Big Blue Kickoff Live 10/6 | Giants vs Saints Review

Madelyn Burke and Shaun O’Hara review the Giants vs Saints game, talk about the wide receiver room, and take calls from fans.

0:00 - Saints review

12:10 - Calls

19:00 - More on the Saints

31:20 - More calls

45:40 - Wide receivers

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a Big Blue kickoff Line. Nobody can
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on Giants dot Com.

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The Giants Mobile App.

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Seventeen one tun down.

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We all, we're all tapering it. We'll happen.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Part of the Giants Podcast Network. Let's go on a craze.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
Dog has a hot Welcome to today's episode of Big
Blue Kickoff Line, presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle
of the New York Football Giants. My name is Madeline
Burg alongside the Super Bowl champion Sean O'Hara. The phone
number here is two A one nine three nine four
five one three. Where you can find us on social
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(00:46):
archive of this show in our entire podcast network on
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Podcast Studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting Better.
It is Monday, October sixth, and that is really what
the Giants are trying to do here. Sean, keep getting.

Speaker 5 (01:06):
Better easier said than done right now. Heidi Hoe partner.
We got a heavy lift today. That was that was
a tough one. Dona Nola. Yeah, it started out great,
it did. You know, also a great start. Jackson Dart
was throwing darts. I mean those first two touchdown past
the THEO looked amazing and it looked like, man, this

(01:26):
offensive role. Yea, here they go. And at fourteen to
three you just felt like, okay, this is great. Now
we're going to drop the hammer, you know, put this
game on ice, and it just completely unraveled. And it
was all self inflicted. That's what I think is so hard.
This was not you know, oh my gosh, we got
out coached or out schemed or it was simple stuff.

(01:48):
It was basics stuff that you wouldn't think would be
happening right now in the season. But there are these
are growing pains. These are growing pains that you get
with young players. Camp Skattaboo puts the ball on the ground,
goes the other way. I mean, worst case scenario, you
would think, all right, we fumbled the ball, they fall
on it. Defense out there a sudden change, maybe we
get to stop holding to a field goal. But the

(02:09):
to go the other way huge, and then Jackson Dart
just literally running with the ball in one hand and
it slips, squirts right out like a bananas. Yeah, you know,
those are things that just I mean they wreck you.
And penalties too, I mean, there were a lot of
self inflicted wounds in this game. And it's really tough
because it's a game that they very well had a

(02:31):
chance to win on the road going down there. I mean,
they did everything right, start fast, they win, no huddle,
scored in the red zone both times, boom, That's like
the recipe for a win on the road. And then
they just didn't finish it well.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
And especially when you think about with a young quarterback
like Jackson Dart in there, it felt like as a
viewer you could see that when things started to get
out of control, when the mistakes started piling up, the
confidence level of the team as a whole, the body
language faded. Is that something that you know, have you

(03:04):
experienced that is that like the veteran players need to
kind of I mean you see, you know Aaron Stinny
kind of talking to the guys on the sideline saying, hey,
you know, like whatever gas not the younger players, but
the mental game is almost just as important as the
physical right be a goalfitch. Okay, yes I made that mistake. Yes,
I know better than to just hold the ball and
you know, and drop it like that. I know better

(03:24):
than these certain moments for all of these players. I'm
not singling out anyone, but when those mistakes start piling up,
does that get too big? At Sometimes I think.

Speaker 5 (03:34):
This locker room and we've seen the veteran leadership on
this team. You know, I didn't see any of that
on this team. I didn't see anybody you know, pointing fingers. No,
obviously the young players. Look, they took ownership, they took accountability.
After the game, you know, Jackson Dart said to himself,
so I don't I think that they handled all that
adversity well from a you know, a sideline. Hey, we're

(03:55):
still in this, we're still together standpoint. I didn't feel
like there was any fractures in that moment. But it
just seems like, you know, usually in games like that, hey,
something happens, the momentum, you can find a way to
kind of get the train back on the tracks. And
every single time they started, you know, it seemed like
they were getting okay, Hey, they're getting control of the
game again, Boom, something else bad happened. And it was

(04:15):
a different player every time. You know, it was a
drop pass, it was a defensive penalty, it was a
brain fart on defensive coverage leads to a big play,
and ultimately those big plays, you know, Look, my rookie
year in Cleveland, Chris Palm used to come in and say, guys,
after every single game, there will be three, four, maybe
five plays that we will come back in here and

(04:37):
look at and say, this is why we won, and
this is why we lost. And those four plays ended
up in touchdowns for the Saints, and that's why you
lose the game. And it's four plays literally.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah, And I mean that fifth turnover, which while unfortunate,
was one that you kind of it's almost practically a pun.
You're going forward on fourth down, you're kind of chucking
it up there. Yeah, they get the ball essentially the
same part that you wouldn't have been able to pinot
there with a punt from that field position.

Speaker 5 (05:03):
So you're talking about the interception. Whereat rolled out. So
the problem I have with that play is fourth and
six and he had bo Collins on a crossing route
and if Jackson Dart gets the ball out right now,
hits him and strive, he's going to make the first
down and get out of bounds. And he just never
saw him. His eyes were down the field because as
soon as he started to run, he immediately started looking downfield.
If he had just hit bo Collins on that crossing route,

(05:24):
it's a first down.

Speaker 4 (05:25):
But does some of that come with You know, by
the time you're at that point in the game and
things are so out of control, you're not seeing things
with that level set that you go into the game with,
you're seeing things with more of a sense of urgency
and of a oh God, I got to make something
big happen here instead of just okay, one chunk at
a time.

Speaker 5 (05:41):
Yeah, I think you know, whenever you get into that situation,
and Jackson Dart's been in this before, he's putting that
quarterback his whole career, it's don't don't always think you've
got to make the touchdown. Throw it's game situation. Hey,
it's fourth down. I got to get the first down,
So it's first down to touchdown. If the touchdowns there
and it's wide open up, absolutely you take it. But
you take the first down. Initially, that should always be

(06:02):
your first option to move the sticks to keep it going.
When you're down two scores, you can't get back in
the game with one throw, So it's you've got to
have layered a thought process in that. Look, first down
is most important right now. And you know the interception
at the end of the game, so we're saying, hey,
five turnovers, that interception, we talked about a fourth down,
better decision, Maybe they get the first down and then

(06:24):
the touchdown. The other interception at the end of the game,
I thought Bo Collins stopped running, so Jackson Dart, look,
it was a questionable throw, but he throws the ball
where he thinks the receiver is going to keep running
to and your receiver stops short and doesn't finish the route,
and now it's a pick. So those you know, those
two interceptions are two totally different things. I think the

(06:46):
one on fourth down was on Jackson Dart. The last
one I put that on the receiver. But those are
all I mean, that's part of the growth, the growth
process of young players, and it sucks when you lose.
It sucks to hear that, and it sucks as a
player to know, like all right, I'm taking my lumps,
and the team's got to suffer with me, you know.

(07:08):
And Giants fans, you know, look, I realized that their
patients is below sea level.

Speaker 6 (07:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
And the best part, though, is whether you're a young
player a veteran player, the first thing you want to
do when you suffer a loss like that is get
back on the field and yeah, get a short week,
get another one quick?

Speaker 5 (07:23):
Can we get another one?

Speaker 4 (07:24):
How quick? Can we get another one? Luckily, very quickly.
Both of these teams, the Giants and the Eagles, both
coming off a loss. Of Eagles coming off a loss
in which they gave up eighteen points eighteen unanswered points
in the fourth quarter the Broncos came back and beat
them their first loss of the season. The Giants coming
off a loss in which twenty three unanswered points from
the Saints and giving Kellen Moore and Spencer Ratler his

(07:45):
first win as a starter. Both these teams coming to
look into this game of like, all right, let's get
back on track. For the Giants and for a young
team like this, though, when you look at the coachable
moments and how eager this group is to turn it around,
it's a tough opponent in Philly. But how do you

(08:06):
assess this one?

