Judge rules in favor
Giants coach supports
If Giants players want to kneel for the national anthem in peaceful protest this fall, coach Joe Judge told the Daily News on Monday that the organization is going to “support the players.”
The first-year head coach said the Giants have not yet discussed in detail how they will proceed on game days. But when asked if he would be O.K. with players kneeling and if he would join them, Judge said his and the organization’s goal will be to support the course of action that is important to their players.
“We’re gonna support the players,” Judge told The News Monday in a one-on-one phone interview. “We’re gonna support the players, and we’re gonna have conversations leading up to the preseason games and the regular season games. We’ve had a lot of conversations as a team. However, we have not talked specifically about anything on game day.
“So the answer is we’re gonna support the players and we’re gonna take the time to talk as a team,” Judge added. “That’s with the players, with coaches and ownership listening and being involved. But we’re gonna do what we have to do to support the players.”
Judge, 38, obviously is not taking the kind of stand here that the Houston Texans GM and coach Bill O’Brien recently made when he told the Houston Chronicle: “Yeah, I’ll take a knee — I’m all for it.”
But Judge’s general message of support for whatever the Giants decide is noteworthy considering the club’s recent history on this issue.
In May 2018, co-owner John Mara helped craft a (shortlived) national anthem policy requiring NFL players and staff to stand. And Mara told SiriusXM NFL Radio at the time:
“I think certainly we hope that our players stand for the (anthem) this year. I think it’s the right thing to do. We’ve been supportive of those in the past who have decided to protest, but I think we’ve gotten to a point now where it’s become such a divisive issue that I think it’s important that we come out of here with a policy that everybody can respect and adhere to.”
None of the three Giants who knelt for the anthem in 2017 — Olivier Vernon, Landon Collins and Damon Harrison —