Big Blue Kickoff Live 11/18 | Packers Takeaways and Roster Chat

Lance Medow and Matt Citak chat about their takeaways from the Giants’ game against the Packers, talk about the roster, and take calls from fans. 

0:00 - Giants Packers Wrap up, Lions preview

25:54 - Calls

40:25 - the roster

46:31 - More Packers chat

56:20 - More on roster, Packers chat, and Lions preview

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Episode Transcript

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

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Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't.

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Do it because you're on Giants dot com.

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Do you know what I saw? New York Giant crack.

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And the Giants mobile app seventeen.

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Rials one tun down. We all we're all tapering.

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

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's go on.

Speaker 4 (00:24):
The dog has a lot and welcome to Tuesdays. They
should a big Blue kickoff live here on Giants dot
com YouTube as well as the mobile app. He's Matt Sidetech.
I'm Lance Medal with you for the next sixty minutes.
Multiple ways you did interact with us here on the program.
You give us a ring tueser A one nine three
nine four five one three. He could also use social
media hashtag Giants Chat. We're both on Twitter. He's at

(00:45):
Matt Sidetech. One word, I am at Lance Metal one word,
last name Emydow. Today's episode is always presented by Cadillac,
the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants,
and we are broadcasting from the Giants Podcast Studio presented
by Hackensack Meridane Health. Keep getting better, so Matt and
I will provide some of our takeaways from the Giants'
loss to the Packers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Another

(01:07):
heart wrenching loss twenty seven to twenty as they have
now dropped five in a row, and matt unlike some
of the other losses in recent history, I mean, this
was not a game where the Giants led by double figures,
but it was a back.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
And forth flow.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Each team had a legitimate shot late in the game,
especially with how the possessions went, and it's almost as
if the defining moment of the game, I would argue,
is a bit of the best way to describe how
the contest played out. And it was a fifty to
fifty type of game where it was who wanted it
more down the stretch. And granted Jameis Winston was picked

(01:42):
off in the end zone, but I want to start
before that. The Packers ultimate go ahead drive. You get
them in a third and ten, right, Jordan Love. He
took a shot down the field to Matthew Golden and
then incomplete passed to Romeo Dobbs who couldn't hold onto it,
and Love just.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Flips it up there. I mean, this is a jump ball.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
This is a center field during the outfield right going
up to see whether or not he can make the catch,
and you've got Saveon Williams, a young upcoming wide receiver
against Cordell Flott, and Williams made a heck of a play.
He went up, jumped up, made the catch, and now
all of a sudden they have a fresh set of downs.
And I would say the same thing with what Christian
Watson did in the end zone. He was one on

(02:22):
one on Corey Black. Dane Belton came over at the
safety position, but Love put the ball where it was
either going to be a catch by Watson or it
was going to be an incomplete pass. So you got
to give credit to the opposition. But you saw two
examples of the opposing wide receivers go up make plays
for their respective quarterbacks. And Isaiah Hodgins des there's a
lot of credit, you know, he came in, he made

(02:44):
a lot of plays. There just wasn't enough of that
to balance out what Green Bay did, especially down the stretch.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, I mean for the Giants, it was just kind
of more of the same. Honestly, you know, the game
kind of came down to the defense not being able
to come up with the big stop when they needed
it most. I mean, Jamis led the team down the field,
they scored the go ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter,
you got or midway through the fourth quarter. All you

(03:11):
gotta do is come up with the stop and then
milk the clock. And you highlighted a couple of those plays,
the deep pass, the save on Williams, the touchdown to
Christian Watson. Those are just, you know, kind of more
examples of the defense not being able to come up
with that clutch, big play laid in the game. And
that's after you know the other thing that's been really

(03:33):
hurting this team basically all season, which is the run defense.
I mean, if you told me that Josh Jacobs, who's
gonna leave in the first half and not play in
the second half, I would have said, you know, Giants
have a really good chance at having a great day
in terms of limiting the Packers' run game. Packers still
averaged over five and a half yards per carry, you know,
one hundred and twenty eight yards on twenty three carries

(03:55):
with the touchdown Emmanuel Wilson. You know, it wasn't the
most efficient averaged just under three point six yards per carry,
but one hundred and twenty eight yards on the ground
five and a half yards per carry. I mean, this
is the same issues that have kind of been affecting
the Giants all season. And you know, the offense it

(04:15):
wasn't great obviously, you know, going from Jackson Dart to
Jamis Winston. I think it was fair to expect a
little bit of a drop off because of how well
Jackson Dart's been playing. Jamis was fine. You know the interception.
You know a lot of people that are talking about
that play. You know, whether or not Jalen Hyatt kind
of pulled up at the end of the route which
led to the interception. Even if he didn't, I think

(04:38):
that would have been a fifty to fifty ball with
the defender and still might have gotten picked off anyway.
But for the most part, I thought Jamis, you know,
played al right. He led the team they had not
counting the very last play of the game, the strip,
sack and the kneel down right before half. The Giants
had seven drives. Five of them went fifty or more yards,

(04:59):
which you'd sign up for that sure. However, only three
of those five ended with points. That's the Kese got
it for sure. Is the key is again, it's about
finishing on both sides of the ball. You gotta get
points on the board, whether it's touchdowns, sometimes settle for
field goals and stop the other team from making those
big plays. And the Giants just on both sides of

(05:20):
the ball failed to do that on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (05:21):
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, Matt, because that
was my other major takeaway. First of all, in comparison,
the Packers were four for four in the red zone,
So I mean that's textbook finishing every drive and putting
minimum six points on the board. But let's peel back
the layers a little bit more in terms of what
you were talking about. And a lot of callers bring
this up all the time, and for those that have
been listening and viewing for quite some time, my mindset

(05:43):
about time of possession has been well documented.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
And I say, it's great.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
Holding onto the football, it's fantastic news, right, But it's
about what you do with it. Same thing with turnovers.
You can tell me, Matt, you take the ball away
five times? Okay, Well what did it lead to? If
it led to three points? Who cares that? You took
the ball away five times. So you're gonna look at
the box score. If you didn't watch one snap of
this game, you're gonna see the Giants had the ball
for nearly thirty six minutes in time of possession. The

(06:06):
Packers had it for just over twenty four, So let's
round it out. That means they were plus twelve minutes
MATT in time of possession. That is astounding to be
plus twelve in time of possession.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
You'll sign up for that.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
But then the next question is, okay, what did you
do with those extra twelve minutes? And as you were
hinting at, if you look at the lengthy drives, and
there were a lot of them, the two big misses
were the fact that you had a drive in the
first half. Okay, that when sixteen plays fifty six yards,

(06:39):
it ate up nine minutes and forty six seconds off
the clock. This is after the Packers score a go
ahead touchdown to make it nineteen thirteen. They left the
offense out of the field fourth and three and Jameis
Winston get sacked. Big, huge missed opportunity. Even if you
get a field goal there. Once again, we don't know
how the remain during the game plays out, but to
walk away with nothing, Matt, that was a backbreaker. And

(07:02):
then the one that ended with the interception, Now that's
the automatic killer because of where you were in the game.
But that went ten plays fifty one yards. So between
both of those drives, the Giants ran twenty six plays
and they went over the century mark and held the ball.
Here's the difference for twelve to thirteen minutes. And the

