After a bit of deliberation, the Giants are moving on from Joe Judge. Despite the votes of confidence the second-year HC received late this season, he is out, per USA Today’s Josina Anderson (on Twitter). The Giants announced Judge’s dismissal late Tuesday afternoon.
Judge becomes the Giants’ third straight two-and-done HC, with Judge following Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur out the door. Given the Giants’ brutal finish — a six-game losing streak in which the team was outscored 163-56 — this is not especially surprising. Judge was viewed as safe late this season, with ownership seeking new offensive staffers. That ended up not being enough. The Giants will now conduct searches to fill their HC and GM roles.
[RELATED: Dave Gettleman Announces Retirement]
“Steve [Tisch] and I both believe it is in the best interest of our franchise to move in another direction,” co-owner John Mara said. “We met with Joe yesterday afternoon to discuss the state of the team. I met again with Joe this afternoon, and it was during that conversation I informed Joe of our decision. We appreciate Joe’s efforts on behalf of the organization.”
The Giants plan to hire a GM first and let that executive run the coaching search. This runs the risk of the team missing out on potential candidates, with summons going out from franchises with new HC vacancies. But the Giants do join the Bears and Vikings as teams looking to fill both HC and GM roles.
For the Giants, this comes on the heels of an ugly stretch. Daniel Jones‘ injury brought free agent QB2 Mike Glennon into action. That did not go well. The Giants lost each of their final six games by at least two scores, and Judge yanked Glennon for late-season addition Jake Fromm. Colt McCoy ended up winning two of his three starts as the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray fill-in. The Giants’ decision to make him a one-and-done backup certainly hurt the team Judge deployed by season’s end.
Big Blue finished with a minus-158 point differential, with most of that damage coming after Jones went down. That ranks as the franchise’s worst single-season differential since 1980. The Giants endured a rough patch during the 1970s, but they are currently mired in one of the worst periods in franchise history. Since its 2016 playoff qualification, New York is 22-59. The team has been unable to fill Tom Coughlin‘s post effectively, and after Gettleman hired Shurmur and Judge, a new GM will end up doing so. The Giants have requested interviews with four execs thus far.
This news comes barely two weeks after Judge delivered a lengthy, defiant address seemingly aimed at selling ownership on giving him a third season. The Giants signed the former Patriots special teams coach to a five-year contract in 2020. The team was in the playoff race until the end of the 2020 season, but it finished 6-10. Judge did not have good luck on the injury front, with Saquon Barkley missing almost all of 2020 and Jones going down with a neck issue midway through this season. Even prior to Jones’ injury, the former top-10 pick had not shown much improvement under Judge’s staff. Less than two months after firing Jason Garrett, Judge joins him in coaching free agency.
Thank god
Now give the keys to the kingdom to Jim Harbaugh
He will irritate the GM and owners but they can grit their teeth and enjoy the wins…..
Needed to be done. Fresh start for a GM and Head Coach.
The giants are such a dumpster fire
but at least they are not a clown show
It took them a day and a half to realize there was no argument for keeping him as coach after firing Gettleman?
Heck, it took two days after the rock bottom embarrassment of Sunday?
Tough to find time in between counting all the money they make!
They took a hit to the bottom line giving out that free soda though…..
“Steve [Tisch] and I both believe it is in the best interest of our franchise to move in another direction,”
I find it interesting that the Giants are always moving in another direction yet never seem to go anywhere.
It’s all backwards but at different angles.
Circles…..
Yeah but unlike the Bears at least they have the premise to hire a GM and let him hire the coach figured out. You could only wish the Bears could get that through their heads.
3rd & 9….“run a QB sneak!”
They did it on second down, too!
The logic must’ve been: “No one would think we’d be foolish enough to run that again.” Lol.
Go get Brian Flores
Kind of shocked, but glad. Hopefully Kitchens is gone, too. Graham might deserve to keep his job but I can see him staying. It’ll never happen but they should fire Chris Mara next.
Fun fact: the Cowboys averaged 31.2 points per game this season. The Giants didn’t score that many in any of their games this year and only did it once (34 against the Cowboys, one TD was a pick 6) last year. Pathetic.
Yesssssss
Best news this season!!!!
Only wished the Yankees would’ve done the same with Boone.
Agree as Aaron Boone is one of the worst managers in MLB. He’s lucky his team has talent as it overshadows his ineptitude
Mike Lupica says hi.
Why do teams constantly go the el cheapo route with backup quarterbacks? They are insurance, and we all know how great it is to have insurance-when we need it!
Two words: Salary Cap
Speaking of which, the Giants are in cap hell for a good while to come (thanks Gettleman!)
Another one of Bill Belichecks former assistants who couldn’t cut it as a head coach.
Yeah what is the tally on that now like 6 inept “Head Coaches” lmao
Yet Flores is the hot name now
Please, no more hires from the Patriots tree….there’s only 1 BB and he’s not coming back to the GMen.
Go outside for the GM and let him bring his own guy in….and shortly after move on from Jones too….he’s not the guy!
Surprised it took this long. His bad QB sneak call was only outdone by Staley’s call of going for on 4th down from his own 18.
Actually, I liked that call quite a bit.
Sincerely yours,
A Raiders fan
It’s pretty amazing that there are this many comments on a coach getting fired after two years and none of them are questioning the firing. Makes you wonder what mental gymnastics they had to do to hire him in the first place.
Serious question – does anyone think this firing was solidified because of the QB sneaks similar to how the Eagles firing Pederson was blamed on purposely losing the last game of 2020 for better draft position?
I don’t think so. In Judge’s case, you really have to squint your eyes to see a thing he’s actually done well on any level as a head coach, and he’s overseen several notably bad things. Pederson won a super bowl and then had a falling out with a QB who’d gone off the rails. The straw that broke the camel’s back on a coach who hasn’t done a good job on any level is different than a winning coach whose team has come apart and could use a change.
Sonny Weaver Jr is coming in to make a splash
It’s the right move. Let the new GM pick his coach, Judge was so bad. Out of him Shermur and Ben MAC…I think Mac was the best. How sad is that.
Sadly for whom ever takes over their record is going to be terrible for a few years. Feel even worse for the GM. They should simply remove everyone who makes any kind of money from Barkley to Galladay and compete for the #1 pick take the dead money hit this year and build it from the draft.
I was shocked by his interview saying how many players wanted to come back and play for the Giants. I can’t imagine what that would be like for a life-long
You get your brains beat in, and the coach is talking about foundational pieces. All the while when you’re thinking about whether your former #1-2 and #1-6 should be traded.
This is the first move in probably a decade where Mara and lesser Tisch are going about this without a precondition or set piece from a prior regime. (Manning is QB, new GM, held over HC, etc) I liked Judge,but I think he demanded too much/old school from the newer generation of players. Wanted full pad OTAs, etc. However, publicly it didn’t appear he lost the locker room. The injuries and cap decisions ruined any chance of building something.
I miss Ozzie Newsome
The Giants regressed this year – and that falls on the head coach and GM. .