The New York Giants waited until Tuesday to fire Joe Judge in what felt like an inevitable move following Week 18.
His team looked defeated from the start and a few quarterback sneaks early in the game signaled the fact he was giving up.
Yet his firing could still be considered somewhat of a shock given how he seemed to have job security just a few weeks ago.
NFL insider Ian Rapoport detailed how Judge fell from the good graces of ownership.
From @GMFB: The #Giants fired coach Joe Judge after just two seasons, ending a HC tenure after two seasons for the third time in six years. pic.twitter.com/Jb5UAhDSS6
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 12, 2022
The quarterback sneaks in Week 18 were one viral moment that embarrassed the entire organization.
The Giants had the ball deep in their own territory and instead of running literally any other play in a meaningless game, they ran a few sneaks to end the series and punt the ball away.
The #Giants just ran a QB sneak on 3rd-and-9 in the second quarter of Week 18.
What the heck is going onpic.twitter.com/CvmmqEgvxX
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 9, 2022
Add in Judge acting like a WWE performer in press conferences and he tanked his own job in the matter of a few weeks.
joe judge
Too Much Talk In New York
Judge was huge on talking about building a culture and having a long-term plan.
Yet his team won two fewer games in 2021 than it did in 2020.
Talking about culture is great, but NFL owners want wins.
A team can have the best culture around but if they continually miss the playoffs, the coach will be fired.
The Giants are not a high school program.
They are a historic NFL franchise trying to win a Super Bowl.
With three weeks to go Judge was returning. Here's what changed that:
Those last two post-game press conferences
The now infamous give-up downs on the goal line
All those empty seats in week 18.— Mike Francesa (@MikeFrancesa) January 12, 2022
And the last thing an owner wants is the head coach drawing further attention to himself after a loss.
Judge was ranting and raving in press conferences, and the media ate it up.
That means the Giants fired a coach after two seasons for the third consecutive time.
The last thing fans want to hear now from the new hire is anything about building a culture.
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