Judge gambled both times because he was trying to win.

And both times he lost.

“I’m not afraid to call it aggressively,” Judge said. “We went into that game with that mindset. We’re going to call this thing aggressively. We’re going to play aggressively.”

On the surface, there’s really no problem with that. And it makes some sense that, knowing he was playing with a shorthanded offense, without his starting quarterback and offensive coordinator against the Browns, he tried to will his team into the end zone with two risky red-zone calls. It was as if he knew this was going to be a high-scoring game and field goals simply wouldn’t do.

But it didn’t work, which is always the bottom line. At the end of the first drive he called an ill-conceived fake field goal on 4^th and 5 from the Cleveland eight that resulted in punter Riley Dixon misfiring on a pass to the Giants’ well-covered center Nick Gates. And two drives later, he went for it on 4^th and 1 from the Cleveland five, with a running play that came up inches short.

That’s twice in the first three drives the Giants got inside the Cleveland 10 and came away with nothing because of their head coach.

“Field goals weren’t going to win this game,” Judge explained. “I’m not afraid to call things aggressively. I’m not afraid if I think we have a good scheme in the kicking game to call a fake. I’m not afraid to run it 4^th and 1.”

Again, he shouldn’t be afraid. But here’s the thing about taking chances like that: The coach looks brilliant if they work, and stupid if they don’t. Calling it with hindsight is easy. But the more important point was if the risk was worth it. Was the coach playing the right side of the odds?

And he just wasn’t with this flawed Giants team. They are offensively challenged on their best day. With Colt McCoy replacing Jones at quarterback and tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens calling plays in place of offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, points figured to be at even more of a premium than ever – a fact he obviously knew. Yes, getting in the end zone mattered. But in the best of circumstances the Giants often can’t find the end zone with a map.

So when the Giants were staring at easy field goals twice on the first three drives, it made no sense to pass on them – certainly not the second time, after their gamble failed on the first. Judge, in the end, essentially took six points off the board. And these Giants can’t afford to give away points like that.

Would that have made a difference in the end? The math says no since they lost by 14. But imagine they had trailed at halftime 13-9 instead of 13-3. How much different would the second half have been? Or what if their late field goal had made it 20-12 instead of 20-6, making it just a one score game with 4:07 still to go?

“When you make calls like that, you let your players understand that you have confidence in them and that they can play the game aggressively,” he said. “So we have confidence in our players. I can’t tell them all week that we have to go in with an aggressive mindset, then hold them back when we feel like they have a chance to make a play.”

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