EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – New York Giants coach Joe Judge made it clear what he thought of how the Philadelphia Eagles handled the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s loss to the Washington Football Team, a result that kept his team out of the playoffs: he was not happy.
Judge described his belief that it would be disrespectful to his players and the entire league – who made sacrifices to make this difficult season possible – if they went out and didn’t compete for 60 minutes to try a game.
“We will never do that as long as I am the head coach of the New York Giants,” Judge said Monday at the end of a two-minute answer to a question about whether he thought the Eagles had done something wrong.
Philadelphia put third-string quarterback Nate Sudfeld in the game for the fourth quarter of what was then a three-point game. Coach Doug Pederson insisted he was “coaching to win” and said his decision-making was unaffected by 2021 NFL draft positioning.
Washington won the game 20-14 to eliminate the Giants from the postseason. Washington therefore won the NFC East.
Judge said he didn’t speak to Pederson about what happened. Instead, he would let the Eagles speak for themselves in terms of how they approached the game.
The Giants coach said he was sitting in his office preparing for a possible playoff game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while Philadelphia-Washington was busy in the background. But he seemed to notice exactly what was happening.
“Obviously players have been asking me all day and I just can’t express that one thing to keep in mind about this season is that we had a lot of people who signed up for this season. OK, there were a lot of people. who signed up. Coaches, players, family members too, ”said Judge. “So to look at a group of grown men that I asked to exercise every day and to empty the tank, and then I can look them in the eye and assure them that I always do everything I can to get them. give them a competitive advantage and put them in a strong position.
“For me, you never want to despise those players and their efforts and the game. The sacrifices they made to get to work and test every day before coming in, to sit in meetings remotely, wear masks and have shields. about those masks, to go through elaborate protocols, to travel in unconventional ways, to get text messages at 6:30 a.m. telling them the exercise would be canceled [and] we have to do a virtual day, to tell them that please don’t have your family over for Thanksgiving please avoid Christmas gatherings we know it’s your wife’s birthday. Let’s make sure to delay that day until the low season. There have been a number of sacrifices made by all players and coaches in this league. There are a number of sacrifices that also converge with the family members and people associated with them.
“ To disrespect the effort that everyone has put into making this season a success in the National Football League, disrespecting the game by going out there and not fighting for 60 minutes and doing everything they can we will never do it to help those players win. that as long as I’m the head coach of the New York Giants. “
Judge started his answer by noting that the Giants (6-10) had 16 chances of their own this season and said you never want to leave your fate to anyone else.
That’s what happened 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, in part because the Eagles had a fairly large contingent idle for the game and then benched rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts late in the game.
“So we’re not going to apologize as an organization,” Judge said. ‘Not now, never. We’ve had our chances. ‘
This was the message he also delivered to his players at a meeting on Monday morning. A handful of players who spoke to the media had a similar sentiment, despite a much different social media tone during the game. It seemed clear that this was under Judge’s direction.
Security Jabrill Peppers said he was not upset. He used a similar rule about never wanting to leave your fate in someone else’s hands.
“We had 16 chances of getting it done,” said Peppers, a phrase very similar to what Judge said later in the day.
Peppers and several other Giants players also downplayed their hard feelings towards the Eagles. They also avoided saying publicly that next season’s match-up with their NFC East rivals would be circled because of this incident.