Speaker 5 (08:07):
Well, I think, look, anytime you have a divisional game,
like you're automatically amped up, and so the divisional game, I
don't care if it's a short week, long week, London,
you know, overseas wherever. You're juiced up for this. And
the fact that the Eagles, look, they're defending super Bowl champions,
so they're divisional opponents, super Bowl champs, and they've kicked
our butt the last couple of years. So this is

(08:28):
I mean, this is all hands on deck. I have
zero concern about this team being ready to play. You're
gonna be amped up and ready to rock. Obviously they're
coming off of a loss too. You brought up the
fourth quarter. They've been struggling to close out games all season,
the Eagles have, so I feel like, look, the Giants
didn't play well in the fourth quarter either, but now

(08:49):
you're getting to the part of the season where you
know it's get the game into the fourth quarter and
find a way to win. The game is not over
in the second quarter or the third quarter. You can't
go up fourteen to three. The Giants just experienced that
and all of a sudden think all right, hey we
got the game. No, there's a lot of football. You
have to play four quarters. The Eagles found that out,
the Giants found that out. I think the big thing

(09:10):
will be for the Giants defense. Look, they got they
got to eliminate the big plays here, but more importantly,
they've got to stop the run. They came into the
Saints game with the NFL worst six point one yards
allowed on the ground per carry. I think it was
five and a half against the Saints. But that's going

(09:30):
to be you know, mission number one. Stop Saquon Barkley,
Stop Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Who they're going to have and both have had uncharacteristically
low numbers compared to last season in which you know,
they won a super Bowl. The Eagles are finding a
way to win. But the numbers statistically, if you look
at what Jalen Hurts is doing, it's you know, it's good,
it's not comparative to what he's done last year. A
Saquon Barkley, it's good, but he's averaging three point two
yards per carry. That's much lower than what you'd expect.

Speaker 5 (09:58):
Instead, the track meet they were putting on display last year.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
They're finding ways to win rather than dominating. And like
you mentioned, you know this this week, the Broncos were
able to capitalize and come back in the fourth quarter.
The week Pryor prior, the Bucks really kind of mounted
a comeback. They almost came back and won that one,
didn't quite finish it, but it seemed like the Eagles
left room for them to close that gap late in
the game.

Speaker 5 (10:23):
So they should have lost to the Rams too.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
Right, So this isn't like an unstopable Yeah, so there
anytime you get on the field in an NFL game,
it's it's a winnable opportunity if you're prepared and you're
you're ready for it.

Speaker 5 (10:37):
Yeah, I think one of the big factors obviously turnovers.
Giants are minus five right now, yea, Eagles are plus five.
So that's a huge swing right there. So as much
as you know Eagles fans are complaining about their lack
of production offensively, they're not call from the ball up,
they're not turning it over. So that's a big part
of this game. But look, Thursday night football right here
I met Life. You know, this place, this place should

(10:59):
be rocking. You know, I think the last time that
they were here, you know, with the home victory, that
place felt like it felt like yeah, Giants fans, you know,
we're into it, so we get go. And then opening
drive touchdown that was huge. So they need that same
kind of start at home on Thursday night.

Speaker 4 (11:17):
Start strong and maintain it, and you know, if there's
a hiccup along the way, get back, get right back
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(11:39):
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subscribe You know the deal to a one nine three
nine four five one three is the phone number. Let's
head to the phone lines. They're lighting up. Start with
Scott in New Mexico. Scott, welcome to Big Blue Kickoff Live.

(12:00):
You're on the show with Sean and Madelin.

Speaker 7 (12:02):
A guys, good afternoon. I think you're both be very
relevant points. The thing that concerns me, though, is the
status of the defense and why they're having the issues
they're having. Their defensive line was ranked like third best
right now in the NFL. However, they're giving up almost

(12:26):
three hundred and eighty yards per game, which I don't
personally understand. When you have that kind of front floor.
That means that your players playing in the back of
them are not doing the job and they're tackling, as
we've talked about in Umpty times, is not where it's
supposed to be. So what is the problem. Why can't

(12:49):
they put a cohesive defense together? Because you're not going
to win in the NFL if your defense is suspect
and it appears to be watching the game, they just
can't seem to control the big play, nor can they
control you know, when it's when it's essential to stop someone.
And I follow life and we do not understand why

(13:11):
that defense is struggling in the way they are. Perhaps
you have an answer that I'm not seeing, but it
seems every time I watch the game and I'm seeing
what are they doing? And I think the points you
made were both of you were relevant. But at the
end of the day, your defense is going to be
determining who's going to win the football game generally speaking.

(13:33):
So what is the major problem? What do you What
do you see that I don't see?

Speaker 5 (13:39):
Thanks for the call, Scott, Yeah, Scott, appreciate that. I think. Look,
it's not one thing. It's not something like, hey, this
is the obvious situation or the obvious issue that would
be easy to fix. You know, it's a conglomeration of
different errors. It is, you know, guys coming down not
inserting the right gap, and now you've got you know,
a running back hitting a gap, you know, full speed,

(14:00):
and now he's into the backfield, you know, So it's
you know, it's angles. There have been some mistackles. I
think also the Giants have been playing. I think they
play more man coverage than any defense in the elite.
So when you play a man coverage, guess what. Now,
all of a sudden you have guys with their backs
to the ball. So now you're more susceptible to quarterback scrambles.

(14:20):
You know. The rushing yards and the stat that I
said before about six yards to carry, they've given up
a lot of rushing yards to the quarterbacks, and some
of that is scrambles, some of that quarterback design runs,
but it's a lot of different factors. And look, I
think that's one of the things that is a little
befuddling because when the Giants hired Chain Bowen, the whole

(14:41):
point of bringing him in was we're gonna stop the run.
He has been phenomenal. His track record in Tennessee against
the run was outstanding, and that was part of the
reason why he came to the Giants, and that was
gonna be one of the big strong suits of this defense.
So it's odd to see that, you know, and with
the guy like Dexter Lawrence in front and Nuna's broach
came back, and with Burns and Thibodeau. You know, there's

(15:04):
been a lot of times where man, they've been extremely stout,
but they have allowed a lot of big runs. There
was a couple of big runs against the Chargers, and
you know, those things inflate the stats even you know,
they make it look even worse. But look, it's an issue. Look,
the run game is an issue, and the deep passing
play has been an issue.

Speaker 4 (15:24):
And I'll add the penalties to the Giants came into
Week five tied leading the league with defensive penalties, and
you know, Shane Bowen earlier today was talking to the media,
He's like, you know, we got to do better job
at not panicking down the field, you know, when we
got to find some comfort when we're on body and
being able to locate the football in that moment turn
the head around instead of just you know, worrying so

(15:45):
much about getting that position. And a lot of that
comes with getting back to the fundamentals of getting the
feel for when you're on body, when the ball's coming,
when you need to turn your head around, and when
the moment is are those things and.

Speaker 5 (15:56):
In some of those some of those penalties, there was
two of them in the second quarter. It was Drew Phillips,
you got called for a hole, then he kind of
jammed in the slot. And then there was another one
on paulse and Thedebo. It was legal contact. It happened
at six yards, which you're only allowed five yards. So
you know, those are things that you've got to eliminate
because now it's automat first down. That the one thing

(16:18):
that I've always felt like offensively, if we can convert
on third downs and stay on the field. Now the
defense starts to get a little tired, that's when you
can run the ball. So the fact that the Giants
have struggled on third down via penalty giving up a
second and long, third and long, when you've got them
bottled up and you should be able to get off
the field. Now they get another set of downs. Now
all of a sudden, you're a little fatigued. And I

(16:39):
think that's you know, one of the toughest things to
do is stop the run when you're tired. So if
they get off the field and three and out, three
and out, now the defense stays fresh. Now they got
a little more vinegar, and they're they're attacking a little
bit differently. So that's one of the things that they
can do is get off the field.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
And that Chargers game two third down was the market improvement.
And then you go back to New Orleans three of
ten on their down and it's you know, it's tough
to put pinpoint exactly what the struggle is there.

Speaker 5 (17:06):
Yeah, and I think that the biggest surprise defensively really
was the lack of the pass rush. They did a
great job. You have to give the Saints credit. They
were not going to let Spencer Rattler stand back there
in five seven step drops and burk the baby and
get get waylaid. They had a rookie at left tackle
in Banks. The right guard was inactive, Caesar Ruiz, So
they were down a couple of guys and they had

(17:27):
a good game plan. They were chipping with the tight
ends they had it. They were sliding, you know, one way,
and chipping with the running back on the other side.
So they did a good job.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
And they got the ball too. Spencer Ratler did.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
Because you saw it was out in two to three seconds.

Speaker 4 (17:41):
Yeah, there were some moments in which you thought, you know,
hadd he held the ball. Another beat player would have
gotten home Darius Alexander. We saw he did get to
the quarterback, but it wasn't counted as a sack because
Spencer Ratler was on the run, very close to his
first NFL sack. But you see those moments, Like you said,
the pressure and the way that the Saints adjusted for
that pass rush was effective.

Speaker 5 (18:01):
Yeah, they weren't gonna let They weren't gonna let what
happened to the Chargers happened to them. Now they saw
the fire, and they're like, all right, we got to
find a way to put that fire out and slow
it down. And they did a good job of that.