(07:22):
problem is that differential showed absolutely no production. And maybe
this is a simplistic breakdown, but Matt, based on what
we're talking about, that's the difference of the ball game here.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Yeah, I mean one hundred percent, and that's kind of
I would say it's been not as big of an
issue with Jackson Dart at quarterback, but whether it's been
Russell Wilson or Jameis Winston has been a little bit
more of an issue. Now, fortunate or hopefully Jackson Dart
you know, clears the concussion protocol in the next day
or two and his back for Sunday's game against Detroit,

(07:56):
because going up against that high power offense that you
know is gonna score a lot of points, especially coming
off of that loss against the Eagles, where their offense
did not look great. You know they're gonna come up
looking to drop you know, forty points on Sunday and.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
They're aggressive, they keep their offense down.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
For sure, Dan Campbell, you know it didn't work on Sunday,
but went for it five times on fourth down. Now,
the Eagles stopped them every time. But you know, I
don't know if the Giants are gonna have that same
success trying to stop them five plus times. So yeah,
I mean again, Jackson is gonna his return would elevate
the offense and help raise the floor. And you know,

(08:35):
we've seen the offense operate almost every single game with
Jackson at quarterback at a pretty high level. I mean,
the Saints game was an exception. It wasn't great. Some
of those other games, like the second Eagles game obviously
was not great. But they've been scoring twenty plus points
just about every single week and not struggling to put
points on the board, which Sunday it was. You know,

(08:59):
Packers have a great defense, so credit to them, credit
to the Jeff Hafley, you know, great coordinator. But I
don't know, I didn't have I didn't have a ton
of confidence that the offense was gonna go out there
and just drop a lot of points.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
You're talking about green Bay, right, you're referring to or
the Giants.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
The Giants. I just wanted to make Jameis Winston dropping
a lot of points on this Packers defense. No, Detroit's
defense certainly has its holes, especially in the past defense.
You know, the secondary is very banged up, but their
run defense is pretty elite. And if they completely take
out the Giants run game on Sunday, it's gonna the

(09:37):
offense is gonna rely solely on Jackson Dart in his arm.
And while that's been you know, that's been great, he's
still a rookie's still going through some some growing pain.
So yeah, it's.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Well, it's also tough, yeah, Matt. It's a different style
fight too. Against the Lions, right, Detroit is much more
comfortable getting into a track meet with you, so they'll
just have to truck. Green Bay is more of the
grinded out philosophy. Case in point, the Packers had lost
their previous two games, and they scored less than fourteen
points in each of those games. Now, granted it was
against different opponents and to each their own every single

(10:11):
week based on the opposition. But green Bay came out
and surpassed its tally from the previous two games combined
against the Giants.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
Without Josh Jacobs for more than half the game.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
Exactly, so you know you're seeing them evolve. But also
they're comfortable if they're going to tell you, hey, methodically
go up and down the field. The Giants sixteen plays,
see if you can score on us, and we'll make
a stop and we'll be fine with that. Whereas the
Lions they'll let you score after sixteen plays, but then
all of a sudden, in the blink of an eye,
they've got to come back with five plays seventy yards touchdown.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
So it's more of a question. And the onus, I
would say is moron.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
Maybe the Giants offense in a game against Detroit, whereas
this was more of a game on the Giants defense
to make stops in a closer game in crunch time
down the stretch, to alleviate the pressure on the offense. Unfortunately,
it didn't work out. With respect to your point about
the Packers' run game, it wasn't as if you know,

(11:07):
they had an enormous amount of explosive runs but he
goes back to timing.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
And the one run that.

Speaker 4 (11:13):
Stood out to me is when Jordan Love goes out
of the game and Malik Willis comes in and he
adds a new dimension. Not that Love is a statue,
but Willis when he took over for Love last season
when Love was banged up, you know they would add
him into the run game. And there was a zone
redplay where Willis ran for sixteen yards and now all
of a sudden, you need to account for the quarterback

(11:36):
being that extra weapon out of the backfield that will
take off. And I don't know, for some reason, that
run of all runs jumps out to me more so
than anything that Emmanuel Wilson may have done in place
of Josh Jacobs. They just they picked their spots wisely.
Whether it was Love extending the play, but the Malik
Willis was key because what happened on that drive, Matt

(11:56):
they ultimately finished in the red zone, and you know,
talking about fifty fifty, Watson made another great grab, right.
I mean, he's got what Deontay Banks hanging over him
and somehow he's still secure the football. And I know
Giants fans may not want to hear that perspective, but
you know, sometimes you do just need to tip your
cap to the opposition and say, the guy made an
incredible play. Both of Watson's touchdowns were and I hate

(12:18):
using this phrase because it's cliche, but they were above
the x's and those type of plays, meaning the quarterback
put the ball in a fifty to fifty position where
the defense can make a play, the offense can make
a play, and his guy came through.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
The only issue, or not the only, but the big
issue is that pretty much every time the Giants defense
has been put into those situations, those fifty to fifty
balls or someone has to go make a play, they're
letting the other team go make that play. They're not
stepping up and making the play themselves.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
But it's there for the taking, I guess, is what
I'm getting.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yet one hundred percent. Yeah, But you know, being there
for the taking doesn't do you any good, not at all,
if you know ten out of ten times it's the
other team that is going to go out there and
actually make the play. The one run I slightly disagree
with you Manuel Wilson's touchdown run that I felt like
was I don't want to say the worst run defense

(13:11):
play for the Giants, But just the effort on that
playin right up the gut. He just went right up
the gut. I mean, I don't want to single one
person out because it's not one person that gave up
the touchdown, but Deontay Banks on that play. I scratched
my head figuring out what he was trying to do there.
He didn't make much of an effort to try to

(13:31):
stop him. I don't know what was going on there,
but I want to give you a stat. Seventy three
point seven percent. That is the success rate opponents have
had against the Giants in the red zone this year.
Giants have that's a probably thirty second ranked red zone
defense this year. Almost three out of four times they

(13:52):
are giving up a touchdown when a team gets inside
the twenty. It's tough to win a game when you're
letting your opponent do it score with that ease. And
you look at the flip side, the Giants the red
zone offense rings twenty seventh, scoring a touchdown forty eight
point less than fifty percent at the time. It's gonna
be tough to beat any opponent in the NFL with production,

(14:15):
you know, close to the goal line, close to the
end zone like that, and especially when you have a
schedule as tough. You know, we knew this schedule this
year was going to be very tough for the Giants.
You got to make the plays when you're going up
against this level of talent, even if you're going up
against subpar teams like the Saints. In the Saints game,

(14:35):
you could argue that the Giants are put when healthy,
at least at that time of year, we're a better
team on paper than the Saints. But the Saints came
up with the plays when they needed to and ended
up winning by double digit points in a game that
the Giants could have had. But they turned the ball
over five consecutive times. So you know, you get close
to the goal line whether you're on offense or defense.

