Giants players at dinner party “were trying to do the right thing,” says Joe Judge

New York Giants head coach Joe Judge said Tuesday that players shown on social media out at dinner without masks “were trying to do the right thing” and the situation will be dealt with internally.

“I’ve spoken to all the individuals involved as well as the entire team on what happened this past weekend. We’re going to deal with things internally.”

Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard and a number of other Giants went to a private dinner at a restaurant that is closed to the public. They also reportedly went for drinks at a private bar that is also closed to the public.

Photos were posted on Instagram of Jones and Barkley outside and maskless with someone not from the Giants organization.

“This group of guys has been very responsible from the very beginning. They’ve tried to do the right thing the entire time. Based on the conversations, the information I’ve gathered from our players I believe they were trying to do the right thing as teammates with going out and having dinner together the other night.”

The intent may have been noble, but the end result finds the Giants in the spotlight for the wrong reason.

“We’ve gotta make the right decisions. What they tried to do as a team on a night off, kind of a simulated bye week if you would, go out to dinner and try to hang together, that’s something they were looking to do and kind of stay tight with each other,” Judge said.

“I’ve had a lot of in-depth conversations with all the guys involved, as well as the rest of the team. They understand the consequences of right now anything you do in this COVID environment as well in the public eye of how they’re looked at and how we have to be careful and we have to make sure we make the right decisions.”

As for the since removed video of Saquon Barkley, who has a torn ACL, riding on a bicycle Judge said that riding a stationary bike has been part of Barkley’s rehab as he awaits surgery this week.