Big Blue Kickoff Live 10/7 | Turning the Page to Philadelphia

Lance Medow and Paul Dottino wrap up the Saints game, turn the page to the Philadelphia Eagles, and take calls from fans.

0:00 - Turning the page to Philadelphia

13:50 - Eagles offense

31:20 - Calls

44:20 - Saints wrap up

50:00 - More calls

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a big blue kickoff line.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Do it because you're on Giants dot Com.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Do you know what I saw? New York Giant crack.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
And the Giants mobile app.

Speaker 4 (00:15):
Seventy one tundown We are We're old tapering.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Part of the Giants podcast network.

Speaker 5 (00:23):
Let's go on with the Crazy Dogs has a Welcome
to Tuesdays. They should a bi blue kickoff live here on
Giants dot Com as well as the mobile app. You
can watch us on YouTube too. It is presented by Cadillac,
the official luxury vehicle of the New York Giants. He's
Pauleda Tino. I'm Lance Metal with you for the next
sixty minutes multiple ways. If you interact with us here
on the program, you give us a ring twoser A
one nine three nine four five one three. You could

(00:46):
use hashtag Giants Chat on Twitter. He's at Giants w
f an. I'm at Lance Metal one word, last name
MDOW and we are broadcasting from the Giants Podcast Studio.
It is presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep Getting Better
So a lot to tap goal over the course of
the program. So takeaways from the heartbreaking loss to the
Saints on Sunday, and then looking ahead with a quick
turnaround to the Eagles game coming up on Thursday here

(01:09):
at MetLife Stadium. Brian Davile actually is speaking to the
media as we are on the airwaves here, so if
anything comes to light from that, we will relay it.
There was an injury report yesterday, not that it was
a full blown practice given the fact that most of
the stuff yesterday has walked through, But in terms of
who did not take part in practice on Monday, you

(01:32):
had Sways Boseman their linebacker, Jermaine and Luminar their starting tackle.
Then Demetrius Flanagan Fowls linebacker and Darius Slaydon, both of
the last two guys dealing with a hamstring injury, Illuminor
back and Bozeman and ankle. Then there were a handful
of players that were limited, including Jackson Dart so we're
expected to get an update on some of those players.

(01:54):
I would say probably the one player that jumps off
the page of that group is Darius Slayden. Given the
current state of the wide receiver corps and Molik Neighbors
being out for the season.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Paul and ham strings are always so tricky. Lance. We
know that you can feel good one day, then you
go push it and now it's aggravated and you take
a couple of steps back. It is a short week,
as you mentioned, they've got the Thursday night game at
home against Philadelphia. Now. To be honest, I'm real sketchy
on Slayton's availability because I know how nasty those ham

(02:24):
strings can be. I mean, there's just no telling he again,
and it doesn't even have to be like the next day.
He could go out there, run a couple of routes
in practice and by the fourth snap, oh, I feel
a tweak. I mean, that's how those things go. So sure,
I'm not real optimistic as we sit here today about Slayton.

(02:45):
I feel a little bit better about Luminor.

Speaker 5 (02:47):
And you just don't have enough treatment time during the
host of the week too, right, you know, if you
have a few extra days, if we're talking about a
Sunday game, that could go a long way and at
least maybe helping you get out onto the field and
the illuminar with the back. I mean, that's another thing
that could flare up at any time. You could feel
great one day, took awkwardly and then all of a
sudden the next morning, it's a different story.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
I didn't get the impression though, from even after the
game was over, that he was in too much discomfort.
Now again, things can change overnight. You never know how
a guy sleeps on it and then the next morning
he's feeling bad. But I don't think Illumino is going
to be as much of an issue.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
On the flip side.

Speaker 5 (03:26):
For the Eagles, Saquon Barkley did not practice with a
knee issue, though he did get through the game against
the Broncos on Sunday. I think their most noticeable injury
is Landon Dickerson, one of their starting guards, the ankle injury,
because obviously he's been a staple of their play in
the trenches, so that could be if he given the
quick turnaround there he's dealing with an ankle injury. And

(03:47):
then one of their tight ends, Grant kal Katara, is
dealing with an oblique injury. So he was the third
and final player that did not participate. So not as
big as the Giants laundry list, but remember status has
changed quickly because today is going to be the first
formal practice or both of these teams.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Actually it's going to be the only practice this week.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah. I mean, hey, look, I get it. The league
does the Thursday games because it's financially very lucrative for them.
We totally understand that. And the players' union getting a
percentage of the overall league revenues, they okayd it and
said yeah. When they made Thursday night football a staple,
the players union knew that it was going to mean

(04:27):
more money in the pot for them, and so they
went for it. Now, there are a lot of players,
and you know this, certainly coaches, but a lot of
players who will tell you I wasn't really on board
with this. I didn't like it so much. But at
the same time, when they go in, they cash their
paychecks and they realized that the additional revenue by having

(04:47):
Thursday night football from the networks, it really does pay
off to everybody in terms of their pocketbooks. No matter
how much they may grumble about the fact that they
don't like to play on a Thursday.

Speaker 5 (04:58):
Well, because you get another network like is on Prime
in the mix within the binning wars. So from a
financial perspective, obviously, that's all you need to know. I
think We've had enough seasons where we get that there's
a lot of cons especially the road team is usually
at an extreme disadvantage, no doubt, they've got to travel,
whereas the home team doesn't. So you're not practicing as
it is, and then all of a sudden, one of

(05:19):
the days you've got to head to an opposing city
Eagles Giants maybe is not as bad because they're relatively close,
And I think that's one of the reasons I would
say if you were to asking me, I don't like
divisional games.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Being on Thursday because they're too important.

Speaker 5 (05:33):
But I get why they'd want this game because from
a geographical standpoint, it's not that stressful for the Eagles
on a quick turnaround to go down the Turnpike and
come to MetLife Stadium.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Well. I have been talked to Mike North, who was
involved in the scheduling process for the NFL, But they
have a whole list of things as they're putting that
schedule together that they will like or that they won't like.
I would suspect one of the reasons that they wanted
this game is because Amazon being one of the partners
who pays big, big money over the course of the

(06:05):
year since they've been involved in the package, they've tried
to exert more and more influence as to some games
that they thought would draw. Well, you know when New
York Philadelphia game is going to draw, if not just
because of Saquon Barkley, but because of the two largest
markets that you have. And in addition to that, there
was also a thought that, well, if Russell Wilson's not

(06:26):
playing Jackson Dart probably will so I understand. I'm sure
Amazon put their two cents into, like, hey, could we
be considered for that game?

Speaker 5 (06:35):
Oh, without a doubt, and the heated rivalry going back decades,
not just necessarily in recent history, which may have not
been as competitive as the Giants at Hope. But I
also think the strong selling point, whether the networks want
it or not, is, for example, you had Niners rams
less Thursday. If you have divisional games on Thursday, you
figure the travel is less because normally the teams within

(06:57):
the division are within close proximity.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
There are so many factors, but I'm sure that's one
of the nuggets on the table.

Speaker 5 (07:04):
Well, I will say this from a coaching player perspective,
it's at least a strong selling point to make the
pill a little bit more digestible that, Hey, if we're
gonna have to flip the script quickly, at least we
don't have to get on a long flight. Or maybe
we could pull off a train ride or a bus ride,
so that I think definitely get play.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
You could walk it, absolutely, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (07:23):
They could corner off a section of the turnpike and
Paul Deatino will get his miles in and everybody will
be that's all.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
That's all, Just like when George Martin walked across the
entire country.

Speaker 5 (07:34):
There you go, right, why not?

Speaker 3 (07:36):
See, it's killing two birds with one stone.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
The only problem is I would I would mandate good weather, and.

