JUDGE DISMISSED BY GIANTS
The New York Giants have cleaned house, firing coach Joe Judge a day after General Manager Dave Gettleman retired.
The Giants announced the move late Tuesday afternoon, ending speculation that the owners planned to hire a new general manager and let him determine the 40-year-old coach’s fate.
Judge posted a 10-23 record in two seasons, including an embarrassing 4-13 mark this past season. The campaign ended with a six-game losing streak in which the offense did almost nothing with quarterback Daniel Jones sidelined with a neck injury.
Co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch said they felt it was best for the Giants to move in another direction after five straight seasons of doubledigit losses.
Mara met with Judge on Monday and again on Tuesday, informing him of the decision at the second meeting.
“I said before the season started that I wanted to feel good about the direction we were headed when we played our last game of the season. Unfortunately, I cannot make that statement, which is why we have made this decision,” Mara said.
A former special teams coordinator with the Patriots who was mentored by Bill Belichick in New England and by Nick Saban at Alabama, Judge promised to bring a tough, hard-nosed brand of football back to the area. It was the kind of football Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin taught in building four champions.
Shanahan knows ’Boys-Niners
Kyle Shanahan was a teenager watching on the sideline when the heated playoff rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers reached a fever pitch with three straight NFC title game matchups, two won by the Cowboys, one by the Niners.
Now Shanahan will take a starring role when one of the NFL’s great rivalries resumes as head coach of the 49ers instead of son of their offensive coordinator when San Francisco visits Dallas on Sunday in a wild-card matchup.
“I think that’s as cool as it gets because that’s the coolest part of my childhood growing up I feel like,” Shanahan said. “It was seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade, ’92, ’93, ’94, every single year. I thought we were the best team in the league. I remember being on that sideline and just watching how good the Cowboys were and it was unbelievable.”
Shanahan then went into a deep dive on the meeting the next season that San Francisco won as if the game happened last week instead of almost three decades ago.
“As you can tell, those games I still remember them,” he said. “Those are part of my childhood, that was such cool football because everyone knew that for those three NFC championships, those three years were the Super Bowl.”
Browns, Mayfield still a thing
Baker Mayfield didn’t lose his starting job after a losing season.
Browns General Manager Andrew Berry said the team expects the quarterback to return as its starter next season and rebound after an injuryfilled, sub-par 2021 that raised questions about Mayfield’s future with Cleveland.
Mayfield tore a labrum in his left shoulder in Week 2, but continued to play while wearing a harness. The injury contributed to him playing poorly and contributed to the Browns (8-9) missing the playoffs despite high expectations. He’ll have surgery on Jan. 19.
“We’re looking forward to Baker getting healthy in the offseason, and then having the type of season we know he can have moving forward,” Berry said.
Notable
Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said running back Najee Harris, cornerback Arthur Maulet, left tackle Dan Moore Jr. and linebacker Robert Spillane could be available as the seventh-seeded Steelers (9-7-1) try to upset secondseeded Kansas City (12-5).
The Carolina Panthers fired three assistant coaches, including special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn, offensive line coach Pat Meyer
and defensive line coach Frank Okam.
The Denver Broncos have cleared their final legal hurdle to begin the process of transferring ownership of the team, likely through a sale of the franchise valued at nearly $4 billion.
Michele Tafoya, who has become one of the most famous sideline reporters in broadcasting while remaining based in Minnesota, confirmed that she’s leaving NBC Sports and likely leaving the sports arena entirely. Next month’s Super Bowl LVI in Inglewood, will be her last assignment.
New York Jets and Detroit Lions coaches will get an upclose look at some of college football’s top players at the Senior Bowl when they lead the all-star squads in Mobile, Ala., on Feb. 5.