(14:57):
And this is kind of goes for just a similar
theme for the whole season. The Giants need to start
stepping up and having guys make those key plays that's
just been missing all season.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
Well and as far as your point about, you know,
you may look better on paper or even in the standings,
I mean, all of those things could be offset by
mishaps and mistakes that clearly piled up against the Saints,
and you know your numbers with respect to the red zone,
So the offense is not helping offset the defensive struggles.
I think that was stated very clearly based on the
disparity in terms of you know what is played out

(15:30):
in the area, and to me, when you're struggling to
stop teams in the red zone, it's a product of
not having a good run defense, because once again, Matt,
what do teams need to do to be successful in
the red zone. They need to be able to run
the football because the defense is on top of you.
There's not enough spacing to spread everybody out and throw
the ball religiously. And good teams that can block up

(15:53):
front win those small battles and push the pile forward,
they're going to finish with touchdowns. And that's the biggest
struggle right now for the Giants. The other thing that
I wanted to bring up, just to piggyback off of
the run you brought up with respect to Emmanuel Wilson,
No doubt about.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
It, they went up nineteen thirteen.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
But the reason why I at least pointed out Willis
is the Willis run came on third and eight, okay,
and he ran for sixteen yards. That Wilson run came
on first and ten from the eleven, so there was
a little bit more flexibility. If you stop Willis, you
give Matt Lafleur something to think about. Maybe it goes
for a field goal despite the windy conditions and the

(16:30):
kickers struggles, or you know, maybe they leave the offense
out of the field. You have a chance to make
a fourth down stop. That's why I guess that stood
out to me. But once again, everybody's perspective can be different.
There's no right or wrong answers with respect to that.
But that was the reason why even after the game,
and I was looking at the numbers like you, and
I was like, boy, it didn't seem from an optic standpoint,
is if the Packers were getting like these big chunk runs.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
But it's all about the timing.

Speaker 4 (16:52):
And that was the thorn I thought in the side
of the Giants. And the other reason why that stuck
with me is even though there's still a lot of
football left, Jordan Love went out of the game, you figure, okay,
the Packers, they weren't necessarily planning to see Malik Willis.
Maybe they're disoriented a little, and I thought Willis did

(17:13):
a heck of a job coming in and their offense
didn't misobeat. And Laflora even talked about this after the game,
and I think part of it is because Willis has
had some starting experience within the Green Bay scheme. But
you know, you got a hard hit on Jordan Love.
You're roughed up his shoulder, which is what you want
to do. You don't want to see anybody Godribid get hurt,
but you want to get your hits and licks on
the QB. And Willis now has to come in. It's

(17:35):
second and sixteen from the Giants forty matt okay, And
once again, this is still early in the first quarter
because it was first and twenty when Love scrambled for
four yards, and then on the very next play, after
Brooks ran for eight yards, Willis runs for sixteen. So
now it's first and ten from the Giant sixteen. It's
a fresh set of downs, And think about how much

(17:56):
more manageable it is for the backup quarterback after that
run compared to if he had to face uh fourth
and six or whatever it may be in the limited
options in the playbook.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
So you know, just to add more context.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
That's why that play in particular I thought was an
early defining moment for Green Bay and how they were
going to handle that Giants defense.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, no, it's totally fair. I get where you're coming
from with that. That was a huge play and you're
right extended the drive set them up for a touchdown,
you know, the Giants third down the third down defense,
I will say, that's like and this is not anything
to like hang your hat on, but it's been middle
of the pack this year. It's not been you know,

(18:37):
as low as the red zone defense has, but again
it was No, it's definitely not great, and it's you know,
it's not great even if you come up with let's
say you stop a team on half of its tries
or even more than half of the tries. If you're
letting the conversions almost immediately turn into points, then it

(18:59):
doesn't you come up with a couple of stops, and
especially if you can't stop them on fourth down either.
I mean, I know this didn't really come into play
this past Sunday, but as we touched on earlier, you
better believe that the Lions are gonna be going for
it on fourth down this upcoming Sunday. Dan Campbell does
not hesitate to go for it on fourth down. So

(19:22):
you're not only gonna have to come up with a
stop on third down this coming week, but you're go
They're gonna be probably several drives where the Giants will
have a you know, let's call it a third and
five or third and six, and Detroit's gonna run it
to just make that fourth down shorter. If you can't
come up with those stops, then the Lions offense is
gonna score forty plus points on you.

Speaker 4 (19:42):
Well, the concern is based on what you were just emphasizing.
Is first of all, the Lions love to run the football,
and they have two really good running backs. Okay, so
that's problem number one. Problem number two is the Giants also,
because of their young, inexperienced secondary, have.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Had some tough matchups.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
And the Lions also have a lot of playmakers between
their receivers and tight ends. And I think the concern
now is pulse and at debo now. Mike Kafka spoke
to the media yesterday. He was asked about at Debo
having a setback in pregame warmups. That's why he didn't play,
and they don't know whether or not. You know that
means he's going to miss some time, whether or not
realistically he could play. I mean, just if you put

(20:20):
two and two together, it's never a good sign. I
think any coach will tell you this. If somebody has
an issue in pregame warmups and is unable to play,
the chances of them all of a sudden regrouping and
playing the next week. That's just my personal opinion, no
different than the Packers are saying the same thing. Jacobs
couldn't return, so you can only imagine about how they're
feeling about his access and opportunity to play this week.

(20:42):
So you could be looking at another game where you know,
I'm on Saint Brown and all the tight ends are
now going to be going up against a rotational group
of corners that, let's face it, have had their fair
share of struggles, not just in terms of defending the
pass plays, but you know there are also contributions.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
As to why the have struggled to run right.

Speaker 4 (21:01):
Your secondary matt needs to be a second layer of defense.
And you know you brought up the Emmanuel Wilson touchdown,
You brought up the lack of effort. Well, the secondary
needs to help out, especially if the running back gets
to the next layer of that defense. And you bet
Montgomery and Gibbs. Okay, these guys are playmakers, and it's
gonna take everybody to have to slow them down and

(21:23):
put the game more on Jared Goff. And if that
doesn't happen in early downs, I mean, we could be
sitting here all day long and.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Talking about third down conversion percentage.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
It's not gonna make a difference if the Lions aid
don't face a third down or face a third and
one and a third and two because of how productive
their run game is on those earlier downs.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, honestly, looking, I know we're still discussing the packs game, but.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
We do both here well on a Tuesday, but looking.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
To Sunday, like, the running backs don't even that's not
even the part of the Lions offense right now. That
kind of scares me the most because we know they're
gonna want to run the football, and in Dan Campbell's
like ideal world, they run the ball thirty to forty
times on Sunday. Montgomery twenty plus carries Gibbs, you know,
fifteen to twenty carries the guy that's kind of scared me,

(22:08):
and especially now that I kind of agree with you
in terms of pulse and a deebo I. Nothing's guaranteed,
and we'll find out more when you know, Coach Kafka
speaks tomorrow. But chances are I would think he probably
won't be able to go this week, you know, because
of that setback, and it was only Sundays, you know,
a week later. For him to not be able to

(22:28):
play and then be able to suit up, I would
be a little surprised. The guy that worries me the most,
especially because of how he's playing and how much of
an effort Dan Campbell recently has seemed to since he
took over play calling to get him the balls. Jameson
Williams like, I look at this, the giant secondary, and
if there's no debo, I'm not sure who's gonna be

(22:49):
able to match up well with Jamison Williams and his speed.
You know, maybe Cordell Flott, But who's guarding Amnrestling Brown.
Then they have a very talented wide receiver duo. And
two games ago, Dan Campbell took over the play call
for the Lions and made a concerted effort to get
Jameson Williams the ball. So that's kind of the guy,

(23:12):
especially because Sam Laport is on IR so he's not
going to be out there on Sunday. The other tight
ends on the Lions. Brock Right, You know that matchup
doesn't scare me that much. But Jameson Williams just taking
the top off of the defense maybe multiple times, that
scares me on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
No, it's a very fair point, and that's why I
would say we either focus on the run defense or
the back end, and the Lions pose problems in most
of those areas.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Why they're potentially the best offense in football, one of
the best, if not the best.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
Now you are getting them to your point at a
time where maybe they've had some struggles. But you know,
sometimes when you're coming off a game where you have issues,
it gives you more of a reason to emphasize that
during the week of practice and have a very different
outlook and game plan, especially if you're going up against
a defense that is unlike what Philadelphia has presented.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
Of course, over the course of this season, so.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
They had back to back road games. This is their
return back to Detroit and we know since Jared Goff
has been there, the offense has just been a lot
better playing at home inside the Dome than when it's outdoors,
which is where obviously they played at the Link this
past weekend. Outdoors, the offense couldn't really get anything going,
I think, based on them being held to nine points

(24:24):
this past week. Again, Dan Campbell's going to want this
offense looking more like it did against the Commanders a
week before when they scored forty four points.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
Well, and I'm glad you brought up the environment because
the Giants have struggled immensely on the road.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
They were on this.

