As NFL training camps open and the league prepares for a (relatively) normal 2021 season, some head coaches plan to ease their players back into full-contact practices. Joe Judge is not one of those coaches.
Judge gave a series of one-on-one interviews with reporters in the days leading up the New York Giants’ first day of camp on July 27. The topics covered ranged from vaccinations to steak grilling, but one message was clear: the Giants’ playoff push starts now.
“We’re trying to get their bodies ready to go ahead and perform how they have to in a game,” Judge said. “The most dangerous thing you can do for a player is skimp on how practice, whether that’s conditioning to get their bodies in the right position and build up that callus within their muscles so they don’t have soft tissue injuries on the field.”
Even though the Giants missed the playoffs, Judge’s first season in New York was generally seen as a success. His approach — which emphasizes physical play and an excellent grasp of fundamentals — had his team playing with a passion that belied its 6-10 record.
The Giants’ best record in four years was cause enough for praise. Even more impressive was how Judge won over the team in a year focused more on COVID-19 tests than X’s and O’s.
That’s why Judge’s second year in New York feels more like an extension of his rookie season. For the first time, he and his players can focus all of their attention on football. True to his image, Judge sees that as an opportunity to push his athletes even harder.
“You can’t put a player on the field and tell him to play a hundred percent for 60 minutes if you haven’t trained them that way,” Judge said. “To me, there’s a difference in practicing and training. And we talk to our players all the time. You know, we say we’re going for practice, but we’re really going to have to train.”
So with that renewed focus, Judge spent the offseason refining his leadership techniques. He is the league’s third-youngest head coach at 39 years old and wants to close the experience gap as quickly as possible.
“I’m always looking to improve. I spend a large part of the offseason not only researching the Xs and Os of football and watching the league and getting ready for the draft, but I spend a large part of it talking to different coaches on different levels, different sports and visiting with different leaders,” Judge said. “Talking to guys who lead Fortune 500 companies and having the opportunity to talk to some military leaders.”
However, painting Judge as inexperienced is not entirely accurate. The challenges he faced in his first season — dealing with the pandemic and losing offensive focal point Saquon Barkley to injury — forced him into a quick learning curve.
No one recognizes that fact more than Joe Judge, but at the same time, no one is more ready to move past it.
“I think you learn a lot more from tougher times than when you had success,” Judge said. “I could sit here and talk for hours about lessons I learned in different things, but I think ultimately, it’s the experience that I’ve gained that I think I can better help the team now.”
Featured image courtesy of Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
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