There, tucked inside a 1,687-word soliloquy, is the best indication yet that Giants owner John Mara is going to stick to his promise to be patient with head coach Joe Judge. 

On the heels of a not-so-close 37-21 loss to the Chargers that dropped the Giants to 4-9 this season and 10-19 on his watch, Judge responded Monday to a question asking for specifics on the Giants’ foundation with a nearly seven-minute-long answer about developing young players, assembling a locker room of leaders with team-first attitudes and creating intangible practice habits. Then he slipped in a key point. 

“When I took this job, I made it very, very clear, I was only going to do this if we were all committed to doing this the right way,” Judge said. “That’s been something that’s been very clear from ownership on down. I’m very happy with the support ownership gives.” 

It’s easy to forget where leverage lied when Matt Rhule took a $60 million contract to coach the Panthers instead of interviewing with the Giants and Judge likely was about to duplicate his aced interview in East Rutherford and be offered head coach at alma mater Mississippi State. 

The Giants fired both Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur before Year 3, a departure from a decades-long image of stability. Mara has admitted he was too quick to fire instead of finding ways to help McAdoo, who led the Giants to their only playoff appearance of the last 10 seasons in 2016 but lost control of the locker room in 2017. 

“It’s up to us to show a little more patience with this coach than perhaps we have over the last few years,” Mara said after introducing Judge on Jan. 9, 2020, “because he is a first-time head coach.” 

Easier said than done. Except now that ownership’s patience could be tested by underachieving high-priced free agents, a same-old woeful offensive line, angry fans potentially setting up a de facto Cowboys home game at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, and a second 30-point deficit in the last eight games (3-5), Judge sounds like a coach assured he is not on the hot seat. Is that the case? 

“Let me make this really perfectly clear: On mine or anybody else’s hypothetical future, I’m never going to comment. Point blank,” Judge said. “You can ask me about a number of coaches. Not going to answer. I’m not going to answer on myself, either. I’m not going to speak on hypotheticals. I’m interested in building this team and moving forward.” 

Judge’s winning percentage (.345) is actually an improvement over general manager Dave Gettleman’s in four years (.311) or the organization’s in five years since its last winning season (.286). Since winning Super Bowl XLVI in 2011, the Giants’ winning percentage is .389. 

“What I see on the field right now is … a lot of guys that are going to end up being impact players for us and build a strong foundation,” Judge said. “There are a number of guys who are rookies, who are in their second or maybe even third year of their contracts, that are really starting to turn the corner and show a lot of gains at key positions. The reality is we put a lot of young players on the field, and there are some learning curves.” 

Six of the Giants’ 22 starters Sunday were drafted first-, second- or third-year pros. Another eight of the 25 used off the bench fit the same category. On the other hand, nine of the starters are about to become free agents and 13 are at least 27 years old. 

“It’s not fantasy football,” Judge said. “You don’t select a couple players in the draft and sign someone in free agency and say, ‘Every problem is solved.’ You’ve got to put all the pieces in place over time. There are a lot of examples of teams that have come in and had quick success and then filtered out quickly, but there are better examples of teams that have collectively gone together and put the team together the right way over the course of a few seasons and had sustained success over time.” 

Patience is a virtue. Unless it isn’t. 

“It’s [the Mara and Tisch] family business, and football is my family business, too,” Judge said. “I take a lot of pride in what we do and the product is important to me not only in just the wins and losses, which ultimately in this business is the most important part.”