THE NEW YORK Giants fired head coach Joe Judge on Tuesday, the fourth sacking of an NFL head coach since the end of the regular season last weekend.
Judge was relieved of his duties after just two seasons in charge at the Giants who finished bottom of the NFC East this season with a 4-13 record and one of the worst offences in football, albeit they limped to the end of the season without the services of starting quarterback Daniel Jones.
Team president John Mara said in a statement that the Giants ownership had axed Judge after deciding the franchise needed to “move in another direction.”
“We met with Joe yesterday afternoon to discuss the state of the team,” Mara said. “I met again with Joe this afternoon, and it was during that conversation I informed Joe of our decision. We appreciate Joe’s efforts on behalf of the organisation.
I said before the season started that I wanted to feel good about the direction we were headed when we played our last game of the season. Unfortunately, I cannot make that statement, which is why we have made this decision.
“We will hire a general manager and that person will lead the effort to hire a new head coach,” Mara concluded, after Giants GM Dave Gettleman was afforded the luxury of announcing his retirement yesterday to bring to an end his catastrophic four-year reign.
Judge, 40, was hired as Giants head coach in 2020 after stints as an assistant coach with the New England Patriots.
He led the Giants to a 6-10 record in his first season, but despite heavy investment in free agency his side fared significantly worse during the 2021 campaign. The Giants finished the season with six straight losses, including Sunday’s 22-7 home defeat to Washington whose operation Judge last week indirectly labelled a “clown show”.
Judge’s dismissal comes after a round of sackings in the NFL on Monday, with the Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears all firing their head coaches.
The Dolphins pulled the biggest surprise in sacking Brian Flores, while the Vikings dispensed with veteran coach Mike Zimmer.
The Bears, meanwhile, fired Matt Nagy after the team failed to reach the playoffs once more.
To the dismay of most Giants fans, Judge had been expected to avoid the chop when there was near silence on his future throughout what is described as ‘Black Monday’ for NFL coaches.
The Mara family, however, appear to have listened to the Giants fanbase who believe the franchise needs new ideas — and from the outside, which is understood to preclude internal candidate Kevin Abrams from applying for the GM role.
