New York Post - USA (2020-10-25)

New York Post, Sunday, October 25, 2020

nypost.com

By Paul Schwartz

The problem with losing is, if

that is all a team ever does, it is

difficult for a coach to fix the

many on-the-field problems when

he first has to concern himself

with soothing psyches and keep-

ing players interested and en-

gaged.

The beauty with winning is a

coach can correct mistakes from a

position of strength, pointing out

areas in need of improvement to

players working within a positive

environment.

This is why cycles are so hard to

break on the losing end and so

much easier to maintain on the

winning end.

It is not difficult to identify

where the Giants, sitting at 1-6, are

on this spectrum. Every loss

makes it more challenging to pre-

vent the next one from happening.

If you believe in this.

Joe Judge does not believe in

this.

“I’ve always been very blunt and

honest from Day 1,’’ Judge said.

“Regardless of if it’s coming off the

field after a hard practice, coming

off the field after a win or a loss,

they are getting the same person-

ality and feedback regardless.

When you do something good, I’m

going to highlight it and point it

out. When you do something

wrong, I’m going to show that to

the team as well and make sure we

correct it. Everyone has to learn

the lesson.

“In terms of trying to use wins

or losses at times to motivate or

address players, to me you just

have to be consistent on a daily ba-

sis. You don’t have to wait for the

right time to correct someone, the

right time to get motivation for

somebody. The thing is to be con-

sistent as a coach every day, so the

players know what to expect com-

ing in. They’ve been very consist-

ent and very repetitive the entire

way as well, all of them.

“I understand what you’re say-

ing, I’ve worked for a lot of

coaches who have said in the past,

‘Hey, you can correct more after a

win and after a loss you have to

kind of pick them up.’ I’m going to

be honest with you, that’s not re-

ally my personality. I think you

just tell it like it is and people

aware. They take the corrections

as they come.’’

Judge’s personality can be blunt

at times, when it comes to alerting

his players what he likes and does

not like about their performance.

There is plenty not to like with a

team that most recently blew a

21-10 fourth-quarter lead to the Ea-

gles, falling 22-21. It is not all bad

when they lose, Judge insists, and

not all good when they win. The

Giants have only won once, of

course, beating Washington by a

single point, and so there is no

concern that Judge and his coach-

ing staff are soft-pedaling any-

thing.

“I don’t think it’s harder for any

of the players or coaches simply

because I know the players and

coaches we have in the building,’’

defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson

said. “Everybody, no matter what

the result is, we’re going to come

in each day and work our hardest.’’

Through all the losing, there is

calmness around the Giants, at

least on the exterior. Their com-

ments are muted, sure, after these

close-call setbacks, but to equate

the flat-line postgame demeanor to

a lack of caring is not an accurate

depiction of what they are feeling

and how they are responding.

“I don’t think you can mistake

the calmness for that we’re not

disappointed or we’re not frus-

trated with how things are going,’’

quarterback Daniel Jones said.

“We certainly are when you put

in as much work as we do and

don’t get the results. We’re cer-

tainly frustrated. We’re certainly

disappointed. I think when you

ask about the mood, we’re in a

position to bounce back to con-

trol our mood and make sure

that’s productive towards what

we’re trying to accomplish and

towards what we’re trying to do

as a team. That’s a challenge now

and that’s where we’ll look going

forward.”

As they move forward, and if

they continue to lose, Judge and

his staff will have to find ways to

keep interested and locked in,

made all the more challenging

without the luxury of winning to

help motivate them.

[email protected]

Breaking

the cycle

Losses mount as Judge

tries to end Giant failures

Up next

Buccaneers

at Giants

Mon., Nov. 2

8:15 p.m., ESPN

WFAN (660 AM,

101.9 FM)

NOT BUYING IT: Though the Giants appear mired in an impossible-

to-reverse cycle of losing, first-year coach Joe Judge doesn’t believe

that impedes his players from taking instruction. N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg

SILENCE ... THEN BOOM! Aaron Rodgers (bottom left) is

among the many quarterbacks who have taken advantage of

the lack of fans in the stands at NFL games this season. Scoring

is up to 25.4 points per game, which would be a record high for

a season. AP; Getty Images

Giants video flap / P. 61

ball. There’s a fine line to when
it’s too much to confuse your
own guys at the line of scrim-
mage and when it’s just right.”
Common sense says quarter-
backs shouting into micro-
phones should be a defensive
advantage. So, why is scoring
on the rise?
Teams are averaging 25.4
points per game, which is two
points higher than the NFL’s
highest scoring season in 2013.
Quiet stadiums also mean no
need for silent counts by an of-
fense playing on the road, de-
creased likelihood of false-start
penalties and other forms of
miscommunication, and no
frenzied fans to boost the de-
fense’s energy.
“Why are all these 17-point
leads being blown this year?”
asked Simms, co-host of “Pro
Football Talk Live.” “The of-
fense feels no pressure any-
more. On the road, there used
to be crowd noise. Even when
you are a home team down 17,
there are no fans in the stadium
so no anxiety or tension or
‘Boo! You suck!’ That’s leading
quarterbacks and even the

playcallers to not be affected.”

Silence allows quarterbacks

to weaponize hard counts to

create free plays by getting de-

fensive players to jump the

snap (100 offsides and neutral-

zone infractions). In Week 3,

the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers

stole a key touchdown that way

against the Saints.

“No silent counts, so guys

can’t really cheat on the snap,”

Jenkins said. “It makes the hard

count that much more power-

ful.”

Because the NFL is full of

paranoid personalities, the leg-

work involved in masking calls

starts in the video department,

but makes its way all the way

up the ladder.

“I’ve always been involved

with watching TV copies,”

Judge said. “It’s not a new thing

conceptually. Just, in the big

picture, I think this year is a lit-

tle bit different in terms of the

amount of things you can actu-

ally hear. You’re looking for

anything you can to help pre-

pare your team and find an ad-

vantage.”

[email protected]