Big Blue Kickoff Live 10/24 | Giants vs Eagles Preview

Paul Dottino and Matt Citak talk keys matchups in the game against the Philadelphia Eagles, discuss playing in a hostile environment, and take calls from fans.

0:00 - Eagles preview

15:00 - Calls

25:00 - Playing in Philly

34:00 - Slot receivers

50:00 - Key matchups

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff line. Nobody can
ever tell you that you couldn't do it because you're
on Giants dot Com. Do you know what I saw? New
York Giant Crime and the Giants Mobile seventeen fourteen The
Finals one tun down. We all were out taffy. They
did well happen part of the Giants podcast network. Let's
go on Hell Craze Dog has an Hello again, everybody,

(00:28):
and welcome to Friday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live,
presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New
York Football Giants. I'll pull the Tino. He's Matt Sidetack
And if you didn't know it, the Giants are playing
in Philadelphia Eagles down at the Lake on Sunday with
a chance to sweep the season series for the first
time since two thousand and seven. Yeah, that was a

(00:48):
Super Bowl season with Eli manning a quarterback for.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
New York and win in Philadelphia overall, just for the
first time since twenty thirteen.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Giants actually have lost twelve in a row in Philadelphia.
It's been a while, and that includes the twenty twenty
two playoff game. Not good. It has been a house
of far as you've heard me talk about the house
of voodoo that is the New Orleans Superdome. Well, the
link has been a house of horrors for the Giants.

(01:17):
Quite honestly, some of those losses have been just as
excruciating as what we have seen this year to Dallas
and to New Orleans, where they have come right down
to the wire. Giants have lost there in overtime, they
have lost there on last second field goals, they have
lost there on final touchdown drives in the last minute
of the game. It's been a encyclopedia of nasty defeats

(01:42):
in that building. And we will see what happens this week.
We did get some news earlier today, Matt in terms
of the Giants going out to practice. Brian Dabele said
everyone was going to try to go out in practice,
but as it stood during the media portion, Pulson to
Deebo and Javon Holland were not out there during the
open part of practice. So I think you can kind

(02:04):
of make a logical assessment that their arrow is down
on them, but it still remains to be seen. Good
news though, as Brian Burns and Darius Slayton Graham Gano.
These guys old peers though they're going to be on
the upswing.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, so we'll start I guess with not great news
and that a debo in Holland. Coach did say not
practicing today along with Chauncey Golston. He did not rule
them out. He said that, you know, they're going to
make a decision or see where they're at after practice
and then make a decision. So I guess there's still
a small chance, but the fact that they have been

(02:41):
DNP all week doesn't doesn't leave me feeling too confident now,
especially a debo in Holland, that they will be out there.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Unfortunately, Goldston was on the side with the trainers this morning. Yeah,
make that clear.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
So that could mean and you know, it's looking like
another extended opportunity for Dane Elton and Deontay Banks. Will
see how they do, hopefully a little better with a
full week of practice and practice reps leading into this
extended action and like last week when they were kind
of thrown in because both of the Deebo and Holland

(03:14):
suffered knee injuries.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
For the good news, Brian Burns.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
As Paul mentioned and as coach mentioned before, Brian Burns
is practice out there practicing right now.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
You know.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
He told the media on Wednesday. His exact words were,
I'm good when asked is he going to be able
to suit up this weekend? We saw last year there
were plenty of times where Burns did not practice Wednesday, Thursday,
got in a limited session, Friday, was good to go
come Sunday. Seems like he is on track for that. Obviously,

(03:46):
we'll see on the final injury report. I have a
feeling he'll probably be listed as questionable, but I would
put him on the more optimistic side of questionable as
while the other two, you know, we'll see what they're
listed as, but I feel like they're definitely on the
more pessimistic side of things for Sunday. Darius Slayton, coach said,
has had two good days of practice. This is obviously

(04:07):
before today's practice and said hopefully he'll be ready to roll.
So signs are you know, pointing up for Darius Slayton
to make his return. And yeah, as you mentioned Paul,
looks like Graham Gno will be good to go as well.
He's gone through the last two practices unscathed. You know,
all is looking good. We'll see, We'll see what they

(04:29):
decide to do in terms of just the overall kicker situation.
You know, coach did not completely slam the door on
the idea of potentially having two kickers on the game
day roster.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
We'll see.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
I mean that obviously would take away from the depth
and in other positions, and considering the secondary might be
down two of the starters. I don't know if the
Giants will be able to afford having two kickers on
the game day roster. Yeah, but you know, we'll see
how practice goes today and we'll see how the final
injury report what everyone's listening on there.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, I think it would be very tough to have
two kickers activated, But I do understand people's concern. Obviously.
Graham Gano, now over the last two years, has twice
come up with an injury right before the game. Yep.
So I do get it. I do get it. In
the meantime, we are coming to you from the Giants

(05:20):
Podcast studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting Better.
Our numbers two on one nine three nine four five
one three two on one nine three nine four five
one three. You can also get us on hashtag Giants
chat or on the YouTube we are streaming still, yes, yes,
streaming sometimes. I know there are technical issues and you
never know. But you can go to giants dot com

(05:41):
and also the YouTube channel and we are there, and
you can also fire up a couple of things on
the chat and I know Matt will monitor that and
see if we can get to something there. Go ahead there.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Also just was I saw one injury update from Philadelphia
and that was just Nick Sirianni speaking to the media
and was basically asked, you know, AJ Brown is not
practiced Wednesday or Thursday. We don't have the injury report yet.
The Eagles won't release theirs for another few hours. But
Sirianni was asked about AJ brown status for Sunday, and

(06:11):
he was noncommittal to him playing. He did mention AJ
Brown is one of those players that could go d
MP all week and still suit up and play on Sunday,
but you know, he would not go as far as
to say, yes, AJ Brown will be out there on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
So just something to keep an eye on. Obviously.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, that would be obviously a big blow to the
Eagles passing game, you know, as good as DeVante Smith.
Is having the two of them out there is what, really,
you know, makes that such a lethal threat? At least Obviously,
the passing game in Philadelphia has not been firing on
all cylinders all season, but they seem to get on
track last week. Those two wideouts combined for over three

(06:51):
hundred yards and three touchdowns, So it would certainly be
a blow to the Eagles offense if AJ Brown is
unable to suit up.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
I kind of asked a rhetorical question there, because a
guy who's got a hamstring injury, who was not practiced
at all, Unlike Slayton who's been limited and has been
able to go out there and run routes and take reps.
Brown hasn't done that all week. The odds of him
just trying to fire it up on game date with
a hamstring which gets aggravated very easily and then could