Speaker 4 (18:12):
They just didn't start the fire, did all right? Anyways,
Giants fans, The Giants Foundation will host a five K
race and kids run presented by Quest on Sunday, October
twenty sixth at nine am at MetLife Stadium. Net pro
seeds will benefit the Giants Foundation. All participants will receive
a commemorative T shirt and after the race stay for

(18:34):
a post race festival with appearances by Giants Legends and
a live DJ. Register now at giants dot com Slash
five k to run or walk with Sean O'Hara and friends.
Giants Foundation is a five O one C three nonprofit corporation.
I'll head back to the phone lines to a one
nine three nine four five one three is the phone number.
Jacob in Binghamton. Jacob, welcome to the show. You're on

(18:56):
Big Blue Kickoff Live with Sean and Madeline.

Speaker 7 (19:00):
How you doing doing great?

Speaker 8 (19:01):
How are you good? Just a few questions for you,
trying to keep it a little bit more lighthearted, even
though that's not really how I feel. Not really sure
who has the final say in the fifty three, but
going into another game with fifty one guys on the roster,
it's hard for me to believe that Gable wouldn't like
to have like a third running back. And I know

(19:22):
he addressed it in his press conference saying kind of
making a joke like it's two running backs, so down
then we don't have running backs. Why would we not
elevate someone for that third spot or bring up another
wide receiver when we just lost one.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
That's my first puntion you guys, well, I would say too,
even if you do elevate fifty three players, you still
only have forty seven active on game day, correct, Sean,
So not everyone gets a jersey. So at this point,
you know you're elevating a player to the fifty three,
but then perhaps you know you should make another player
inactive to make them active on game day. So that's

(19:57):
also something to be put into consideration there.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
The issue also is, you know, with the injury to Guano,
they've been activating and deactivating, so they they kind of
flexed him again up from the practice squad and they're
kind of, you know, doing some musical chairs with all
of that. I think they're hoping Tyrone Tracy will be
back shortly, so I know he's kind of waiting in

(20:23):
the wings. But yeah, I mean that. I mean I
don't know, like what are we doing here? We're talking
about the roster, like like you know, you have to
deactivate guys on a Friday, and then you can only
dress so many guys, so it doesn't matter if you
have fifty one or fifty three. But I think you know,
going into that game, they were adamant about we need

(20:44):
extra tight ends. You know, the receiver situation was what
it was. But you know, I don't I don't think
that really what does that mean? What did it do?
I mean, I don't understand why that's an issue and
why people are bringing that up like that had zero impact.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
On the game.

Speaker 8 (20:59):
Yeah, I wasn't really bringing up as it had an
effect on a game because us having a third running
back or a fifth during wide receiver isn't going to
change the outcome of the game.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
Just more as.

Speaker 8 (21:08):
Malpractice, like where he said, like what happened? If I
understand you, they they had talked about Wandale being our
third string running back, but one of the so.

Speaker 5 (21:18):
What's usually hurt so where's the malpractice. I don't understand,
like you think that Brian Dable and would just have
to spend hours thinking about all of these situations, the scenarios,
what happens if this guy goes out, what happens if
this guy's out? Okay, what is who is our third
running back? You don't think that they went through all
those scenarios, And.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
I think, Jacob to your point at Dingle's.

Speaker 8 (21:35):
Comment on this, I'm saying they do go through those scenarios.
But yeah, like if as Wandell as our second string
running back, like a great idea.

Speaker 5 (21:42):
I just want to understand, like he would be the
third thing.

Speaker 4 (21:44):
Guys, Yeah, just like just like for example, if you
know your quarterbacks get injured, and you remember, you know,
a couple of years ago there was a point in
time where Saquon was under center having to run a play.
You know, sometimes you have to have in case of
emergency break last situations, but you're not expecting that emergent urgency.
Davil's comment as you referred to about the well, sometimes
both running backs get injured and that's something you have

(22:05):
to deal with. You have to have well in the
worst case scenario, just like in hockey, they have an
emergency goalie somewhere in the building. Maybe he's work in
the concession stand. I don't know, you don't hope that
that's the case. But in case of emergency, you have
these options. But you can only have so many players
active with a jersey on game day. So some of
these situations you have to go into the game saying,

(22:27):
all right, well, hopefully this circumstance won't call for that
break glass.

Speaker 5 (22:31):
Yeah. And the other aspect to this too that you
have to think about is special teams. So you have
the guys that dress on game day, they have to
contribute on special teams as well. So when you look
at the Giants dress for Doni and Manhurtz, THEO and Bellinger,
So they had four tight ends. Most teams probably do three.
But you know, unless I'm missing another tight end, it

(22:54):
was it was four. So you know the Wandel Robinson
would be your third running back. You know, that's you know,
in case both running backs went down ahead of them.
I think that's very low probability. But those are things
that week to week you kind of have to figure out, like, Okay,
this week is different, We're gonna have to. We're gonna
address four tight ends. We're gonna use a lot of heavy,

(23:14):
heavy tight end packages because Molie Neighbors is out, So
we're going to kind of change the way we do
things offensively. And that was the plan going forward. And
I don't see I don't see any issue with that.
I don't think that was negligence by any by any means.
You know, if you said, hey, we didn't have a
plan for a third running back, Okay, maybe now I
could say, well, maybe you should have thought about that,

(23:35):
but I guarantee you they go through all those situations.
That is something that every single coaching staff goes through
every week, and it changes every week based on injuries.

Speaker 8 (23:45):
I'll just thank for siding on that. I didn't know
the actual rules with the fifty three that there was
only forty seven or forty eight. I think she said
that are active.

Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah, forty I believe, yeah, because there's six. Usually right
before the game you'll get a list of the inactives
and the COREA and yeah, the third quarterback. And you know
that's why you see oftentimes you know, alignment are inactive
because you can only really have so many active on
a game day.

Speaker 5 (24:08):
Yeah. The reason why they do that too, just so
you know, is so that you don't have a team. Hey,
if all fifty three guys are healthy and this team
has five guys hurt, now they're going into the game
shorthanded and we're only playing with, you know, forty seven players.
That's why they reduced a number so that it keep
it even on game day.

Speaker 8 (24:24):
Yeah, thank you. And then the second one, I'll just
take the answer answer off there. Okay, it seemed like
and I haven't seen the tape and I don't get
to pay for anything like that, but it seemed like
just watching from home.

Speaker 4 (24:33):
Wait, hold on, it's a lot of play. I'll be
right back, Jacob. Not to be rude. Sean is swapping
out for John Schmelk, So I will listen to your
question as they make the put, as they make the change,
but go ahead. A lot of plays.

Speaker 8 (24:44):
It seemed like there was a lot of plays just
watching from home, where Dark had It seemed like the
offensive line first off, gave him a substantial amount of
time or an adequate amount of time behind the pocket,
and it seemed like there was a lot of plays
where he was in the pocket and he had time
to go through his reads. There was nothing there that
we saw. And you know, maybe you guys watching the tape,
you'll obviously find a few plays where there's some hoping

(25:07):
receivers that he made his missed. But it seemed like
there was plays where he went through his progressions, rolled
out of the pocket, extended the play. There still wasn't anything,
and he tried to force something or just ran it
or And I've seen people saying we need to sign
a receiver to get through the season, and in my opinion,
not much as the win games or to be competitive,

(25:27):
but just for Dark's growth and to not hurt his development.
It would be a good idea that maybe bring some
more guys in. All right, well, I'll take that off there.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
All right, thanks for the call, Jacob, And for those
watching wondering what just happened, Sean O'Hara has an interview
to do quickly, so John Schmelk is stepping in for
Sean for the time being exactly, no no notes. And
for those listening who can't see the swap and are wondering, wait, Sean,
your voice suddenly sounds different. John Schmelk is now joining

(25:58):
the show. And as Jacob was at I got to
point out when I walked in here to the building
this morning, Schmilk was deep in the film. So I'll
let you take this one here.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, and I actually I've not gone to the defense yet.
I did watch the offense, and that's what Jacob's question
was about. So Jacob, what I'll tell you is that
there were opportunities down the field. And to your point,
the offense of mine author did do a pretty good job.
Jermina Luminor probably had his worst game this year, but
it still wasn't that bad. He played still only give
up I think it was two pressures in the game, maybe.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
Three penalties though from seventy two, which is unfortunately.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
He did and looked there was pressure on a couple
of plays. Well, for the most part, Jackson Dart did
have time to throw the football and there were some
opportunities down the field. And look, this is what we
talked about with him coming out right, He's coming from
a system in college where a lot of the reads
are predetermined. Maybe he is the wrong word, but they're
simplified for you. And then that'll miss system, which is
why it's such a good system. This is not Lane
Kiffin's fall. This is not true. It was Junior's fault.

