Screen test
Judge doing best to evaluate players through a Zoom lens
Big Brother is not watching.
But Joe Judge is.
His connection to his players nowadays is limited to seeing their faces on a computer screen and hearing their voices through a tiny laptop or tablet speaker.
This does not mean the first-year head coach cannot use his power of observation to learn all he can about the individuals who someday will be allowed into the Giants’ facility for actual practice on the field and meetings together as a group. Individuals who someday will form a team, rather than a collection of pixels appearing from all parts of the country.
There are all sorts of virtual meetings, the only way the NFL can operate amid COVID-19 social distance restrictions. Offensive and defensive systems are installed and learning is taking place. Tucked inside all this, Judge, a 38-year-old novice at building a team, is extracting every bit of information he can. As Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.”
“One of the interesting things about this whole process is as somebody else is speaking really everybody has the freedom to look around and really observe how people are,’’ Judge said Tuesday on a Zoom call. “So when there’s an assistant coach presenting, everybody in there is also presenting themselves. How they conduct themselves in a meeting. You’re looking around, how is a guy set up in his house? Is it a quiet setting? How is he dressed? What is his eye focus like? Are his eyes down? Is he trying to text? We haven’t had a lot of that. We’ve had a lot of guys with great urgency.
“You have the opportunity in this setting here to really see your players in a meeting standpoint where they really can’t hide. Right now we’re all in a one-by-one box on the screen. You don’t know who’s looking at who at this time so everything you’re doing at all times is really what you’re being evaluated on.’’
Lest anyone think Judge is holding his players to an unreasonable standard, he is not looking for shirts and ties on his players or all-business bookshelf backgrounds wherever the Giants are situated in their homes. Judge was not exactly decked out in his finest threads during his late-afternoon chat.
“First off, it’s my best hoodie,’’ he said jokingly, in self-defense, “so I thought I was getting dressed up for the occasion.’’
Judge and the assistant coaches get two hours a day with the veteran players and extra time with the rookies. Lest we forget, this is all voluntary.
Just as the players need to show something to their coach, the new coach needs to show something to his new players.
“I can’t sign on with the team and stumble through a team talk and show shoddy film and technology doesn’t work and have them think, ‘OK, this guy is gonna be OK, he knows what he’s doing,’ ’’ Judge said.
“But along that, let’s not get confused. We’re not going to evaluate a football team based on purely how they are on the computer. We can go down to Circuit City and find a great football team on a computer.
“Look, until we get on the grass you really can’t evaluate a football player. You just can’t do it. And I’ve made it clear to our team … you’ll be evaluated in training camp. Right now we’re learning. Along the way you are making an impression.’’
There is no template for Judge to follow. He wants the Giants to come together even though they are spread so far apart. There are instances when he sits back and takes a look at what is going on, remotely, sort of a fly on the wall, deciphering how players are reacting to one another. It is not very natural, but it is all he has.
“Probably the best part of the day is when you can click on the Zoom and everyone has their screens unmuted and you can just hear the guys talking,’’ Judge said. “It took about a week for everybody to get comfortable enough to do that. I think they kind of realize as coaches we’re laughing listening to them talk, and then they get a little more comfortable. It’s fun seeing all the personalities emerge, and the connections.’’
Tuesday was the first time the rookies joined in with the veterans, and Judge could tell the new faces caused a bit of a stir. He assumes the veterans will ask or demand the rookies come armed with some jokes for Wednesday’s sessions.