There are a great many things Ron Rivera could have said to push back on the notion that Giants coach Joe Judge took a shot at the Washington Football Team when Judge, in his long-winded postgame rant after the 29-3 loss in Chicago, said, “So this ain’t a team that’s having fistfights on the sidelines. This ain’t some clown show organization or something else.’’
Judge did not mention any other team by name, but it is well-known that Washington defensive linemen Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen — who were teammates at Alabama — came to blows on the bench in the second quarter Dec. 26 in a 56-14 blowout loss to the Cowboys.
Rivera, the Washington head coach, heard what was said, presumably referring to and denigrating his team.
“Honestly I just find it interesting and I have no response to that,’’ Rivera said Wednesday. “To me the important thing is we play on Sunday more so than anything else and I’m more concerned with getting ready to play a football game as opposed to anything else.’’
Sometimes, a coach will let another coach off the hook. Rivera did not rip into Judge — who was talking passionately and emotionally after the game and probably said something he now, privately, regrets — but Rivera did not exonerate him, either.
“That’s one of those things, for each guy to handle their situation themselves,’’ Rivera said. “As far as I’m concerned what people don’t know, that’s just the fact they’re not paying attention or enough attention to understand what’s going on. I’m not going to worry about it.’’
Judge said his “fistfights on the sidelines’’ and “clown show organizations’’ remark was not directed at the Washington Football Team.
“No,’’ he said. “I just made a comment toward any outward dysfunction. My focus is on getting our team ready right now for Washington. You can make a lot of a lot of comments I’ve said in the past. Right now, I’m focused on getting the team ready for Washington this weekend.’’
Rivera then praised the Giants and never mentioned Judge.
“My feeling are I have enough respect for the Giants organization, for what Mr. Mara and Mr. Tisch have done there,’’ Rivera said. “This is one of the staples of the NFL, as far as I’m concerned.’’
Rivera said the scuffle between his defensive linemen was unfortunate but all concerned have moved on.
“When people ask me what did happen I tell them, look, two guys, very passionate, very emotional and we’re getting our butts kicked so there’s a lot of frustration,’’ Rivera said. “The thing I really appreciated, our guys got up in front of the media and they took responsibility. You had a fight with your brother, you talk it out and you’re ready to move on.’’
Judge this week hit the daily double. He ticked off Rivera and he also caught the attention of Pat Shurmur, who preceded Judge as Giants’ head coach. Judge said players told him this about the end of the 2019 season: “It’s not a team, they don’t play hard, we’re out of playoffs, everybody quit, everybody tapped, they stopped showing up to captains meetings, all that stuff. Right? They tapped out. OK?’’
Shurmur, currently the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, did not agree with this. The Giants won two of their final three games before Shurmur was fired.
“I obviously — that’s not an accurate assessment,’’ Shurmur told reporters in Denver. “But beyond that, I have no comment.”
Asked if he took the Judge comments personally, Rivera said. “I don’t think so because one thing I tell our guys is, ‘Let’s pay attention to what’s important and not what’s interesting.’ To me, that’s an interesting comment, it really is. It really isn’t going to impact what’s going to happen on Sunday, for the most part.’’
For the most part. Now, that’s interesting.