E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he was one of only three sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls up until last year. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

JUDGE FIRES O-LINE COACH COLUMBO AFTER REPORTED ARGUMENT
OVER A NEW ADVISER ADDED TO THE STAFF

By Dave Klein
Some call it shocking, others say stunning. At best, for those who even know a little bit about Joe Judge, it was surprising.

The Giants announced Wednesday that their head coach had fired offensive line coach Marc Columbo after a reportedly heated discussion concerning first-round draft pick offensive tackle Andrew Thomas, and that Judge told Columbo he was going to make a change.

No, not a firing. He said he wanted to bring in another well-known offensive line coach, Dave DeGuglielmo, to work "with" Columbo as a sort of adviser. Columbo responded immediately, rejecting the idea.

So Judge said what you might have expected him to say in the face of staff dissension: "You're fired." And instead of an adviser, DeGuglielmo became the new offensive line coach - immediately.

There were reports that Judge and Columbo engaged in actual fisticuffs but nothing like that was confirmed and proved to be unfounded. All Judge would say for the record was this: "We appreciate what Marc has done but I felt like this move is in the best interest of the team."

Columbo worked under head coach Jason Garrett, now the Giants' offensive coordinator, in Dallas, while Judge and DeGuglielmo were together on Bill Belichick's staff for two seasons, 2014 and 2015. DeGuglielmo also served as offensive line coach for the Giants under head coach Tom Coughlin from 2004 through 2008.

In addition to Thomas, the Giants' offensive line contains several younger players, including No. 3 rookie Matt Peart, No. 5 rookie Shane Lemieux, free agent Nick Gates and two veterans, tackle Cam Fleming and guard Kevin Zeitler.

The line has played far better in the last three games, and Judge has instituted, along with Garrett, a rotation system that funnels guards and tackles into the game with extreme frequency.

A drop-off in performance would signal a mistake; continual performance or even improved performance would signal that a proper decision was made

You can subscribe Dave's newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here. - Team Giants

NOW - Send a request to davesklein@aol.com for a free week's worth of news!