#Joe Judge staying mindful of Giants’ challenges beyond coronavirus

This is a battle unlike anything Joe Judge, or anyone else for that matter, has ever faced. This fight against COVID-19, however, cannot be the toughest the Giants undertake this season.

“We can’t make this the biggest obstacle,’’ Judge, the first-year head coach, said Friday. “We’re gonna have 16 games of opponents that are gonna be a lot tougher than just following protocols.’’

The challenges inherent in keeping his team healthy and whole, out of bars and nightclubs, keeping his players masked-up and socially distanced, is real. The NFL, unlike the NBA and NHL, is not operating in any sort of bubble. The issues confronting Major League Baseball, with cancellation of games and positive coronavirus tests sprouting around the league, is a harbinger of what the NFL can expect.

The pathway from training camp, currently underway and proceeding with extreme caution, to the regular-season opener for the Giants — Sept. 14, against the Steelers — is sure to be littered with all sorts of impediments. Judge has warned his players about the temptations ahead and their investment in keeping themselves, their teammates, their coaching staff and the entire NFL in mind when making choices.

“The thing I want to emphasize on my team is, we have to make responsible decisions,’’ Judge said. “All of us. What I’ve got to think personally about, it’s not just where I go. I know when I’m at the stadium or drive to my house. But I’ve got to be conscious of where my wife and children are. Who are they around on a daily basis? What am I bringing back to the team?

“Listen, there are some sacrifices we have to make but everybody has made sacrifices to get to this level. If the biggest thing we have to do is for half a year, wear masks around each other, distance a little bit and when we go home, be home, I think that’s a pretty fair trade-off to be able to be part of the National Football League.’’

All this is new, for everyone. Never before has an NFL head coach been asked his plans, if any, to separate his staff or his quarterbacks to ensure there is no herd mentality when it comes to contracting COVID-19. Some teams have already considered keeping at least one quarterback separated from the others, in case the virus spreads in the room, leaving the team without a healthy quarterback.

The roster for camp is separated into two groups. For now, Judge is keeping his quarterbacks together. All four — Daniel Jones, Colt McCoy, Cooper Rush and Case Cookus — have gone through the first phase of testing and are able to get on the field for walk-through work, plus strength and conditioning.

“In terms of just quarantining any one player at this moment, no, we want to have every player around here so we can have interpersonal connection with them, get them on the field and train ’em,’’ Judge said.

“I think we’re doing everything right now we possibly can right now to keep all our guys extra safe. Our guys know to go back to their hotel. We keep them here late enough anyway, they don’t have a ton of time once they leave the building. Normally they get back, they read their notebook, hit the pillow and they’re out.’’

The restrictive nature of training camp will eventually give way to more freedom in the regular season, when meeting time is decreased and players leave the building before dinner, their evening free for their own living. It is then the lessons Judge is trying to impart now will be tested.

“The biggest thing is everybody has to understand, all our decisions directly impact each other,’’ Judge said. “It’s not fair for me to go out and do something and put myself at risk and come in here and get a player sick. It’s not my right, I’m not entitled to do that.’’

As far as his staff, Judge said contingencies were discussed in the spring, as to what would happen if any one coach, including the head coach, could not come to work for a period of time.

“We’ve got an attitude of ‘figure it out,’ ’’ Judge said. “Right now everyone’s figuring it out. Whatever we’re allowed to work with, we’re gonna figure it out. We’ve got a plan day by day, as that plan changes, we adjust and we keep going full speed. Let’s be careful, let’s be cautious, we can operate aggressively as long as we follow the plan in place.’’