Joe Judge to have 1-on-1 interviews with Giants players during bye week
Giants head coach Joe Judge of the Giants reacts against the Raiders at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Joe Judge said he plans to meet with all of the players on the team individually during the bye week to discuss ways each of them can improve.
"I think it’s important this time of the year to talk to each of the players about what are a few things they can do better and what’s the planned course of action to improve on that," Judge said on Monday. "You have to give the guys tangible marks that they can work toward in this part of the year."
The Giants have on-field workouts planned for Tuesday and Wednesday before dismissing the team for the long weekend break. They’ll return early next week to begin in-depth preparations for their next game in Tampa against the Bucs on Monday, Nov. 22.
Judge said the staff and team would begin working on some upcoming opponents this week, perhaps looking at schemes that are unique to the next few games to "get ahead a little bit." The majority of the work, though, will be focused on the Giants.
"Self-scout is a critical part of the bye week," Judge said. "You look at what you are doing well and what you have to do going forward … A large part of it is the personnel. You have guys who are going to be looking to come back off IR, you’ve lost some personnel from earlier in the year. You have to make sure you look, while you have time without focusing on an opponent, at what do we have to do internally in terms of using our players the best way possible to be productive."
Interest in Beckham?
With Odell Beckham Jr. officially on waivers from the Browns as of Monday evening, Judge said the Giants are "very conscious of who is available" and would talk about any decisions regarding a potential claim of him internally, "but I wouldn’t say there is anything anticipation-wise at this moment." Even if the Giants did want to claim Beckham for a reunion, they’d be hard-pressed to fit his immediate $7.25 million salary cap hit on their roster. If Beckham clears waivers on Tuesday he will become a free agent and can sign with any team he likes.
Extra points
Judge said there are no plans for the Giants to make changes in their play-callers during the bye week … The Giants were tested for COVID-19 using PCR tests upon returning to the building Monday instead of the rapid tests that created so many false positives for them last week. They switched to the PCR tests on Friday. "The league thought that was best for us going into the game [on Sunday]," Judge said. "That worked out well for us getting accurate results … I haven’t heard anything contrary in terms of any results from [Monday]. Hopefully it’s all resolved."
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.
