Bill Belichick has plenty of respect for the New York Giants. He won two Super Bowls with the G-Men over more than a decade as an assistant in New York.
But the New England Patriots head coach is also an honest man.
So, when Giants owner John Mara asked Belichick for his opinion on Joe Judge when New York was interviewing the then-Patriots special teams coordinator for its head coach opening, Belichick didn't pull any punches.
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"He's better than the last two guys you hired," Belichick told Mara of Judge, according to the New York Post's Ian O'Connor.
You could view that as a dig at Mara or an indictment of Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur, but Belichick has a pretty good chance of being right.
Both McAdoo (13-15 in New York) and Shurmur (9-23) didn't make it past two seasons with the Giants. After going 11-5 under McAdoo in 2016 (but losing in the NFC Wild Card Round), New York won five games or fewer over the next three seasons before Mara hired Judge in January 2020.
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The former Patriots assistant went 6-10 in his debut season with the Giants, but that was still their best finish since 2016, and there's reason for optimism in 2021 if Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram and new wide receiver Kenny Golladay can stay healthy for third-year quarterback Daniel Jones.
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Mara believes Judge is a big reason for that optimism and is counting on the 39-year-old to build a Patriots-like model of success in East Rutherford.
"You always know where Joe is on the practice field, just like you did with Bill and Tom (Brady)," Mara told O'Connor. “His attention to detail is very impressive to me, and those are characteristics Tom and Bill had as well.
"… He’s made believers out of the players, as far as his program is concerned, in what he’s trying to teach them and the culture he’s trying to build."