WAR OF BIRDS

Judge blasts Eagles for QB stunt that cost Giants playoff spot

Joe Judge — hours after his players took the high road when asked about the Eagles pulling Jalen Hurts on Sunday night, essentially handing the NFC East title to Washington — couldn’t hide his frustration over Doug Pederson’s coaching decision.

Joe Judge aimed a blowtorch at the Eagles and stopped just short of denouncing his Philadelphia roots.

In a message sure to win him more support with Giants fans and his outraged players, Judge skillfully criticized the way the Eagles coached to lose in the fourth quarter Sunday night, handing the NFC East title to Washington.

“To disrespect the effort that everyone put forward to make this season a success for the NFL, to disrespect the game by not going out there and competing for 60 minutes and doing everything you can to help those players win,” Judge said, “we will never do that as long as I’m the head coach of the New York Giants.” Ju dge never said t he word “Eagles” nor named coach Doug Pederson — and paused several times to choose his words carefully and keep his emotions in check — but it was clear where he stood on the decision to bench starting quarterback Jalen Hurts for bumbling third-stringer Nate Sudfeld in the fourth quarter of a three-point game. If the Eagles had upset Washington, the Giants would have won the division on a three-way tiebreaker and gone to the playoffs in this COVID-19 impacted season.

“One thing to keep in mind with this season is we had a lot of people opt-in to this season,” Judge said. “Coaches, players, family members, as well. To look at a group of men who I ask to give me effort on a day-in, dayout basis and e mp t y the tank so that I can look them in the eye and assure them I’m always going to do everything I can to put them at a competitive advantage and play them in a position of strength, to me you don’t ever want to disrespect those players and their effort and disrespect the game.”

Five hours earlier Monday, Giants players masked the anger they aired unfiltered live on Twitter as the Eagles’ intentions became clear. Five players all repeated versions of the same public sentiment Judge drilled home during a team meeting.

“I was angry because I know that we had 16 [games] to make it happen,” safety Jabrill Peppers said, “and any time you put your destiny in another’s hands it doesn’t bode well for you. I’m not angry at what they did. They don’t owe us anything.”

Judge, who grew up as an Eagles fan with his friends and family, started to deliver the same politically correct message ... but then got to thinking about sacrifice.

Coming in for COVID-19 tests every morning. Wearing masks and face shields in meetings. Unconventional travel methods. Pre-sunrise text messages canceling practice and moving meetings to Zoom. Not spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with your families.

Delaying your wife’s birthday celebration to the offseason.

Not by coincidence, Judge mentioned seeing a video of Eagles center Jason Kelce’s impassioned plea from early December t hat culturebuilding is a priority over all other things, including developing young players. Pederson’s explanation that he owed Sudfeld a chance to play — after four years on the bench — doesn’t pass the smell test when a more favorable draft position was gained.

“To hear Kelce’s sound bite talking about the culture of a team,” Judge said, “I think he was spot-on with that. It’s truly all about the team. The [Giants] guys who went 0-5, who went 1-7, who fought through those situations and went through Year 1 of this, whoever comes in here has to understand what’s expected not just by the coaches but by the players who built this and helped get this going.”

Judge did not reach out to anyone associated with the Eagles for answers.

“That’s not my job,” Judge said. “I’m focused on the New York Giants and what we have to do going forward. I just directly responded to questions I’ve been asked throughout the day by players and making sure that everybody understands our philosophy. When we say we’re going to come to work every day and make the area proud and we’re going to be a blue-collar team, that’s not going to be lip service.”

Five of the Giants’ 10 losses came by eight points or less. They blew doubledigit leads three times in a four-game span during a 1-7 start. They were blown out by two non-playoff participants (San Francisco and Arizona). Too much to overcome despite sweeping division-champion Washington.

Critics of the Giants’ stance will say no 6-10 team should gripe about missing the playoffs — or that teams are at half-strength in Week 17 all the time. But that is missing the broader point that the Eagles didn’t put oout an undermanned team with intentions to try to win at a disadvantage — like the Jets or Jaguars did for most of the season — and weren’t resting stars to stay healthy for the playoffs. They ran away from winning.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Peppers said. “If we made a play here or there, this conversation would be very different.”

The Eagles’ dominance of the Giants — 12-1 since 2014 until the Giants won the last meeting — sucked some of the life out of the rivalry, even with a slew of crazy comebacks. Forget that. Schedulemakers should pencil it in for Week 1 in 2021.

“To disrespect the game by not going out there and competing for 60 minutes and doing everything you can to help those players win, we will never do that as long as I’m the head coach of the New York Giants.” — Joe Judge