The Giants settled for field goals and got what they deserved
This will be the game by which we remember the Joe Judge era
This is a special edition of the Post Route, because tomorrow’s column is running too long and tonight’s Thursday Night Football extravaganza was simply too stupid *not* to write about. We’ll have our Week 2 picks ready for you around noon Friday. — CD
Joe Judge is not here to win. He is here, very aggressively, to not be aggressive.
Judge had six fourth down opportunities inside the Washington Football Team’s 40-yard line on Thursday night. He came away with five field goals and a punt. His Giants lost by two points to fall to 0-2.
Somehow that fails to properly describe the risk aversion in his gameplan. His designs on third-and-long were half-measures meant to allow Graham Gano -- a kicker who has made 31 straight kicks, including 17 from 40+ yards -- to be slightly more comfortable even though he’s golden from just about anywhere. With a free possession gifted to him by a Taylor Heinicke pick late in a 24-26 game, he turtled up for two Saquon Barkley carries (Barkley to that point: one 41-yard run, 10 others for 16 total yards) and an incompletion thrown short of the sticks anyway.
Judge played not to lose as a four-point underdog, yet did exactly that. His final stand was one that handed the ball back to the home team after three plays and only 16 seconds of game time. Washington — the seven-win team led by the backup quarterback who spent most of the 2020 season in graduate school — felt inevitable trailing by one with two minutes to play, because it was.
In the process New York wasted a stellar outing from Daniel Jones, who stared down a solid defense and tallied 344 total yards and a pair of touchdowns without a turnover. He squandered a clutch interception from James Bradberry that would have, in the hands of a better coach-offensive coordinator combination (that’s right Jason Garrett, you’re not blameless here) secured an upset win.
But on top of Judge’s decision making were all the hallmarks of a poorly-coached team. Back-to-back false starts on third down turned a potential touchdown drive into a 55-yard Gano field goal. A hold downfield turned what should have been Jones’ second touchdown run of the night into a short field goal instead. Darius Slayton, a promising deep threat who’d caught a long touchdown pass earlier, erased any goodwill that bought him with this drop:
Judge had to burn a late timeout when his substitutions went so badly they nearly handed WFT a vital five yards in its frenzied two-minute drill. Then, in the final ignominy -- the goof by which we will all recall the latest brief run of a goofball Giants coach -- defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence jumped into the neutral zone before Dustin Hopkins’ game-losing 48-yard kick could sail wide right.
With one more chance and an extra cushion, Hopkins played hero from 43 yards and New York fans were left to wonder if this was all an elaborate practical joke at their expense. They’re taking it roughly as well as anyone forced to watch a division rival attempt to hand them a road win, only to have those opportunities politely rebuffed at every turn:
