Joe Judge sees all, hears all, evaluates all.
After Daniel Jones ran for a 34-yard touchdown against the Eagles, he turned around to find Giants teammates Austin Mack waiting to bump shoulders, Kaden Smith hugging his waist, Sterling Shepard slapping his helmet and Wayne Gallman lifting him off his feet. When Gallman scored the first of his two touchdowns, two offensive linemen nearly knocked him over in excitement.
“One of the things that we’ve emphasized as a team that showed up [Sunday] that I was very proud of is you see when our players score, everyone running into the end zone celebrating with them,” Judge said Monday afternoon. “That’s important to me.
“It’s not a hot-dog thing, but we don’t really want individualistic celebrations. We want the team to celebrate. It’s not about one guy getting into the end zone. What previous plays are you celebrating? The offensive line is a part of every play. The quarterback is obviously a big part of every play.”
As the Giants ran out the final seconds of a 27-17 victory, players from both teams started pushing and shoving after the whistle. Judge ripped off his headset and dropped a few F-bombs in commanding his team to avoid the nonsense — no doubt flashing back to the Golden Tate-Jalen Ramsey skirmish that broke out at the end of the Giants-Rams game in September.
“We don’t want our players getting mixed up in anything,” Judge said. “It’s going to be a penalty, to be honest with you. At that point in the game, you’re kneeling the ball down. You’re trying to run the clock out. The worst thing you can do is create a penalty and stop the clock. That’s an advantage you can give to the opponent.”
Judge joked that he didn’t realize until Monday he was on television at that heated moment.
“There’s that fine line between sticking up for yourselves, sticking up for your teammates, and then just crossing a line and doing something dumb,” Judge said. “For us in that moment there, the smart thing to do is just get back. Get away, get into the huddle. Come back out the next play, kneel it down, and then we can all go shake hands and celebrate in the locker room.”
Judge also interrupted his postgame interview session Sunday to demand those making noise in Coaches Club — where other postgame interviews were simultaneously happening — “just turn that off,” so he could focus.
It’s not quite the Leonard Williams trade, but here’s another Jets-Giants swap.
The Giants waived cornerback Corey Ballentine last week and he was claimed by the Jets, who needed a depth replacement after cutting cornerback Quincy Wilson. Well, the Giants signed Wilson to their practice squad Monday after a tryout.
The Jets traded a sixth-round pick to the Colts for Wilson in April, but he only played in three games and totaled 25 defensive snaps. Running back Taquan Mizzell and offensive guard Kenny Wiggins also joined the practice squad.
Giants players had a “victory Monday” off day before reporting Tuesday and Wednesday. There is no practice Thursday through the weekend, but players can’t disperse around the country like on a typical bye week because daily COVID-19 tests at the facility still are required.
The Giants offered COVID-19 tests arranged with their trainers to any family of players and coaches who are visiting during the bye or during Thanksgiving week.
“We want to make sure we’re smart about the number of people we expose ourselves to,” Judge said. “At the same time, I want to make sure the players know we’re not trying to look over their shoulder and check up on who has someone coming to town. That’s not our reason at all.”