importance to Judge, who hopes that once the team is allowed to convene for training camp, the chemistry between coaches and players and teammates will be as strong as ever.

“I do not feel that we're going to walk into the building and be strangers, and that's very important to me,” Judge said. “We’ll have some history with each other, so when we walk into the building, we're not doing introductions. We're getting going football.”