The New England Patriots announced on Tuesday that Joe Judge has been hired as an offensive assistant coach.
Judge was fired last month after going 10-23 over two seasons as the Giants’ head coach. He arrived in New York following eight years in New England, where he worked as a special teams coordinator from 2015-2019. In his last season with the Patriots, Judge coached wide receivers.
The Pats are currently without an offensive coordinator. Historically under Coach Bill Belichick, the team has filled coordinator positions by promoting from within. Judge is one of the few external coaches with experience in the Patriots’ offensive system.
In July 2019, Belichick spoke to Judge’s versatility as a coach when asked about his new offensive duties.
“Joe could probably coach any position on the field,” Belichick said. “He does an excellent job of teaching players. He thinks quickly, the game comes easy to him. He understand concepts and adjustments and fundamental techniques. That’s the mark of a good coach. I would definitely put him in that category.”
Two years later, before a Patriots-Giants preseason game, Belichick spoke again about Judge’s coaching.
“Joe’s a good football coach. Period,” Belichick said. “All the things that a good coach needs to do, Joe does. And he did a great job here for me in a number of different capacities. Most importantly, special teams, but he had a lot of other responsibilities as well. When I gave him something to do, he did a good job of it, and so that led to other things.
“I know he’s like a very, just accomplished football coach. He has a good understanding of the game and how to coach it.”
Judge started with the Patriots as a special teams assistant from 2012-2014, after serving in the same position under Alabama Coach Nick Saban from 2009-2011.
PACKERS: The Green Bay Packers are counting on former Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia to upgrade their beleaguered special teams.
The Packers announced that Bisaccia will joining Matt LaFleur’s staff as the team’s third special teams coordinator in as many seasons. The Packers had a punt and a field goal blocked in an NFC divisional playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers and had the NFL’s worst special teams during the regular season, according to Football Outsiders efficiency metrics.
The Packers are getting one of the league’s most respected special teams coaches in Bisaccia, who is going back to his roots after helping the Raiders reach the playoffs as interim head coach.
Bisaccia took over after the resignation of Jon Gruden and went 7-6, including the Raiders’ wild-card loss to Cincinnati. The Raiders opted against making Bisaccia their permanent head coach and instead hired New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
SAINTS: Running back Alvin Kamara is accused of punching and badly injuring a man in an attack also involving at least three men who were with Kamara last weekend at a Las Vegas Strip nightclub, according to a police arrest report made public.
The alleged victim told Las Vegas police he fell unconscious on the floor, where police said video showed him being punched, kicked and stomped on by three people who accompanied Kamara at the rooftop nightclub Drai’s at the Cromwell hotel-casino.
“At no point during this attack did (the man) hit, punch or push Kamara or any of his associates,” the police report said.
The identities of the three other alleged attackers were blacked out in the police report. No other arrests have been made. Officer Larry Hadfield, a Las Vegas police spokesman, called the investigation ongoing.
Police said the attack happened about 6:30 a.m. Saturday outside an elevator at Drai’s, and the alleged victim first spoke with police at a hospital about 5:30 p.m. Police attributed the delay to the man receiving medical treatment.
Kamara played in the NFL Pro Bowl at noon local time Sunday before police interviewed him at Allegiant Stadium after the game. He was arrested about 3:30 p.m. on suspicion of felony battery resulting in substantial bodily harm.
Kamara posted bond for his release from the Clark County jail. He has a March 8 court date.
Records did not immediately say if Kamara had an attorney. A conviction on the felony charge could result in a sentence of one to five years in state prison.
Representatives for the NFL and the Saints team declined to comment about the police report.
“The matter is being reviewed under the personal conduct policy,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy said.
Kamara punched the man approximately eight times, according to the police report, while the three men with Kamara stomped on the man’s face, chest and legs a total of more than 20 times.
Police said the incident began when Kamara put his hand on the man’s chest to stop him from entering the elevator, the man pushed the football player’s hand away, a person with Kamara punched the man, and Kamara “immediately attacked.”
When police asked Kamara why he punched the man, “Kamara indicated he thought (the man) was running away and had done something to his group so he chased and punched (him) several times,” a police detective said in the report.
Kamara told police he remembered the man calling one of his friends ugly and later threatening to “whoop” someone.
Kamara is one of the top running backs in the NFL. He had more than 1,300 yards from scrimmage and nine touchdowns on the way to being selected for his fifth Pro Bowl in five seasons.
STEELERS: Former Carolina Panthers assistant Frisman Jackson is the new wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Jackson replaces Ike Hilliard, whose contract was not renewed following an underwhelming season by a wide receiver group that received solid production from Pro Bowler Diontae Johnson but not much else.
Jackson spent the last two years with Carolina, coming to the Panthers after a two-year stint at Baylor. He followed then-Baylor head coach Matt Rhule when Rhule made the jump from college to the NFL before the 2020 season.
Jackson’s previous coaching stops include one season with the Tennessee Titans in 2017 and various stints at the collegiate level, including Temple and North Carolina State.
Jackson will lead a group that will likely look considerably different in 2022. Veterans JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington are both free agents. Smith-Schuster missed most of the 2021 season after injuring his right shoulder against Denver in September.
Johnson, who caught a career-best 107 receptions in 2021, is entering the final year of his rookie deal and could be in line for an extension. Chase Claypool struggled in his second year and provided minimal downfield impact after a breakout rookie season in 2020.
TITANS: The Tennessee Titans wasted little time making sure General Manager Jon Robinson and Coach Mike Vrabel stick around for years to come.
Barely two weeks after their season ended, the Titans announced contract extensions for Robinson and Vrabel. Terms were not released.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.