Speaker 5 (07:42):
Well, I don't know if what the natre is gonna
will cooperate with that, but I would mandate good weather.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
I would consider walking to Philadelphia, but I would have
to have good weather.

Speaker 5 (07:50):
Well, if you do that, then I will have the
documentary crew and I will be providing play by play
commentary as you do that.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
So I'm signed up. I'll walk alongside with you, but
I'll just be the narrator.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Okay, Well, so the other stipulation, I got Nike to
sponsor it because I will shoot that I would have.
I would probably go through a couple of pairs of
my No.

Speaker 5 (08:11):
Well, that's why if you have a production team, they
will have extra pairs. Fine, and then you could just
pull over to the side. You could change lack of
interruption and its business as you We would accommodate you
within every respect of that. All right, we're going to
try to accommodate some of the topics that we teased
off the top I know obviously on yesterday's program a
lot was made of the Saints Giants game. I just

(08:34):
wanted to provide a takeaway or two and then we
can obviously move on to more of a preview pall
with respect to the Giants Eagles matchup. But it goes
without seeing when you turn the ball over five times, Okay,
you're not going to put yourself in a position to win,
let alone remain competitive. But what I think needs to
be brought up the killer for the turnovers. It's not
just that you lost possessions. That goes without saying. It's
the fact that four of the five turnovers took place.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
When they were in Saints terror.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Correct.

Speaker 5 (09:00):
That's what made it worse than any other element that
you want to put under the umbrella because you at
least were in a position at worst maybe you could
have gotten a field goal opportunity. And you do the
math four times three twelve points. I'm not saying that
they're going to walk away with a win, but it
does change the dynamics and now how the Saints have
to attack things very differently. The worst one of all

(09:22):
was Scataboo's fumble inside the fifteen, because that turns into
seven on the fumbleward.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
That was the lone right zone one.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yep, that's the one to me more than any other
of those turnovers. That was the one that really stuck
that fork in my eye.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
And when you do that end.

Speaker 5 (09:42):
Oh, by the way, the opposition scores a touchdown, then
you're really asking for that because there's nothing you could
do about it. They would turn the fumble, they're gone.
There is no defense for that. Plus it was a
Saints offense that was not necessarily lighting up the scoreboard
was also still working on getting explosive plays, which they
wound up.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Why are we getting this what?

Speaker 2 (10:02):
I don't want to relive this?

Speaker 3 (10:03):
No, I get it. Well, I'm just dividing how the vitetive.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
The Giants are four and ten old time in that
super Dome. It is a terrible, terrible, terrible, nightmarish, horrible
place for the Giants to play. It's a very nice stadium,
by the way, and the people are incredibly kind.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
I love it. How your sugar coating it on the
back end of going they are, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
They're very kind people. They're lovely people.

Speaker 5 (10:27):
They're not sure they appreciate that count. And the stadium incredible.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
The way they've redone the Superdome over the year since
Katrina and so forth.

Speaker 5 (10:35):
It's spotless. It has survived the test of time. It
was built in nineteen seventy five. Think about this seventy five.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Ali beat Spinks in the rematch to win the heavyweight
championship for an unprecedented third time in nineteen seventy eight
in that building, and yet it looks like it was
just open five months ago. They have done a great
job with the building, Folks, New Orleans. I love your building.
I just hate what happens there four and ten and
the voodoo is so strong.

Speaker 5 (11:05):
I do think there's somebody somebody in a closet somewhere
in that building who has a Giants doll and bang, they're.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Just sticking pins in it left and right.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
I believe that.

Speaker 5 (11:16):
Now, is it one giants doll? Or do they rotate personnel?
Do they have an entire team of dolls? Like?

Speaker 3 (11:21):
Do they have eleven personnel on offense? I think they probably.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
They probably have a white jersey and a blue blue
jerseys doll. That's convenient, and they figure out, Okay, what
jersey the Giant's gonna wear in this, and we're just
gonna get the ameral bucket full of pins and just
start sticking them.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Sure.

Speaker 5 (11:37):
Yeah, Well, the voodoo in fairness didn't work too well
when Eli threw for six touchdowns. Okay, no, it did
because Brees threw for seven and then Wing.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Got called for a face ask on the best play
from scrimmage and the Saints kicked a fifty yard field
goal to beat the Giants.

Speaker 5 (11:55):
So the operator of the voodoo doll then only showed
up in the fourth quarter, is what you're saying.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
He waited to the very last cry. Okay, so he
took off the first three.

Speaker 5 (12:03):
He let the Giants have some fun, and then he
came out of the closet in the fourth and all
of a sudden, these d people know exactly what they're doing.
They know exactly where to stick the pins.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
Do yeah, I hear you know.

Speaker 5 (12:14):
Witches are very popular in the big easy they want.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
To, but it's the only way I can. I can
prevent myself from crying or doubling over in pain.

Speaker 5 (12:25):
And that's why we have boxes of tissues on the
left to the right of the studio and Johnny Mack
helps me out here. Will you please get this man
off this subject. I don't want to talk about that
game anymore. I know the nerve of me to weigh
in on a game that happened two days ago. I'm
sorry what was I thinking in terms of weighing in
on that subject matter? As we move forward in all seriousness,
as far as this Philadelphia matchup, which I think Paul

(12:47):
can at least maybe squeeze in a little analysis, we
hope the Eagles a lot has been made Paul. This
drives me nuts, really with every opponent, but specifically Eagles. Well,
Philly's not who they were previously. They haven't been getting
the ball to Devonte Smith and aj Brown. The passing
attack is not necessarily electric, and they blew a seventeen

(13:08):
to nothing lead to the Broncos as Denver scored eighteen
unanswered and this and that. First of all, based on
what the Giants are going through right now, they are
in no position to take any team for granted or
say that they are in the driver's seat against a
team that may not be playing its best football. Plus,
if you really want to go deep into the mental
exercises and gymnastics, how about the Eagles so irritated based

(13:32):
on how Sunday's game played out, and now you're getting
that team after suffering their first loss of the season
on a quick turnaround. I mean, if you really believe
in powers that go above and beyond x's and o's,
then you could throw that on the fire as well.
Philly is still an extremely dangerous team, I think though,
the biggest priority of all, even if you don't think

(13:53):
they're explosive in the passing attack. Saquon also plays a
role within that passing attack. I remember he caught a
touchdown again the forty seven yards, So I don't want
to hear anything about maybe the receivers have him doing
the heavy lifting or Dallas Goddard when Barkley they can
run on routes and all of a sudden they can
hit him for the home run, so you have to
account for him in terms of the ground attack as

(14:15):
well as what he could do easily as a receiver
out of the backfield.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Look, Lance, let's not kill ourselves no matter how much
Philly is scuffling recently, and we've heard the complaints about
the passing game not being on track and how aj
Brown is a bit disappointed he's not getting his targets.
Barkley in the last couple of games has had trouble
even cracking the fifty yard market any of those games

(14:38):
rushing wise. So I understand all of that stuff, but
it's still the dreaded Philadelphia Eagles, a team that's owned
the Giants for the better part of the last fifteen years. Okay,
And it all comes down to this. If you're going
to have a chance to win this game as the Giants,
you better play clean football first, and second of all,

(15:00):
better make some plays above the x's and the o's.
I mean to revisit the game the other day, Slayton
drops the bomb, then the flee flicker, which was a
tougher play, a little a little bit underthrown, and the
dB actually got his forearm on the ball when it
came down. But if you're gonna make plays above the
x's and o's, you got to make that play. Now.