(07:21):
wind up pushing him out for over a month. That's
the way those things go to me. Ah, that's risky business.
I can't see him playing.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
We'll see if he gets out of the practice field today.
If he gets out there today and he's listed as limited,
I think there's a good chance he suits up. If
if he's another DNP, especially because Philadelphia goes into their
bye week after this game. You know, sitting him this
weekend with the buy would give him a couple of
weeks to rest that hamstring. You know, that could be

(07:50):
something the Eagles choose to do. However, he did play
the whole game this past Sunday, Like it was a
little surprising to see him pop up on the injury
report with his injury when he played the game and
you know, appear to come out unscathed from the game.
But clearly it's not a non issue because he has
not yet taken the practice field. So keep an eye
out on the Eagles injury report. We'll have it up

(08:11):
on Giants dot Com as soon as we get it
in a couple of hours, so just keep an eye
out for that.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
It was not only he but also Devonte Smith who
both had huge games last week, and they went over
the Vikings twenty eight to twenty two. Hurts through for
over three hundred and fifty yards and both of those
guys lit up, lit up the Vikings.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Hurts had a perfect passerrating one hundred and fifty eight
point three only three touchdowns. Yeah, only the third time
in Eagles history that a quarterback has had a perfect
passerrating and now he didn't do anything on the ground. No,
And that is something we've seen kind of in the
last few weeks from Jalen Hurts or have not seen,
which is him using his legs, which is surprising because

(08:52):
that's obviously been a very big part of his game.
The Eagles offense the last couple of seasons was a
huge part of their Super Bowl run last year. He
is still doing the tush push. Of course, anytime they
get to a you know, goal line situation or third
and one fourth to one second to one, it is
Jalen Hurts doing the tushbush and almost always picking it up.

(09:13):
But outside of that, we're not seeing design runs from Hurtz.
We're not seeing him really scramble, you know, scramble out
of the pocket, tuck the ball in and rush up field.
Another thing to keep an eye on. I mean, the
Eagles run game has really struggled. Some of it is
because of the health of the offensive line, I think,
but I feel like him not really being too much

(09:33):
of a threat on the ground has led to some
of the struggles from saekuon Bark because as we all
know when you have a rush, a dual threat rushing
quarterback that opens lanes, it makes things a lot easier
for your running back to find some open space.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, you mentioned the line. Jurgens has been down all
week with a knee. He's their starting center and that's
a big deal.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
And Landon Dickerson has been playing through an injury. He
did return last week. He missed Week six, the last
game against the Giants, but he retur he turned last week.
He's been limited. He'll be out there, Dickerson, but banged up.
He's playing through an injury for sure.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
I think it's an ankle and a knee with him. Yeah,
so yeah, it's an interesting situation. I do want to
refer you to the game a couple of weeks ago,
Giants whacking the Eagles thirty four to seventeen here at
Metlive Stadium, a game in which the Giants really had
complete control and dominated in the second half as they

(10:27):
pulled away and basically just laid the wood on Philadelphia. Now,
this is a different story. You got a wounded Eagles
team that's obviously going to be very angry and looking
to get the little payback You've got Saquon Barkley, who
had thirty one yards on the first two snaps of
the game for the Eagles and then finished with all
like fifty something yards all night. So the Giants did

(10:50):
a phenomenal job of containing him. Can they do that
a second time? Barkley's only run for over sixty yards
once this year. He is you know, he's been listed
with the sore knee numerous times this season, and honestly,
you know, the line has had a big impact on

(11:11):
him because they're not giving him the room that he
needs to run. We've seen that with the Giants many
times before. You know, he is partly a product of
having some room what running back isn't. So it remains
to be seen exactly what the Giants will get out
of Philadelphia. We know that Jalen Carter is going to play.

(11:31):
He played against the Vikes last week, had a couple
of quarterback hits, three tackles. He was not in the
game at MetLife Stadium, and Scataboo ran nineteen times for
ninety eight yards and three touchdowns. And Matt as much
as I love cam Scataboo, his life was a little
bit easier without Carter in the lineup.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Oh one hundred percent, and not to mention Quinnion Mitchell
left that game early and did not come back, and
obviously that's a cornerback, but that just helped open things
up for the entire Giant Well I picked on with
Dorri Jackson. Yeah, who speaking of has also been on
the injury port has been cushion protocol week. Uh do
actually right on, cue have an update for the third
straight day. AJ Brown is not practicing.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
I don't think that looks good for Philadelphia.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
It certainly puts him on the wrong side of questionable.
I mean, Sirianni again did say he could still suit
up without practicing, but this certainly puts him on, you know,
the more pessimistic side of being able to go on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
All right, before we get to your calls, because folks,
I want to want to give you guys a chance
to chime in on this one as soon as possible. Uh,
just want to mention one one item here because Coach
Dable was asked, you know, if you don't have a debo,
we know that that Belton is going to be the
guy who has to come in in safety to start.
We understand that that's pretty much a FATA complaint. But

(12:49):
if a depot's not there, neither the defensive coordinator Shane
Bowen nor Brian Dabele would reveal what their plans would be. Now,
one of the things you have to consider is that
Adebo does sometimes travel. If Brown's not gonna play Philadelphia,
I don't think you need to travel anybody.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
I mean, I would consider putting having Float travel with
Devonte Smith at least when he's on the outside in
the slot, which he has lined up in the slot
a good amount.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Let Phillips have you.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Let Phillips have him. Obviously, Phillips is gonna need to
step up in that situation. Yes, he's had his ups
and downs, but yes, DeVante Smith is an incredibly talented
receivers I'm talking about before. But when DeVante Smith is
on the outside, if there's no AJ Brown, even if
there is AJ Brown out there, Cordell Flott, his physical
structure makes him a much better matchup to guard Devonte

(13:39):
Smith than AJ Brown. AJ Brown is a big physical
guy and has what forty pounds oh, Cordell Flott.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
That's why a d BO would travel with Brown the
whole game for sure, and Flott would probably have to
travel obviously he's you'd have to travel with Smith unless
he's in slot. If this happens, though, when Brown doesn't play,
I don't know that I would travel Flat on Smith
the whole game. I don't know that I would do that.
I think I think like what you said, I if