Speaker 4 (24:36):
Lengthy losing streak of franchise long skid, and it's been
quite some time since they've been able to play their
best football away from MetLife Stadium. And you're going into
a domed environment where it's going to be loud and
the Lions are hungry. So you know, that also can
create some issues in terms of you know, even if
Jackson Dark plays communication, you don't want to pick up penalties,

(24:59):
you don't want to stall drives. You know, it wasn't
too bad mishap wise yesterday outside of the turnovers for
the Giants. That's why they were able to sustain some
of these lengthy drives. But you're in your own backyard.
And while Packers fans do travel well, and there was
a nice contingent, very different animal in terms of what
they're walking in into Detroit, especially based on how the
team has performed over the last few seasons. All right,

(25:21):
let's open up the phone lines as we move forward
here on Big Blue Kickoff Live. Today's episode presented by Cadillac,
the official luxury vehicle of the New York Giants. We
are in the Giants Podcast Studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health.
Keep getting better as we continue the dialogue recapping the
Packers game, looking ahead to the Lions as well, and
we check in with Jason and new Haven here on BBKL.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
What's happened to Jason? What do you got for us?

Speaker 5 (25:45):
Hey?

Speaker 6 (25:46):
Guys, how you doing?

Speaker 3 (25:47):
You're right talking about you? Jason? Good?

Speaker 7 (25:49):
Good good.

Speaker 6 (25:50):
I'll make some quick points that I'll get off. Yeah, man,
I want to give kudos to the offensive line Sunday.
I know we lost. I wasn't necessarily thinking we're going
to win the game, even though, which I'll get that
would be my next point. But anyway, I wanted just
a positive offensive line has been played overall, played well

(26:12):
above my expectations for the year. They was able to
run the ball on green Bay. I know James got
I think he got sacked twice.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
But one of them was that last he.

Speaker 6 (26:25):
Right, So you know, do I put that on the
old line? You know, Jamis was trying to make a
play at the end, so you know. But overall, man,
I really felt like we kind of held green Bay's
D line and checked, and we held Denvers D line
and checked. We've we've held the Eagles the first Eagles game,
you know, so we've played pretty well. I'm very, very

(26:46):
excited about how Old line is played. Has it translated
to wins? No, But that's more of a bigger picture,
bigger picture things. Secondly, as far as Detroit, you know,
while yes they're I think they're ten and have point
of favorites on us, and granted that's probably correct, but
I will say this, and this is the conundrum I've

(27:06):
had this year, and I'm sure you guys will agree. Man,
yes we're going into Detroit, but I heard the same
thing when we were going into Denver. Oh, how are
we gonna beat that one? Now, we didn't beat Denver.
I get that, but man I without offense, our offense
always gives us a chance. I mean my issue has

(27:27):
been the defense. Now, it could be a mixture of
the play calling, the personnel, it could be a little
bit of both. But I don't think we're ever out
of the game. We haven't really outside of the Liners
game and the second Eagles game, We've been in a
lot of these games. Like nobody thought we were gonna
go toe to toe with Denver. Nobody had us, you know,

(27:48):
running the ball effectively against green Bay. We were in
that green Bay game, and for whatever reason, we've had
troubles this year closing out games. So that that to
me is you know, that, to me is the issue
is we need to get back into it. I think
it's really a mindset thing now. And I know maybe

(28:10):
you guys won't agree, but I think a lot of sports,
a lot of sports. When it comes to sports, it's
an emotion. It's an emotional thing, right It's a confidence thing.
And right now, I just don't feel like we're in
a moment where we feel we could close your games
out right.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
Well, I mean, listen, Jason, I don't need to jump
in here. I agree with you. I think it's an
emotional game. But I would say if you're not confident
in your abilities, then you do not belong in the NFL.
That would be my response to you. So, I mean,
I think we're getting a little bit too much into
the weeds. You know, do maybe players get dejected under
certain circumstances, But there's a lot of guys on this

(28:45):
roster that are not going to be here next year
because of their contract or a new staff or whatever
it may be, which means if you're not playing your
best or you don't believe in your abilities, once again,
there's probably not going to be a place for you
in the league. So I don't buy that they don't
feel that they can and make plays. I just think
it's the lack of execution, and it's timing. It's not
being in the right spot. It's misque it's not wrapping

(29:08):
up a guy and bringing him down, it's not winning
a jump ball. I mean, I don't know if that's
a mental thing. I just think that's more of the
physicality of the game and once again, not executing. From
that standpoint, the other thing that I wanted to throw
out with respect to your point about the offense, and
this goes back to a point that Matt brought up.
I think the offense has clearly been better than in
years past, but the disparity still remains. They're much better

(29:30):
in starting games. If you notice they went down the field,
they scored on the opening drive again, right, but then
the second half is not the same as the production
of the first half. And keep in mind since the
Broncos game, the Giants have scored twenty four points or
less in each of their last four games, which still
puts a lot of pressure on your defense. So I
think we're seeing really good first halves, the second halves

(29:53):
are not necessarily matching the level of intensity and the
ability to move up in down the field that we're
seeing out of the gates.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
I agree, and I just real quick, Jason, to your
first point. I glad you brought up the offensive line,
because obviously, when your team is two to nine, there's
not a whole lot to you know, harp on positively thinking.
But the offensive line has been I think, a lot
better than pretty much everyone was expecting outside of this

(30:22):
building coming into this season. The old line has been again,
it's just been solid. You know, the years past, it
has been one of, if not the biggest weakness of
this team. This year, they are holding their own, I mean,
going up against this Packers pass rush with not only
Micaeh Parsons but also Rashan Gary on the two edges,

(30:42):
not to mention some incredibly talented linebackers that are great
at getting after the quarterback as well, and Edrin Cooper
and Kay Walker. They gave up two sacks, and we
already said one of them was on the very last
play of the game where they knew the Giants were
just gonna try to hail Mary from what was it,
fifty five yards away? So for pretty much fifty nine
plus minutes, the offensive line gave up one sack. PFF

(31:06):
had them down for under ten total pressures allowed to
this talented Packers pass rush. The run game finally got going.
The Giants were able to actually run the ball with
you know, some pretty good success. Tyron Tracy averaged over
four and a half yards per carry. Going into this
past week. Pro Football Focus, which every single week puts

(31:28):
out a ranking of the top thirty two offensive lines,
they ranked every team's offensive line. Going into this past week,
they had the Giants all the way up at number eleven.
That is the highest I've seen the Giants offensive line
ranked by anyone in years. And then they went out
and had another I would say, pretty solid performance against
Green Bay. So again it's you know, it's great the

(31:51):
offensive line is playing pretty well, but if you're not winning,
I understand it doesn't mean a whole much. It doesn't
mean a whole lot. But I am just glad that
you brought that up because that is one unit that
I do think deserves some credit for how they've been playing.

