Part of the coaching journey is the pursuit of new ideas and approaches that elevate the game. The NFL’s New York Giants new head coach is no exception, and he’s making waves with the unorthodox methods he’s bringing to the team culture. Prior to joining the Giants, Judge spent 8 seasons with the New England Patriots as an assistant coach where he contributed to The Patriots three Super Bowl wins. We’re taking a closer look at what creative (and maybe even a little controversial) strategies Joe Judge is bringing to MetLife Stadium this season.
Get used to the new normal.
Judge has made the call to allow his team to assimilate to playing on the field with no fans in the stadium. Since the coronavirus has derailed preseason games, Giants have a team scrimmage scheduled at MetLife stadium on Friday night. The New York Post reports that Judge said this provides his athletes with a situational walk-through before competition returns. “We wanted to take the time to really let the guys get their legs back under them,” he noted.
Build unity.
The Big Lead reported that Joe Judge is bringing the team to a higher expectation of unified performance, and that he’s opted to run players and coaches when someone makes a mistake. Sterling Shephard, Giants wide-receiver says he’s ready to drink the Gatorade, “It's gonna take everyone to buy in if we're gonna be the team we say we wanna be.”
Learn to become experts at reading body language.
Coach Judge has removed the names of athletes from their practice jerseys, siting that “We should know who we are by the way they carry themselves.” And “It’s important to know the person across from you by the way they move.”
Take risks with your practices that no one else is willing to do.
NJ.com highlighted that Judge is considering taking Giants quarterback Daniel Jones’ red non-contact jersey off the field during practice, leaving Jones exposed to unprecedented opportunity for tackles and hits. The red jersey is widely employed by all teams in order to protect the quarterback from injury. When speaking on the topic in a video media conference, Judge said, “With quarterbacks, you want to be calculated with how you bang them around. At some point, we’ll pop his pads a little bit in a controlled environment…I’m not in a hurry to just beat the hell out of him, but at some point, we want to prepare his body for what it’ll take in the first game.”
Embrace creative problem-solving.
In an effort to prevent his players from getting pinned with holding penalties this season, Coach Judge is employing the help of tennis balls in his practices; taping them to the hands of Giants defensive backs during training camp. “We're not going to accept penalties. So we'll find any little trick we can to teach them,” he said.
We’re excited to see how the season shakes out with Coach Judge at the helm for the Giants this year. Do you agree with his methods? Tell us in the comments below, and make sure to join our free Sport Fuels Life community for more sports news and exclusive member benefits.