(14:08):
he goes in slot, I let Phillips take him. I
would not. I would not travel Flat in the slot.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
With I mean the only I agree, but I will
say just the only counterpoint is, obviously Flat does have
a ton of experience playing in the slot.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
This year, He's been didn't work out this year.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
He's been on the outside for sure, But it's not
his forte no, No, one hundred percent. But again, Phillips
has had his own fair share of ups and downs
this season.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
I know.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
But certainly when he's on the outside, devoute Smith. I'm
having Flat play him every single step on the outside
without it. If AJ Brown's not out there, without a doubt,
I have no problem with that.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
In addition, the Giants obviously with with Tay Banks, who
according to coach, has had a good week of practice.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
There was a thought thrown out yesterday to Shane Bowen
about Art Green who you know what. When he made
this team, he showed that he could play some some
pretty solid corner during the preseason. So I don't know
if he turns out to be an option or not,
but that's something to keep an eye on if Banks
gets off to a sluggish start and makes a couple
of mistakes early. All right, folks, just remember if you're

(15:12):
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(15:33):
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Proceeds will benefit the Giants Foundation. All participants receive a

(15:54):
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(16:18):
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It's free. It's there on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon, fireTV,
and the Giants Mobile app. That will do it for
the promos. Now, the rest of the show is all
about you, folks. As the Giants try to sweep the
Philadelphia Eagles and we go to Marcus in California. You
are first of the program. Hello, Hey, how you guys

(16:40):
doing very well?

Speaker 3 (16:41):
Sir?

Speaker 1 (16:41):
How are you good?

Speaker 4 (16:43):
Man? Still? You know mid season they'll have faith in
the team, you know, so let's go beat the Eagles.
Say that off the bat. You know, at first, I
was all about going after a wide receiver to help
darts development. But after the last you know, since he started,
I think we should just extend flat and illumina or

(17:06):
and you know, build around next year and just you know,
just ride the season out. And then also, I don't
think that we all understood how bad the Micah McFadden's
injury was going to hurt us on defense this year.
So I hope he comes back quick. And that's pretty
much it. Just thanks to you guys, and let's go

(17:27):
beat the Eagles.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Well, thanks very much for the call, Morgas, thank you
for the call. You know, last week's loss in Denver
was devastating with a capital D. I don't think I'm
understating that at all. But should the Giants come back
and beat Philly at the Link and complete a season sweep,
it would lessen some of the pain. It's not going

(17:49):
to make up for it. It won't make up for it,
but it will lessen it.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
It'll help, It'll help all of us push last week's
game a little bit further back in our memory for sure.
I mean, obviously I love coming on this podcast with
you with John. I was pretty happy this week that
I would didn't have to come on until Friday because
it gave me a couple of extra days to sort
of get last week's game at least a little bit

(18:13):
further removed from the top of my mind because I mean,
you you hit it. That was that was the roughest
game in recent memory for me. I mean, this is
my seventh season. It's definitely the most you know, heartbreaking
loss that I've witnessed as an employee of the Giants.
I mean, that game ended and I sat at my
desk with my head on my desk in disbelief for

(18:35):
like five full minutes, just trying to digest what just happened. So, yeah,
a win on Sunday not gonna you know, make us
just like pretend last week didn't happen, but certainly will
help us get over it a little bit further and
you know, flip the page and just focus on the
rest of the season. We can't change what's done, not

(18:57):
making up or not trying to make any sort of
excuses or anything about what happened last week. But all
we can do is turn the page and focus on
this week and the future.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
It would be like a dish of ice cream after
having been forced to gulp down an entire bottle of
bad cough medicine. That's what it would be like. Folks.
Let's go back to the cold.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Oh just real quick about it. Yeah, caller, the first
comedy made about bringing in a receiver. Well, the Giants
did bring in a receiver this week. They signed Ray
Ray McLeod to the practice squad. Obviously, he had not
done basically anything for the Falcons this year, but just
last season he played every game for the Falcons and
set career highs sixty two receptions six hundred and eighty

(19:40):
six yards. He also has a ton of experience in
the return game. You know, we'll see if he ends
up making it to the active roster at some point,
whether it's this Sunday, you know, a couple weeks from now,
a month from now, whatever it might be. But that
is some addition to the room, you know, without having
to give up draft capital, which I think is big.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
I kind of agree.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
I mean, the Giants are two and five, and obviously
there's still a lot of football to be played the season,
ten more games. But at some point you have to weigh,
you know, the pros and cons of dishing out future
draft capital to help you. I mean I've been I've
been saying this for weeks now that the only way
I would even consider a trade for a receiver is

(20:22):
if it's someone that's under contract beyond this year that
is going to be part of this team in twenty
twenty six, maybe even beyond that. I concur with that,
by the way, trading for a rental giving up draft
capital for a rental receiver that I don't see much
of a point to that.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
No, not at all. So Cloud, by the way, had
a pitch stop with Buffalo, which also allows the familiarity
with basically what the Giants to do with offensively, and
that would help acclimate him should they decide to try
to bring.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
His rookie season. His rookie season in twenty eighteen was
with Buffalo and with Daves. Daves mentioned it yesterday when
talking to the media about the addition. You know, he said,
obviously the Bills twenty eighteen playbook not exactly the same
twenty twenty five playbook, but there is some similar you know, terminology, verbiage.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
So hopefully we'll have speed up the acclamation process for
McCloud Joe in New Jersey. You're next on the program.

Speaker 5 (21:14):
Hello, But that's the gentlemen. How are you. I'm a
big fan and I usually never catch a live performance,
and I'm still so fortunate today being Friday, that I'm
able to do that.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Well, thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (21:25):
Yeah, Paul, I'm a big fan.

Speaker 6 (21:27):
Listen.

Speaker 5 (21:28):
I cannot get out of my mind cloth that face
that you had last year versus the Dallas at the
end zone. I cannot get that expression on your face
when you know with that I was horrible.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
I just want to talk to today about the game
in Denver, And I really think, honestly, now after this
whole week has gone by and I'm able to you know,
digest everything and watch the game over in highlights and
hear everything, I honestly think.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
They just burnt out at the end.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
I think that they were out of gas and there
was a combination, of course of the bad defensive play calling,
and I really do think that they just basically gassed out.
Looking forward to this week, it's as close as you
can get to a home game. You're only going down
the turnpike.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
Joe, Joe, puff the breaks, Joe. They've lost twelve straight
in that building. There's nothing nothing friendly about going to Philadelphia.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
And it's not one of those away game you know,
environments where there'll be a good percentage of Giants.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Now there'll be some sprinkled in, but that is going
to be one hostile crowd on Sunday. If I made Joe,
if you ever get a chance to go on the
road for a Giants game, don't go to Phillips. Okay,
I go to Tampa or Jacksonville, where there's a lot
of transplanted New Yorkers and there's a lot of blue
in that stadium. I didn't even say go to Washington.

