Giants coach Joe Judge keeps perspective during trying times

Joe Judge is a first-year head coach with a new team in a new city. He is working out of his basement at home every day, planning for the offseason and the 2020 NFL Draft remotely. And he is trying to build and prepare a team from the confines of his home - a challenge that he welcomes during these trying times when he knows his situation could be so much worse.

Judge began his telephone to the media on Wednesday by taking a moment to acknowledge longtime New York Post photographer Anthony Causi who passed away on Sunday, April 12th, due to the coronavirus.

“I know it’s been a tough time for his family specifically,” Judge said. “There’s a lot of things going on. People’s lives have been turned upside down. I think it’s important we keep perspective.”

Judge knows that now, more than ever, football is only a game.

“As we talk football during this call, there’s bigger things going on,” Judge said. “Ultimately what we do is entertainment and a means of escape as people deal with much bigger issues.”

As Judge works on laying the foundation for his team, he knows that keeping perspective is especially important during this unprecedented time when not only the sports world, but life as we know it, has come to a stop. The focus, he said, should be on the first responders who are risking their lives every day to keep us safe as the virus continues to spread with an alarming rate.

“So I think there’s people we have to acknowledge who have it a lot tougher than a bunch of football coaches trying to get ready for the offseason and the draft,” Judge said. “There’s a lot of people out there right now who don’t have jobs to go to in this situation. There’s police, fire fighters and nurses who leave their family behind every day and put themselves out there to protect us.”

Judge is like many of us right now - working at home alongside our families. He is the first person to say that his situation - being the new head football coach of the New York Giants - is no harder than that of anyone else.

“I think if the worst thing we’re dealing with is working out of our basement, we’ve got it pretty good,” Judge said.