(15:22):
I didn't grade them for a drop on that one,
But if you want to be a winning football team,
you've got to reach above the stars and occasionally make
a play that you're not supposed to make. And that
was against the New Orleans team that was winless. You're
talking about an Eagles team that, while they are scuffling some,
they four and one. So if and and by the way,

(15:48):
the reason that the Eagles are four and one, there
are two reasons more than anything else. First of all,
they're playing sound defense. Second of all, they have been
unstoppable in the red zone. I believe their red zone
percentage is ninety two percent, by far, leading the NFL.
Can you check on that.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Fight, Well, I'm gonna look that up right now.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
They don't get stopped inside the twenty. And obviously, when
you have a terrific offensive line and you have an
outstanding running back and you have a quarterback who is
very strong with his legs and I'm not just talking
about running around, I'm talking about power running two that
spells doom for the other team in the red zone.

(16:31):
The only way that their red zone number is going
to come down is if you force them into making mistakes,
and you know what, they don't make.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Them ninety two percent red zone conversion rate.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
So the number that I thought it was.

Speaker 5 (16:42):
Well and by the way, and I know it is crazy,
and it's a small sample size because we've only been
through five games, but just to give perspective, the next
closest team, Paul number two in the NFL is it's
seventy seventy percent. So think about the distance between It's
the Dolphins, by the way, and the Lions are right
on the back of Miami there just below it's seventy

(17:03):
six percent. So that's a noticeable differential between the Eagles
and then the next two closest teams.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
I want to give you a couple of numbers here,
Lance and folks, I want you to understand this within context. Offensively,
the Giants have had a better year than Philadelphia has
except in the red zone ninety two percent compared to
thirty two percent last in the league for the Giants.

(17:29):
Think about that ninety two percent, the thirty two percent
first team, thirty second team but in terms of first
downs per game, yards per game, yards rushing per game,
yards passing per game, the Giants are ahead of Philadelphia
in every offensive category. If I asked one hundred people

(17:49):
on the street this morning, do you think true or false?
Ninety nine of them would have said false. I guarantee
you they would have said false.

Speaker 5 (17:56):
The only thing I would say, as we're talking about
context in fairness, as Paul is, I do think the
Cowboys game skews the numbers. It does, okay, So because
let's look at it outside of that Dallas game where
they put up thirty seven, they have not scratched the
surface of that scoring output or that first down output
in any of the other games, and so that balance

(18:18):
games correct. So I think you gotta look at it
at least through that lens. But there's no doubt about it.
I think your point is well taking in terms of
Philly has taken a step back from a statistical standpoint, Yes,
but not that which is where points matter, right, Yeah,
because to finished, because it's not enough to just get

(18:38):
into the red zone and settle for threes, they get
sevens Okay.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
The Giants not only settle for threes, oftentimes they get none,
they come out with zero. Do you know the Giants
have only scored points on two thirds of their trips
inside the opponent's thirty yard line this year. I'm not
even talking red zone. I keep a charge. I call
it the scoring zone because we know how kickers hit

(19:03):
fifty yarders like practically at will these days, yep. So
I keep a chart.

Speaker 5 (19:09):
When you get inside the opponent's thirty that's the scoring.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
Zone for me. How many times do you do something
in the scoring zone? All right, let me just give
you numbers here because I have this right here. This
is really this tells you why partly why the Giants
are in such a mess right now, because inside the
scoring zone they have only put up points on two

(19:34):
thirds of those opportunities. And I have to break down
it is fourteen of twenty two, fourteen of twenty two,
sixty four percent have the Giants put points on the
board when getting to the other team's thirty yards.

Speaker 5 (19:52):
So you're taking the consideration field goals and door touch
seven for seven on field goals and seven touchdowns. They've
also fumbled the ball away once, they've thrown a interception,
once they've lost the ball on downs six times, that's
what you get. Yeah, and then once again, when you
move closer, which is to the red zone, you're talking

(20:14):
about a conversion rate, and this is just touchdowns of
thirty two percent. You think about the Eagles are ninety
two percent, the Giants are thirty two percent. I mean
those cannot be more extreme. No, So that is what
it separated both of those questions.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
And quite honestly, you know, I know everybody rightfully so
was as disgusted as could be, as was I with
the New Orleans Saints game the other day. But Brian
Dabele was right about one thing. They actually moved the
ball pretty effectively. They really did.

Speaker 5 (20:45):
Yeah, well, that's why we talked about the turnovers being
in New Orleans territory four the five.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
You know, Dart did a pretty good job, certainly in
the first quarter and a half. I mean, he was
as perfect as he could be. He looked at sensational.
They ran the ball somewhat effectively. Remember now, and this
doesn't necessarily go with my blood, but it's part of
what the Giants are right now. The quarterback is part

(21:09):
of the rushing.

Speaker 5 (21:10):
Attack and all seen him take advantage of that and
the Giants are running for one hundred and ten yards
a game as a team, in part because the quarterback
has been running for forty and fifty yards a game
these last couple of games.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
With Dart taken off with his legs, well, that is
part of their attack now. Whether or not I prefer
the quarterback to run, it's a matter of fact. Dart's
legs are a part of what they do. And the
Giants are middle of the pack and rushing this year
middle of the pack, and that's an improvement the offensive line, folks.

(21:42):
It hasn't been as bad as it was in years past.
They've actually gotten better some.

Speaker 5 (21:48):
I just wonder you hit on an interesting point. As
Dart plays more and more games, and with Darius Slayton
now banged up, all of a sudden, opponents can now
start moving those safeties up a little bit more because
they don't fear the passing attack, especially if they're saying, hey,
our corners can handle the guys one on one on

(22:09):
the boundary, Which means, do you now start bottling up
Dart a little bit better with him not having the
ability to extend plays with his legs, and now you
put the Giants in tougher third down situations or even
second down situations. How much does that change the dynamics
of the offense. That's something to monitor. Remember, now he's

(22:29):
going up against not that Brandon Staley wasn't a good
defensive coordinator. I think Staley has proven that didn't work
out necessarily as the Chargers head coach, but a really
polished DC. Now he's going up against Vic Fangio, and
of the three opponents thus far, I mean, this is
by far his most challenging defensive coordinator that he will

(22:49):
have seen, right, I mean it's not even close.

Speaker 6 (22:51):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (22:52):
You know Jesse Minter solid DC, but spent a lot
of time in the college level. I just mentioned Brandon Staley.
Fangio is as good as it gets in terms of
NFL history has scheming up defenses. So that's going to
be something to monitor. How do teams now they realize, Okay,
Dart is, to your point, a prominent part of the
run game. We're not going to let him all of

(23:13):
a sudden spark things. We want to make him more
of a conventional passer. Do you bring more personnel up
and does that now limit his pathway?

Speaker 2 (23:22):
And at some point you'll start seeing a spy.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, a little bit too. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
We got some updated information from Dan Salomone, the senior
writer at Giants dot Com, who was out at Brian
Dables Pressers a short time ago. The Giants are going
through a jog through practice today. Darius Slayton not working,
nor is illumin Or Noah's Flownagin Fowls, Nora is Bozeman.

Speaker 5 (23:42):
So those are all the guys, by the way, that
did not practice on Monday, and that status quo.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
Brian Dables says, quote according to Dan, hopeful unquote for
Tyrone Tracy who has that shoulder injury, who would do
more if they were practicing normally, So says Dan, and
his report Jackson Dart with that sore hammy is going
to be okay. Remember he played the full game the
other day without any incidents. Yep. So nothing to report

(24:09):
on the QB. But hopeful for Tyrone Tracy, that's certainly interesting.