Speaker 6 (22:54):
Yeah, Washington, I was.

Speaker 5 (22:56):
I was at the Cowboys stadium as well, and I
was I was happily surprised that Cowboy fans in Dallas
are actually friendlier than Jersey and New York Dallas fans.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
Okay, I was not in the crowd, so I can't
speak to that.

Speaker 5 (23:10):
Joe absolutely, well, thank you so much as I'll let
you comment on my on my comments.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Well it's awfully not Thank you.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Be well and try to call again soon. What do
you think I mean, it's Friday. We don't really have
to go into last week's game into too much detail.
I'm sure you know that has been done so the
last four days just about you know, the one comment
Joe made, like again, no excuses, the Giants should have
won that game, but it did appear in the fourth

(23:39):
quarter like the defense was just completely gassed. And again
not trying to make an excuse, but playing in Denver
with the what's it called the air, the atmosphere, the air,
just the level the level above sea that Denver is,
it makes it very tough to get oxygen, and it
just it showed like the defense was completely gassed, you know,

(24:02):
sucking in the oxygen tank every chance they got. Again,
it's not an excuse because you know, going into Denver,
you know it's going to be like that. It's just
there's no way as an opposing team to really prepare
for that playing practicing in New Jersey here. So I
just agree with Joe in that part that come the
fourth quarter, the defense just look completely guessed. And you know, again,

(24:23):
I don't know how you can remedy that. I mean,
Denver is obviously a place you only play once what
every eight years, So it's that not much prep you
can really do.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
No, I was told by some medical folks it truly
takes you a week to acclimate yourself to that atmosphere
if you really wanted to do it right, Well, what
team is going to spend a whole week out there. Yeah, no,
nobody's going.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
To do it.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
But nonetheless, again, the Giant still should have won that game.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Of course. Oh by the way, in reference to the
to the link in Philadelphia, I will say this, guys
like Scataboo and Dart and Abdull Carter, these guys have
not been part of that twelve game road losing streak
in Philly. They have not. And they're quick to remind

(25:10):
you of that. Because when the Giants played Dallas earlier
this year, there were a lot of people said, well,
you guys don't win in Dallas very often either, and
they're like, okay, but that's not on us. We weren't here.
That's the same mentality they've taken this week when people
have mentioned the Eagles dominance in that city. And in fact,
Jackson Dart was very emphatic about he loves to play

(25:34):
on the road. He loves the intensity, he loves the energy,
he likes to win games on the road. He doesn't
mind being the villain. And when he was asked about,
well you think you have played in anything that compares,
he's like, I played at the SEC. Oh yeah, let
me tell you it's rough, and they were all, Okay,
what was the roughest rivalry did you Well, let's see Auburn, Alabama, LSU, George,

(25:59):
he just started out off the whole conference. He did
leave one notable team off of the list. I know
which one you are, right ahead, you tell the people
because I know he did leave Vanderbilt off the list. Now, well,
Jackson Dart was there for ole Miss going to Vanderbilt.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
That was basically a home game for ole Miss because
over half the crowd would be ole Miss fans.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yes, but not this year. We were not gonna get
into it. We're gonna wait until later in the college
football season. There, okay, but the point being that Jackson
dared for sure, and also Cam Scattaboo was asked about
it yesterday in front of his locker and said, look,
it is awesome when the stadium supports the game and
the teams and they give you energy and they boost it.

(26:39):
He's like, but you know, if you're a visiting player, fine,
let them cheer, let let them root for their team.
That's fine. They want to boost their team, let them
do it. That's that's fine. But you got to focus
on your job. Do what you have to do and
not deal with that. Just go out there and play.
He actually thinks it's more fun to play in the

(27:00):
stadium that's got life.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
I was gonna say, the one thing that Jackson said
about that that I really liked was he was like, yeah,
you know, pregame, obviously I'm warming up, you know, especially
in the SEC he goes, you warm up right in
front of the school's student section, and obviously that is
going to be, you know, the most rowdy part of
the entire college football stadium. And Jackson said like, oh yeah,

(27:23):
I heard what they were screaming and shouting at me.
I heard their you know, their disses, all the criticism
and stuff.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
But I loved it.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
He's like, I just used that as extra fuel, put
extra chips on my shoulder right before kickoff. And you know,
obviously those environments as tough as going into Philly is,
those SEC environments, that's just a whole another level. So
I do think Jackson is very, very prepared for the
hostile crowd that he's about to go face. And I
hope those fans in Philadelphia start shouting as soon as

(27:53):
he takes the field for warm ups. Please start shouting
things at Jackson because that's just going to fire him up.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
I'll just remind you, folks of this Parcels' teams. They
love playing in Philadelphia. They thought it was hysterical the
stuff that they would hear, stuff that would get thrown
at them. They thought it was funny because Parcels knew
how to beat them, and so did that team.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Because it used to be a lot more fun to
go down to Philadelphia than the last.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Plus Conflin's teams were the same way. Conflin's teams won
down there. That was not a rare, rare Giants win
in Philly when Confland was the coach, and we all
know what what Shaki and Purish used in Barber used
to do to them, you know. So look, if Jackson
Dart wants to take that approach, maybe that will work
for him and rub off on the rest of the team,

(28:43):
and maybe they'll go down there and stick it to them.
We'll see.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
And I don't think camp Scatabu needs any extra or
anything else to get him fired up. He seems pretty
fired up every game day.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Man grew up running into telephone poles. You think of
Philadelphia crowd could be tougher than a telephone pole.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
The guys hired up, not even on game days. I mean,
we see him playing Ping pong in the locker room
during the week, and he treats it as if he's
out there on a Sunday on the field, like screaming
after every point, smashing as every every chance he gets
the slam shot in Ping Pong, Cam's Catboy does and
he's screaming after every point. It's absolutely hilarious. But it's

(29:20):
what you'd expect from him.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
He could be his own television series, reality series. He
would be a blast. All right, let's go back to
the phones. Coach, Marvin and Delaware, you are next to
the program. Hello, Coach, I am doing, Paul and Matt, Hey, coach,
how are you?