Speaker 6 (32:04):
And Lancer, man, let me just finish this because I
know you got other callers, so Lance to your point.
And then so the first year Deontay Banks. And that's
why I say confidence, right. I remember watching him his
rookie year, flying around the ball, very very talkative, in
your face, and in the last two years as he
lost his talent. No, he's always been a talented corner.

(32:28):
I just think his confidence is shot now. That could be.
There could be mother reasons. It could be him not
stepping up to the play, it could be the coaching scheme.
I don't know. I'm not in the office. So that's
one thing. And then The third thing, the last thing,
the I think we have been in these games, right,
We have been in these games. A lot of these
games have been winnable games. It's not like past years

(32:49):
where we went into games like, man, this is really
a really, really a tall task. Right this year we've
been We've we've thrown blows with the Denvers and the
Eagles and and those kind of teams. Yeah, we've been
blown out the Miners in the last Seaguals game. But
I think we're right on the cusp and I'm not
gonna give up. I think Shane deserves another shot and

(33:10):
we'll see what the end of the year brings. And
I'm still confident the team. As long as they play hard,
that's all I can ask for us.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
Jason, thank you.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
I appreciate the phone call.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (33:20):
Once again, it's not saying that the offense hasn't been good.
It's just, once again, there's a disparity in while everybody
talks about the defense not making plays down the stretch,
and nobody's disputing that, but just think about if your
offense scores another touchdown in the fourth quarter. You look
at the Denver game and I know Dart was hit,
the interception, Okay, that's a lost possession. The Chicago game,

(33:41):
the lost fumble, that's a lost possession. You put points
on the board. Who knows, you know, maybe you hold on.
Maybe the defense is not put in a position where
it's now a precarious spot. All of those things add up.
So that's what I think has been at least noticeable
from an offensive standpoint. But as far as the offensive line,
the Giants round the ball thirty eight times, Matt in
Sunday's game against the Packers, and I like to go

(34:02):
back and I like to listen to the opposition, hear
what they had to say. Micah Parsons, he was asked
about the Giants game plan, and he said, we're getting
opponents every week and they're showing things that they hadn't
necessarily done religiously or consistently in previous matchups.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
And he said they never expected the Giants to come
out and run the ball as much as they did.
That was what he said in terms of thirty eight times.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
Now, game flow allowed that, but he thought with Jameis Winston,
and we know Jamis can be a gunslinger, right, Matt,
I mean that's his mo And you know he doesn't
shy away from taking shots, and there were a lot
of close interceptions for the Packers in that game. Okay,
how many drops they were walking that fine line, so
let's not overlook that. But he mentioned that they did

(34:48):
not expect the Giants to be so run heavy. But
I also think if you're Mike Kafkan the coaching staff,
you're anticipating it's gonna be windy, and even if you
have a veteran quarterback, the wise game plan it is
keep the ball on the ground, protect the ball, and
if you have success with your offensive line, you can
accomplish that feat. And kudos once again for them to

(35:09):
be able to carry out that game plan and not
have to get pass happy in a situation that didn't
really call for that to occur with success. I mean,
look at a kicking game. It was an absolute mess
for both teams, whether it be field goals, extra points,
or even in terms of special teams. I mean that
Packers sixty yard punt was huge to flip the field,

(35:29):
and the wind absolutely played a role in that.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Yeah, I do think Mike Kafka deserves some credit. I
thought he called a pretty good game for his first
first game as the team leader. So as you brought up, clearly,
the Packers were not expecting the Giants offensive game plan
that they came out and ran, and obviously it did
not result in a win. But again, this was a

(35:54):
talented Packers team that the Giants were in it until
the very end. They had a chance to tie it
at the end of the fourth quarter, obviously, But I
do think just just Kafka just deserves a little bit
of credit because I do think he kind of had
the Green Bay defense a little bit on their heels,
which is what you want. I forgot where I was
what else I was gonna say? My other point point

(36:15):
that I had a point I was waiting.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Got still plenty of time to the show. Mat It's okay,
we won't put you on the spot.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
I do remember. Now, I agree with Jason that the
one thing that I think we've kind of seen just
almost every single week is Giants have a chance basically
every single week, and especially when Jackson Dart is that quarterback,
they have a chance. They are in these games until
the fourth quarter. Now, I agree with him that this
team right now is struggling with obviously being able to

(36:41):
close out games and win come up with those big plays.
I don't want to keep harping on that, but with
Jackson Dard at quarterback especially, this team does have a
chance against just about any opponent that they play. Now.
The one reason why I was sounding, I guess so
nervous about this coming week's matchup is that with the
Green Bay I am more concerned about the Packers defense

(37:04):
than their offense. Their offense I think is solid, it's good,
but the defense is the biggest strength of that Packers team.
The opposite is the case with the Lions. They will
lean on their offense heavily, and obviously, you know, not
breaking any news here, the Giants defense has been struggling
this year and then you know almost all facets. So

(37:26):
the Lions with their top tier, top ranked offense going
up against the Giants defense that really has struggled to
slow down opponents. That is the reason why I just
was coming off as a little bit worried about this
coming weekends matchup because for the Giants to have a
chance this weekend, the defense is going to have to
step up in a very, very big way, and it's just, unfortunately,

(37:50):
not something we've seen them do at least not in
what a month now, we haven't really seen them step
up in a big way since that Eagles Thursday night game,
which only a little more than a month ago, feels
like a year ago.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
Though I agree with the sentiment though going into every game,
at least the way that I look at it is
what facet can you not have damaged the game? And
I would say, if you're the Packers from the Giants' viewpoint,
can't have the defense damage the game? Especially the Packers
also once again had scored less than fourteen points in
each of the last two games. You know, they have
not been good in the red zone, which you know
is another example of the Giants becoming the get right

(38:24):
game for some teams. Green Bay, by the way, two
of six in the red zone, the previous two games
against Carolina and Philly four for four. You know, the
numbers don't lie from that standpoint. But the Lions, okay,
even though their offense had struggled against Philadelphia, and here's
another game in which the opponent is coming off of
Philadelphia matchup.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
I don't know if.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
That's just coincidence or whatever it may be, but Philadelphia
has done a number against plenty of opponents. The Lions
are by far a much more dangerous team on offense
than defense.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Now they're healthier on.

Speaker 4 (38:56):
Defense than they were last year. Remember they lost Hutchinson.
They were banged up. I mean, bring guys off the street.
But the definition of that team, the identity is we're
going to outscore you, as opposed to we're going to
grind it out. So I completely agree is pretty banged
up right now.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Well, but the guys up front, though, are in much
better shape.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
If you and I.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
Well, but even some of their defensive tackles.

Speaker 4 (39:20):
Gone to last year goodness for sure, but I mean
it was awful, just have it.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
Aiden Hutchinson is an absolute game restructor. He is. You know,
he probably won't win Defensive Player of the Year because
of the season Mile Garrett is having and on pace
to have, but he's right up there among the best
players in the NFL. So just the fact that he
is back, obviously I agree with you, you know, as
much praise as I was given the offensive line before.
This is going to be a very tough matchup against

(39:45):
the Lions defensive front, because that is the strength of
their defense is upfront. They do have a lot of injuries.
On the back end of things, we'll see if any
of those guys that have missed the last couple of
weeks are able to return. But up front, they are
healthy and that is going to present a problem for
the Giants.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Let's head back to the phone lines.

Speaker 4 (40:02):
We've got Randy in California with us here on BBKL.

