‘Personal connection’
Coach makes relationships a priority
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Derrick Dillon got a message after practice in early September to go see Joe Judge.
Never in his wildest dreams did Dillon expect that the Giants’ head coach was about to give the rookie wide receiver a week of paid family leave to go home to New Orleans and see his girlfriend, Bianca Dixon, and their new baby daughter, De’ Lani Dillon.
“To be honest, I didn’t know [about Judge’s plan],” Dillon, 24, told the Daily News in a recent phone interview. “I came offthe field after practice and got a text saying Coach Judge needs to see you. And he said, ‘We’re gonna let you go home and see your child for a week, but we’re gonna wait for the deadline to pass so you can get paid.’ It was a surprise to me. I really didn’t know what was happening.”
De ’Lani had been born two weeks early. Dillon missed her birth while practicing hard with the Giants as an undrafted free agent out of LSU. So Judge made it a priority to get Dillon home for some quality time.
The Giants cut Dillon on Sept. 8, the Tuesday of Week 1. He flew home to Louisiana to be with his growing family. The Giants paid him for the week. And then they re-signed him on Sept. 16, the Wednesday of Week2.
“I’d just like to say he’s a very family-oriented coach,” Dillon said of Judge. “A lot of coaches wouldn’t have done that, but Coach Judge gave me a chance to see my daughter. She came two weeks early, so I didn’t see the birth, but he let me go home as soon as he got the chance.”
Dillon said he managed to unplug, too, even though he brought some work homewith him.
“I really enjoyed the family time ,” he said .“I still brought my iPad, with the new scheme and everything that was going in. But I didn’t go into any meetings because I wanted to spend as much time with the family as possible.”
Judge ,38, has placed an emphasis on individual connections and relationships with players. His team is 0-4 going to Dallas on Sunday, but his tea misplaying hard for him. And stories like this are one reason why.
“There has to be a personal connection,” the rookie coach said in early September. “We’ve all played at some point in our careers. You play a lot harder for someone when you understand that they’ re a person themselves, they have a life outside the building like you do, and that they actually care about you.”
Dillon wasn’t just blown away by Judge’s human side. He was also grateful that the Giants cared enough to both pay him and to bring him back.
Injury updates: Giants edge rusher Oshane Ximines (shoulder) is out Sunday and was placed on injured reserve after missing practice all week. He will miss at least the next three games.
Strong safety Jabrill Peppers (right ankle sprain), free safety Adrian Colbert (neck) and edge rusher Kyler Fackrell (neck) are questionable. Ximines’ and Fackrell’s ailments should mean an uptick in snaps for the sparingly-used Markus Golden.
Peppers said Friday that he’ s been taking his injury “day by day” but sounded like he might try to give it ago.
“It doesn’t need to be said how much this game means, how much this game has meant for years,” Peppers said. “You just haveto keep taking it day by day, listen to the training staff, and we’ re going to see where it goes.”
Peppers hurt his ankle trying to block a 49ers field goal attempt early in a Week 3 loss. He said “you always worry when something like that happens, but my MRIs and my X-rays came back clean, so that kind of eased my mind a bit.”
The Cowboys listed two players as out for Sunday: center Joe Looney (knee) and left tackle Tyron Smith (neck), who is having season-ending surgery.