(26:47):
You're trying to win games and score points in college
and that's what they're doing. And I think he's going
to need a little bit more seasoning here so that
he can I don't know. Again, I'm not a Jackson
darts head. I'm not in the meetings. Everyone has said
he has good vision, he sees it. He's just not
getting to it. Then, whatever the reason might be, there
are some guys that have been opened on some of
these plays that he has not gotten to, Like on

(27:08):
that interception down the field to Hiatt bo Collins is
shallow dragon, and not even just at the end of
the play, in the middle of the play when he's
in the pocket, he's open. There was a play earlier
when he gets slain on a crossing pattern and you
would hide in the middle of the field.

Speaker 4 (27:23):
And were some of that though, too, could be coming
from a position of pressing, a little bit of thinking like,
oh no, that you know things are getting a little
out of control, let me make a big play here
to get things on track.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
And he's a rookie quarterback exactly. That's what you're gonna
get with rookies. And that's why when we said this
at the beginning, a rookie quarterback is not going to
save you. He's not gonna save your season. He's not
gonna put a team on his back because he has
to get used to this stuff. This is not a
critique of Jackson dark No, all rookie quarterbacks go through
this where things have to be set up for them
a little bit more. That's just the way it goes.
But if he gets more experience, as he sees it

(27:55):
more and he does it more, that type of stuff
is going to get better. Now, would you like to
have more guys that can make explosive plays? Sure? To me,
the problem with this game wasn't the receivers not getting open.
It was the guys not making the plays when they
had the opportunity. Yeah, I mean Jalen Darius Slayton had
two chances in the middle of the field deep, Jalen
High had a chance on the sideline deep on another play.

(28:16):
A couple so they had they got open and again,
tip your captain offensive coaching staff, I thought, my CAF gush,
he called the hell of a game. Guys are open
a lot in this game, and they just couldn't finish
some of those plays.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
Right, And that's the thing is, you know, when you
have an opportunity like that, you got to you gotta
finish that. And Mike Kafka talked about that, Hey, we
had opportunities. You know, I've got a lot of confidence
in our receiving group, he said earlier. We had opportunities,
just didn't capitalize on them. And that's a big thing.
It's you know, what do you make from those opportunities.
You know, Hyatt had a couple of targets later in
the game, wasn't able to capitalize. You know, you mentioned Slayton.

(28:49):
You know, he had a couple of moments that he
addressed he wasn't able to capitalize. And when those things
are going awry, you know, you know, kaf Go also
have mentioned everyone's got to step up. If there's one
piece that's off, the play is not going to go
the way you want it to.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Hey, look, we did a two hour pregame show on
the radio before the game on Sunday, and probably a
quarter of it was spent talking about how they would
survive without the league neighbors. That was the big story
heading into the game, other than Jackson Dart heading into
a second start, and I will say that no one
stepped up and did what they needed to do in

(29:22):
that game. Again, just from the opportunities that were missed.
Now Philadelphia on Thursday, they'll get another chance and we'll
see if Darius Ling can even play. You remember he
left that game with the hamstring injury. To quick turnaround
soft tissue injuries three days.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
It's hard, well, and a hamstring is a tough one
to come back from. Dealt with that. Yeah, it's one
of those injuries that you'll feel good, you'll feel one
hundred percent, and then all of a sudden you'll get
back into your normal routine and it'll it'll tweak again.
That's why they got a nord board back there, which
is a very high tech machine that meant measures the
strain and ability of your hamster. I don't know now,

(29:54):
I'm getting into the week.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
That is in the weeds. I like, I don't even
know what that is.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
Bord board. Yeah, so it's not actually a board, but
it's what it's called. And you kind of get on
it and you kind of do a I don't know
how how to call it, but you know you're standing
like this, and then you bend forward and bend back
and you use your hamstrings to use that.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
So it measures the tension on the on the muscle.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
Measures the tension on the muscles, the strength exertion and
how strong and whatever. So you could feel great, but
a hamstring is a really tough one because when you
feel one hundred percent, you still have maybe a couple
of days before you actually are.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
And then if you retweak it again, then instead of
being one to two weeks, then when you retweak it,
it's four to six and that's when it gets tricky.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yeah, So we don't want any hamstring issues, especially from
guys trying to run fast down the field. Giants fans
with another impactful draft and free agency class in the books.
This means it's full steam ahead of the twenty twenty
five season. Take your fandom to the next level with
a Giants season ticket membership. Catch all the action at
MetLife Stadium with an exciting home schedule on the horizon,
including Thursday Night Football this week. And with the membership,

(30:54):
you'll also stay connected to the club all year round,
not just on game days, with exclusive member access and benefits.
So to learn more about a Giant season ticket membership.
Visit Giants dot com slash tickets to a one nine
three nine four five one three is the phone number.
It's head back to the phone lines. Lou in Pennsylvania. Lou,
Welcome to the show. You're on with John Schmelko and
Madelin Burke.

Speaker 9 (31:15):
Everyone.

Speaker 10 (31:15):
How you doing?

Speaker 4 (31:17):
How are you? Uh?

Speaker 9 (31:19):
So I have a different question. So it seems like
and I'm going from a management perspective because I feel
like when you have somebody in charge and the person
in charge is just like over energetic or it's just
the energy they put out, it seems like the team follows,

(31:39):
and it seems like sometimes Brian Dable is on the
sideline and he just like it could be the cameras,
it could be how the broadcast puts it over, but
it just seems like he's just always just going crazy.
For the most part, I don't think going crazy. That
might be saying they're wrong, but it just seems like
he's just almost two over energetic. It seems like the

(32:00):
team is feeding off it, and with the big plays,
it seems like and Carl Banks was talking about this
on the Bob Popper Show Under Believed Network that they
buy the cornerbacks of Biden, the free safety name in
the corners like on the big play. Nuben bit on
that play and he like he couldn't recover. Why is

(32:21):
that happening?

Speaker 4 (32:22):
I take the answers off.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Thank you, No, thank you lil look I mean, look,
I mean I don't think you know. Brian Dables an
emotional guy, but he's very much in control play to
play like you watch him. They're looking in his play
sheet like that that. I don't see him being an issue.
As for the Nuban play specifically, if you look at that.
I was talking to Tiki Barba about it this morning,
who I did the pre and post game with, and
he looked at it again this morning. We talked about
a lot on the post game yesterday. Are they're in quarters,

(32:44):
which is basically, you know, two safeties deep, and on
a play like that, you have the player win a
motion and then Shaheed ran a post corner where you
fake the post and then you cut off and you
run a deep corner route and Nuban has helped inside
where Jamon Holland is and Nuban has to stay outside
on that. So the reason that worked for the offense

(33:07):
for the Saints. Is that Nuban starts to follow him
on the post, flips his hips. Once the guy goes
back to the sideline, Numan has to turn again and
Rashid Shaheed's a four to three player, he's gone, and
especially says Nubman's a four to five player. So already
Shaheed has the speed on him. So Nuban has to
let him go to the post.

Speaker 11 (33:25):
Right.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
If he's got to go to the post, let your
teammate help him. That's why your teammate's there.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
Try and trust that your teammate is going to make
that play.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Do your job right. Your job there is the sideline.
And if your job is to cover Shaheed. If he
gets to the sideline and he again he'd been on
the post, we didn't have to because there's help there.
And then the guy beat him to the sideline where
there's no help. And that's how it turns into an
eighty seven yard touchdown.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
And Rashid Chied hit over twenty one miles per hour
on that play, which is the fastest anyone has.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Gotten on a Is that true? Fastest all year? Freddy
one year so far around the whole NFL.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
I mean, I guess when you've got that much green
grass to level up to speed in you had some
time there.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Look he's that's what he does though, that's what heat is.
He is a big play speed playmaker. And they got
the match up on a safety which you like, and
Nuban has to understand that, Look, this guy's faster than me.
I have to stay on top of the route. I
have to know where my help is, play the proper leverage.
And that's why fans don't want to hear this. But
this is the little small things. Yeah, that you make
a small mistake with leverage, You make a small mistake

(34:23):
on responsibility that can turn what should be an incomplete
pass or past that's never thrown because Howland's there to
help you on the post into an eighty seven yard touchdown.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
Well, and I think we're all guilty of that right.
In certain moments, you think, Okay, this is my role,
this is my you know, colleague or my teammate's role.
But every once in a while we're like, oh, let
me chime in because I have something to offer here.
I have something to help here. Instead of just saying, okay,
you know what, that's their category, let me trust that
they're going to do that. Let me focus on what
I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
And again I should point out that was Tiki's kind
of breakdown of the whole thing, and I'll, you know,
I will trust Tiki's break down. I don't know what
the coach is saying the coaches room, but I will
trust Tiki, who has done this and is a very
smart guy what he's talking about.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
Absolutely, and just crowded to that, and also just kind
of reminding people that's kind of human nature. You know,
it's hard to override that human nature when you think, Okay,
there's nothing going on over here, but my teammate over
there might need some help. Let me do that instead
of just trusting all right, just in case something's going
on over here, let me stand.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
I look, no one wants to hear from Bill Belichick
with the way UNC is playing. I get that, But
the do your job mantra rings true. Yes it does.
You have to do your job.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
Also, just the ESPN broadcast throwing shade with that interview
of a student. So I watched the TCU game. That's
the worst experience of my college career and I failed midterms.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
That was the kicker line that was the Kicker line
at the end.

