New York Giants coach Joe Judge vows his team will never 'disrespect the game'

New York Giants coach Joe Judge did not mince words in response to how he perceived the actions of Doug Pederson and the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth quarter of Sunday night's game against the Washington Football Team.

"I'll let Philadelphia speak for themselves on that," Judge quipped, referring to Pederson's decision to replace starting quarterback Jalen Hurts with third-stringer Nate Sudfeld early in the fourth quarter of what was a three-point game.

The final outcome of Sunday night's game – Washington 20, Eagles 14 – decided the NFC East championship, sending Washington to the playoffs with the title and Judge's Giants home, knocking them out of contention.

Judge then made the collective point he hammered home to his players earlier Monday during their team meeting: the Giants had 16 opportunities to help themselves and win the division, and the Eagles owed them nothing.

Just as it seemed as though he was ready for the next question, that's when Judge went all-in on what he believes is a wide-ranging statement of disrespect by Pederson and the Eagles, even if he never mentioned his coaching counterpart or the organization by name. 

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"We had a lot of people opt-in to this season. We had a lot of people opt in: coaches, players, [and] that includes family members as well. To look at a group of grown men who I ask to give me effort on a day in, day out basis, and to empty the tank, and then I can look them in the eye and assure them that I’m always gonna do everything I can to put them in 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," Judge said.

He went on to detail the sacrifices made during the COVID-19-affected season, and how in the name of health and safety, everyone involved went out of their way to adhere to protocols, some of which changed their daily lives.

"They’ve made to come in to work every day and test before coming in, to sit in meetings spaced out, to wear a mask, to have shields over those masks, to go through extensive protocols, to travel in unconventional ways, to get the text messages at 6:30 in the morning to tell them practice was going to be canceled, we have to go to a virtual day," Judge continued. "To tell them please don’t have your family over for Thanksgiving, please avoid Christmas gatherings. We know it’s your wife’s birthday, let’s make sure we put that one off to the offseason. There’s a number of sacrifices that have been made by all the players and coaches in this league. There’s a number of sacrifices that come along as well with the family members of the people connected to them."

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Judge ended his response with a promise, one that served as a parting shot for the Eagles, coincidentally the team for which he rooted for growing up in Philadelphia.

"To disrespect the effort that everyone put forward to make this season a success for the National Football League, to disrespect the game by going out there and not competing for 60 minutes and doing everything you can to help those players win," he said, "we will never do that as long as I’m the head coach of the New York Giants."