With the Patriots on their bye this weekend, safety Devin McCourty made a guest appearance on CBS' "The NFL Today." While discussing the New York Giants, he had some interesting comments about their first-year head coach, Brian Daboll, with whom McCourty shared a building when Daboll was New England's tight ends coach from 2013-16.
Daboll took over from Joe Judge, who went 10-23 during his two seasons with the Giants, and has completely turned the team around. With a 24-16 win over Houston on Sunday, the Giants are now 7-2 and appear to be well on their way to making the playoffs.
McCourty said he wasn't surprised by Daboll's success and referenced Daboll's reputation as "a player's guy" and comments from Giants safety Xavier McKinney about things being "different from when Judge was there."
McCourty's comments understandably raised some eyebrows given that Judge is now back with the Patriots, serving as the quarterbacks coach and offensive assistant in his second stint with the team.
Was McCourty taking a dig at Judge? Not according to him. McCourty clarified his comments on Monday and said he was just trying to highlight the difference between Daboll and Judge's personalities. McCourty added that he probably shouldn't have mentioned Judge by name.
Given McCourty's long history as a team player and leader, it's probably best to take him at his word. The chances of him ever intentionally saying something that could be seen as critical of a Patriots coach are slim.
Nonetheless, McCourty pointed out something that's obvious for all to see: that the Giants are definitely responding to Daboll better than they ever responded to Judge.
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