Speaker 5 (24:13):
Well, if they can get an additional running back back
is just more of a spread the wealth type of mentality.
Scataboo has done a really nice job, but you know,
Tracy and Scataboo, I think offer the Giants perhaps a
different look. And as I mentioned, if teams start honing
in on Jackson Dart at least you could turn back
to your more conventional running backs. And we know Tracy
can handle the load. He could also help out, by

(24:35):
the way in special teams. And that's the one other
thing I want to touch on before we open up
the phone lines here, and you can also tweeted us
at Lance Metal one word, last name, mdow.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
He is at Giants wfan. The Eagles are.

Speaker 5 (24:45):
Outstanding in special teams, Paul, and they've already we've seen
the damage that they've done in terms of a block
field goal. So that's the other area that the Giants
have to be very careful. The Philadelphia special teams has
manufact and put points on the board. They haven't just
changed field position. They've scored and they're coming off the

(25:06):
Giants a game in which they turn the ball over
five times. It all came from the offense. The last
thing you want to do is shorten the field for
the Eagles offense or give them an explosive play in
that area. That is a major problem for a lot
of opponents because Philadelphia gets great penetration Schematically, they're very

(25:26):
creative and they also have good specialists. So while we're
focusing a lot on the offensive firepower and the defense
with Fangio, the third facet may be more prominent for
Philadelphia than any other team currently in the National Football League.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
I don't know if I totally agree with that. That's
more reputation than numbers.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
Well, I'm seeing it this season.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
So well, this season they are sixteenth in punt returns
and thirty first in kickoff returns. Those are not good numbers.

Speaker 5 (25:56):
Well, sixteenths not bad. I would say middle of tax
that's fine, but also it's fine, but that doesn't take
into consideration the blocking, no, no coverage.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
I'm talking. I'm talking about the return, about the return.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
I returned about the coverage as well.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Giants are number one. And by the way, how many
times did you hear me during the offseason talk about
the Giants emphasis on special teams? Right now, the Giants
are one of the best special teams unit in the
entire league. Do you know they are number one in
punt coverage. They're allowing less than four yards per punt return.
That Gillan's that nicer number one in the league. And
Gillan is a part of that he's been terrific kickoff returns.

(26:28):
Giants are giving up less than twenty three yards per
kickoff return that is fourth in the league. Their coverage
units are first and fourth in the NFL. So to
be honest with you, yes, you do have to worry
about Philadelphia's ability to block kicks. That I agree with,
but their return their return game right now is not

(26:49):
very explosive. And the Giants have the best coverage units
in the NFL at first and fourth in the league.
So if you really want to talk about a way
that the Giants could help themselves tilt the field, okay,
tilt the field with that out of standing coverage units
that you've been putting on the on game day. Use

(27:11):
those guys to help stick Philadelphia deep and make them
earn every drive.

Speaker 5 (27:17):
How about that, Well, you'd rather them go eighty to
ninety yards as opposed to half the field. And the
reason also on bringing up even if you want to
say it's track record more, remember the Giants only turned
the Bowl over three times in the first four games
I'm talking about on offense or as a team, and
then wound up coughing up five times against the Saints.
So you can tell me all you want about how
good it's looked in one area, Philadelphia makes you uncomfortable,

(27:41):
I would say in areas that even you may have succeeded.
And they do have a few return guys that they've utilized.
They've had some injuries, but you look at Johan Dotson,
who's a veteran, John metch you who they're working in,
Will Shipley, and Tank Bigsby who they acquired from the Jaguars.
All of those guys I mentioned have handled kickoffs and
the only one that's handled punts is Johan Dotson. Jake
Elliott back to maybe his old self. He's five for

(28:02):
five in field goals. He had an off year last year,
but I think he's regrouped a little bit in that department.
So that's a facet that could very well dictate the
tone of this game, because it's not just about whether
or not they can put points on the board. It's
also starting field positioning, which is what you were hinting.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yet, the other huge number that sticks out like a
sore thumb when you look at this Eagles team, and
again it's one of the other reasons, beside the red
zone number, that they are four and one, and they've
escaped despite the fact that they've scuffled some. They're the
only team in the NFL that has not thrown an interception.

(28:40):
That's it, zero in five weeks. Yes, seven touchdowns, no pen,
thrown a pick. They have the fewest giveaways of any
team in the league. They've only lost one fumble, that's it.
That's ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
Though not prone to mistakes.

Speaker 5 (28:57):
So you can't go in thinking, oh, this is going
to be the game where I mean, listen, weird things
happen in the NFL. I just mentioned the Giants had
a skyrocket. But to go in expecting that you're going
to turn them over religiously and I think is a
little naive.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
If they have one giveaway in five games, it stands
to reason that every week they're thinking they're going to
be plus in the takeaway ratio. Why wouldn't they feel
that way. The mathematics prove it out, and what do
we know about turnover ratio? Usually he provides you the winner.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
Well, look at the Jaguars.

Speaker 5 (29:28):
The Jaguars are first in the NFL and takeaways, they're
plus eight and turnover differential, and they knocked off the
Chiefs and they're also a team that has just one
loss on the season. Philly is plus four, by the way,
so that puts them in the top ten in the NFL.
They're tied with the Chiefs, and you read the numbers,
so I'm not going to repeat them in terms of
how well they've played clean football. And that's also a

(29:49):
reason why they're able to stay in games when maybe
their offense is not necessarily clicked, because they're maximizing possessions
and they're not coughing it up to the opposition and
that was.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
A mistakes and they put seven on the board when
they get chances to It's that simple. Those are the
two reasons more than anything else. And again, solid defense.
Don't doubt the defense. It's a solid defense. But if
you're playing clean football and you're getting sevens instead of
threes or zeros, wow, are you going to help your

(30:21):
chances every single week?

Speaker 3 (30:22):
I mean just the scoring.

Speaker 5 (30:24):
You were talking about the points that the Eagles have scored,
that they had a pair of games in the thirties,
but they have held all five of their opponents to
you're talking about twenty six points or less. The most
was the Rams, who scored twenty six, the Bucks had
twenty five, so three of their five opponents have had
twenty points or less and two in the teams, so

(30:47):
they've done a.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
Pretty good job.

Speaker 5 (30:48):
And they lost a lot of personnel up front based
on what transpired during the offseason. So it speaks volumes
about Fangio and the job he continues to do in
terms of plugging in the holes. All right, let's open
up the phone lines as we move forward here on
Tuesday's station at BBKL, Lance Final palleda tino with you.
What is presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of
the New York Football Giants, And we check in. Donnie

(31:10):
is in Queen's joining us here on BBKL. What's happened
to Donni? What do you got for us?

Speaker 6 (31:15):
Thank you guys, good afternoon. Before I get to the Giants,
just want to miss with John Merrow all the best.
Hopefully he comes out healthy and the fan base is
rooting for him for sure.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
Sure we would echo your sentiments.

Speaker 6 (31:27):
Yeah, you know, mad at the team, not mad at John,
and hope with him all the best. You know, Paul
I spoke to a couple of weeks ago after the
Dallas game. You and John and I said, here we've
gone again, and you know, unfortunately that that's exactly how
this this feels one and four with a gall right
here ahead of us, and we're kind of looking at
a similar situation with Daniel's rookie year now, where you know,

(31:53):
seemingly incompetent management team and coaching staff, we're going to
stack up losses with a rookie quarterback and they have
to make a decision what to do in terms of
moving forward with those two and then bouncing that with
the quarterback. Last time they kept the GM, they got
rid of the coach, and it just really feels like

(32:14):
we're just kind of spinning our wheels here. You know,
I'm very curious why the Giants are going into game
days with two open roster spots. You're seeing things like
you're talking about how they're you know, they had an
emphasis on their special teams. Well, guess what. Special teams
barely makes a difference in the game. It's it's not
a big enough part of the game. They basically eliminated
the game.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
Try the Cowboys that because special teams won the Cowboys
game when they kicked the last second field goal in
the fourth quarter. Come on, man, you know you know
better than that. You're better than that. Don't don't, don't
come up with with stuff that's out of the field.
You're better than that.

