NFL can't identify issue with Giants' headsets
Head coach Joe Judge of the New York Giants looks on during the first half against Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium on Nov. 1, 2021. Credit: Getty Images/Jamie Squire
The NFL said it was not able to identify any issue with the Giants’ communication system in Monday night’s game but will continue to look into the matter after Joe Judge decried the sideline headsets for failing in "every game so far." Judge said Monday’s troubles specifically required the Giants to spend precious timeouts to get the proper defensive calls and personnel on the field.
NFL spokesman Michael Signora told Newsday Tuesday the league was not made aware of any issues during the game from the club through the standard communication channels used to identify gameday issues. He said the league will continue to look into the matter with all involved parties but remains confident that nothing which happened is attributable to the Bose headset used by every NFL team.
"They’re looking into resolving the issues we’ve had throughout the year," Judge said of the Giants and the NFL on Tuesday. "We’ll work continuously with them."
Safety Julian Love said the defensive players on the field sensed the breakdown in communications.
"It was definitely unfortunate," Love said. "One of them there were some technical difficulties on the sideline. You hate to see coach have to burn some timeouts. As a team you want to have those toward the ends of the halves. That’s something we have to be better on as a whole."
Judge was far more irate at the communication system immediately after the 20-17 loss in Kansas City.
"We deal with the league and they keep telling us there are different software updates, but we had to call two timeouts [Monday night] because we’re trying to send the deals in personnel-wise and we have half the headsets aren’t getting any reception," he said then. "Whatever the issue with that is, the people involved with that had better get it fixed fast."
On Tuesday, Judge explained why he discussed the headsets to begin with.
"I made it very clear [Monday night] I am not an excuse-maker," he said. "I was asked a direct question about using timeouts in certain situations and that’s the reason why right there. That’s all I’m going to say about the headsets."
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