Speaker 4 (35:40):
I failed midterms and I was like, wow, great, not great,
not great. Bough Anyway, well we digress. Let's let's get
back to programming.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Here.

Speaker 4 (35:49):
The Giants official connected TV streaming app, Giants TV brings
original video content and game highlights on demand and direct
a big Blue fans. Giants TV is free on Apple TV, Roku,
and Amazon fied TV and the Giants mobile apps.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
Like Johnny Mack got tired of looking at ESPN, so
we put on game shows on Fox while the show's on.
I don't blame you, dude, I really don't. Go ahead.
I'm sorry. I just thought that was funny. I think
scrabble is on right now or something like that.

Speaker 4 (36:12):
Usually, for those of you who are wondering, So where
we're sitting right now, we're facing a camera and then
Johnny Mack is up there against the wall, and there's
Big TV straight ahead of us. Right now, we got
twenty five words or less five words or less scrabble.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Never, I've never heard of twenty five wards.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
Usually we've got some sort of sports programs NFL Network.
Every once in a while, I have MLB TV. It
is the playoff.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Johnny Mack's a big twenty five wards or less fan,
you know, big fan.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
Oh wow, Now he's saying he doesn't pay attention.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
To the t unless it's on twenty five wards or less.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
Yeah, but now I mean clearly Johnny Mack is locked in. Well,
we're gonna we're gonna pull Johnny Mack away from his
game show watching to run the phone line sport Us
And so we go back to the phones to A
one nine nine four five one three is the phone number.
Sebastian and as Vegas. Sebastian, thanks for calling in. You're
on Big Blue Kickoff Lass.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
What's unme?

Speaker 4 (37:04):
Matlin?

Speaker 8 (37:06):
How are you guys doing today?

Speaker 2 (37:07):
That could be better? Sebastian? How are you?

Speaker 4 (37:09):
We're definitely you.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Can be better.

Speaker 12 (37:13):
I had two questions for you guys, just real quick,
both offense and defenses. I do just want to stay.
I'm not one for moral victories, but I didn't feel
like the other like. I didn't feel like the Saints
beat US.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
I felt like we beat our absolutely.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
Yeah. I think I don't think anybody would disagree with it.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
And that's what I said the first thing I said
in the postgame with Tiki last night Sebastian. The thing
that's most frustrating to me about this game is that
you didn't feel like, except for that Chihet play and
tip your cap, that was a big play for them,
the Saints didn't do anything all that spectacular in this
game to win it.

Speaker 4 (37:44):
And even with the Shahid play, you know, the Giants
still had to lead, the still had control of the situation,
and the Giants still you know.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Five totals.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
Yeah, I mean the Saints went for a field goal
to take the lead, they missed. The Giants get the ball,
turn it over and then give them a mulligan on
that field.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
And especially one of those was was completely unforced Jackson
dart Is letting the ball slip out of his hands.
So anyways, so ba ahead. I didnt mean they'reough to
I apologize.

Speaker 10 (38:06):
No, that's okay.

Speaker 12 (38:06):
I'm just it just sucks because, like I feel like
we are a better team than what we're showing on
the field. So for my first authensive question, it's mainly
about Jackson Dirt and just knowing about like young qbs
in the in the league and when it kind of
go into these situations on teams like I'm going to
throw some shade at like the Browns. They don't have

(38:29):
like enough of the supporting cast to kind of like
help the growth of a QB. And my issue with
Jackson Dirt right now is that I'm afraid that he's
going to develop these bad habits because of the injuries
that we have, Like now we don't have milk neighbors
Darius Slayton, which I do love him, he now he's

(38:50):
having issues as well, So I'm worried that Jackson Dart
is going to be trying to develop this like almost
hearaball mentality and which I'm very happy that palm sliding.
And I'm never sued a QB side as much as
I did yesterday. Well, but when he did, I was like, Okay,
that's improvement. But then when things started kind of falling behind,

(39:11):
and I felt like he felt the pressure of the
team like falling behind, he started to take those like
mental errors and I don't want those to be habits.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
No, Look, you're right, and losing the league neighbor's hurts.
And that's one of the questions we talked about last week.
How does the loss of elite neighbors impact darts development?
And I think that's a fair question. This week, I
don't think we saw him have bad habits because of
Mylakue neighbors his absence, he made throws to guys that
were open when they were open. For the most part,

(39:40):
I think guys, like I mentioned, I thought maybe he
didn't quite you know, get the ball where he needed
to on a couple of plays. But long term, could
we be having this conversation? Sure, I think issues on
the offensive line will probably have more of an adverse
impact than absence at wide receiver, just because you know,
constant pressure in your face. We've seen that with that
what that can do to quarterbacks before. But look, do

(40:03):
quarterbacks need guys that can consistently get open to succeed. Absolutely.
We haven't seen a team play a ton of man
to man versus the Giants yet both their teams the
last two weeks, the Chargers last week and of course
the Saints this week are heavy his own teams. The
Eagles also play a lot his own But look, this
to me is going to be a really challenging game.
Sebastian on Thursday, abeaus Vic Fangio is just wonderful. He's

(40:26):
probably the best defensive coordinator in football. They have two
excellent defensive backs in Quinney On Mitchell and Cooper Dejean
were great.

Speaker 4 (40:32):
And although they have shown the last couple of weeks
that they they start strong, but they leave room for
teams to come back.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
They do. That is true. My other worry is, and
I said this earlier Mattelin, that the Giants have protected
Jackson Dart really well the first two weeks. Yes, what
happens when they don't? And you're never going to PreTect
to see that.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Look.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
An offensive line is never going to be perfect. An
offensive line is. It's going to have bad games. It
just happens.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
And it wasn't under No, he wasn't.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
But here comes Jordan Davison Jalen Carter like they have
not faced guys like that, yes, quite yet. So I'm
curious to see against that coordinator with those corners and
those two interior pass rushers. Where Mattlin, if the Giants
have had issues up front with protection this year, it
has been in the middle more than on the edge,
especially with Andrew Thomas being back. What does that look

(41:22):
like and how does Jackson Dart handle that potential challenge,
especially on a short week against the team like the Eagle,
So that, to me, Sebastian will be a really really
nice test for him. And then, by the way, you
get the Broncos, who have a great defense the following week,
and then you get the Eagles again, So the next
three weeks I think will be really three tough challenges
for Jackson dart to see where he's at.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
Yeah, and to Sebastian's point about the loss of Malak Neighbors,
what does that do for a young quarterback, I think
one of the biggest things is it affects how he
sees the defense because of the fact that a player
like Neighbors draws so much attention from the defense that
you know you can kind of trust that there's a
little bit more leeway in another direction, Whereas when you
don't have a clear number one target in Malik Neighbors,

(42:07):
you don't have a place that you know is going
to suck the oxygen of the defense on this side
of the field, so you have a little bit more
flexibility on that side or whatnot. That changes the way
you know you're reading things.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
I would imagine he's also an easy answer, right, if
you're playing man demand defense, you know you have Molik
Neighbors one on one, guess what you're throwing it to him? Absolutely,
and Brian Dable will coach that and say, look you
have him one on one league Neighbors is getting the
football and he will make a contest to play. I
don't know if you necessarily have a guy that you
can treat that way now, Sebastian.

Speaker 12 (42:34):
Yeah, yeah, no, no, that definitely makes sense. I guess
when into that point of like the offense and the
receivers and stuff like that last play or not the
last play, but the last interception that Jackson turned through
with both Collins, that was probably the play that frustrated
me the most was because it just looked like, I'm

(42:54):
just from a visual perspective, it just looked like both
Collins just didn't want.

Speaker 8 (42:59):
To be out there.