Speaker 6 (29:38):
I'm doing all right about the I'm down here in Philly,
laying in Delaware, but I know the fans are not playing,
so I'm not worried. You know, it's gonna be a
tough game for them because Philly gonna make adjustments and
usually the team that wins, they pretty much go win

(29:59):
with this same game plan maturity of the time. So
we'll just have to see how that game turns out.
But I didn't get a chance. I haven't called in
the few days so about last week. Last week game
was actually the good, the bad, and ugly all at once.

(30:22):
It was everybody's fault. I don't know if anybody got
a chance to hear call Banks on Monday, and he
hit it right on the nose. It was everybody's fault.
He was talking about. He said something that resonated with
me when he said every time the defense got on

(30:42):
the field, they had to lead.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yes, that was telling.

Speaker 6 (30:48):
And you had a caller talking about them fatigue, and
I said, and it's a long saying, fatigue will kill
us all. And what happened they was physical and mentally fatigue.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
They made some mistakes.

Speaker 6 (31:04):
Banks uh lost his leverage on the run by Nicks
was brutal. I think they line up, they shifted to
the left, I believe one time, and and left like
three guys to the right, and they changed the play
in the direction to go the right side. That's why
Nick didn't get anybody touch him when he went ran

(31:27):
for a touchdown.

Speaker 4 (31:29):
So those Dan.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Belton also got blocked in the back, but somehow there
was no penalty on that play either.

Speaker 6 (31:36):
Yeah, but I mean we fought back. I'm not it's
not one play that really hurt us or help helped us.
But they fought back. They showed a lot of art,
and that's what I kind of uh took away from
the game. But the one thing I took that no
one has talked about, and we always we always talked

(31:56):
about chasing points.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 6 (31:59):
Do you know how many points we chase? I added
it up eight points.

Speaker 4 (32:04):
We lost.

Speaker 6 (32:06):
It was we blocked, we missed two pats.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
We lost.

Speaker 6 (32:11):
We we missed a two point conversion, and they made
two two point conversions. That's eight points and one of
the when one of those two was very easy to
hit the receiver in the back of the end zone.
Those those those conversions was brutal for us in this game.

(32:32):
So hopefully we had learned from those and we'll do better.
As far as coaching and guys being out there giving it,
they're all and you can't be fatigued. So that's pretty
much what I had. But I wanted to just say
thank a couple of guys real quick. It's only about
thirty seconds is Ron Tinslow and Tony thought their referees

(32:59):
here in Delaware? They give me access to their games.
So I get to see their games, the best games
in the state, and they gave me one tonight. I'll
be at one tonight. And the director here in Delaware
is a guy by the name of Dave Baylor. This
guy unbelievably gave me passes for every game in the state.

(33:21):
And I have access to some of these kids, which
amazing for them to do for me. So I wanted
to thank them on the show.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Coach Marvin, you're turning into the Freizudo of Delaware.

Speaker 6 (33:34):
I showed them the picture of you, Paul, so that
gives me some credibility.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Oh wow, all right, I love it, Coach, I have
done that.

Speaker 6 (33:42):
That's I'm not lying about that. I have showed them
your picture, told them that I do speak to you,
and I speak on the show. So yeah, I thank
all of you guys, Matt, John, hopefully John's doing good.
And Pearson in the background is excellent guy, excellent, excellent gotch.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
So I thank all of you guys, appreciate your support. Coach.
Two on one nine three nine four five one three
we go to TJ in Arizona. You are next on
the program. Hello, Hi, Paul, how are you I'm okay,
my man, how are you doing good?

Speaker 3 (34:19):
I've been watching the Giants when I lived my days
with my father on Long Island, the Homer Jones and
fran Tarkinson days.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
I understand.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
I have a question, why aren't they using Gunner like
they do Wandale in the slot because to me, he
seems like he'd be a past like Elman and Welker
were with the Patriots. Is there any chance of them
starting to use him instead of just on punk returns.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
It was always one of the options that we have
discussed on this program since the season started, like, Okay,
if this doesn't work or somebody gets hurt, what can
you do with Gunna Roschewsky Because he had an incredible
training camp. When he got called back okay due to
the injury to Ford Wheaton, he just like grabbed that

(35:14):
roster spot by the throat and said I'm not letting
go and was spectacular throughout the month of August. And
I think it's fair to say that those of us
who watched him started to contemplate, well, what if maybe
he was a little bit a part of the offense
For whatever reason they decided not to go there.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Yeah, he has played only three snaps on offense all season,
and you know, considering obviously the Giants have had some
injuries at wide receiver, starting to get a little healthier,
you know, again, with Sladen looking like he's got a
good chance to go on Sunday, I don't know if
now is when they're gonna try putting Gunner out at

(35:55):
wide receiver. You know, I think it might take an
injury to Wandell Robson, which obviously we hope does not happen,
but it might take something like that to happen for
them to really give him an extended look in the slot.
Because Wandell has been having so much success, I mean
now Onndell has lined up a good amount outside as well.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yes, coach Jabo mentioned.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
This earlier in the week, that they've really lined him
up all over the field and he's really done well
no matter where they've lined him up. But the fact
that given all the injuries that the Giants have had
at the position, Gunner has still only played three snaps
at wide receiver or three steps at all on offense.
For whatever reason, it makes me think that they don't

(36:33):
think that is, you know, the best strategy. You know,
again that could change. We see things change all the time,
but for now, it doesn't seem like it's.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
Too likely now TJ. I would add one of a
caveat here. Remember when we talked about during the off season,
would Hyatt step up and be a significant part of
that rotation? And if he did not, what options would
the Giants have? And my favorite opt which you know
anything about me at all, you know I will always

(37:03):
go heavy double tight end package. Well, as it's turned out,
not only when Neighbors went down with the injury and
Hyatt hasn't truly stepped up his game significantly, and then
Slayton went and got hurt. Well actually even before Slayton
got hurt in New Orleans, the Giants decided to go
with a heavy package and use a lot of double
tight ends. That's always been, in my opinion, a very

(37:28):
palatable option when you're down a wide receiver, because I
think the Giants have two tight ends who I like
their skill set and I like what they provide. They
seem to have as a coaching staff for the most part,
gone in that direction. That seems to be their favorite
direction over the past month. They don't stick with it

(37:51):
throughout the course of the game for four quarters. But
they do seem to have a propensity to go double
tight ends rather than just coming out with another wide receiver,
which Olszewski would certainly be one of those options.