Speaker 6 (32:47):
Oh, Paul, you're talking about their kickoff units and their
coverage units. Those don't those very seldom, very seldom shifts games.
And but.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
How about the new kickoff rule. The new kickoff rule
is definitely changing the value of special teams. It's bringing
it much more back than you think it is.

Speaker 6 (33:09):
Well, and I'll agree to disagree on that, but my
larger point was going to be that focusing on that
in the offseason, as opposed to perhaps the depth you
have a wide receiver or the depth that you have
at quarterback keeping guys like Jalen Hys brings zero value
to the team. Uh leaves you in this spot where
if you're the one true playmaker you have goes at

(33:31):
that you have nothing. They're throwing nothing out there wide receiver.
The quarterback probably should have sat because this is where
we're at nowhere. He's in a spot now where he's
playing with non NFL to blow average NFL talent all
around him across the board. You know, five yansw Thomas
essentially at this point. So these these things, like these

(33:52):
minor victories where yeah, maybe they're covering punts, well well,
great teams barely pumping go for it more than times.
And now because of the new kickoff rule, they're basically
spot in teams of balls to thirty five forty. It
doesn't matter. Why is Deontay Danks still splitting snaps at
quarterback when he stinks It's just like all these things
that they do are just completely illogical and nonsensical, and

(34:16):
it's just like, and I'm just rinting. I'm a man,
I'm ticking out, and you guys that no.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
Listen, Donnie, let me just jump in here.

Speaker 6 (34:23):
First of all, we're at the same crap.

Speaker 5 (34:25):
Well, Shane Bowen, and listen, We'll let you go on
that note. Appreciate the phone call. Shane Bowen actually was
asked yesterday during his press conference about splitting Cordell Flan
and Deontay Banks, and he mentioned that he likes Banks
his athleticism and his aggressiveness at times at the line
of scrimmage, and that's why they continue to work him in.
It doesn't mean that it's going to stick like that,

(34:46):
you know, things could change, but that was at least
what Bowen had provided. He was asked that exact question
that our last caller brought up. That's number one, number
two in terms of the depth chart. They did address
the quarterback depth chart this offseason, so I would not
throw that out. I mean, they completely revamped the room,
So I mean to criticize that aspect doesn't necessarily add
up as far as the wide receiver corps, they unfortunately

(35:08):
have been hit with injuries. But this is what I
always pose to fans who want to revisit things that
happened the past. Who was out there that you think
the Giants should have gone after and also could have
afforded given the resources that they put in. Remember to
Javon Holland and Paulson Adebo too. You know they spent
a lot of resource on defense, Golston too in terms

(35:30):
of their passwords. So the bottom line is, when you
revisit this, because right now, unfortunately they're down personnel, you
have to then give me an exact example of a
wide receiver that was out there and realistically who they
could have brought in. And if you want to bring
in somebody like Gabe Davis yet maybe but remember, Gabe
Davis had every opportunity to come here and also spoke

(35:53):
to a lot of other teams. So it does take
two to tango. And if we're really sitting here at
this point of the season and saying Gabe Davis was
going to be the maker break player because he had
some familiarity with Brian Dables offense, I think that's a
reach and.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
That's a practice squad with Buffalo right now. He's not
even out of fifty three. And if you want to
talk about now, well what do they do now? Look
at the list of street free agent wide receivers who
are currently out there. It is not very pretty. So no,
given the fact that they had done all the rebuilding
that they had done during this offseason, and you can't
rebuild every position, No, you can't do it this person,

(36:28):
all right, they knew they added a linebacker, specifically an
edge linebacker in Abdual Carter in the draft. They added
defensive line by going out and getting Alexander Right. They
went and they signed Golston. They went and they retooled
the defensive backfield by adding two high price free agents
that you mentioned. They signed Russell Wilson, who you know,
costs more than minimum salary. I mean you mentioned the quarterbacks.

(36:51):
Well they also, you know, brought in Winston as well.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
Sure, but that didn't necessarily strain this salary. Well it
was actually no.

Speaker 5 (36:57):
But the point is they, I want to say, not
counting the draft. I think they signed like fourteen or
fifteen free agents during the offseason. They were busy, and
they used up almost all their room. You know, Hudson,
they signed James Hudson to be as a swing tackle,
and he got decent money as what they believed is

(37:19):
a legitimate third tackle.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
All right.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
They didn't know that Bo was going to be there
in the fifth round. They would get him in. He
would shine so much in his rookie snaps during the preseason.
They didn't know that. So you had to say, Okay,
you know they were being diligent by signing a veteran
tackle rather than taking a shot in the draft. So

(37:42):
you know, I appreciate his frustration. I honestly do believe me,
I really really do. But you're right where he's making
a terrible mistake is he's looking at hindsight in every
one of these issues. That is foolishness. You have to
always turn back the clock to the times the decisions
were made. Understand the context of those decisions. Map out

(38:06):
what were the choices you had to make, what were
the risks, what were the rewards, what were the costs,
And if you can justify at that time that logical
decisions were made, then it simply means the results went bad.
It doesn't mean the decision was a bad decision at
the time. Every decision that doesn't work out is a

(38:27):
bad decision in retrospect.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
Without a time.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
You can go one hundred for one hundred if you're.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Going to play that game.

Speaker 5 (38:34):
I think as long as there's rational thought behind why
you did it, within the time frame of when you
made that decision, then it at least adds up. It
doesn't mean it's going to work out correct, but it
adds up. And I just want to add context, because
once again, if i'm questioning not giving examples, I'm gonna
give you this is based on guaranteed money.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
It's signing.

Speaker 5 (38:54):
And by the way, before you say that, I do
want to add, how did it affect the Giants when
they lost the kicker right before kickoff?

Speaker 3 (39:02):
Oh, you're talking about the special he wants he wants
to throw out.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
He wants to throw out special teams. There's not that important.
Well he was, are you serious?

Speaker 3 (39:09):
I mean I think he was trying to give me.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Fiagals phone number. You can have a conversation with him
about it.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
Yes, So that tells me he wouldn't necessarily agree.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
I think would absolutely not agree.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
It wasn't so much the kicker.

Speaker 5 (39:19):
I think it was more of the coverage and the
return units that was the point. But they're synonymous with
one another. If you get a good return or you
give up feeds in yeah, all of a sudden the
opposition or you you're in field goal range. I mean,
think about it. The Cowboys. You brought up branded Aubrey,
but it's not just Aubrey. It's the fact that they
got him in range within the blink of an eye

(39:42):
to walk away with a tying field goal to force overtime.
So you can't separate the coverage and the return units
from the kicking when they go hand in hand. But
before we move on, I brought up the free agent
wide receivers because I was just curious looking back. So
I'm ranking them on this chart based on the guaranteed
money that was given to these players at signing because

(40:04):
at least that's the money that they'll probably see when
it's all said and done, as opposed to the other
bells and whistles. So Devonte Adams was number one on
the list, okay, twenty six million. He went to the Rams.
Darius Slayton is actually number two. Cooper Cup was three,
Stefan Diggs was four, Josh Palmer, who is having a
hard time getting targets in Buffalo, Diami Brown who went

(40:27):
to Jacksonville, Brandon Cooks, DeMarcus Robinson, and DeAndre Hopkins. I'm
gonna cut it off there because now we're getting into
guys that made four or five million, if anything. Now
of that list, if you were to ask me who's
making the biggest impact on their new team, I would say,
and not everybody has been lighting it up. Maybe DeVante Adams,

(40:50):
I'll say, But I mean it's been the Puka Nakua
show with the Rams. Cooper Cup's been relatively quiet. Steffan
Digs had a nice game, but that was against his
former team in Buffalo. Palmer, Diami Brown, Brandon Cooks, the
Marcus Robinson, DeAndre Hopkins. I mean, whether you want to
look at through a fantasy lens or a reality lens,
these guys are not necessarily lighting up for their respective offenses.

