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NEW YORK GIANTS
New York Giants

New York Giants' massive brawl at practice leaves coach Joe Judge screaming mad

Art Stapleton
NFL writer

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Fighting Joe Judges, as Dave Gettleman playfully called them last summer, showed up at training camp on Tuesday morning.

And New York Giants coach Joe Judge was screaming mad once sanity prevailed.

Star players and team leaders shoving one another. Daniel Jones, the starting quarterback, crawling out from under a pile created when virtually the entire 90-man team converged in a scrum, pushing and shoving as the first practice session in pads reached the two-hour mark.

The festivities drew the ire of Judge, who stopped practice immediately and angrily sent the entire team to one goal line for a grueling on-field punishment in totality that would certainly qualify as one of the most glaring the Giants have had in quite some time.

“I think he definitely got his point across," Jones said after practice. "And people understood exactly what he was trying to say.”

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The message was undeniable: none of that has any place within his team, and especially not a team that went 6-10 last season and heads into the 2021 season with far greater expectations.

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Jul 29, 2021; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants head coach Joe Judge looks on during training camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Judge had the players run two minutes of sprints from goal line to goal line, then line up in the end zone for push ups in unison on the whistle. More sprints followed, and then more pushups.

Soon after, when Judge called them together to continue hammering home his point verbally, he made sure that the players - and only the players - would hear his message by telling everyone else on the field to stay on the sideline.

Here’s what led to Giants’ melee

Xavier McKinney had a good bump on Corey Clement, who broke through the line and into open field on a running play. Evan Engram, presumably believing the hit was late, shoved Jabrill Peppers, who tumbled over onto the ground.

That's when Logan Ryan, who was behind Engram, saw Peppers tumble and shoved Engram from behind. Thus the melee ensued.

Speaking with reporters afterward, Clement said there was "laughing and joking" in the locker room as the players cleaned up and prepped for meetings.

Ryan said he did not regret his actions, adding that he planned to confront Engram to talk about something completely off-topic: What's for lunch?

"Football is a great sport because even though you take some blows, it brings us together as a family," Clement said. "It doesn’t carry over ... We have a lot of great leaders on this team and I’m happy to be a part of something that is very tough. Tough program, tough players and tough coach."

The bigger picture here, of course, is the tone Judge tried to set with his team. He had no problem putting his "colorful language," as he put it earlier this week, on full display.

Different teams handle in-camp animosity in different ways, and sometimes that does reveal the mindset the coaches and players are trying to reinforce.

Judge wants to see their fight - they've got the word 'fight' printed on t-shirts - and two-time Super Bowl champion and Giants Ring of Honor member Osi Umenyiora talked earlier Tuesday about 

But seeing how the Giants' fight manifested itself on Tuesday isn't part of what Judge is selling in order to build a winner on the field.

"We had Kiwi [Mathias Kiwanuka], Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora come in here yesterday, and they talked about how great teams earn respect [and] take on the identity of their head coach," Ryan said. "That's Joe Judge, Tom Coughlin - but the players run the locker room. So, me, Evan Engram, Saquon, Jabrill Peppers, Daniel Jones, if we want to stay together, the team's gonna stay together. I'm standing here right now, as one of the leaders on the team, Blake Martinez, James Bradberry, we're fine. We're together. As players, we've got to take ownership."

"Players are tired of losing games around here," Ryan continued. "The fan base is tired. Management gave us an opportunity and gave us a better roster this year, allocated the funds to it, and we're coming out competing, but we've got to have respect for each other. If our nucleus, if our key veterans are together, the locker room will follow."

Judge spoke to the media before practice Tuesday and his next news conference is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Until then, the words Judge delivered to his team and the message sent by the punishment levied will resonate loudest.

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