WITH OPEN ARMS
The city of Philadelphia’s loosening on crowd restrictions doesn’t just mean up to 7,500 fans now can attend Eagles home games at Lincoln Financial Field. It also means Giants coach Joe Judge can have family and friends in the stands next Thursday night for his first game as an NFL head coach in his hometown.
Judge’s close friend Tim Stairiker told the Daily News on Wednesday that a group of Judge’s Lansdale Catholic High School friends already are planning to go to the game.
“Normally we would all go over to Joe’s after the game and cook cheesesteaks and hang out,” said Stairiker, who grills the cheesesteaks himself. “This year is obviously a little different, and we are all in agreement that social distancing after the game is best practice in this environment. But we’ll be out there for Joe if we can be.”
The Eagles still aren’t allowing tailgating outside the stadium. Stairiker said all of Judge’s friends will take every safety precaution before they attend the game, as well.
“We’ll do our due diligence, check our temperatures. We all have families. We’re not gonna go to that game unprepared,” he said.
But even in these unusual circumstances, they’ll be grateful to watch Judge manning an NFL sideline as a head coach in person for the first time.
Judge’s family and friends haven’t been able to attend Giants home games at MetLife Stadium due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and their road games have been distant in Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas.
“I’ll definitely be doing a double-take,” said Steve Mocey. “I can’t unsee him as my high school quarterback, but he’s earned his way to the pinnacle of the coaching profession. And that’s so amazing.”
Judge has his Giants (0-5) focused on Sunday’s home game against Washington (1-4) seeking their first win. So he hasn’t addressed his Philadelphia homecoming just yet.
That includes whether his wife Amber and their four kids will make the trip from North Jersey on a school night, as well as other family members including mother, Denise, the principal at Mary, Mother of the Redeemer School in North Wales, Pa.
But The Linc promises to have a significant pro-Judge contingent for Week 7 s installment of Thursday Night Football, including Stairiker, who has known Judge since 1995.
“We’re gonna go support Joe,” he said.
“Do your job” is a Patriots mantra that Judge had brought to the Giants. Damien Ratley didn’t do his job on Sunday at Dallas, so the Giants cut him.
Ratley was flagged for an offensive pass interference penalty in the third quarter that negated a Daniel Jones touchdown pass to Darius Slayton. And it turns out Ratley collided with Slayton’s man on an inadvertent pick because he rushed his route and ran it incorrectly.
“Coach Judge says all the time: it’s not what it is, it’s what it looks like,” wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said. “And it looks like he’s trying to pick the guy when he’s actually not. He was running a route. He [was supposed to] take two steps up the field and go underneath Slayton. The problem was it was a little fast, he went over the top of Slayton and ended up picking his guy. There was no intent on that play. [But] the officials made the call and it was the right call.”
The Giants signed undrafted rookie Austin Mack off the practice squad to take Ratley’s place.
The Giants listed Slayton (foot) on the injury report for Wednesday’s walkthrough along with DL Dexter Lawrence (knee), OLB Kyler Fackrell (ankle) and SS Jabrill Peppers (ankle).
Sterling Shepard (turf toe) was not on the field at Wednesday’s practice, even though he is eligible to return from injured reserve after sitting out the minimum three games.
Judge said on Monday that the Giants would “get him moving around a little bit with the trainers early on and see where that’s going to lead to as far as him going into practice.”
“I can’t wait to get Shep back out there,” Tolbert said Tuesday. “I think he’s very close.”
With Shepard not on the field yet, though, it’s possible his earliest return could be next Thursday night’s visit to Philadelphia.
Inside linebacker David Mayo (meniscus), meanwhile, continues to practice as designated to return, and he can be activated any time up to Oct. 29.
P-SQUAD NUGGETS
The Giants signed outside linebacker Trent Harris to the practice squad. Harris, 25, has played in 11 career games, all last season with the Dolphins and current defensive coordinator Pat Graham. Harris also spent time on the Patriots’ practice squad with Judge in 2018 … The Giants only protected three players on their practice squad this week: third-string QB Clayton Thorson, backup long-snapper Carson Tinker and backup kicker/ punter Ryan Santoso.
When Joe Judge and the Giants visit the Eagles next weekend, there will be a limited number of fans in the stands, including some of Judge’s family and friends from the Philly area.