Faster than the time it takes for players and coaches to complete their penalty laps after mistakes at Giants practices these days, the never-blinking world of NFL observers had already determined it to be a bad idea. These are professional athletes, not children who need to be motivated or embarrassed by gimmicky shows of authority, the thinking went. That Saquon Barkley couldn’t even recall the last time he played on a team that ran laps as punishment like that, and Sterling Shepard said he hadn’t seen it since middle school, only added to the outcry against Joe Judge.
Perhaps the loudest criticism came from Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, the Fox Sports analyst who, upon learning of Judge’s new policy, tweeted: “This isn’t going to end well.