EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – New York Giants coach Joe Judge made it clear how he felt about the Philadelphia Eagles handling the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s loss to the Washington football team, a result that kept the team in check. outside the playoffs: happy.
The judge described his belief that he would be disrespectful to his players and the entire league – which has made enormous sacrifices to make this season difficult to happen – if he went out and did not try to compete for 60 games. minutes to try to win a game.
“We’ll never do that as long as I’m the head coach of the New York Giants,” the judge said Monday after a two-minute and more response to a question about whether he thought the Eagles had done anything wrong.
Philadelphia put quarterback Nate Sudfeld in contention for the fourth quarter 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 his position in the 2021 NFL project.
Washington won the game 20-14 to eliminate the Giants in the postseason. Washington won the NFC East as a result.
The judge said he did not talk to Pederson about what happened. Instead, he let the Eagles talk to themselves about how they approached the game.
Coach Giants said he was sitting in his office preparing for a potential playoff game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while Philadelphia-Washington was in the background. But he certainly seemed to notice exactly what had fallen.
“Obviously, the players asked me throughout the day and I just can’t express the fact that one thing to keep in mind this season is that we had a lot of people who opted for this season. OK, I had a a lot of people. Coaches, players, family members as well, “the judge said. “So I look at a group of adult men whom I have asked to make an effort every day and empty the tank and then I can look them in the eye and assure them that I will always go to do whatever I can for to put them in a competitive advantage and to play them in a position of strength.
“For me, you never want to disrespect those players and their effort and disrespect the game. The sacrifices they made to get to work every day and test before they go in, to sit in distant meetings, to wear masks and have shields over those masks, to go through extensive protocols, to travelers in unconventional ways, to receive text messages at 6:30 in the morning, telling them that the practice will be canceled, we must make a virtual day, tell them, please do not Have your family on Thanksgiving, you please avoid Christmas gatherings, we know it’s your wife’s birthday to make sure we postpone her until off-season. There are a number of sacrifices made by all the players and coaches in this league. There are a number of sacrifices that come with family members and people connected to them.
“In order not to respect the effort made by everyone to make this season a success in the National Football League, in order not to respect the game going out there and without competing for 60 minutes and doing everything they can to help those players win, we’ll never do that as long as I’m the head coach of the New York Giants. “
The judge began his answer by noticing that the Giants (6-10) had 16 opportunities of their own this season and said that you do not want to leave your fate in the hands of someone else.
That’s what they did in this situation. New York had to beat Dallas on Sunday afternoon (which the Giants did 23-19) and then hope the Eagles could upset Washington at night. It didn’t happen, partly because the Eagles had a fairly large contingent inactive for the game and then put rookie defender Jalen Hurts on the bench late in the contest.
“So we will not apologize as an organization,” the judge said. “Not now, never. We had our opportunities.”
This was the message he also expressed to his players during a meeting on Monday morning. A handful of players who spoke to the media had a similar feeling, despite a much different tone on social media during the game. It was clear that this was under the guidance of the judge.
Safety Jabrill Peppers said he is not upset. He used a similar line about the fact that you do not want to leave your destiny in the hands of another person.
“We had 16 chances to do that,” said Peppers, a line that seemed quite similar to what the judge said later that day.
Peppers and a few other Giants players also minimized, harboring any harsh feelings toward the Eagles. They also avoided publicly saying that next season’s match with their rivals NFC East will be surrounded due to this incident.