Joe Judge knows it won't be easy for Giants to hand Tom Brady his third straight loss
Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady yells at his team during the second half of an NFL game against the Washington Football Team on Sunday in Landover, Md. Credit: AP/Patrick Semansky
It’s been nearly two decades since Tom Brady lost three regular-season games in a row. You have to go back to 2002, his first full year as a starter for the Patriots, to find the last time it happened.
In fact, that fall he lost four straight games.
Since then, every losing streak he has had has stopped at two.
That’s where he is now, having dropped consecutive games to New Orleans and Washington. And the team that will try to give him a third straight loss knows how much that ignominy is eating at him.
"I would expect to see their best football of the year this week and I would expect to see Tom play his best football," said Joe Judge, who was an assistant on New England’s staffs with Brady for seven years before becoming the Giants’ head coach.
The Bucs’ loss to Washington on Sunday hurt the Giants in a number of ways. In a direct way, it knocked them back into last in the NFC East. In an indirect way, it began to create questions about Brady and the Bucs’ ability to repeat as Super Bowl champs.
Judge doesn’t buy into their vulnerability.
"They won the championship last year for a reason," Judge said. "It’s very, very rare to return all of your players the way they did. That’s something you just don’t see a lot in any kind of professional sports, let alone in the National Football League."
Judge knows the only thing more dangerous than Brady when he is on a roll is facing him when he is being doubted. Or when he has lost two straight and is trying to end the skid there.
The last time Brady lost two straight was just about a year ago when he fell to the Rams and Kansas City by identical 27-24 scores and threw four interceptions in that stretch.
They didn’t lose another game the rest of the season, right on through to the Super Bowl.
So yes, it probably would be better for the Giants to be facing Brady happy and content after a few wins rather than miserable and motivated after two losses. After all, the last time he lost three straight, Daniel Jones was 5 years old and the Giants’ trophy case had more Lombardies in it than New England’s did.
Or maybe it doesn’t matter.
Judge said of a complacent Brady. "I don’t know if that exists. This guy is always working to be the best out there."
At least the Giants know to be ready for it.
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.
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