Giants’ Joe Judge Rips Analytics: If Excel Won Games, Bill Gates Would Be Killing It

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Don’t talk to New York Giants head coach Joe Judge about how analytics play into his in-game decisions. 

Asked by reporters on Wednesday about how analytics inform his decision of whether to go for it on 4th down, Judge responded by bringing up Microsoft Excel and Bill Gates. 

“Analytics is just a tool,” Judge said. “You can look at a stat sheet all ya want. I promise ya if Excel was gonna win football games, Bill Gates would be killing it right now. But you’ve got to take those numbers.”

It’s worth nothing that Forbes estimates Gates’ net worth at $129.6 billion. He’s not an NFL head coach, but he seems to be doing OK for himself from a financial standpoint. 

Judge is fair to point out that analytics is “just a tool.” But it’s a tool that every NFL team uses, with some of the most successful franchises employing it on a consistent basis. 

Per a Sept. 2020 survey conducted by ESPN’s Seth Walder, six of the 12 playoff teams from the 2019 season were voted among the top 10 most analytically advanced organization’s in the NFL. 

The Baltimore Ravens are widely regarded as the most analytically-inclined organization in the NFL. They have made the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, including posting the NFL’s best record during the 2019 regular season (14-2). 

Judge has been fairly conservative on 4th-down situations since taking over as Giants head coach in January 2020. They did rank 13th in 4th-down attempts last season and have only tried three through the first three games in 2021. 

This season, specifically, Judge has opted to punt the ball away in opposing territory rather than attempt long field goals. 

In Week 3, Judge elected to punt on 4th-and-4 from the Atlanta Falcons’ 39-yard line in the third quarter of a game the Giants were losing 7-6. The Falcons did end up punting after getting the ball back, leading to New York scoring a touchdown on its next possession. 

Atlanta wound up winning the game 17-14 thanks to two scoring drives in the fourth quarter. 

Two weeks ago against the Washington Football Team, Judge sent the punt team out on a 4th-and-13 from Washington’s 38-yard line rather than kick a 55-yard field goal late in the first quarter with a 7-0 lead. 

The Football Team drove 90 yards down the field to tie the game on their possession. They would go on to win the game 30-29 on Dustin Hopkins’ 49-yard field goal as time expired. 

Giants kicker Graham Gano made field goals from 52 yards 55 yards earlier in the game. He is 7-of-7 on field-goal attempts and 3-of-3 on extra points so far this season.  

The Giants enter Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints as one of five teams with an 0-3 record heading into Week 4.