Folks, the beauty of September is upon us. We’re so close to the leaves beginning to change, that subtle chill in the air when you wake up in the morning, but most of all, NFL football is almost back! It’s been a long road back but we’ve almost made it and I for one can’t wait for it.
One take that I wanted to unload from the chamber before the season begins is that I, Dancouver Co-President and Founder of 366 Sports, am all in on Giants head coach Joe Judge. I’m totally and absolutely all in on him.
Now this may surprise some Giants fans who have seen me pick on some of his try-hard/wannabe Belichick antics so far this offseason but I’m totally all in on Joe Judge. I think he’s actually exactly what the Giants need because he’s actually trying to change the culture and flip it upside down. This is something that Pat Shurmur didn’t do. This is something that Dave Gettleman said he was going to do but didn’t do for the first two years of his tenure.
Many people, including me, have made fun of some of the thing that Joe Judge has done in an effort to change the culture but that just goes with the territory. As fans, we can both be rooting for Joe Judge’s success and we can make fun of the thought of him telling a guy like Tight Ends Coach Freddie Kitchens to run laps for making a coaching mistake. It’s okay to do both things. Nuance is fun.
On top of that, I’m ready to feel hopeful about the state of the New York Giants again. The past three seasons have been flat out miserable. I’ve never enjoyed being a Giants fan less aside from the fact that we’ve built a community of great people to talk about Giants football with over at Giants 366. That’s made it worth it.
I’m ready to be good again. Now, that’s not going to happen this year. The defensive personnel is atrocious. It’s easily a bottom five unit in the league. The offense is young and in a brand new system. But maybe 2021 is the Giants year to start to build something again. If we make a few solid free agent signings and nail the draft in 2021, maybe, just maybe we’re playoff contenders again in 2021.
So I’ll give Joe Judge a pass for this year. I honestly don’t care how atrocious it all looks this season. This is a nearly impossible spot for the Giants to be in with a new coach and no preseason games and a global pandemic. I just wanna see some progress. I just wanna see us play with some pride again for once.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Do I know how long it will take for us to build our modern day football version of Rome? No. But I do know that since Dave Gettleman is in charge that it’ll likely end up being twice as long as it should have taken. Hopefully Joe Judge can keep it from being three or four times as long.
Joe Judge has come in, kicked some ass, taken some names, and ran some laps in order to try and start a new era of Giants football. I’m all in on it. Long may he reign!
Little hard on Gettleman who unlike his predecessor Jerry Reese picks well in the draft. FA TBD