Speaker 12 (43:00):
Maybe he did right, like, of course he wants to
be out there, but it just it looked like there
was not enough effort into that play that both Collins
was in there.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
Sebastia, thanks for the call and what I would say
on that play, Bull Collins runs the route, he sees,
the cornerback, anticipates the route. The cornerback kind of cuts
them off a little bit. So I think what boll
Collins is thinking, Now this is incorrect thinking, but what
he's thinking is that, all right, the raut's cut off.
I'm not getting the ball. It's covered. But Jackson North
throws the ball, which is why even when you're going

(43:31):
to be covered, you have to finish your route. And
if he runs through that, yeah, I just don't think
that's just a mantle. But at least he'll get a
hand on the ball and then it's not going to
get intercepted. You know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (43:39):
If you know you're not getting the ball, you still
have to sell the route. Defense doesn't know you're not
getting the ball, and the defense doesn't know that they're
not going to try to get the ball.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
It's a bad play by Bocon.

Speaker 4 (43:50):
Yeah, it's a rookie mistake by Bocllins because it's like, oh, okay,
my work here is done, so I can just stop. No,
because you are part of the orchestra.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
Of it, you know.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
And again I said this to you off the air
this morning when we were talking Tiki Barbera. One of
his phrases is that rookies do stupid things. Yeah, all right,
Jackson Dart holding a ball in one hand, it sports out,
Boclin stops on a route, it gets intercepted Cam Scataboo
and you know Jackson know those the other bids to
pick and Jackson's camp Scattaboo fumbles. The football rookies, if
you're playing a lot of rookies and you're depending on
a lot of rookies, you're going to get mistakes.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
If you're watching a drone show, right, and the drone
show is in perfect sync in the sky and da
da dah, and there's a part of the drone show
that's a focal point, right, Maybe the drone is making
a face of something, and then there's part that's not
the focal point. If one of those drones it's not
in the focal point, is not in sync, you're gonna
notice it because it's not. The key is that everything

(44:43):
has to be just so in flow. That was an
attempted analogy. I'm work shopping that one, but you get
what I'm trying to go with here.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
Have you seen a drone show recently? Is that why
it came to mind?

Speaker 4 (44:52):
I don't really actually know if I've seen one recently.
Sometimes my mind works in mysterious ways. You know I liked.
I think it makes me understand James Winston better because
when he goes off on random tangents, I'm like, I
see how you got there.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
The only drone show I saw is the one that
we did here in the off season.

Speaker 4 (45:08):
Oh yeah, a couple of years ago.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
There was one for the anniversary.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Yeah, they did a sexy dexy sack dance in the drugs.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Cool. It's very cool.

Speaker 4 (45:15):
But imagine if like one of the drones on, like
Dexter's foot wasn't in sync, Like that's not the focal
point of the drone show, but suddenly you're like, why
is that one not doing what it is? And that
it's all you're.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Looking at and your eyes go there, that's corect Yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
So it's uh, everyone's got to continue to do their role,
even if you think you're not getting the ball. Long story,
long to A one nine four five one three is
the phone number Brian in New York. Brian, Welcome to
Big Blue Kickoff Live. You're on with Shmelcolm, Madeline.

Speaker 11 (45:40):
Hey, Madeline, John, you guys do a great job.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Thank you.

Speaker 11 (45:45):
I'm pretty reserved in my takes as far as like players.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Normally, I hear a butt coming.

Speaker 13 (45:52):
But Dalen, I mean, I mean it physically makes me
ill to see Jalen hired out there every time he
gets a go go and have no confidence that he's
gonna come down with it.

Speaker 11 (46:08):
If his only if his only route to run, if
his if there's any one thing you hang on his game,
it's supposed to be the long ball. And he's got
somebody in his pocket every time, and he cannot make
a contest A contested catch would be one catches over
the last three years.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
Well, Brian, that's that's the frustrating thing, because he can't
run by people, he can't get open. But when he's
in a contested catch situation. And I was hoping that
putting on that extra eighteen twenty pounds this offseason would
help in those situations. So far, we haven't seen the results.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
He haven't seen a big sample size either.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
No, we haven't. That's true too, but we have We
have not seen a difference yet that that's made in
those contested catches.

Speaker 4 (46:50):
Yeah, Sunday people, here's the thing.

Speaker 11 (46:53):
Also, I don't feel like I don't feel like Davie
wants to put him out there. I feel like there's
just there's hole and tug between like the GM and
and gable to get to justify moving up to get
this kid. Well, look in the game you got you

(47:14):
got Bo Collins coming in before.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
Him, right, No, no, But yesterday Jalen Hyatt played more
snaps in Bo Collins. He played about forty seven percent
of the snaps and Bo Collins played about thirty eight
percent of the snaps.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
You might not have noticed Jalen Hyatt coming in before
Bo Collins because of the fact that he was targeted
earlier on in the game.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
And also they just played in the first half. I
think they played two tight ends and only two wide
receivers probably eighty percent of the time, So you really
didn't get Hyatt or Collins out there are a ton
of the first half at all because they were running
out Bellinger and THEO Johnson a lot of those two
tight ends sights.

Speaker 4 (47:46):
Too, right.

Speaker 11 (47:47):
And another thing I did see a play was that
long run on third down where Jackson Dark like basically
ran I don't know, it was like fifteen to twenty
yards to get the first down and uh, Dark guard
up and it looked to me like he told him
the block because Jalen Hyatt was just sitting there not
doing anything. I get it. You don't want to like

(48:09):
he's behind. He's behind the approaching tacklers to get up.
But you can at least make yourself, make yourself an
obstacle to get in a way so he can protest
to get more yard.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
I did not notice that on that play. I will
go back and.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
Look at anything.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
Yeah, yeah, I appreciate it, Bro, Thank you, Thank you
so much for the call. Brian appreciate it.

Speaker 11 (48:31):
Thank you guys.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
All right, I have good news for the listeners and
viewers out there. Shonahwer's backs. You can get rid ofy.

Speaker 4 (48:36):
We're passing the baton yet again. Musical chairs, musical chairs.
This is the theme song as they switch their chairs.
I am so sorry to everyone that just had to
listen to my musical stylings right there. But this is
just me stalling as I mean, listen, you didn't have

(48:56):
the headphones on while I was singing, so.

Speaker 5 (49:00):
You singing you did?

Speaker 4 (49:01):
Yeah, but I made up a song, a musical chairs
theme song. Sean O'Hara back in the chair for those
listening not watching. Thank you John Schmelk for wise insight
and uh, you know, see listen availability, next man up,
Schmelk came in. Sean had I mean, this is.

Speaker 5 (49:20):
This is great. This is like, hey, you're in the
middle of a drive. You're substituting in personnel. We went
from a you know, tight end three wides to tight
end run heavy, and now we're back to whatever maybe
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (49:30):
Now we're back to our starting formation.

Speaker 5 (49:33):
You explained where I went though, right, that wasn't like
that wasn't a.

Speaker 4 (49:36):
Code read No, No, Sean had to go do an interview.
I didn't tell them with whom because I wasn't that's
a secret or.

Speaker 5 (49:42):
No, it's not a secret. D Daniel Beliger, there you go.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Now it's out breaking news.

Speaker 5 (49:48):
You're now you're singing like a canary right now, like
you're just you're.

Speaker 4 (49:52):
Just let out all they anyway.

Speaker 5 (49:56):
Yeah, Daniel Bellinger, Daniel Bellinger bell he was great, you know. Yeah,
four catches in that Saints game, so the tight ends,
I mean, look, it wasn't even National tight end Day,
but it started to feel like with THEO getting two
quick tuddies right out of the gate, and then Belly
almost had one on that nice catch he went for
the pylon. So he's he's a really good, really good dude,

(50:16):
great player. He's so versatile. I don't think people appreciate
how hard it is to play tight end and to
block on the move. What does that mean? Okay, so
off his lineman. You're stationary, right, you're blocking the guy
right in front of you, you know, or this guy
or the linebacker, and your fire and iron stands of blocking.
Tight ends are.

Speaker 4 (50:35):
Always at the guy that you're going about to block, right.

Speaker 5 (50:37):
So you know who it is. But tight ends, they're
in motion. They're on the backside, coming across all the
way across the formation to block the defensive end on
the backside. So all of their blocking is usually on
the move, and that is so hard. It's so it's
like hitting a movie target is hard enough, but now
you're moving too. So I always give a lot of

(50:57):
love to the tight ends because they have very tough
jobs there. They really they.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Don't have a home.

Speaker 5 (51:03):
They're not receivers, but they run routes with the receivers.
They're not linemen, but they are expected to block like linemen.
They're kind of in normal. They're a hybrid. They've got
to be they've got to be good at both, and
there's just there's not enough reps in a practice to
be as great as the office of linemen in the
room blocking and as great as the receivers in all
the routes. So they they've got a tough task.

