On Monday night, New York Giants head coach Joe Judge echoed the feelings of his locker room and the football world as a whole as he targeted Doug Pederson and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Less than 24 hours after Pederson fired quarterback Jalen Hurts and made a deliberate reservation on national television, the judge took the opportunity with constant discouragement.
“It is our responsibility to take care of our opportunities and to get better performances and to execute the situations when they are on our plateau. We never want to leave our fate in someone else’s hands, “the judge said. “We will not apologize as an organization. Not now, never. We had our opportunities. We need to learn from this year’s lessons and move on.
“That being said, obviously, the players asked me throughout the day. The only thing we need to keep in mind this season is that we have opted for many people this season. I’ve had a lot of people opting. Coaches, players, including family members. To look at a group of big men who I ask to make an effort every day and empty the tank. I can look them in the eye and assure them that I will always do everything I can to put them in a competitive advantage and play 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 and to test before entering. To sit in distant meetings, to wear masks, to have shields over those masks, to go through extensive protocols, to travel in unconventional ways and text messages at 6:30 in the morning telling them that the practice was to be canceled, we have to do a virtual day. To tell them to please not get acquainted with Thanksgiving, please avoid Christmas gatherings, we know it is your wife’s birthday, to make sure we put that one out of season.
“There are a number of sacrifices that have been made by all the players and coaches in this league. There are a number of sacrifices that come for the family members of the people connected to them. Not to respect everyone’s effort to make this season a success for the National Football League, not to respect the game by going out there and not competing for 60 minutes and doing everything you can to help those players win . We will never do that as long as I am the head coach of the New York Giants. “
Most of the football landscape applauded the referee for his comments. Only the Philadelphia media and a handful of abnormal values discussed the issue. Even the Philadelphia runner, Miles Sanders, agreed with him, while other reports emerged that the Eagles players were to be detained on the sidelines on Sunday night.
It was a humiliating moment for the Eagles and one that gave the judge a chance to pour a little extra gasoline on the fire. But maybe there were other reasons for the judge’s position – at least that’s what Colin Cowherd suspects.
Rich Eisen shared a very similar approach to the judge’s comments, but with a slight and interesting twist.
If what Cowherd and Eisen suspect is true – and it’s entirely possible, given how deliberate and calculated the Judge is – then the Giants head coach plays 4D chess, while everyone else tries to figure out how to play checkers.
And if we’re honest with ourselves, the fact that the judge’s comments turned Philadelphia’s knots into so many knots is just the icing on the cake.