Speaker 8 (40:05):
What's happening, Rady, Good morning, gentlemen.

Speaker 7 (40:08):
How you guys doing today? How are you hey?

Speaker 8 (40:13):
I don't need to beat the drum, but at some
point this season's kind of already slipped by us, kind
of obvious, right, But what is the last couple of years,
it's been the offensive line?

Speaker 3 (40:25):
Correct, That certainly has been an issue.

Speaker 8 (40:27):
Ye yeah, okay, so the quarterback issue was also kind
of part of the problem. So what is the I mean,
if you guys an honest opinion, what is the piece
we're missing? What is is it a receiver?

Speaker 5 (40:39):
Is it?

Speaker 7 (40:40):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 8 (40:40):
What do you guys consider on each side of the
ball the X factor that we're missing? And I appreciate
you guys, time and go big blue all.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Randy, appreciate the phone call.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
Thank you, Randy.

Speaker 4 (40:51):
Well, I don't think it's so simple as you give
the Giants this position and all of a sudden, all
the problems go away. Case in point. And I'm not
saying that Isaia Hodgens is a Pro Bowl player, but
I thought he did a really nice job under the circumstances. Now,
granted there's familiarity with the scheme, but he made a
number of big, contested catches. Jamis was able to rely
on him. Did that single handedly change the outlook of

(41:16):
the offense. Did it enable them to finish drives? My
answer would be no, but it certainly helped them move
the chains. And then on defense, it's been a combination
of a variety of factors. Clearly, they haven't been fully healthy,
so that's going to go without saying impact the team.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
I don't think.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
The pass rush has had the level of impact Matt
that perhaps many people had anticipated.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
And I'm not just talking about sacks.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
I'm talking about quarterback hits, pressures, force turnovers, you name it.
Everything in terms of maybe flipping the field we were
just talking about the run.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Defense has been a huge issue.

Speaker 4 (41:52):
So if you want to say, oh, well, the Giants
dy extra defensive lineman, the Giants city an extra linebacker,
the Giants, City, and extra cornerback. I mean, I can
sit here and make the case for all three. I
wouldn't say one in particular. Matt completely flips things around
and changes the trajectory of that defense.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
Yeah, I was gonna say. I don't think you could
just point to one position on either side of the
ball and say, you know, insert a talented player at
this position, and then all of a sudden the unit
is fixed. I think honestly, on offense right now, there
aren't too many glaring holes, you know, with a healthy
Jackson Dart and for looking towards next year, a healthy

(42:29):
hopefully a healthy Molik neighbors a healthy camp Scataboo with
the pieces they have now, you know, I guess you
could say, like, yeah, maybe because Wandell Robinson is a
free agent, you know, maybe add another receiver. But and
also some of the guys up front are free agents,
so there will have to be some work done on
the offensive line, but.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Including Jermaine luminor yes, I think Jermaina.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
Luminor Greg Van Rodin. So I don't know if there's
especially on offense, there isn't one position you could just
point to and say, add a player a talented player
at this position and they're set. You know, another wide
receiver certainly would help. But the offense is again, as
we've been saying, the offense hasn't really been the issue.

(43:09):
Hasn't been perfect by any means, but they've sort of been,
you know, helding their end of the bargain most weeks.
Then you turn to the other side of the ball,
and you know, I think a big part of it,
you nailed it is we went into this season and
all throughout training camp talking about how the Giants defensive
line was going to be potentially the best in the league,

(43:30):
and they just have not been playing up to that level,
not even close. I mean, Brian Burns is having a
fantastic season, but he's kind of the only one that's
really been stepping up and being like a consistent game
wrecker of those four guys up front. You know, Abdul
Carter obviously he only has the half a sack. I
do think he's been a little bit better than the
numbers that you know, the box score numbers say, if

(43:53):
you look at some of the underlying metrics, he is
being disruptive and getting pressures, but he hasn't been able
to finish them and gain turned those into sacks, which
obviously is a big part of being a game wrecker.
Keavon Tibbodau. Obviously he missed this past week, but he
started off the season really strong. The first month of
the season, I think thought he was playing some of
the best football we've ever seen him play. But then

(44:15):
after that first month, it hasn't been up to that
same level. And obviously we've spoken a lot about Dexter Lawrence.
I think he would be the first to say he's not.
While he is facing you know, a crazy number of
double teams like he has last year, his production is
obviously nowhere near where we've come to expect it from
him the last couple of years. So that I think

(44:35):
is the big first issues that those guys up front
that were supposed to be the basically the strength of
your entire team have not been playing up to it.
You move to the next level. Michael McFadden getting hurt
in the season open, I you know, maybe now that
we're this far into the season and we look at
our record, people realize how big of a blow that
was to the defense. Bobby o'caraka, I mean, he's had

(45:00):
some games where he's been okay, he's struggled at other times.
You know, I wouldn't say he's having the best season,
you know, nothing like his first season here for the
Giants back in twenty twenty three, where he was playing
on like basically a Pro Bowl level. I would say
maybe a game changing linebacker could be a position that
would certainly help elevate this defense next year. You know,

(45:24):
we don't have to get into actual like prospects and
you drop like Harville Reese from Ohio State into that defense.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Muis, by the way, he has been banged.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
Up to that Lewis has been banked up. I will
say Demitrius Flannagan fouls the last couple of weeks, I
think has been playing solid, not spectacular, but he's been playing,
you know, decent enough. He hasn't been a negative, which
obviously when the Giants signed him, I think it was
more to be a special teams contributor or not necessarily
start at linebacker. But I think he has filled in admirably.
And then obviously with the secondary, between the injuries and

(45:58):
just some guys not playing up to the level that
we expected them to play, that has been you know, right,
up there is one of the biggest reasons I think
this defense has struggled so much.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
No, that's why.

Speaker 4 (46:11):
It's an accumulation of a variety of factors as opposed
to just one guy putting on the cape and rescuing
the team on defense. Let's head back to lines. We
got Kevin in Arizona with us here on Big Blue
Kickoff Live.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
What's happening to Kevin?

Speaker 7 (46:24):
Hey, guys, how you join right?

Speaker 3 (46:25):
Good?

Speaker 7 (46:26):
You know, I haven't been a coach for eighteen years.
I just wanted to share some, you know, nuts and
bolts of some of the things I've seen. I've called before,
and I think you guys do a great job of
breaking things down. It's probably one of my favorite shows
when you both are on there.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
Well appreciate you ting in so thank you.

Speaker 7 (46:43):
Yes, so detailed. One thing I will say is I
think right now our best defense is our offense, and
I think what we need to do is I think
Contden did a great job this week keeping the defense
off the field and controlling the pluck. I think I
was sad to see mister Hyatt not complete his corner

(47:06):
route in the end zone. One thing we always thought
kids is even if there's a guy standing there where
you're supposed to go, you've got to run the route called.
Because that's exactly what Jamis threw, was the out route
and the corner route, and it wasn't there because he stopped.
He broke off the route and you just can't do that.
You have to run with the play that's called, and

(47:27):
that's what happened. I feel bad for Jamis because he
threw exactly where he needed to throw, and if he
would have ran that route correctly, I think Hyatt would
have had a fifty to fifty ball there. Now, Going
on the defense, I've been watching this and one thing
Carl Banks said a few weeks ago really struck me.
You can't keep running. It's a numbers game on defense.

