36 • January 13, 2022 - January 19, 2022
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Sports After the firing of Judge, Brian Flores should be the next man up (Bill Moore photo)
By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor Joe Judge is out. Fired as the Giants’ head coach on Monday after two seasons of painful losing, two seasons of overseeing a staff that operated a mistake-prone, regressive offense. Two seasons of Knute Rockne rah-rah diatribes that wore thin with a rightfully unmoved and fed-up fan base. The 40-year-old Philadelphia native and former New England Patriots special teams coordinator came into the job with energy, promise and a seemingly clear vision with a decade of apprenticeship working under After only two seasons as the Giants’ head coach, compiling a record of 10-23, Bill Belichick, the most accomplished professional football Joe Judge was fired by the franchise’s coach in history, and Nick Saban, ownership on Tuesday widely considered the best college football coach of all time. the appearance of someone who was overYet Judge fell short of both winning whelmed in the final weeks of this camenough games and displaying the man- paign. After Judge went on an emotionally datory leadership skills that are impera- charged rant on Jan. 2 following a dismal tive to galvanizing elite athletes. He was 29-3 Giants loss to the Chicago Bears on the 10-23, including 4-13 this season, and gave road, his status to return became dubious.
“[Co-owner] Steve [Tisch] and I both believe it is in the best interest of our franchise to move in another direction,” said Giants team president and co-owner John Mara on Tuesday. “We met with Joe yesterday afternoon to discuss the state of the team. I met again with Joe this afternoon, and it was during that conversation I informed Joe of our decision. We appreciate Joe’s efforts on behalf of the organization. “I said before the season started that I wanted to feel good about the direction we were headed when we played our last game of the season,” expanded Mara. “Unfortunately, I cannot make that statement, which is why we have made this decision.” Judge was the third straight Giants coach to be terminated after only two seasons. He was preceded by Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur. On Monday, senior vice president and general manager Dave Gettleman resigned. So Mara and Tisch are now on the hunt for a GM, who will ostensibly make the next head coach hire. “It is an understatement to say John and I are disappointed by the lack of success we have had on the field,” said Tisch regarding Gettleman’s departure, who began his tenure as the Giants’ GM in late December of 2017.
“We are united in our commitment to find a general manager who will provide the direction necessary for us to achieve the on-field performance and results we all expect.” Whoever gets the position, they would be wise to interview Brian Flores and then make him an offer. Flores, 40, was born and reared in Brooklyn. He is of Hondurian descent and would be the first Black Giants head coach of the 21 who have been full-time or interim. Flores was let go by the Miami Dolphins on Monday for philosophical differences with owner Stephen Ross and general manager Chris Grier. He left with a 24-25 record in three seasons but he’s been lauded by many close observers of the NFL for turning around a moribund program. Flores, who was on the Patriots staff with Judge as a defensive assistant, went 4-2 against Belichick in his three seasons leading the Dolphins. In his first year the Dolphins were 5-11. The next season the Brooklyn Poly Prep and Boston College alumnus guided Miami to a 10-6 mark. They began this season 1-7 but won eight of their last nine games. With the Dolphins, Flores was demonstrably what Judge was supposed to be with the Giants. Now Mara and Tisch have another auspicious opportunity to get it right.
The Bills-Patriots matchup headlines the AFC’s wild-card weekend By VINCENT DAVIS Special to the AmNews
(Bill Moore photos)
ers’ Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith’s lips to Michelin tires. Gruden was replaced by Rich Bisaccia The NFL’s first-ever 17-game regin early October. He was previously the ular season schedule is now behind Raiders special teams coordinator and us and football fans’ attention shifts was met with tragedy soon after taking to wild-card weekend. The openthe job. In November, Raiders wide reing round of the playoffs begin this ceiver Henry Ruggs III was cut by the Saturday and ends on Monday, team after allegedly exceeding 150 miles the day the nation will be celebratper hour while driving under the influing Martin Luther King Jr. Day and ence of alcohol with a blood alcohol conhonoring the legacy of the civil and tent more than twice the Nevada legal human rights leader. limit, crashing into another car and killThe American Football Confering its driver, a 23-year-old woman. ence’s (AFC) No. 1 seed, the 12-5 Bisaccia managed to keep his team cenTennessee Titans, have a bye and tered and is 7-5 as interim head coach. an additional week for one of the Game 3 of the AFC’s Wild Card schedleague’s best players, running back ule concludes Sunday night with the No. 7 Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Derrick Henry, out since Nov. 1 reseed Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City to Tomlin will lead their teams into the opening round of the NFL playoffs thisAM weekend covering from a fractured foot, to AFC chamNEWS take on the two-time defending 01024 prepare for his return. pion Chiefs (No. 2) at 8:15 p.m. It could AMbe NE The featured AFC game of the weekGame 1 on Saturday’s schedule features Vegas after playing most 01/06/22 of their 61 Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberg01/06/ 0 7 74470 22784 end is the No. 3 seed Buffalo Bills hosting the No. 5 seed Las Vegas Raiders versus the years of existence in Oakland—Los An- er’s last postseason with the team. He was the No. 6 New England Patriots on Satur- No. 4 seed Cincinnati Bengals on the road geles was home from 1982-’94—the drafted by the Steelers in 2004 and has won day in primetime (8:15 p.m.). The East di- (4:30 p.m.). It took a dramatic 35-32 over- Raiders led the league in headlines this two Super Bowl titles. vision rivals split two games this season. time victory by the Raiders over the Los An- season. Last summer, defensive end Carl The Bills will rely on quarterback Josh geles Chargers this past Sunday, the NFL’s Nassib became the first-ever openly gay Allen to power their offense while the Pa- final 2021-’22 regular season game, for active NFL player. Then Raiders head AM NEWS triots will have rookie QB Mac Jones under them to clinch a playoff spot. By winning, coach Jon Gruden stepped down in mid 01034 AM NE center, the first time since 2001 the fran- the Raiders knocked the Chargers out of season after e-mails surfaced of him 01/13/22 01/13/ 0 7 chise will play a postseason game without a postseason berth and enabled the Pitts- making homophobic and misogynistic re74470 22784 Tom Brady, who led the Tampa Bay Buc- burgh Steelers to gain a trip to the playoffs. marks after it was reported he had made caneers to a Super Bowl win last February. Beginning their first season in Las racist statements in comparing NFL Play-
