The problem with losing is, if that is all a team ever does, it is difficult for a coach to fix the many on-the-field problems when he first has to concern himself with soothing psyches and keeping players interested and engaged.
The beauty with winning is a coach can correct mistakes from a position of strength, pointing out areas in need of improvement to players working within a positive environment.
This is why cycles are so hard to break on the losing end and so much easier to maintain on the winning end.
It is not difficult to identify where the Giants, sitting at 1-6, are on this spectrum. Every loss makes it more challenging to prevent the next one from happening.
If you believe in this.
Joe Judge does not believe in this.
“I’ve always been very blunt and honest from Day 1,’’ Judge said. “Regardless of if it’s coming off the field after a hard practice, coming off the field after a win or a loss, they are getting the same personality and feedback regardless. When you do something good, I’m going to highlight it and point it out. When you do something wrong, I’m going to show that to the team as well and make sure we correct it. Everyone has to learn the lesson.
“In terms of trying to use wins or losses at times to motivate or address players, to me you just have to be consistent on a daily basis. You don’t have to wait for the right time to correct someone, the right time to get motivation for somebody. The thing is to be consistent as a coach every day, so the players know what to expect coming in. They’ve been very consistent and very repetitive the entire way as well, all of them.
“I understand what you’re saying, I’ve worked for a lot of coaches who have said in the past, ‘Hey, you can correct more after a win and after a loss you have to kind of pick them up.’ I’m going to be honest with you, that’s not really my personality. I think you just tell it like it is and people aware. They take the corrections as they come.’’
Judge’s personality can be blunt at times, when it comes to alerting his players what he likes and does not like about their performance. There is plenty not to like with a team that most recently blew a 21-10 fourth-quarter lead to the Eagles, falling 22-21. It is not all bad when they lose, Judge insists, and not all good when they win. The Giants have only won once, of course, beating Washington by a single point, and so there is no concern that Judge and his coaching staff are soft-pedaling anything.
“I don’t think it’s harder for any of the players or coaches simply because I know the players and coaches we have in the building,’’ defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson said. “Everybody, no matter what the result is, we’re going to come in each day and work our hardest.’’
Through all the losing, there is calmness around the Giants, at least on the exterior. Their comments are muted, sure, after these close-call setbacks, but to equate the flat-line postgame demeanor to a lack of caring is not an accurate depiction of what they are feeling and how they are responding.
“I don’t think you can mistake the calmness for that we’re not disappointed or we’re not frustrated with how things are going,’’ quarterback Daniel Jones said. “We certainly are when you put in as much work as we do and don’t get the results. We’re certainly frustrated. We’re certainly disappointed. I think when you ask about the mood, we’re in a position to bounce back to control our mood and make sure that’s productive towards what we’re trying to accomplish and towards what we’re trying to do as a team. That’s a challenge now and that’s where we’ll look going forward.”
As they move forward, and if they continue to lose, Judge and his staff will have to find ways to keep interested and locked in, made all the more challenging without the luxury of winning to help motivate them.
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