Lol.
The New York Giants are retaining Joe Judge as their head coach, according to a report from Josina Anderson.
Other reporters have yet to confirm as much, indicating that no final decision has been made quite yet.
My understanding is Joe Judge has not yet met with #Giants ownership. So there are more discussions to be had. We’ll continue to monitor and update. https://t.co/VVqG1LiEIe
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 10, 2022
The latest on #Giants coach Joe Judge, who is meeting with his players and coaches while the team hasn’t yet given an official indication of his status. pic.twitter.com/yFnqOy7BJi
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 10, 2022
One more on the #Giants and Joe Judge: This is reminiscent of the end of the 2006 season when Tom Coughlin’s fate wasn’t decided until he laid out for ownership a full plan for the future. It took three days before the team confirmed he was back. Also had a GM change then, too. pic.twitter.com/5xwg6gi0WI
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 10, 2022
Remember, it was originally reported that Doug Pederson was staying in Philly last year. Heck, the Eagles even put Pederson forth in a (virtual) joint-press conference with Howie Roseman after the season ended. But Pederson was eventually dismissed after a meeting with Jeffrey Lurie that clearly didn’t go well.
So, maybe Judge is safe for now but the Giants will eventually come to their senses. Perhaps the Giants are waiting to hire a new general manager — Dave Gettleman is reportedly retiring, as expected — and planning on letting them decide what to do at head coach.
The Philadelphia Eagles will sure hope that’s not the case. They would love to see Judge return for his third season in the NFC East.
To be fair, it’s not like the Eagles have absolutely owned Judge. They’re only 2-2 against the Philly native in four meetings. If Evan Engram doesn’t drop a wide open pass at The Linc in 2020, the Birds could be 1-3 against him. (Of course, we can also talk about the Jalen Reagor drop in this year’s first matchup, though the game should’ve never had to come down to that play.)
By every metric, though, Judge has largely been a disaster. The Giants are 10-23 since he took over. Their offense has been absolutely inept. BGN’s Dave Mangels did a great job of detailing Judge’s many shortcomings. That article was written before Judge embarrassed himself further in Week 18:
“To disrespect 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’m the head coach of the Giants.” https://t.co/rq9HmHsurP
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) January 9, 2022
Some, such as Big Blue View’s Ed Valentine, have consistently noted that the Giants don’t want to fire Judge because they don’t want to be holding another head coaching search. The Giants don’t want more instability.
But continuity for the sake of continuity is dumb.
“This guy obviously should be fired but we’re hesitant because we made two previous horrible hires” is a reason to reevaluate your decision-making structure, not to keep a guy who ran a QB sneak on 3rd and 9.
— FIRE JOE JUDGE (@AndyGlockner) January 10, 2022
Truth be told, the Giants’ problems go beyond Judge. He’s not the only reason their franchise is tied for the worst record in the NFL since the start of the 2017 season. The issues really go all the way up to ownership in North Jersey.
That being said, there’s been absolutely no indication that Judge is part of the solution. I mean, what is there to point to? What can he hang his hat on? There’s really nothing there.
And so the Eagles will be very happy to see the Giants bring Judge back for at least one more season.