Judge: Decision to sit Jones was a ‘simple’ one

Joe Judge said the decision not to play Daniel Jones in Sunday night’s 20-6 loss to the Browns was an easy one, a decision based on how Jones looked this week and also how playing an impaired Jones might affect him down the road.

“The decision for me was simple,’’ Judge said. “He obviously had two injuries this week, he was worse off than he was the week before. I wanted to make sure I put this guy in a position to defend himself. I didn’t think the state of where I saw him in practice this week that I was doing the best thing by Daniel long term. I’ve got to make decisions from 30,000 feet, I’ve got to look at what’s best for this team in the short term, I also have to consider our players long term and I’ve got to consider the safety of the guy going forward.’’

As for Jones being able to return for the Week 16 game in Baltimore, Judge said, “Hopefully he’s doing better. We have to look at him on the grass this week during practice.’’

Colt McCoy made his second start in place of Jones — McCoy won in Seattle two weeks ago.

“I know he pushed really hard to play this week,’’ McCoy said of Jones.

➤ Tight end coach Freddie Kitchens took over as the play-caller, with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett away from the team after testing positive for COVID-19.

“It was good,’’ McCoy said. “There was some ups and downs there, but I think Freddie did a really nice job. It didn’t change much as far as the plays we would have run with Jason.’’

➤ Dexter Lawrence, one of the three players the Giants ended up with in return for trading star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns, had a big game. In the first quarter, Lawrence deflected a fourth-down pass to the turf. Later in the first quarter, Lawrence tackled Nick Chubb for a gain of only 1 yard and celebrated with a 342-pound shimmy. Early in the third quarter, Lawrence did what some believed he could not do coming out of college. He blew by center JC Tretter, chased down the elusive Baker Mayfield, reached out and swiped Mayfield’s legs, dropping the quarterback for an 11-yard sack.

➤ This loss means the Giants will finish with a losing record for the fourth consecutive season and for the seventh time in the last eight years. The last time the Giants went a fouryear span without a winning record was 1973-80, when they went eight consecutive years with sub-500 records.