Giants running back Devontae Booker said Joe Judge’s impassioned, 11-minute Sunday postgame diatribe was the talk among some players on Monday.
“To be honest, I didn’t even really hear it,” Booker said. “I know some of the players were talking about it today, but I didn’t bother honing in on it and seeing what he had to say … [The player talk] was just more so, ‘you heard what Coach Judge said?’ or whatever. It was stuff like that.
“I was in the building only for a little bit today and was in and out. Really didn’t pay attention to any of it,” Booker added as the Giants (4-12) turned the page for Sunday’s finale against visiting Washington (6-10). “It’s really frustrating on us and I’m sure the coaches, but we’ve just still got to stay [on] the path, finish this thing out and get a win this weekend.”
Judge was less verbose on Monday. Asked if he had any regrets about his speech, which laced into the Giants’ problems of the past, Judge gave a one-word answer: “No.”
“I was asked a specific question about what the fans are asking and I responded to it,” Judge said when asked who his intended audience was. “People ask me a direct question. I give direct answers. Whoever’s listening is going to get a dose of the truth, and I was honestly answering the question to the fans — that’s what the question was asked for — but, obviously, the response can apply to a number of different areas.”
Second-year left tackle Andrew Thomas said he “didn’t get a chance to see” Judge’s rant but stressed that “a lot of our players are buying into what Coach Judge preaches.”
“We come in every day regardless of what happens on Sunday,” Thomas, 22, said. “We come in and we work to get better and to put a product on the field that we’re proud of.”
Booker, 29, said “this season hasn’t been going at all anyway that we all wanted it to go, but he “we all kept a good focus” even though typically when NFL teams slide, “some players could be tired and ready for this thing to be over.”
“Guys are showing up and wanting to play week-in and week-out, and that’s the only thing we can ask for at least, my teammates and the coaches is [to] come, just show up and fight day-in and day-out,” he said.
Booker said unfortunately he’s used to this having played for the Broncos and Raiders before this, so he’s just working the only way he knows how.
“I haven’t been to the playoffs yet since my six years here in the NFL,” he said. “It can be frustrating and stuff at times, but when you know the season is going like this, you only revert to one way, and that’s just trying to finish the thing out strong.
“You only can control what we can control at this point,” he added. “That’s really just been my whole mindset through the whole downfall of our season. It’s just finishing everything, finishing out strong, finishing every run, and just going out there and playing hard and competing. That’s the only way I know.”
Judge was asked to defend whether he believes the Giants are well-coached. He said they are, but “obviously the most important thing in this league is winning, so we’ve got to do a better job putting ourselves in position to finalize and finish out some games with a win.”
Pressed to say for the record that a lack of player talent was the part of the problem, Judge bristled: “I’m not going to make any statements right now that’s going to put any one of my players under the bus.”
He would not specify which players have been calling him from other organizations saying they wished were still with the Giants, as he said on Sunday.
“I wouldn’t want to try to identify names and I think that would be pure speculation,” Judge said. “It’s a small league, I keep in touch with a lot of players I’ve coached elsewhere because, obviously, there are things that we’re very careful with tampering and we never try to get anything in that mix.
“But everyone supports each other,” he said. “You have guys who have good games from across the way, you may shoot them a text and say, ‘Hey man, I liked the way you played. A certain technique or a certain play, keep it going.’ Guys will reach back out to you. There are a number of players who have been here through the years. I’m not going to go into individuals right now, I’m not going to try to open up that kind of chapter of guessing of what it may be.”
But Judge asserted “I just know that we have a strong culture, as players from other teams that I know reach out to our players currently and have reached out to me as well through different avenues.
“Nothing that needs to be looked into or anything of that nature, but I know this is a place that players want to play,” he said. “I know this is a place that players want to play. It’s a place that a lot of players are going to want to play for a long time. I’m going to leave it at that.”
Thomas admitted it hasn’t been easy pressing on through the losing, especially losing so many key players.
“It’s tough honestly with a lot of guys going down this year,” Thomas said. “We had a lot of leaders go down this year, which is hard for a team. But other guys stepped up and we just try to bond together and keep working hard for each other.”
One more week for the Giants to work through the futility.
Source: Berkshire mont
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