Giants Q&A: What happened to the Giants' headsets?
New York Giants head coach Joe Judge is seen of the sidelines during the first half against Kansas City on Nov. 1, 2021, in Kansas City, Mo. Credit: AP/Charlie Riedel
Why were the Giants calling such erratic timeouts on defense, particularly in the first half?
Joe Judge said it was the headsets. And he’s pretty steamed about it.
"It’s happened in every game so far," he said. "We deal with the league and they keep telling us there are different software updates, but we had to call two timeouts today because we’re trying to send the deals in personnel-wise and we have half the headsets aren’t getting any reception . . . Whatever the issue with that is, the people involved with that had better get it fixed fast."
Who are those people?
Judge said he did not know if it was NFL or Giants employees who are in charge of the situation but again said it had "better be fixed fast."
What can the Giants do about it?
Judge said they tried to go back to the old system they used last season but were not permitted to change in mid-game. He said they also would have to start incorporating hand signals to get their message from the sideline to the field without relying on technology that clearly cannot be trusted.
Why didn’t the Giants go for it on fourth-and-2 from the 5 late in the first half rather than kick a field goal that cut Kansas City’s lead to 14-10?
Judge said it was because he trusted his defense. "Points were at a premium," he said. "I was going to play to our defense. I had a lot of confidence in them."
How were the Giants able to contain Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce?
By keeping a lid on them with two high safeties on most plays. Meanwhile, they turned to their two top cornerbacks to cover those players.
Adoree' Jackson was mostly on Hill, and while he did rack up 12 catches on 18 targets, he was limited to 94 yards and had no catches longer than 15.
As for Kelce, the Giants put cornerback James Bradberry on him and it was a positive matchup for them. Kelce was held to four catches for 27 yards.
Was there anything that happened on Monday night that will impact what the Giants do at the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday?
"No, no, no," Judge said.
As for whether the Giants will be active on Tuesday or not, Judge said he had been too focused on this game to pay much attention to that during the day on Monday. He’ll have until 4 p.m. to get caught up.
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.