(47:50):
If you're going to rush for and keep everybody else
and primarily play play man defense behind that. Offensive coordinators
in this league are smart. If you keep doing the
same thing, they're going to pick you apart. They're going
to find a way to beat you. And if you
look at that game, look how many Green Bay drops
they had in the pat They had a lot of

(48:12):
drops And go ahead.

Speaker 4 (48:14):
No I agree with you, No, No, continue, I'm in agreeing
with you wholeheartedly, just like they dropped plenty of interceptions too.

Speaker 7 (48:21):
Here's my solution. Here's my Okay, here's my solution. Here's
my solution for the upcoming games. Mix it up on defense.
It's a numbers game. Just like on offense, when we
try to over overnumber, outnumber people and and and make
successful runs. The same thing holds true for defense. You
want to outnumber the amount of blockers, overwhelm them. Remember

(48:43):
the old the Pittsburgh Steelers run blitz they were called
they were called Blitzburg for years because you never knew
who was coming. It was always a nightmare. I don't
see this vanilla defense of just staying with four rushers
all the time. Let's bring some bring a corner, let's,
you know, get somebody behind him to cover the guy
that bring five.

Speaker 4 (49:03):
Well, the problem is, Kevin, how confident? No, I completely
understand where you're coming from. It's just if you start
bringing corners to your point, how confident are you that
the guys behind that corner are going to be in
position if the quarterback gets rid of the football very quickly,
which is another way to counter what you're talking about.

Speaker 7 (49:19):
So I think that's a great that's a great point.
But listen right now, look at look look at look
at the results, Look at look at us in the
fourth quarter. What happens. We've got to mix it up somehow.
We just can't keep sending four. We weren't really getting
a lot of penetration this last game. I would have
brought five, whether it's a bicker, whether it's a corner
on a blitz, and just get somebody half decent back

(49:41):
there to cover that. If it's fast enough, that quarterback's
not going to have time. If that if that blitzer's coming,
even if it's a corner, if he walks in at
the last minute and shoots in there, that decision. That
quarterback primarily is looking to dump it off to a
to an outlet. If that outlet's gone, if that wide
receiver is taken on down, there is no outlet there,

(50:01):
so he has to make a decision. But if you
don't force the offense to make mistakes, they're going to
eat you alive in this in this league. And that's
exactly what the problem is. Uh, they need to mix
it up, especially late in the fourth quarter when you
got to lead, you've got to You've got to be
very creative, uh, mister Bowen, and you really really get

(50:22):
down and say, okay, what can we do to change
the ordinary format that people are seeing. Because those guys
up in the box, they're looking and they see, Okay,
this guy's playing off, this guy's playing here, and they've
been doing it every single series. You've got to change
it up. And if they do that, I guarantee you
you're going to start seeing some victories here just by

(50:42):
mixing up the defense is great.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
No appreciating, Yeah, you got it.

Speaker 4 (50:48):
It's interesting that Kevin brought that up, and actually I
tweeted this out right before the show because once again,
I think you learn sometimes, Matt from what the opposition says.
Christian Watson was running the net through the go ahead touchdown,
and I've got the video in front of me just
for our audience to understand. So he said, they ran
this same play about four times during the game, so

(51:10):
this was either the fourth or the fifth time they
were looking for the Giants to show man defense. On
this play, they finally got the Giants to get into
man defense. Because for those of you who may not
be watching the play, if you go back and watch it.
You can see Watson's in the right slot and he's
matched up one on one with Corey Black, So this
is exactly the look they wanted. Now to the last
caller's point, Kevin mentioned about the Giants consistently just bringing four. Okay, Well,

(51:34):
as you can see, Matt, they brought four on this play, okay,
So you got man to man coverage the rest of
the way with just four guys coming. Packers offensive line
provides Jordan Love a nice pocket. He may have been
hit there from behind, fractured of a second, got rid
of the ball, and then Watson makes a heck of
a play and Dane Belton was late in terms of trailing,

(51:56):
so it's still proved to be a one on one play.
Now bring a corner though, okay, let's use the caller's perspective.
If let's say Corey Black blitzes, okay from the slot,
so that you get after Jordan Love. The problem with
that is, though, now Watson's got to get picked up
Matt by one of these safeties, and Belton is lined

(52:18):
up on the outside, and Holland is towards the middle
of the field, and you got two more wide receivers.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
On the left.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
So I'm not saying that that shouldn't be in the
thought process of Shane Bowen, but with the personnel that
the secondary is working with right now, part of me
thinks Shane Bowen's limited in terms of what he could
do specifically in this department of bringing pressure from the
secondary of all places.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
Yeah, no, no, I agree with that. I do also
agree with caller Kevin in that you do have to obviously,
you know, disguise some looks, diskuis some blitz as. You
can't just have the opposing offense kind of know exactly
what you want to run. Yep, I agree to me,
you know, in that sense, you know, looking obviously at
how the Giants were lined up. I agree you couldn't

(53:03):
have sent Corey Black in that situation because there would
have been a mismatch or just someone completely left completely
wide open. But I do agree with the caller in
that you gotta sometimes send an extra guy or to
Because we are eleven games into the season, the Giants
have forced six turnovers.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
And that was an issue last season. Remember they had
the whole pirate.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
Yes, I was gonna say last year the Giants ranked
twenty eighth in the NFL in terms of defensive takeaways,
with fifteen on the season this year, there are eleven
games in they're only at six, which is tied for
the second fewest. The Jets somehow only have one defensive takeaway,
so they are probably gonna clinch the title for fewis

(53:44):
this year, but the Giants don't have that many more,
and so sending that extra blitzer, not every time, but
occasionally sometimes to try to disrupt the quarterback hopefully will
lead to some either like strip sacks or just bad
throws that hope, as the secondary gets more healthy, will
turn into takeaways. And one other point that the caller

(54:06):
made towards the beginning of his call that I agree
with completely and especially this coming week against the Lions,
the Giants' best defense this coming Sunday is going to
be their offense. Is if the Giants offense can stay
on the field and sustain long drives, but most importantly
that end in touchdowns. You can, and especially in this matchup,

(54:28):
you can't even settle for field goals. You have to
get into the end zone and score touchdowns. But if
you can sustain long drives and just keep that Lion's
offense off of the field for as much as possible
and still get into the end zone. That is going
to be your best chance at winning this game on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (54:44):
Keep away football does not work if touchdowns is not connected.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
Yes, that's the key.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
You can sustain a ten minute drive, but if you
have to settle for a field, a twenty yard field,
little at the end of the day, you're not gonna
win the game.

Speaker 4 (54:55):
Well, and I'll circle back to how we started the show.
Twenty six plays over the course of two dry sort
of one hundred yards, no points for the Giants in
this past game. We're not going back to the archives.
We're going back to two days ago. One other item
that I just saw, which is interesting about bringing pressure
with the secondary. So the Giants have fifty nine quarterback
hits Matt this season, and I was looking at the breakdown.

(55:18):
Not one member of the secondary has been credited with
a quarterback hit. So I think, once again that's a
product of they've been so banged up and they've had
so many movable pieces back there that that's why Bowen
hasn't brought the heat. Now you look at green Bay
in comparison, green Bay has sixty four quarterback hits, and

(55:41):
you could see there's a few guys not overwhelming numbers,
and most teams not gonna have overwhelming of us, but
you at least have a few quarterback hits here or there.
But then again, they've had a good portion of their
key players hands on deck. All right, let's head back
to the phone lines. We got lend in Columbia, Maryland
with us.