Speaker 4 (38:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
I mean THEO obviously is the starting tight end. He's
had a significant role on offense all season, but it's
really Daniel Bellinger over the last few weeks that has
seen his snap snaps really increase. This past week obviously
was I would say the most successful day for the
two tight ends together. Bellinger played sixty seven and a
half percent of the snaps. He played fifty two offensive

(38:27):
snaps and THEO obviously played sixty eight. Now, they had
success against the Broncos with the two tight ends, they
had success against the Saints. They did not have much
success against the Eagles. Against the Eagles in Week six,
those two combined, it was only THEO had two catches
for twenty something yards. Bellinger was held without a catch.
The Eagles are one of the best teams against the

(38:49):
tight end this year.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Hold on. What you're missing there is that they succeeded
with their blocking and their protection skill up. I Gatabo
ran for ninety eight game part because those tight ends helped.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
Just since the original question was about Gunner, I was
just talking about as pass catchers. But this is this
is not Obviously they do more than just catch passes.
They're crucial to the to the run game.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
It's a schematic question more than it is a wide
receiver personnel question. To be honest, I.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
Get I understand all that. I just I don't know.
For me, it's a it's an extra weapon to kind
of throw off the defense on Okay, why is Gunner
in here? And another thing and I'll cut it short here, guys.
Another thing I hope I do not see Sunday is
a three man rush if they're down by by a

(39:39):
field goal. I do not want to see that. And
the Giants have a very talented defense. They're defensive backs questionable,
But I really hope I don't see an eight man
drop when they're down a field goal. I've never agreed
with that. Don't get the team any yardage. Sure you're

(40:02):
taking the chance that if you if you blitz, they
control over the top, but that will still leave you
time on the clock. I just I pray to God
I don't see a three man rush again. Hey, thanks guys,
Falling I appreciate you guys taking my phone call.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Anytime, please call.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
So just to put a cap on the gunner situation,
the gunner question, I'll just say this, like, as you mentioned,
he showed us during training camp, like and during the
preseason like he can line up a receiver and he
can catch passes outside too, outside too. The only thing
I would say is, this is his seventh season in

(40:41):
the NFL. He's never had more than five receptions in
a season. So it's not like it's just you know,
the Giants being like, I don't know if this if
he's you know, good for an extended role as a receiver.
You know, the Patriots for three seasons felt the same way.
The Steelers for a couple of seasons, didn't really try
him much out there. So he just hasn't done much

(41:03):
as a receiver through his entire NFL career, doesn't. That's
not saying he can't, but clearly there's a reason why
all these teams are not relying on him as not
even gonna say, a full time receiver, but even more
of what you know we've seen from him as a
wide receiver.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
I think this is the first time in his career
he's been a full time punt and kickoff returner well,
last year doing both, Oh, kick at both? Y?

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (41:30):
Both? I think so too. He's usually been just going
both last year, No, he's usually been just one. Yeah.
This year and I don't think the Patriots choosed him
as a kickoff returner. I think he was a punt
returner for them, and and this year he's been doing
full time both. He's dabbled in it, but I don't
think it's ever been his full time job.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
So the twenty twenty season, when he was first team
All Pro, right, he did return both.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
You return full time?

Speaker 4 (41:57):
Well?

Speaker 2 (41:57):
He says he had twenty punts, led the league with
three hundred and forty six pund re turnyards and eighteen kickoffs,
and the following year again eighteen kickoffs, twenty six punds eighteen.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
That's that's probably part time, yeah, I don't think that's
full time.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
That probably is not a full time, yeah, as a
kicks returner, but.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
He has been here this year he's full time, yes,
So I don't know if that has anything to do
with it either, but it's certainly interesting that they decided
to give him a full time job on both units.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
And especially I'm glad you brought up this year because
especially this year, with how significant now kick returns are,
how much more significant they are, teams are treating that
like not that it is. It's always been treated as
its own position kick returner, but it has so much
more added importance this year with the new kickoff rules.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
That that that's a good point.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
That probably is why they don't want to risk putting
him at a wide receiver, because he is pretty crucial
to the return game.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
He's a very smart return man. Yeah, he knows exactly
how to play the ball, where to go, what to
do with it. And by the way, man is he tough?
Oh yeah, this guy would get nails for breakfast. One
of the toughest guys on the team. Well, there's no doubt.
May not like look at just from looking at him,
you know on game he really is. Oh yeah, all right,

(43:14):
Jessica in Connecticut, you're next on the show. Hello Jessica,
how are you?

Speaker 7 (43:18):
Hey, Paul, Hey, Matt, how are you guys?

Speaker 1 (43:20):
Good?

Speaker 3 (43:21):
How are you?

Speaker 7 (43:22):
Thanks? Thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to
comment on Sunday's game. I was licking my wounds on Monday.
I was so upset, But then the more I thought
about it, I want to bring some optimism to it.
I think that we are playing exceptionally, exceptionally well. I
did not expect for us, for Dart to get as

(43:44):
many points as we did against Bronco's defense. I don't
know what happened, but from a nursing perspective, the altitude
can definitely get to you and make you feel taxed.
So I don't know if that's what happened, and no
one knows, but you know, I feel like Dart, my

(44:06):
observation is that he really takes his mistakes that he
makes in trying to learn from them and better himself.
So I just feel I had no expectations really going
into this season. I just really wanted us to be competitive,
and I do see that, and I'm I'm just feeling,

(44:26):
you know, that we could compete against any team now,
and my two favorites that I would love for the
Giants to smoke are the Cowboys and the Eagles.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Okay, I can't argue with you. There's going to say,
I agree. Don't you want to throw Washington into the
mix just for the heck of it?

