- Giants head coach
Joe Judge wasted a timeout by challenging a play that cannot be challenged. - He said he knew the rule and his decision to throw the challenge flag was an "emotional" one.
- Judge made the team run laps for their poor performance. He deserved the laps more than any player.
In the third quarter, Broncos tight end Albert Okwuegbunam made an athletic dive for the pylon to extend Denver's lead to 17-7 over the Giants.
-Alex. (@dubs4o8) September 12, 2021
Judge wanted a chance to argue and threw his challenge flag onto the field. Because scoring plays are automatically reviewed, they cannot be challenged. A referee reminded Judge of this and charged the Giants a timeout for the miscue.
This is wholly embarrassing for Judge. In a game where you are already trailing by 10 points heading to the fourth quarter, all three timeouts could be vital to any hopes for a comeback. Judge threw one down the toilet to scold a referee who was never going to listen to him.
Judge made things worse after the game when he tried to explain his decision, calling it an "emotional" one.
"I was looking for feedback from the officials," Judge told reporters after the game. "It looked to me on the Jumbotron and some feedback I got from up top watching the replay, that he may have stepped in the white. I was screaming for the officials. They're supposed to get some feedback from what they're hearing."
Throwing the challenge flag then was an effort from Judge to "draw their attention."
"I couldn't get them to turn around, so I threw the flag," Judge said. "I knew it couldn't have been a challenge play. I fully take awareness of that and ownership of that. I told the team that was something that, obviously, I can't do again and waste a timeout. But that was something in the moment. ... I had to get somebody's attention at some point and see if we can make sure that they're looking at the same things we were looking at."
-Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) September 12, 2021
"I know the rules," Judge said. "I told the team, we had some bad penalties out there, and that was a bad mistake by the head coach."
No explanation would have won Judge plaudits because the decision is inexcusable.
In a just world, Judge's wasted timeout would have come back to bite the Giants. Watching Judge stew on the sidelines as Denver was able to drain an extra 40 seconds off of the clock thanks to Judge's mistake and seal the game would have been an absolute delight. Unfortunately, the Giants were never got close enough for the lost timeout to matter.
Instead, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones ran into the end zone on the game's final play to cut the score to a slightly less embarrassing 27-13 loss.
Judge's bad day didn't end there, though.
After the game, he made his team run laps due to their disappointing performance.
-Wesley Steinberg (@WesSteinberg) September 12, 2021
However many laps the team had to run, Judge owes them twice as many laps of his own.