(41:10):
So this is where I'm saying, you gotta remember to
go back as opposed to just talking generics which don't
necessarily add up in terms of the Giants missing out
on who they could have had on the depth chart
right now, given some of these injuries, I don't see it.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
And to fast forward to today, when you consider the
street free agent wide receivers out there, as I discussed
last week going into the Saints game, are you really
convinced that any of those guys coming in off the
street are gonna be significantly better than bringing up maybe
little Jordan Humphrey.

Speaker 5 (41:42):
Who also knows your offense and has been here. Remember,
you can bring a guy in from the street, he's
still gonna need a few weeks now to then actually
get to the point where he can contribute, you know now,
And they.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
Can't afford to do that, right And it remains to
be seen now if Slayton can't go, if Humphrey does
come up. But I mean that's an option right there,
if you really wanted to add somebody to the fifty
three if you wanted to make a move. Now here's
the problem. Ganeault still has two more weeks minimum on
injury reserve, So you're going to have to use a
practice squad activation on one of the kickers. Again, whether

(42:13):
it's Macatamney or Coup, that's going to be one of
the activations. Do you want to use another activation on
Humphrey at receiver or do you feel you need it
at linebacker, defensive line? Where else might you want to
use that activation? That maybe is a possibility. Humphrey is

(42:36):
someone I'm sure they would consider.

Speaker 5 (42:38):
Yeah, well, he also offers something different in terms of
body frame because he's a bigger guy, and he seems
to have had good chemistry with Dart in the preseason,
so maybe that could influence. I would say, to answer
your question, in the hypothetical world, I'd put the priority,
especially if Darius Slain it is now down, you're taking
Slain and neighbors out of the equation. I think necessity
calls for a wide receiver. But here's the other thing

(43:00):
that you got me thinking of. They used a lot
of twelve personnel in the last time.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
I sure did.

Speaker 5 (43:03):
They've been shifting now more towards heavy tight end personnel.
That may also influence saying, all right, maybe we don't
need another wide receiver because we're going to utilize additional
tight ends. Another name that I threw out last week
with Howard I throughout little Jordan Humphrey. I also threw
out maybe using gunner O Chefsky a little bit as
a wide receiver too. You know that you can entertain

(43:24):
And yeah, because you're ready. He had a good camp
and you already have him on the roster for special teams,
so you might as well maximize his usage now.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Of course, is not even thinking about what are you
going to do with Collins and Hyatt, who only got
into the game late last week. Yep, Collins, I charged
them with a drop on that one over the middle. Understandable,
but I just I had to. It's a drop.

Speaker 5 (43:45):
Let's head back to the phone lines. We check in
with coach Kevin in Arizona. Coach Kevin, welcome aboard. What
do you got for us?

Speaker 4 (43:53):
Hey? Guys? How you doing?

Speaker 6 (43:54):
Hey?

Speaker 4 (43:55):
I was just wondering if coach Kavska actually scripts his
plays early in the game, because early in the game,
obviously he was really on target with the twelve personnel
and the tight ends, and you just mentioned that, and
that's the key. That's the key in this game. When
you have young receivers coming in that have not worked

(44:17):
with Jackson Dart very long, you're going to have what
he saw and that's a lot of mistiming and drop balls.
I saw Jackson say a few words to one of
the receivers not making a block for him when he scrambled.
I mean, I think they're just not all on the
same page yet. Maybe the young receivers just need more

(44:38):
time with Jackson to kind of get on the same page.
I could see there was not really a cohesion there.
But eleven personnel looked horrible in the second half, especially
twelve personnel. Things were cooking with those tight ends. That
was that bailed out Jackson, that gave him some weapons

(44:59):
to work.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Man.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
I like to see I like to see three tight
ends involved.

Speaker 5 (45:04):
Well, they got three that they could utilize, so it's
not lacking person or even four.

Speaker 4 (45:09):
Bringing the young boy, I think that that could be
a very potent offense if you get them all on
the same page. But I think the problem with this
week was the young receivers just weren't on the same
page with Jackson, So I just think maybe in time,
I give it a couple of weeks, they will be.
I just don't see them contributing. But the tight ends,

(45:29):
I think that's the key.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
I think it's important to remember that Wilson got mostly
all the first team reps during the summer and the
preseason in camp, which meant that guys like Hyatt and
Collins did get an awful lot of balls from both
Dart and Winston. So I don't know if your point
holds as much water as you think it does. You know,

(45:53):
because Wilson was throwing more to Slayton and throwing more
to Robinson and Neighbors, did have a lot of practice
times off because he was on load management. But as
far as the younger guys who got in the game
in the fourth quarter, Dart has thrown an awful lot
to those guys since the summertime.

Speaker 5 (46:10):
And the other thing is also since the regular season started,
they have then had him run sort of a simulated
practice after with some of the younger guys who stay
behind to work out with Darts. So I don't know
I would agree with Paul Kevin. I don't think it's
necessarily maybe a reflection. But this is what I will say,
and this is what I thought you were hinting at
what I think was evident against the Saints is.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Dart also does a good job.

Speaker 5 (46:33):
Extending plays, and sometimes receivers who run their routes have
to all of a sudden adjust on the fly because
they could still make a play. For example, there was
the play not this game against the Chargers where Dart's
calling Darius Slayton back and he's saying, Darius, come back,
we could still maybe gain positive yard. And so some
receivers are not used to that. And while Russ wasn't
a statue, Russ was not necessarily extending plays to the

(46:56):
degree that Dart is. So I think that's more of
the adjustment then maybe not being on the field enough
with him.

Speaker 4 (47:03):
That's a good point. Don't you think though, that when
you got something that's working, you shouldn't change it. I
think Kaska got off the playbook and started when he
went to eleven personnel. I think that was kind of
an error. And looking back at the game the first half,
the first quarter, especially with the use of a tight ends.
If it's working and you're scoring pretty much at will.

(47:27):
Why change?

Speaker 7 (47:29):
Yeah, I understand, Now I don't understand.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
I understand. I think it was game flow, and I
think game flow. Unfortunately, when things went bad with the
five consecutive turnovers by the Giants, game flow, they went
into the locker room. This is why we were talking
before the show, and that's another reason I didn't want
to deal with the Saints game. But in the last
seven and a half minutes of that second quarter, it
was a complete nightmare, a complete nightmare. You went up

(47:53):
from fourteen to three to down sixteen to fourteen going
into halftime. And to be frank with you, I thought
of the Giants came out with the third quarter kickoff
and had scored on that drive, I thought they would
be okay. When they turned it over again, I was like,
uh oh, the game flow is not where they wanted

(48:14):
to be. And if you notice, that's when they got
away from the double tight ends. That's also when suddenly
the seventy thousand plus fans in the Superdome on every
key play after that, they started hitting one hundred decibels
on the audio meter. Before that they were eighty three,
eighty five. They touched ninety.

Speaker 5 (48:34):
Once you could feel the game getting away, and the
Giants felt more.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
A sense of urgency to go with the three wide
receivers because they needed to maybe throw the ball a
little more and get down fields of speed right, and
that game flow totally destroyed them.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
It was you're absolutely Paul, You're absolutely right. I'll tell
you what. You activated the twelfth man with those turnovers.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
Oh, it was brutal.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
It was the sound in that building, and I've been
there so many times. I know what it's like.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
It's part of the voodoo.

