EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – New York Giants coach Joe Judge made it clear what he thinks of how the Philadelphia Eagles handled the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s loss to the Washington Football Team, a result that kept their team out of the game. playoffs: he was not happy.
Judge described his belief that he would be disrespectful to his players and the entire league – which made enormous sacrifices to make this difficult season happen – if they left and did not try to compete for 60 minutes to try to win a game.
“We will never do that while I am the coach of the New York Giants,” Judge said on Monday, after a more than two-minute response to a question about whether he thought the Eagles did something wrong.
Philadelphia put third-string quarterback Nate Sudfeld into contention for the fourth period of what was then a three-point game. Coach Doug Pederson insisted he was “training to win” and said his decision-making was not influenced by the NFL’s 2021 draft position.
Washington won the game 20-14 to eliminate the postseason Giants. Washington beat NFC East as a result.
The judge said he did not speak to Pederson about what happened. Instead, he would let the Eagles speak for themselves in terms of how they would approach the game.
The Giants coach said he was sitting in his office preparing for a possible decisive confrontation with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while Philadelphia v Washington was in the background. But he certainly seemed to notice exactly what happened.
“Obviously the players asked me throughout the day and I cannot express that one thing to keep in mind this season is that a lot of people have chosen this season. OK, a lot of people have chosen this. Coaches, players, family members too”, said Judge. “So looking at a group of adult men that I asked to work hard every day and to empty the tank, and then I can look them in the eye and assure them that I will always do everything I can to put them on into a competitive advantage and put them in a position of strength.
“For me, you never want to disrespect these players and their effort and disrespect the game. The sacrifices they made to come to work every day and test before entering, to sit in spaced meetings, to wear masks and to have shields on these masks, to go through extensive protocols, to travel in unconventional ways, to receive text messages at 6:30 am saying that the practice would be canceled, we have to do a virtual day, to tell them, please do not receive your family on Thanksgiving Day, please avoid Christmas parties, we know it’s your wife’s birthday, let’s make sure we leave it for the off season. There are a lot of sacrifices made by all the players and coaches in this league There are a number of sacrifices that come along with family members and people connected with them.
“Disrespecting the effort that everyone made to make this season a success in the National Football League, disrespecting the game by going outside and not competing for 60 minutes and doing everything they can to help these players win, we will never do that while I go. the head coach of the New York Giants. “
The judge began his response by noting that the giants (6-10) had 16 opportunities of their own this season, and said that you don’t want to leave your destiny in anyone’s hands.
This is what they did in this situation. New York needed to beat Dallas on Sunday afternoon (which the Giants did from 23 to 19), and then hope that the Eagles could disturb Washington at night. This did not happen, in part because the Eagles had a large inactive contingent for the game and then put newcomer defender Jalen Hurts on the bench at the end of the competition.
“So we are not going to make excuses as an organization,” said Judge. “Not now, not ever. We had our opportunities.”
This was the message he also conveyed to his players during a meeting on Monday morning. Some players who spoke to the media had a similar feeling, despite a very different tone on social media during the game. It was clear that this was in Judge’s direction.
Security Jabrill Peppers said he was not angry. He used a similar phrase about never wanting to leave your destiny in the hands of another man.
“We had 16 opportunities to make that happen,” said Peppers, a line that looked very similar to what Judge said at the end of the day.
Peppers and several other Giants players also played down the fact that they harbor resentments against the Eagles. They also publicly avoided saying that next season’s showdown with their NFC East rivals would be curtailed because of that incident.