Speaker 4 (51:23):
Yeah, they have a very particular set of skills. Very well,
thank you, very dangerous to an opponent at times.

Speaker 5 (51:31):
I'll find you, will.

Speaker 4 (51:32):
Find you, and i will block you. That's what they
say going into these games. You know, and we talked
about the receivers. We had a couple of great calls
talking about that room. And you know, listen, THEO Johnson
has really stepped up in that regard a trusted target
for Jackson Dart. They've got a really good chemistry too,
not just in their handshake after the celebration all that

(51:53):
THEO has been the recipient of all three of Dart's
passing touchdowns in the NFL, but also the way that
they can municate off the field. I mean, we talked
about going into that Chargers game when they were watching
film together and he said, hey, the way that I
see this play if you sit on this instead of
actually continuing the run, and you're having the ability to
communicate and and talk about what you're seeing and coordinate

(52:15):
that going into that. That's just building good chemistry from
the start.

Speaker 5 (52:17):
Yeah, no doubt about. It's great synergy. You know, you
can call them step brothers, bosom buddies, whatever you want
to call them. But that extra factor is what creates that,
you know, that great rapport. And even on that touchdown
throw that Jackson Dart threw, the little skinny slant, you know,
he saw it was trips, right, he saw that. Look
it was man coverage yep for THEO, and so THEO

(52:41):
kind of you could tell that they just knew, they
knew what was going to happen. And as soon as
he Jackson Dart caught the ball and he's looking at
that safety to see as he's stayed in the middle field,
and then the other safety came running up to cover
the running back coming out of the backfield, he knew,
I've got a window right here. Yeah, And by putting
the ball right on THEO, he knew THEO could kind
of protect and shield the ball from the defender.

Speaker 4 (53:01):
Which is a benefit also of a tight end is
the size and the topicality of the target.

Speaker 5 (53:05):
Yeah, the THEO is a big dude. So yeah, those
kind of plays are things that you love when it
happens in the game because it's like, look, we practiced
this and we know this look and we're on the
same page and boom, we're both seeing the same thing
and we don't have to say anything. We just know
it and that's when it you know. It's like Hannibal
Smith from the A Team, I love it when a
plan comes together. You got a sugar cigar, and I

(53:25):
love it when I'm playing come together. You a teen
fans out there.

Speaker 4 (53:30):
The Penn Cigar nailed it to a one nine nine
four three is a phone number. Let's get back to
these last couple of calls as the show winds down.
We've got Tim and Charleston. Tim, welcome to the show.
You're on Big Blue Kickoff Live with Sean and Madeline.

Speaker 3 (53:42):
How's it going, hey, Madeline show. Well, I couldn't even
listen to the post game show last night. I was
so just watch well, sorry, you better tune into Madeline.
And then this morning I listened to you, Madeline and
and Amani, but I was I had got a good
night's sleeping between.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
I'm glad you got your sleep. That's necessary.

Speaker 5 (54:03):
Yeah, we understand the frustration. Yeah, but don't turn us off.

Speaker 3 (54:07):
No, no, Well I've been listening to you guys for
years and I listened every day, So anyway, I wish
I could quick I got a couple of things. One is,
I mean the stakes, mistakes, mistakes up on the stakes,
and obviously we beat ourselves. So with that said, there's
two things. One, I want to shed a little light
on what I think there's some positives at least from

(54:29):
the beginning of the game. And then I got it
have to a few to point made by a curler
earlier which I just didn't see at all. Versus you know,
the run defense. I was concerned about that coming into
this game because the way the Chargers get fis they
only ran the ball like thirteen times or twelve or
whatever it was. But the Saints trand of the ball

(54:52):
thirty times and they only averaged two point nine yards.
So our run defense had best the best game it's
had in a long time. So that was, you know,
the fact that the turnovers are what killed this obviously,
but a couple other things. On the beginning of the game,
on the second drive, I was like, wow, we're making
a lot of first downs on the first second down,

(55:13):
and I looked it up right before we scored our
second touchdown, which we did score on a third down play.
At that point in the game, we were zero for
zero on third downs. So every first down on the
entire first drive and every first down up to that
touchdown play on the second drive, we're on first or
second downs. And to me, that's a huge positive because

(55:36):
it's it's that's that's what winning teams do. It's winning
teams get first downs from first and second downs. They
don't put him in themselves in the spot where it's
third down, where do or dive fords there? So I
thought that was a positive. I was very very optimous
as at that point. And another thing on Jackson who had
that terrible bumble when he was carrying the ball like
like I don't know, like like what.

Speaker 4 (55:58):
He was carrying it was a load of bread.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
Yeah, yeah, is that on an earlier run. I think
it was on the second trime. I'm not sure. He
had a big run and he actually was carrying the
ball and I said, wow, that's a great side. That's
not I mean for a rookie, especially he was carrying
the ball tucked on the right side, and he was
running left, and when the backwards were coming at him
from the right, he switched the ball over to the

(56:21):
left side, just like he's supposed to do. So he
did exactly the right thing then, but obviously that that
fumble later was inexcusable. Now, as to the caller, Scott
from New Mexico, I loved your calls, but I just
didn't see what he saw. I mean, our defense. I
thought our defense did very well. I mean they only
give up nineteen points. They gave up seven of the

(56:46):
points where on obvious see the fumble in that long,
long pumble return, so that's not on the defense at all.
So it's nineteen to start with. Six of those points
were off turnovers. So really the defense just on its
own playing, you know, all all things being even, came
up thirteen points, which is a jubid and that one

(57:06):
path okay, that was that was painful. But I thought
the defense played pretty well. I really didn't see There's
always some miss tackles in the game, and I don't
know who rates these things or grades them, but I
didn't see this this bad tackling that Scott was talking about.
I just felt that you know, I mean we even
we even in this game, even with five turnovers, we

(57:27):
even had more time of position, which is almost incredible.
But anyway, so I just wanted to look at the
glass well maybe not half full, but a quarterfowl three
quarters empty, right, Yeah, I just wanted to shed some
light on that. And you know, if the run defense
can keep it up, and we got a big test

(57:48):
on Thursday, Yeah, I think we should be competitive. We
just can't have turnovers. I mean it's just simple as that. Sarticular.
Thanks guys for taking the call and all this your
responses off the.

Speaker 4 (57:56):
Air, Thank you, Tim, And I always appreciate the positivity
because you know what, there's always a way to look
at it that you're like, all right, listen, wasn't this
wasn't as bad as some people might make it out
to be.

Speaker 5 (58:07):
Yeah, no, Tim, I appreciate the call. And I think
in your reference to the other color of Scott who
was talking about the defense I think he was talking
about on a macro level for this whole season. It
wasn't specifically the Saints game because yet to your point,
like I said, the Giants came into this game giving
up six point one yards per carry and they clamped
them down. I mean really defensively. They gave up one

(58:28):
big offensive play. It was that eighty two yard touchdown,
but I think when you kind of look at, you know,
the offensive struggles. Look, the game started perfect last week.
We talked about, man, you're going down in New Orleans
lock crowd, and we're going to start fast. The Giants
got an opening drive touchdown against the Chargers, and it

(58:50):
felt like the place went nuts and the defense all
started and started playing like their hair was on fire.
Back to back weeks, opening drive touchdown, eight plays. I mean,
that was phenomenal, and I think that's exactly how you
want to start on the road. First two possessions, both
eight play drives, both ended up in a touchdown. So there,
I mean, that's exactly what you wanted to see. Red
zone production, finished drives with a touchdown, no field goals,

(59:13):
and everything looked great. So those are definitely things to
build on. Now, why that didn't continue throughout the game
is I think what they all have to figure out,
and it's the players. It's execution. Because the plays that
were working in those first couple of drives, you know,
those are plays that should have still been working as
the game went along. They weren't trick plays, although the
Giants did have a flee flak or trick play. And

(59:34):
guess what that should have been a touchdown? If if
it's got a little more air on that ball, then
it's probably it probably is a touchdown. Yeah, if he didn't,
you know, have to slow down for that. Those little
things are things, wrinkles, and they're all fixable things. You
mentioned the Jackson dar fumble. The one thing that came

(59:57):
to light when I was just talking with Daniel Bellinger
was how humid and how hot it was down in
that dome. And this is one of those factors that
you know, if you don't play the Saints.

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
A lot down because it was outside.

