Colombo out in, DeGuglielmo in as Giants Offensive Line Coach

On Tuesday evening, Joe Judge was working the phones just after the Giants best win in years beating the Eagles for the first time since 2016. He was making calls to a former colleague of his in Dave DeGuglielmo who worked with Judge in New England. DeGulielmo also has experience working for the Giants, being a part of the Tom Coughlin era from 2004-2008. This may have been a reaction to the lack of success that the Giants have gotten in the first half of the season with their rookie tackle Andrew Thomas. Thomas has been the worst out of the first round tackles taken in the draft last April. Judge hired DeGulielmo to assist Marc Colombo. Colombo was fired up, not expecting to have another coach help handle his position group, he seemed to be irate about how this went down and reportedly got into a name-calling, shouting match with Joe Judge. 

There has been speculation about Judge spending more time with the offensive line the last few weeks. This has sparked a better running attack led by Wayne Gallman and protection for Daniel Jones. Judge played a bunch of different combinations on the offensive line in the Giants recent games. Rookies Shane Lemieux and Matt Peart have had a snap count far behind their expectations this early in their young career. Even before the positive COVID-19 test from Will Hernandez, the Giants were consistently rotating their offensive line. This has been more successful than their plan during the beginning of the season which looked predictable and like a death sentence for Daniel Jones.

 It seems as if Judge has really taken over this Giants team. He is going to make sure that all of his players are consistently getting better. If he fires someone in his first year at head coach in a 3-7 season. It may be a little premature and come off strong but this gives a glance into his tedious and instructive the Giants are being to get back on track. In prior years with Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur, there would have never been a move like this. The Giants are a changing team.

The next question is how will Joe Judges' squad play after a two-game win streak. The Giants get some much-needed rest this week for their bye. The hope is that the Giants could also get a few players back and healthy for their match next week against Cincinnati. Rookie Xavier McKinney has missed this season so far with a fractured foot, Giants fans may get to see him for the first time after the bye against Cincinnati. 

After some who were thinking that the Giants out of nowhere fired their offensive line coach who is working with a very average unit right now, that was not the case. Judge clearly had worries about how the Giants offensive line was progressing and took them into his own hands. It was not like Colombo was going to be fired originally without the backtalk he gave to a rookie head coach who is still trying to win over his squad who is 3-7 and still learning. At the end of the day, the Giants and Judge must have believed that there was a problem in their offensive line room and they took care of it the way they knew how.

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-By: Sam Kirk