Speaker 7 (44:46):
Well too, But you know, like even this game on Sunday, Like,
I want to see if the Cowboys can hold the
Broncos to like scoring, like we did, you know, the
cow the Cowboys fans I love to say stuff about
the Giants, and you know we were running the show
for that game, so I'll be curious.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
I hope they lose, Jessica, it always pays the scoreboard watch.
I tell my dad all the time. From week one,
right from the get go of the season, I scoreboard
watch and I look and I say, okay, Well, it's
not only the teams in your division, but every team
in your conference. If they're playing an interconference game, you
want them to lose. You want the AFC team to

(45:32):
win every time they play an NFC club because you
never know if your club could possibly be involved in
a wild card tiebreaker. So stick every NFC team with
a loss every single Sunday if you can.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
And just about this matchup of the Broncos Cowboys matchup
in particular, you know, the Giants defense, Say what you
want about it hasn't been you know, amazing all year.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
By any means, but the Cowboys defense has been awful
all year. They have been bad.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
They are among the worst defenses in the NFL. I
think the Denver offense will have a lot more success
early on against the Cowboys than they had against the Giants.
So I don't think that the Cowboys could end up
winning this game. I'm not saying that's not possible, but
I don't think it's gonna be, you know, a tight,
low scoring game, like Cowboys are gonna score a lot

(46:22):
of points, but they're also gonna give up a lot
of points.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
That is going to be.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
You know what, the final score last week was thirty
three to thirty two. Could be a similar score to that,
if not even more points in that game.

Speaker 7 (46:32):
Oh yeah, I'm I mean, I just I'm hoping that
I could say, well, you know what, at least the
Giants ran the show, and it was nineteen zero till
the fourth quarter, So what do you guys have to
say about that? But the team I am worried about.
I watched the Detroit game on Monday night. I feel
like they're gonna be a tough defense.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
Well, I mean, look, we understand that if the Giants
play up to their capability as well as they can play,
they they played seven straight quarters of terrific football. When
you look at the four against Philadelphia and then the
first three against Denver, that seven quarter stretch. That's the potential.
That's what we thought we saw during training camp and

(47:17):
during the offseason that that would be the real New
York Giants, and that team, that team should should be
over an hour five hundred for sure realistically the whole season.
But that's not what the Giants have done. They've gone
on the field and they've looked like the real Giants
at some points, and then at other points they have

(47:38):
just absolutely fallen apart. And so all I can say
to you, Jessica, is if the real Giants come to
play the Giants that we know and believe they are,
they can be competitive with every team on their schedule.

Speaker 7 (47:52):
They can be believe that we don't even have neighbors.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
I know, I know that.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
You pointed out the Lions matchup, which is obviously, you know,
a month away, But the Giants have a decent amount
of tough defenses coming up.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
I mean the Eagles this week.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
You know, they obviously were not that great in Week six,
but as we mentioned before, Jalen Carter's back, Quinia Mitchell,
will be in this game, and unfortunately a familiar face,
and Brandon Graham is undecided to unretire of course.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
For this week, come back just Giants, so I expect
he's been in practice all week. He will shocked. If
he will.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
I think the Eagles will be will put out a
better defensive performance. Now that doesn't mean the Giants won't
still be able to score points. I think the Giants
will be able to drive on them and score points.
But I do expect the Eagles defense to perform better
next week. And then next week you have the forty
nine Ers with Robert Sala having that forty nine Ers
defense looking like the forty nine Ers defense of a
few years ago, and that's without Bosa and Fred war.

(49:01):
The Bears defense does not concern me too much. But
the Packers defense, you know, not perfect, but that defensive
front Michael Parsons, we all obviously have plenty of familiarity
with him.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Then the Detroit game.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Then the week after that is the Monday night game
against the Patriots, where the Patriots events far from perfect,
but they have probably the best run defense in the
NFL right now.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
So the Patriots that is just a very tough I mean.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
We knew this coming into the year, our schedule was
very tough, but just on the defensive side of ball,
there those are some tough matchups to come up. Obviously,
you don't want to look ahead. The focus is on
this week. But yeah, we're gonna find out. I mean,
obviously the early results have been very good for Jackson Dart,
but he's gonna have a tough stretch to really show

(49:48):
what he can do. But to what you said, Paul,
I think that again, not to soften the blow from
last week at all, but the one thing, one of
the things that I really picked up after last week's
game is that there are very few teams with the
way that the Giants are playing with Jackson Dart under center.
There are very very few teams out there where going

(50:09):
into the game, it's going to feel like the Giants
have no chance at winning because right now, Jackson Dart
has the offense playing like one of the best offenses
in the NFL, which they have been since he took over,
which has you know, revitalized the defense, given the defense
a boost. So I don't know if, really, if there's
any team in the NFL where I'm going into the game,

(50:31):
anyone's going to be able to say the Giants have
no chance at winning this game, which we've heard that
plenty the last couple of years.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
Jessica, thanks for the phone call. Please call again, you too,
Thank you, Jessica. I think it bears notation here that
both Brian Dable and Mike Kafka were very accurate in
making sure they threw some portas out to the offensive line.
Oh yeah, which has clearly improved as the season has
gone on. And Andrew Thomas got back into the line up.

(51:00):
No coincidence, folks, No coincidents at all. John Michael Schmidtz
has actually played better this year and more consistently as well.
And now he's back off concussion protocol and expected to
start against Philadelphia. Folks, I'm just gonna tell you my
magic word is happening. The offensive line is functional again.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Yeah, and Jackson Dart has played obviously a very big
role of that. The offensive line has helped Jackson Dart,
but Jackson Dart has also helped the offensive line.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Having a mobile.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
Quarterback that is able to move around, really move around
the pocket, to scramble outside the pocket and make plays.
That helps ease the burden a little bit of the
offensive line. They don't have They know, they don't have to,
you know, win every block for you know, five plus seconds,
which kind of felt like was the case in the
early part of the season.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
Jackson Dart opened things up for everyone. The yards after
contact by Cam Scattaboo have helped as well.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
Again, having an improvement at quarterback has helped everything. And
it's not, you know, I'm not saying that Jackson is
the reason the offensive lines and better. It's they've it's
mutually beneficial. They've been both been helping each other significantly.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Is spider web Matt the spider web that.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
Has led to scatabooze you know, positive results, has led
to the passing game looking great, which, as Jessica reminded us,
without Molik Neighbors, without Darius Slayton in the last couple
of weeks. So just overall, obviously the offense is jelling
right now. That's what we love to say. Let's hopefully
keep it going.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Two YouTube comments and then I got another phone call
I want to get to before the program is over?
Is it wild Bill? And YG says, Hey, what's the
most important matchup to keep an eye on for this game?
I would think there are certainly several. But for me,
if John Michael Schmid's coming out of the concussion protocol
can play as well as we've seen him play in

(52:49):
the last few games, he's going to need to do
that to at least contain the impact of Jalen Carter,
because Carter impact your running game, Henny impacts your quarterback,
so he's got two ways that he can hurt you.
Much like Dexter Lawrence. He's right up there among the