Speaker 7 (49:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (49:11):
I mean, listen, the fans are usually a big component
in Seattle and New Orleans, and Kevin will let you
go on that note.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
Appreciate the phone call.

Speaker 5 (49:17):
So I don't think that was necessarily a surprising development,
But they were yearning for their first win of the
season and they had an opportunity, and it certainly raised
it to a whole other level.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
But I think it was I agree with it was.

Speaker 5 (49:28):
Game flow is the fact that you needed to take
the top off the ball and tight ends will help
you methodically move up and down the field, but they're
not going to give you the thirty forty chunk plays,
which they desperately needed. And that called for the wide
receiver personnel to be on the field much more. Let's
head back to the lines. We got Mike in Virginia
with us here on BBKL. What's happened to.

Speaker 8 (49:49):
Mike Hey doing today?

Speaker 3 (49:51):
Thank you?

Speaker 2 (49:52):
Sure?

Speaker 3 (49:52):
What's on your mind?

Speaker 7 (49:55):
Again? Once again, I'm calling, and it's the usage of players.
I just fan through and through. But it's so frustrating
to see, like I understand Hyatt college wise splitting the
cough winner and sometimes he doesn't translate. But I'm sure
y'all heard Charlie Weiss when he was on Huddle, when
he did the Huddle podcast, he said, he said, I'm

(50:20):
not sure if he can catch a cold, but I
know this kid can run. So if all you're doing
is throwing go balls to him, shame on you. And
that's what it seems like they only do with him.
There's never a scheme playing excuse me, calling plays and
scheming people open are completely different things. And for me

(50:41):
to sit here and watch that, they don't scheme this
kid into the game somehow. It's just a go ball.
So of course they're gonna guard him a certain way.
They're gonna give him space. We don't see any kind
of double move, no setup, no nothing. It's just a
straight goball for him, and then people are upset that
he's not making a contested catch. I don't like this set.

(51:03):
And again, I know it's a good thing that the
Giants fans are getting hype about it, but scatable Hardnol's
runner love it, right, but let's be real, how sustainable
is this? Mike afstart didn't run like this, like just
throwing your head into somebody. In turn, like I love
the kid, I've want him to have success, but like,

(51:24):
we got to work with our players better.

Speaker 5 (51:27):
Well, that's why getting Tracy back is going to be key,
because you're not going to work him as much. But
in fairness, if you look back Mike at his usage
in college, even before he got to Arizona State, the
workload wasn't immense. I'm not saying that the style is
related to that. Your point is well taken, but he's
not a running back that's coming in with like three

(51:47):
or four years of starting experience where you're saying yourself,
watch out, So that I think maybe doesn't get me
as concerned in terms of usage. But what you're bringing up,
which I get, is just the style. The pounding can
eat away even if the baggage of usage is not there,
if you're not careful.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Yeah right.

Speaker 7 (52:06):
I just want us to be able to utilize players
better and and and schematically get them involved, not just
throw them out there and run this and that. Like
the teams, the coaches that can scheme correctly thing to
always have. It doesn't matter who's on the field. The
Shanahans Rams coach, they can scheme their players open. They

(52:32):
use motion to get somebody open. Like people can talk
about Howyatt can't get off the gym. So how about
you to them in motions? You're not jamming them in motion?

Speaker 2 (52:42):
Right, Well, I will say to them one of the things,
and I one of the things that I have suggested.
Also you can use a bunch formation, or you could
use or you could use a stack formation, and and
sometimes those things are very good to spring a guy
free and to cause confuse you on the secondary.

Speaker 7 (53:02):
You're so right, Paul, how do we see this and
they don't utilize it and then they just want to
put them to the side. Now we're in We're in horrible,
horrible situation. Both of our tops are type receivers are
down right now, slatly. He has his ups and downs, right,
but he's one of the better receivers on the team,

(53:24):
and I get it. But now what are we going
to do at this point? You have no choice. But again,
I just want us to use our people correctly. Please,
this is so frustrating to watch. We have talent. I
wasn't one of these kind of fans that looked at
our our wide receiver room's like, oh no, we don't

(53:45):
have it. I see everybody for that individual and what
they can do. Like we know Wanda Robinson is the slot.
He's like a Steve Smith type, very very quick in
and out of his touch, can catch the ball, get
up field, and you use him like that correctly. Neighbors
is are everything. But what else can we do schematically

(54:06):
to get Robinson the ball, to get Bo Collins the ball,
to get who else.

Speaker 5 (54:11):
Do we have? I mean a little Jordan Humphrey, I
mean they got a few guys. I think listen, Mike,
I don't mean to cut you off, but we want
to squeeze in another call or two and we'll let
you go on that note.

Speaker 3 (54:20):
You got it. Thank you appreciate the phone call.

Speaker 5 (54:22):
I think you know The other thing that is important
to take into consideration. When you start saying, why don't
they use this personnel this way? You know they're seeing
these guys in practice Paul on a daily basis, so
I understand it comes across his frustration. But if they
don't feel they want to put highatt in a situation
like that because they don't see it in practice, they're
not going to then roll the dice in a game.

(54:44):
It's just not what it's about. And if you go
back to his college days at Tennessee, he was known
for taking the top off the ball a vertical threat.
I mean that was his moo. It doesn't mean that
he doesn't have a skill set to be utilized elsewhere.
But when you start saying, well, they need to find
way to get him open, and maybe, you know, throwing
a screen his way gives him some confidence. It may
doesn't mean he's going to start catching forty yard bombs.

(55:06):
But I find it very hard to believe that they're
not entertaining some of these things that we're discussing in
practice and they're not seeing it, so they are four Paul,
They're not going to adopt it in an actual meaningful content.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
I always say this, The coaches have much more information
in each player's portfolio than anybody else does, and they're
not going to go into a game saying, Okay, this
is what this guy does best. Let's not use it
that way. That just does not make any sense. So
we can pontificate about the kinds of things that we're
not seeing that we think might work because we've seen

(55:42):
them work in other places and in other schemes, that
doesn't necessarily mean they will work here. And you'd like
to believe that the coaching staff knows enough to figure
out if those odds are better or worse.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
We have a trade in the NFL.

Speaker 5 (55:58):
ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that the AFC North, interestingly,
two teams have been in the same division, are changing personnel.
So the Browns are shipping Joe Flacco in a sixth
round pick to the Bengals for a fifth rounder, and
clearly they've moved towards Dylan Gabriel Cleveland, so Flaco became accessible,

(56:18):
but he now is going to take over for the
injured Joe Burrow and Jake Brownings had a rough time
with interceptions and ball security, and that Bengals offense has
been an absolute mess for a variety of reasons. So Flaco,
now a veteran comes in, he'll probably take over that offense.
So it's going to take him a few weeks, by
the way, to learn the S team. But I think
the point is if you want to bring it back
to the Giants, given they have Russell Wilson and Jamis Winston,

(56:42):
that now that's one less team that is out there
in need of a quarterback. If you wanted to once
again go down the road with the Giants entertained trading
one of them. And remember Winston was brought in on
a two year contract to still be the backup next
year for Jackson Dart, so it was beyond just what's
going to go on in the twenty twenty five season.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
And Wilson's out of one year deal, so which excise.
While the Giants say they're happy with him here and
he wants to stay here, if somebody knocked on the
door and offered you a deal that you could not refuse,
you would certainly I would think consider it. But the
trade deadline is November fourth, and at this point, the
one real needy team of a veteran quarterback with a

(57:25):
lengthy resume has now gotten a guy in Joe Flacco.

