The New England Patriots were stripped of two OTA practices and head coach Bill Belichick was fined $50,000 this week due to an offseason rules violation.
As it turns out, Belichick was not the direct source of the violation. Rather, it was former New York Giants head coach Joe Judge, reports George Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal.
At the heart of the matter: coach Joe Judge — referred to as Patriots’ Special Teams Coach by the league in the documents — conducted special teams meetings that caused offense and defense players to be at the facility longer than their maximum four hours.
The NFLPA filed the complaint on May 4 alleging the four-hour violation. On May 9th, they amended it, “alleging that Patriots’ Special Teams Coach Joe Judge directed special teams players to be at the Club’s facility longer than the maximum of four hours permitted during Phase Two of the Club’s program.”
The violations occurred on May 1, 2 and 4 during Judge’s “special teams workshops.”
During his time with the Giants, Judge ran a militaristic ship. Some of the players liked it but many others did not. There were reports of conflict with general manager Dave Gettleman, former offensive line coach Marc Colombo and even some players, including Kelvin Benjamin.
The Giants fired Judge following the 2021 regular season and was re-hired by the Patriots a month later.
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