Getty Head coach Joe Judge of the New York Giants looks on against the Denver Broncos during the first half at MetLife Stadium.
The New York Giants had no shortage of mishaps in their Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos. Offensively, quarterback Daniel Jones turned the ball over for the 46th time in his NFL career. Defensively, the team’s lauded secondary was picked apart by Teddy Bridgewater — yes, Teddy Bridgewater. Their run defense didn’t perform much better, allowing 165 yards on the ground, including a 70-yard touchdown scamper by Melvin Gordon to seal the game.
However, the Giants players aren’t the only ones at fault for New York’s 0-1 start to the season. Head coach Joe Judge made a costly blunder of his own in the second half of Sunday’s loss, one that goes against his typically meticulous ways.
On a fourth-and-one from the Giants’ four-yard line, Bridgewater connected with tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, who slipped a tackle and dove for the pylon. The play was ultimately ruled a touchdown on the field, putting Denver up nine points with just under seven minutes remaining in the third quarter — a call Judge evidently didn’t agree with. The second-year head coach responded by throwing a challenge flag. Problem is, all scoring plays are unchallengeable.
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Twitter Roasts Judge for Miscue: ‘Take a Lap’
Judge’s mistake cost his team a timeout and led to a hefty amount of ridicule and mockery from those on Twitter. Barstool Sport’s Big Cat and ESPN’s Bill Barnwell led the charge, clowning Judge for his mishap and telling the coach to go take a lap — something the hard-nosed Judge is well-known for implementing with his players.
Take a lap Joe Judge
Joe Judge just tried to challenge a scoring play and now has to run a lap around the stadium
Others were quick to pile on the Judge bashing. Have a look:
Big-time mistake for Joe Judge there. Has to know you can’t challenge a scoring play. It’s been this way for years now. Second half timeouts are extremely costly to burn. The #Giants have been outcoached in all three key phases so far if we’re being honest about this: HC, OC, DC.
Judge: ‘I Know the Rules’
The only thing worse than Judge’s mistake may be his explanation for why he threw the flag in the first place. While the head coach did shoulder the blame, he also insisted that he knew the rules, yet proceed to throw the flag anyways as a way to get “feedback from the officials.”
“I did [know the rule], 100 percent. I know the rules. Yeah, listen, I fully, trust me, I put a lot of work in that. So again, like I told the team, we had some bad penalties out there and that was a bad mistake by the head coach right there,” Judge said, via the New York Post.
“That was a little bit more of an emotional, I was looking for feedback from the officials. It looked to me on the jumbotron and some feedback I got from up top watching the replay, that he may have stepped in the white, I was screaming for the officials,” Judge added. “They’re supposed to get some feedback from what they’re hearing in New York in terms of feedback on it. I had to do something to draw their attention. I couldn’t get them to turn around, so I threw the flag. I knew it couldn’t have been a challenge play.”
Week 1 was clearly a disappointing season debut for the majority of the Giants’ organization and Judge was no exception. In the words of Giants Wire’s Dan Benton, “it’s his first true misstep as Giants head coach,” alluding to his attempt to challenge Denver’s scoring play.
Thankfully, Judge and his Giants can quickly put their uninspiring performance behind them as they shift their focus over to NFC East rivals, Washington, who they face off with on Thursday Night Football. Currently, the Philadelphia Eagles are the lone team in the division with a victory this season. As for Big Blue, they’ll look to end their four-year streak of beginning the season with a record of 0-2 or worse.