Speaker 5 (01:00:11):
It was so humid outside and all of a sudden
it got hot and steamy inside. So when you think
about that, what happens, Well, you start sweating, Your arms
are sweaty. Mentioned that, you know what, like, hey, look
as he was reaching for the pylon, the ball started
to slip out of his hands because he was so
you know, he had a lot of perspiration on listening
Jackson dark ball steps out of his hand. Guess what

(01:00:32):
perspiration a lot of sweat. Same thing with cam Scatto
when after the fumble he was asking for new gloves.
So I think those are things that are kind of
like little hidden factors that you know, what if you
played down in New Orleans every year, if you're in
that division, you know, hey, look it gets steamy in there,
gets hot. So even though you're indoors, there are still
elements you have to be ready for and you have
to adjust to. You know, rookie players they're not thinking

(01:00:55):
about stuff like that. Yeah, but those are other things
that obviously crept up in this game because you did
see you saw the ball kind of slipping around a
little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:01:04):
Right, and as you mentioned, you know, it is humid
and steaming there for all players, not just for the Giants,
but for the Saints who maybe are anticipating that, expecting that,
prepared for that, you know, understanding that that's a possibility,
they may adjust accordingly.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:01:19):
Two A one nine, one three. Let's get our last
call in the show. Marcus in California. Marcus, welcome to
Big Blue Kickoff Live. You're on the show with John
and Madeline, calling from my hometown Sea.

Speaker 8 (01:01:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:01:30):
You guys, does good. How are you good, good, Sean.
Thanks for all the times man you've made me chair
on and off the field. I guess I just wanted
to say, you know, I would like to see scat
about three times in a row.

Speaker 6 (01:01:46):
Up the middle, right off the bat and make them
not want to tackle anymore. But it seems like I
don't know where we go from here. Like I don't
see anybody surviving the season. It's kind of getting, you know, unwatchable.
But I do think we could beat the Eagles and
save Daviel's jobs. So Sean already hit on my one

(01:02:08):
point or not? Sean, but John did I just feel
like over the last few years, I mean even the
last like decade, that we've just relied on too many
rookies to have like big roles, and it's kind of
been like the despair of our season, you know, each
and every year.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
But well, Marcus, you said you wanted to see more Scataboo.
He's a rookie, no I.

Speaker 10 (01:02:33):
Know, but he's he's punishing up the middle, I mean,
and we have no choice, right, Like, we really don't
have a choice. If Tracy was healthy, I went mind
seeing Scatabog three times up the middle and then you know,
Tracy three times behind Andrew Thomas and then some play
action you know would be nice. I just mean, like
it's always that. It's like Cavon and Evan Neil when

(01:02:56):
they were rookies, we had Banks a number one corner
will be like relied on him as a rookie. Like
it just seems every year we expect these rookies to
just do things, and I think that we end up
ruining them, is what I really think. I mean, as
Ezo Jaalari broke Lowrence taylor sack record and then for
some reason we couldn't find a way to keep him

(01:03:16):
on the field. It just that's all I'm saying. It
just seems like a pattern. And I don't want anybody fired.
Like I want us to go out and beat the
Eagles like I know we could do. We should have
a top ten defense on paper, Like there's no reason
for second and longs in third and eighteens to get
picked up every game. Like, you know, let's go out
there and beat the Eagles and show them. You know

(01:03:38):
that the Chargers in Dallas game wasn't a fluke.

Speaker 6 (01:03:41):
Amen, and that's who we are.

Speaker 5 (01:03:42):
Let's do it. Got these jobs, man, I agree with you. Look,
anytime we play the I don't care whose record is what,
Like we're playing Eagles, like we are out for blood,
Like it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if we're both
four and oh or if we're both on and four.
Like this game, it's it's a passionate game. Giants fans

(01:04:03):
don't want to hear the Eagles fans saying that stupid
cry in our own stadium. They don't want to see
us down there, you know, doing our thing down at
the link. So this is you know, this, this is
definitely it. This is a physical rivalry. The fact that
it's on a short week changes things a little bit

(01:04:23):
because this is always a physical game. But I feel like,
you know, as you start to get into the season
and now the Thursday night games, a lot of times
these games end up starting out kind of slow because
everybody's you know, it's not a normal week. You're kind
of getting your body into you know, some of the
older guys are still recovering from the previous game. So
but this, I mean, the fact is Thursday night's prime time.

(01:04:43):
These are all added elements. But yeah, I don't know,
I think, you know, forget about as a player, you
kind of put blinders on you go through September. We
used to break it up, Coach CoFe used to break
it up into four phases. Phase one was the first
four weeks, right, how do you do in that? Then
you go into phase two and you just kind of
focus on those segments and then any divisional game in

(01:05:06):
those segments obviously adds a lot of a lot of
juice to that week and to that game. But look,
this is this is big. This is big for the Giants.
This is big for the Giants fans. You know, it's
another nationally televised game Sunday night against Kansas City. Didn't
go great offensively, you know, I think same. It's the

(01:05:28):
same formula Star Fast at home again. So you got
to get up, get up early against its Eagles team,
get up early on them. You don't want to you
don't want to get in a shootout where you're throwing
the ball fifty five times and amen to look, let's
get camp skataboo. Let's get them twenty five to thirty carries.
You know, he's one of those guys is going to
wear the down a defense. And if you could do

(01:05:48):
it in combination with Tyron Tracy, that's great well.

Speaker 4 (01:05:50):
And to Marcus's point too though about the rookies, it's like, yeah,
you want to give rookies an opportunity. Everyone was a
rookie at one point. You know, Molik neighbors his rookie.
You're look at how much of an impact he made
Camp Skataboo his rookie. You're already making an impact right there.
So for every player that is a rookie that maybe, okay,
you want to see something more from them. You you
draft these guys high because you want to give them

(01:06:12):
an opportunity to make an impact on your team. So
I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. Is yeah,
that's how you build.

Speaker 5 (01:06:19):
Look around the league. Yeah, when I was playing, if
you draft, you got drafted. We weren't counting on you
to start Week one. We like if you we were like, hey, look,
just don't get in the way, all right, go hold
that bag over there, make sure you bring the breakfast
sandwich in, and you know we may need you at
some point in the season. Now you draft a guy
in the first round, it's like, dude, you better be
able to play like you're going to sink or swim
and we're going to find out right away. So I

(01:06:39):
feel like the league has definitely gotten younger from that standpoint, right,
And you know, there's a there's still so much money
and you know you're drafted in the first round, so
it's like we're paying you this. You got to start playing.
We got to get something out of you right away.
And to your point, look, the league neighbors phenomenal season
as a rookie. Saquon Barker was Rookie of the Yearbell
Beckham junior was you know, I mean he's started out

(01:07:00):
with a hamstring injury and still ended up, you know,
setting records his rookie year. So there's been a lot
of production from young players. I think you look around
the league, you need that and that's kind of how
it goes.

Speaker 4 (01:07:11):
But to your point too, about you know, when you played,
having a rookie saying okay, get the breakfast sandwich is
a donkey in the way. That's oftentimes the circumstance for
a team that is an established team that is having.

Speaker 5 (01:07:22):
Some success on a top five pick.

Speaker 4 (01:07:24):
Right, if you're picking top five, you are building that.
So when you're building that, of course you got to
put the rookies in a position to have an impact
and see if they can sink or swim. When you've
already hit that point and you are having consistent playoff success,
are consistently you know, functioning at a high level, then
you're drafting the reserves, then you're drafting the backups. But

(01:07:44):
right now where the Giants are is they are building
their team. And so yeah, these rookies who are you know,
early on in draft picks are going to have to
be put out there on the field to make an impact.

Speaker 5 (01:07:54):
Yeah, and the hope is that they learn these lessons now. Yeah,
and then the wins next year are because they have
gone through this before and now it's okay, you know what,
Now all of a sudden, we're gonna win some games
because they have already been through that experience, they understand
what not to do and how to go about doing
it the right way. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:08:12):
Yeah, but you know what, it's a short week. We're
turning around. We're getting back on the field Thursday night
football Giants Eagles at MetLife Stadium. Hope to see you there.
We will be there for Giants postgame live afterwards.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
Yeah, so don't don't skip out on us.

Speaker 4 (01:08:25):
You know, we'll try to bring some joy and some positives.

Speaker 5 (01:08:28):
Hopefully we're high five and hugging, just like last home game.

Speaker 4 (01:08:31):
If you didn't see Sean hit the sprinklers, you missed out.
But you know what, Giants Birds, Thursday Night Football, Let's go.
Thanks for joining us from the Giants Podcast Studio presented
by Hackensack Maritian Health. Keep getting better for the Super
Bowl champion, Sean O'Hara. I'm Madeline Burke and that's been
a wrap on today's episode of Big Blue Kickoff Live,
brought to you by Cadillac, part of the Giants Podcast
Platforms Everywhere and Giants dot Com Slash Podcasts. We'll see

(01:08:55):
you next time.