Speaker 5 (55:59):
What's happened in like, Hey, guys, how you doing well? Hey?
Another loss, disappointing five in a row we got We've
got some games up here that you know, maybe we
can come out on the top end. Matt, I agree
with you. Well, you know, we're keeping it close, just
just not closing it out, just just not finishing. But

(56:23):
falls back, somebody asks, you know, what's what's the big difference?
You know, what's happening? Why are we losing those that
kind of question? Boy, we miss neighbors. It's just what
that loss meant. I mean, it's just taking a lot
away from this, including speed. If there's a slower team offense, defense,

(56:47):
fifty three players long, if there's a slower team, I
just I can't imagine it. And that's the nice point
about Flannagan fouls. He actually may be able to run
sideline the sideline or at least twenty six yards the
east sideline from the center of the field. He's got
some speed and it shows and it makes a little difference.

(57:10):
And we got to work on team speed next year.
We just have to get faster across the board. Hey,
I thought we played okay. You know, Winston is Winston,
he's a backup quarterback. He things. You know, it could
have been could have been disastrous on the two interceptions,
but hey, okay, and yah, we hung in. I agree

(57:33):
with the offensive line, everybody's been talking about it. I
think collectively we might be better than we are individually.
I think the fall off from Thomas on the left
or your top lineman to who the fourth or fifth
lineman is, however you want to line them up, is

(57:54):
better this year. I think it's better, But I think
collectively we're probably a little better. And you know, a
lot of things what always bothers me. You know when
you look at pro football focused numbers. Uh, you know,
if you look at him this week, it looks like
Andrew has not was not quite as good as he
has been in previous weeks. But hell, he's playing against

(58:18):
for Seawan Gary and the numbers don't take that into consideration.
Thing on the other side, I mean, I think a
lot of people expected Parsons to dominate you know, a woman.
It was okay, you know, he did pretty they're pretty good.
You know a lot of times those numbers don't take

(58:39):
those things into consideration. And the same thing with dex
Are probably his best game.

Speaker 6 (58:43):
Of the year.

Speaker 5 (58:44):
I don't know if you guys agree with that, but jeez,
could it have been better that there were a couple
of plays in the fourth quarter he was triple teamed
on the rest of the defensive Why do with two
plays in particular that I remember looking looking through my
binoculars as close as I could get to the play,

(59:08):
the triple teamed still had a terrific game.

Speaker 3 (59:12):
Manuel Wilson touchdown or on I believe was one of
the plays that literally the I believe was the left tackle,
left guard at center as soon as the balls.

Speaker 5 (59:20):
Immediately Other than that that dominating that backup center, you know,
one on one of the guys just couldn't handle Textra
one on one, so they went to two. But in
key plays they went to three. I mean, you know,
the other guy's got to make some plays too. But hey,
you know, Detroit, I mean, obviously a good team. We

(59:41):
better bring the energy, particularly on defense. They're going to
try to punch you in the nose. Dan Campbell's team
does that. They're going to try to punch you in
the nose. They're going to play just past the whistle.
I'm not saying they're dirty team. I'm not saying that
they're going to play just past the whistle. We better

(01:00:05):
punch back, better punch back.

Speaker 8 (01:00:07):
We're going to get a run off that, no doubt
about it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:09):
And we got to play with a little and we
got to play with a little more energy on defense.
I mean the energy level is I mean, I I
I can't. I can't feel it. I can't feel it. Hey,
I got a rules question?

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Is real quick?

Speaker 5 (01:00:22):
Bothers me and you handle this one more? One more?

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
Yeah, real quick? What do you got?

Speaker 5 (01:00:27):
Okay?

Speaker 7 (01:00:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:00:28):
Yeah? And you know we're going into windy game conditions
when you have a holder, when you have to have
a holder out there, is that a twelfth man who
has to run off the field immediately after the ball
is kicking.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
You're talking about it?

Speaker 7 (01:00:45):
Is that one of the.

Speaker 5 (01:00:46):
Us that one of the eleven who has to drop back.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
You're talking about it, play it like you know. Then
you're talking about all the kickoffs, right, yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:00:57):
Just on kickoffs.

Speaker 5 (01:00:58):
I mean I noticed Gillum holding on the kickoff, yes so,
but immediately but immediately jumping up and running off the field.

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
Yes so. I Actually I know this because I was
watching Sunday Night football and in the game in Philadelphia
that was very windy, and they faced his exact situation.
The holder is a twelfth person that as soon as
the kicker kicks the ball, he immediately sprints off of
the field.

Speaker 5 (01:01:20):
Okay, okay, now here's the part of doing that. He
was nice enough to pick up the tea before he
read off the field.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
It's slightly important because.

Speaker 5 (01:01:31):
One quick one on on on the Lions. What bothered
goth the most on Sunday night, where he looked less
than an average NFL quarterback? What bothered him the most?
Then the advance rush?

Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
Of course, Well, I mean, and he's not the most
mobile guy and they're not going to look to run
him an immense amount of time. So I mean, I
think that goes without saying. We'll let you go Len
on that point. I appreciate the phone call well, and.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
The deep game was not existent in that win. There
were strong wins in Philadelphia Sunday night. And obviously we
know Detroit likes taking their occasional shot down the field
to Jamison Williams.

Speaker 4 (01:02:10):
Sure no, absolutely, so you know you limit his big
playmaking ability. But you know it goes back to if
you're applying that logic. Okay, about what flustered Goff the most, Well,
it's not what the Giants have been doing so effectively though,
So you could tell me all you want, Philadelphia made
Jared Goff uncomfortable. Great, Okay, can the Giants come what

(01:02:30):
fifty percent of that that remains to be seen? And
can the Giants stop the run? And if neither one
of those things come to the forefront, then it's going
to be a relatively long afternoon. From that standpoint, that's
a must. But I still think this onus is on
the offense this week to keep pace with the Lions offense,

(01:02:50):
given the fact that you're not going to shut down
the Lions offense, And can you put together long, sustainable
drives like you did against Green Bay and can you
finish with touchdowns? And you can't leave two length drives
with nothing to show for it. That's gonna be a
huge backbreaker if that happens again against Detroit.

Speaker 3 (01:03:06):
Yeah, I talked about before about the Giants red zone
splits between their offense and the defense. Looking at the Lions,
they have the fifth best red zone offense, which I
don't think surprises anyone.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
They've been great over the last few seasons.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
But on defense they are twenty fifth. They are allowing
touchdowns on sixty three point six percent of opponent's trips
inside the red zone. So there is an opportunity they don't.
You know, some defenses, like let's say the Broncos, for example,
they really step up once they get close to their
own goal line. Not necessarily the case in Detroit. This
is a defense that can be scored on, especially with

(01:03:39):
you know, if their injuries in the secondary, if they
don't get some guys back. I mean, similar to what
we're saying about the Giants, but this is a defense
that can be scored on. So we'll see if the
Giants offense, hopefully with Jackson Dart back under center, is
able to you know, keep up in this track race.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
All right, that is going to wrap up.

Speaker 4 (01:03:57):
Tuesday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live Share everybody tuning in.
It is presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of
the New York Giants. We are broadcasting for the Giants
Podcast Studio, presented by Hackett Sack Meridian Health. Keep getting
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network on the Giants mobile app podcast platforms everywhere and
at giants dot com, Slash podcasts for met sidetak on

(01:04:19):
Lance Meadow, saying so long here on Big Blue Kickoff Live.
Stay locked to Giants dot Com. Fro the latest, and
we'll speak to you on Wednesday. Right here on Big
Blue Kickoff Live.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Have a go one