Tuesday was nothing less than eventful at the New York Giants training camp. A team-wide brawl broke out causing havoc amongst the organization and raising red flags across the league.
The second-year head coach, Joe Judge, has critics in every corner of the football world. He has an old-school, hardcore way of approaching the game of football. Coming from the Saban and Belicheckian systems, Judge has been groomed to be a no-nonsense leader.
Earlier this week the Giants cut WR, Kelvin Benjamin, after a heated discussion on the practice field over a weight dispute. Benjamin, visibly angry, had some unflattering words about Judge. "He’s not a coach that can ever win a Super Bowl because he sits there and cusses all day. You can tell he’s one-sided about everything. He’s a know-it-all. That’s not how it’s supposed to work. We all can learn from each other. We’re all humans at the end of the day. The true colors will come out."
Other players for New York did come out in support of Judge, but it did raise questions about Judge's culture.
Fast forward to today, the first practice in pads, and reports of a brawl on the Giants practice field came out. Reporters said this squirmish began when TE, Evan Engram, reacted to a late hit on RB, Cory Clement. Safety, Logan Ryan, then came up and got into it with Engram. The rest of the team began to heat up, and eventually, QB, Daniel Jones, found himself at the bottom of the pile. The quarterback was eventually pulled out by offensive lineman, Kenny Wiggins.
Obviously, this is concerning. Teams are used to the usual training camp arguments, but team-wide brawls are cause for concern. What makes this case with the Giants extra concerning were the people at the forefront of this argument.
Pro-bowl TE, Evan Engram, was one of the originators of the physical conflict amongst the players. Veteran safety Logan Ryan, who has shamelessly recruited numerous players this offseason, also found himself getting involved early. It is not a good sight to see these two veteran players, who produce quite well for the team, be the ones who lead these immature encounters.
It should not go unnoticed that Daniel Jones found his way to the bottom of the pile. As much as the Giants organization may not want to publicize Jones' involvement, you cannot deny its presence.
This brawl forced Joe Judge to dismiss his coaches from the practice field, and punish the team as a whole. They ran laps, and when that wasn't enough for Judge, he had the team do push-ups, followed by another conversation reprimanding the team for their actions. The only sound to be heard was that of Judge's yelling and his whistle.
The strength of Judge's culture will be tested as this team tries to recuperate from a drama-filled day.