Speaker 5 (57:28):
Well, because Burrow once again is going to miss extensive
time and maybe out for the remain through the season.
Some of the other players that have been hurt, like
Lamar Jackson, it doesn't look like it's a long Ultimore's Injurgue,
so it's hard to find, at least as it stands
right now, another suitor.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
I would agree with you.

Speaker 5 (57:43):
I think Cincinnati was by far the most sensible destination
for a veteran, and it's Joe Flacco that is going
to now continue his tour of the AFC North. All right,
let's head back to the phone lines. Wilson is in
Roxbury with us here on BBKL. This should be interesting.
What's happened to Wilson?

Speaker 8 (58:00):
Hey, lance A, Paulie, how are you at?

Speaker 2 (58:03):
I was out of it.

Speaker 8 (58:04):
I was out of the country. So I heard about
mister moraw. So there's a lot more important things than
football and sports. I had a million times. So I
just want to wait for mister Marra and I you know,
speedy recovery and his family. So that was that was that,
That's the most important thing. But list and I want
to take a different spend on the call lance In Paul,

(58:25):
I don't care about the record more. I don't care
about anything anymore because it's pointless. But I've been telling
you something for two and a half years, and you've
been telling me something that I'm crazy for two.

Speaker 4 (58:34):
And a half years.

Speaker 8 (58:34):
It gave me every in the book. Poorie, I love you,
but you keep telling me. You know, the locker room
is good, their leadership is good.

Speaker 9 (58:42):
There's no fracture.

Speaker 8 (58:43):
They play half of the said coach blah blah. Okay,
you know while you guys have don't have?

Speaker 6 (58:47):
Did I have proof?

Speaker 4 (58:50):
Fact my eyes?

Speaker 8 (58:52):
Ten win, twenty nine losses last Sunday, no accountability whatsoever,
no professionalistm you can't make one adjust And what's to
say to to save your life?

Speaker 6 (59:04):
Okay?

Speaker 8 (59:04):
And at the end of the day, the proof are
gonna back me up and choose us. Unfortunately, are gonna
you know, not back you guys though.

Speaker 5 (59:12):
Well, well, hold on, Wilson, before you go on a
whole hold on, hold on a minute. Let me let
me you're putting words in our mouths, which I think
is unfair. That's number one, number number two because I
don't remember being on the record talking anything about proof
in the locker room and everything's rainbows and lolly. That's
a little that's a little miss break, that's misleading. But

(59:33):
number number one here, okay, before we jump to number two,
What is that synonymous? How is not making adjustments in
your estimation synonymous with locker room issues?

Speaker 3 (59:44):
How does that proof?

Speaker 8 (59:47):
Well, that's what you laid out, though you always changed.

Speaker 3 (59:49):
No, no, no, I'm not sure you know, Wilson.

Speaker 5 (59:51):
See, I listened very carefully, Unlike I'm sure a lot
of our listeners and viewers who are probably panging their
heads against the wall. I listened very carefully to what
you have to say. And and you were insinuating locker
room issues. That's what you prefaced your comments.

Speaker 8 (01:00:04):
No, no, that's not what I say.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
You talked about a fractured locker room. Well, and guess
what this is me not a fractured locker room. There's
not we have proof because.

Speaker 3 (01:00:15):
We're at practice and we're in the locker room.

Speaker 5 (01:00:18):
You are not sorry, but your room, well, holy, that
doesn't make it, doesn't fans don't We don't care.

Speaker 8 (01:00:25):
I don't want to have a fracture locker room and
win games.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
No, no, but that's the point you made. You You
didn't come out and say the team is not playing
well in their record stinks. And I told you that
that was the case two years ago. Had you said that,
I could not have responded. But you came out by
saying there's a fractured locker room and we don't have
the proof.

Speaker 5 (01:00:47):
Well, guess what, we have the proof. It is not
a fractured locker room. So you lost except the feed
and move on.

Speaker 8 (01:00:54):
You have what proof do you have?

Speaker 4 (01:00:57):
Bully?

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
I'm here every day.

Speaker 8 (01:00:58):
You're not okay, but okay. So because you're there every day,
I can see, we see, I.

Speaker 5 (01:01:04):
Can see I talk to the players, I talk to
the coaches, and I see what I see.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
You're not in the building.

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
You know, well you don't know, Wilson. What proof, Wilson?
Why do you feel? What's the evidence of fractured locker room?

Speaker 8 (01:01:18):
Can I say something? Can I say something?

Speaker 9 (01:01:20):
What about the fact that they they they have nothing
else to get Giants fans? So they shut nothing against
the kid, nothing against the kid. They shot the second
round quarterback because they packed them in the first round
where they below average run. Now this is our future.
You're gonna tell me that this kid is so this
is why we have to look forward to I'm just
gonna tell them right now at the end of the
year when this timber is over, because it's gonna be

(01:01:41):
over at the end of the year, because we're gonna
be we're looking at one and seven, two and six.
It doesn't make a difference, doesn't make a difference. There's
only two names that I want to hear from Giants.
It's either Bill Belichick or Nick Sabans and that's it.
I don't want to hear because at the end of
the year, this nimer is going to be over and not.

Speaker 7 (01:01:57):
They ask when over come.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
Out with if you had just come out talking about
the record and talking about how you would like to
make changes, that's fine, you were allowed to have that opinion.
No one's going to argue with you about that.

Speaker 5 (01:02:11):
But you came out saying that there's no proof you
have proof that the locker room is fractured and broken
and not following these coaches.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
That's what you wist.

Speaker 5 (01:02:22):
That is exactly that is exactly what use fractured locker room, and.

Speaker 3 (01:02:27):
We have to proof for you that's not true.

Speaker 5 (01:02:30):
Yeah, I mean, we'll said, listen, we're gonna let you
go on this note because we're just gonna go in
circles and we're not gonna accomplish anything.

Speaker 3 (01:02:35):
But don't don't backpedal.

Speaker 5 (01:02:37):
And then the comical part is he now goes on
a tangent on a completely unrelated topic with bringing in
a new coach Beelichick Saban. He starts all of a
sudden giving a laundry list, and that was not even
how the phone call started. And then you're accusing us
of the exact same thing you do.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Opinions are fine, but deal with inaccuracy, yes, especially ones
that you can't back up.

Speaker 5 (01:02:56):
Let's be at least somewhat practical. And you know, you
bring up the term accountability Jackson Dart during his press conference.
The first thing he said was the picks and interceptions
are on me. He went through a whole thing. So,
I mean, if that's not accountability, I don't know what is.
You mentioned use that phrase. And then you said you
have evidence and you didn't provide any evidence. So obviously,

(01:03:17):
under those circumstances, we're going to fight.

Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
Back on that front.

Speaker 5 (01:03:20):
Unfortunately, always an adventure though when Wilson, you never know
what you're gonna get It's like a box of chocolate
here with him.

Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
But I think that's a good.

Speaker 5 (01:03:27):
Way to uh please do yes, bring the emotions down
a little bit as we wrap up shop here and
close up Tuesday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live. We
appreciate everybody tuning in today's episode, part of the Giants
Platforms Everywhere and Giants dot Com slash podcast as we
are broadcasting from the Giants Podcast Studio presented by Hacket

(01:03:47):
Sack Meridian Health. Keep Getting Better show is presented by Cadillac,
the official luxury.

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
Vehicle of the New York Giants.

Speaker 5 (01:03:53):
For Paul Detino, I'm Lance Meadow, signing off here on BBKL.
Stay locked to Giants dot Com for all the latest,
and we'll speak to you on Wednesday right here on
Big Blue kick Off Live.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
Have a go one