G-Men embrace hard-nosed style of new coach
While everyone in the NFL is experiencing a condensed training camp, the Giants face the disadvantage of being a young team learning a new system under a new coaching staff.
The clock is ticking as the Monday night opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers is less than four weeks away. Practices in full pads began this week after an extensive acclimation period during COVID-19. Every repetition matters.
And the players seem to universally be embracing the hard-nosed style of head coach Joe Judge, who is punishing mistakes with penalty laps as part of loud, efficient practices.
“It just goes with Coach Judge’s philosophy,” ninth-year right guard Kevin Zeitler, the Giants’ third-longest tenured NFL player, said Tuesday on a Zoom call. “He said we’re gonna be detailed-oriented. There will be consequences for actions that aren’t good for the team, and it’s just a way of playing it through. Players and coaches, we’ve all got to get better every day and there’s no exceptions.”
Wide receiver Sterling Shepard, the longest-tenured Giant going back to 2016, said he’s “all for it” despite not experiencing these types of practices since middle school.
“It’s going to take everybody to buy in if we want to be the team that we said that we wanted to be,” Shepard said. “I think we have to buy into what Coach Judge has in store for us. If that’s what he has in store for us, running laps for mistakes, just don’t make mistakes. That’s a simple way to get out of doing that.”
While there’s the concern that professional athletes could eventually revolt against ego checks, the Giants have little wiggle room to complain. The franchise features the worst record in the NFL over the past three seasons at 12-36, and only two players (running back Saquon Barkley and defensive lineman Leonard Williams) have been voted to a Pro Bowl.
Among other changes, several periods of practice feature the 80man roster split into two groups so that players get more reps. For example, the offensive starters will run plays against defensive backups as offensive backups are running the same plays against defensive starters on the other end of the field.
Players no longer have names on the back of their practice jerseys, as Judge wants teammates to identify each other by their body type and how they move.
These are methods Judge learned while coaching under Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots from 2012-19.
Practice times vary, as the Giants were on the field from 9:45 a.m. to 11:15 on Monday but didn’t return until 5:45 p.m. to 7:30 on Tuesday. They practice from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 on Wednesday, 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 on Thursday and 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Friday (scrimmage).
The extra recovery time Tuesday comes after a physically taxing Sunday and Monday.
“After that, you can’t just grind them into a stone for six straight days. You have to vary your week a little bit where you push them hard and then you have to back them down,” Judge said. “The way our training camp is set up right now, we are going three harder days, the fourth day of the week for us is really Wednesday. We are going to back down a little bit, we will be on the field in more situational work, and we’ll continue with some install. We’ll get back out there Thursday and pop the pads a little bit. We’ll kind of fly them around a little bit if we can.”
The results of Judge’s system won’t truly be known until the games start. But as far as individual position groups, the offensive line is perhaps best suited to make significant improvement this season.
First-round pick Andrew Thomas is the likely starter at left tackle next to second-year left guard Will Hernandez. Veteran Spencer Pulley is competing with rising third-year pro Nick Gates at center, while Zeitler is one of the league’s top guards and right tackle is an open competition currently led by veteran Cam Fleming.
“I think we’re just all hyper-focused right now, we’re all trying to get better,” Zeitler said. “The coaches came in and made it very clear: Everyone is possible to play any position. We’re going to work hard to put the five best guys out there, and the way we look at it, no matter who we’re playing next to in practice, there’s always the possibility that could happen at any given time during a game. So it’s great to work with everyone, it’s great to build continuity with everyone.”