Giants Head Coach Joe Judge put the full squad through its first week of full padded practices culminating in a 2 hour and 20-minute practice yesterday, August 21st, which featured a lengthy team scrimmage.
Coach Judge was pleased with Friday’s practice:
“We were able to get a lot of live work, which the guys really needed as far as wrapping up, tackling, going to the ground, feeling the contact, blocking, getting good live pass rushes in 11 on 11 situations.”
“There was a definite emphasis on playing to the whistle and tackling to the ground. At one point early in the scrimmage, Dexter Lawrence showed no mercy on Saquon Barkley, bringing him to the ground hard on two plays. Things got a little chippy on occasion. The offense took a couple of possessions to get going but finished on a strong note.”
Coach Judge wrapped up his assessment of the offense this way:
“There are a lot of things we need to clean up going forward. I have to look at the tape to tell you specifically what all those are. I don’t want to go ahead and misspeak until I watch it on tape. But overall, I was pleased with the way they came out to work today.”
Players Buying Into the Coaches’ Attention to Details
The week-long build-up in hitting, one-on-one drills, goal-line drills, 7 on 7 and 11 on 11 situations are all designed to get the players in game-shape as well as to anticipate game situations.
And just as the team is preparing physically for the season ahead, the coaches are stressing attention to detail and being accountable for your mistakes.
Coach Judge put it this way:
“There are consequences on the field for making mistakes. In a game, it’ll cost you 5, 10, or 15 yards. In practice, there need to be consequences so we learn how to deal with our mistakes.’’
Mental mistakes by any player or coach were met with the opportunity to run laps around the practice field. Some entire units, and coaches, were running laps.
Giants stars, including Saquon Barkley, were not immune to Coach Judge’s emphasis on details and ball protection.
The Giants’ most tenured player, Sterling Shepard, hasn’t seen laps since “middle school”:
“It’s going to take everybody to buy in if we want to be the team that we said that we wanted to be.”
“I think we have to buy into what Coach Judge has in store for us. If that’s what he has in store for us, running laps for mistakes, just don’t make mistakes. That’s a simple way to get out of doing that. But I’m embracing the change and I’m all for it.’’
Blue-White Intra-Squad Games the Next Two Weeks
Starting Sunday, August 23rd, the Giants will shift to a practice schedule that leads up to Friday night’s intra-squad game.
The game will be broadcast live on Giants.com and shown on tape delay Saturday night, August 29th on NBC-4 in the New York/Tri-state area.
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