(53:10):
top defensive tackles is Carter in the league. So I'm
going to say if you wanted one one on one
matchup that the Giants would really love to win or
at least draw JMS for me against Jalen Carter because
that has an impact on both Skataboo and Tracy and
Singletary and also on Jackson Dark.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
Yeah, that was the one on one matchup I was
gonna mention as well, So I agree with you there
for not necessarily talking just one on one. I would
say the run defense versus the Eagles run game would
be the biggest you know, I guess aspect of the
game matchup to keep an eye on. Now, the run
game has been better overall last week took a little

(53:55):
bit of a step back compared to the two weeks
prior against the first game against the Eagles. The game
against the Saints, the Giants run defense was so much
better than the first month of the season.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
JK.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
Dobbins had some success last week. Bo Nicks obviously had
some success on the ground last week. But despite that,
one thing is so obviously the Giants will be facing
Saquon Barkley.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
We know this.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
Saquon having a down year, among the worst seasons of
his career, He's still a lethal threat. You know that
is not someone that could be overlooked just because his
numbers are not quite good up to this point. One
thing I saw on NGS that something I think it
will definitely need to keep an eye on is Saquon

(54:39):
Barkley has averaged four point two yards per carry on
runs to the outside this year, and that is a
big drop from where he was last year. Last year
he was at six point six on the outside runs
four point two this year. But on in Week six,
he had five carries for forty three yards when running
outside against the Giants, an average of just over eight

(55:01):
and a half yards per carry overall on the season,
the Giants have been very bad at defending runs to
the outside. They have allowed the highest success rate of
any defense in the last decade with runs on the outside.
And if I was able to find this out and

(55:21):
talk about it, you better believe the Eagles are well
aware of this and will probably look to take advantage
of that.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
So the overall run.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
Defense, and you know Deontay Banks and Dane Belton, if
they're playing for Holland and Adebo in the secondary, you
know that's gonna to them are going to need to
step up in the run game. You know, one of
the callers said before there was a play where you know,
Banks took a bad angle last week and allowed a
big gain. We can't have that this week because Saquon

(55:51):
is gonna be able to take advantage of that, and
he will take advantage of that. You better believe, especially
after being limited on the in production the last time
against the you better believe he's gonna want to come
out and you know, have his quote unquote revenge game,
even though he may not admit that, but this game
obviously has added importance for him.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
Well, I think Cam Scataboo, who outed Barkley the last time,
would love to do it again. And the Eagles are
last in the NFL in rush defense on runs directly
up the middle forty one attempts for over six yards
of carry. Now, Carter missed two games, so that's part
of it. But if the Giants are able to pulverize

(56:33):
the interior of the Eagles rush defense with Skataboo, you
know that actually could even be as important as whatever
Barkley may try to do to the outside. I agree, folks.
Scott Young from YouTube chimes in says, I'm confident in
quote all Flott. He's been greatly improved. There is absolutely

(56:53):
no question about that. And Fabian for Manhattan is on
the line, and we'll sneak in here. As the last
caller on the show.

Speaker 8 (57:00):
Oh hello, hey you guys, Thanks for taking the call.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
Yes, sir, thanks for calling.

Speaker 8 (57:04):
Yeah, so, you guys kind of glanced over one of
the points I want to talk about with these tight ends, Paul.
Back when Russ was starting, I commented on your live
I said I want to see all the tight ends
on the field at once, and you agreed with me.
And I think at the time that we only had
three on the active roster. I may be wrong, but
I love what I'm saying from Bellinger, and no one

(57:25):
really talks about that pass he dropped.

Speaker 4 (57:27):
In the end zone.

Speaker 8 (57:29):
I think that would have been amazing. If Pe would
have came up with that, it would have been a
whole different conversation. But I love what I'm saying from
that standpoint.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Yeah, I've always been in favor. Again, depending upon the matchup.
I don't think you do it all the time every week,
but depending upon the matchup, I like going with the
heavy personnel package, a lot of double tight ends, and
on occasion, depending upon the situation in the game, I
don't mind going heavy with the three tight ends or
even an extra alignment as the third tight end. I'm

(58:00):
a bully ball kind of guy. That's just old school.
And I do think that we have found over the
last couple of years of the NFL, the more successful
teams that are making the playoffs are teams that can
run more power run game, and can be more physical
and be more forceful and aggressive and nasty along the
line of scrimmage. And that's what usually happens when you

(58:23):
go to a heavy formation one hundred percent. I mean again,
I know we discussed this a few minusgo. But the
tight ends are really going to have a big impact
in the run game, for sure. They have the last
couple of weeks. It's led to Scataboo's you know, improved production.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
But and I was starting to say this before and
got cut off, but the Eagles have been tremendous at
stopping tight ends. In the passing game, tight ends have
not been able to basically catch anything. The Eagles are
third in the league only through seven games. They've allowed
a total of two hundred and twenty receiving yards to
the tight ends this year. That's the third lowest in

(58:56):
the league. They've only allowed twenty eight receptions one touchdown.
I do think THEO and Bellinger can still have a
big impact in this game, and it would be in
the run game.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
The overall blocking pass protection. I just don't know.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't know how much
they'll be able to add in the passing game itself
in terms of that matching pass in this matchup, in
this matchup alone, I'm obviously we've seen the last couple
of weeks what they could do in other matchups, but
just in this matchup, it might be up to the
receivers and to just Jackson start to make plays himself yep.
In order to move the ball through the air against

(59:30):
this team.

Speaker 1 (59:30):
Folks, we got to get to the locker room. Practice
just ended, so we are going to depart. That'll do
it for this edition, A Big Blue Kickoff Live presented
by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New York
Football Giants. And as always, we have come to you
from the Giants Podcast Studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Hills
Keep getting Better. Sunday in Philadelphia, one o'clock kickoff Giants

(59:53):
and Eagles. Don't forget the Wfan pregame show starts at
eleven AM. The postgame show follows, and also post game
live on MSG. As soon as the game is over,
you can flip it over on your TV down MSG
and we'll have all the live coverage for you there
and Giants dot Com and Giants dot Com as well.
And it's right. Hopefully all the mechanisms will be working correctly.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Lastly, because an MSG problem now that Giants dot Com
from that is true, I just set all the mechanisms
that includes everybody for Matt Sidetech on Paul Tatino, we'll
see you next time.