Big Blue Kickoff Live 11/28 | Giants vs Patriots Preview

Paul Dottino and Matt Citak get you ready for Giants vs Patriots on Monday night, talk about Jaxson Dart starting again, and take calls from fans. 

0:00 - Patriots preview

20:00 - Coach Kafka’s presser notes

25:30 - Calls

33:30 - Jaxson Dart

40:20 - NFC East

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff line.

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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.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Cry and the Giants Mobile at seventeen fourteen.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
At the Finals one tundown. We are We're all taffick.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
They didn't well happen. Part of the Giants podcast network.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Let's go on, hell An, Hello again, everybody, and welcome
to Friday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live, presented by Cadillac,
the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants.
Paul Tatino and Matt sidetech with you as the Giants
prepare for Monday night football in Foxborough against the New
England Patriots, a team that is ten and two and
has won nine in a row. And of course this

(00:46):
is also a big game for the Giants, and that
we know Charlie Bullen, the outside linebackers coach, will make
his debut as a defensive coordinator. We just heard from
him a few minutes ago. He told us he's never
called plays before, so that could be certainly a very
interesting facet of this game. If you're not listening to
us Live. You can catch our entire podcast network on

(01:08):
the Giants mobile app podcast platforms everywhere at at giants
dot com slash podcasts. We come to you from the
Giants Podcast Studio, presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting
better now. The only thing we got out of offensive
coordinator Tim Kelly regarding Jackson Dart, as you folks know
he did clear concussion proto col yesterday, is that he

(01:29):
is cleared and they are trying to get him ready.
Mike Kafka, the Giants head coach, we'll talk in about
twenty minutes right before practice and he will make any
lineup announcements that are going to have to be made.
So at the moment, we cannot tell you if Jackson
Dart is starting in New England, and i just want

(01:51):
to be very clear about that because I'm sure a
lot of people are making assumptions both ways.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, so in the second half of the show, we
might be able to talk a little bit more about
it if Kafka, you know, announces that Jackson is starting,
But as of now, we just we don't know with
one hundred percent Saturday, so we don't want to speak
as if it's going to happen, and then, you know,
twenty minutes from now, Kafka surprise us and say it's
not happening. So but it's good that he's obviously cleared

(02:20):
the protocol. You know, we thought it was trending in
this direction when on Wednesday Kafka told us told the
media that he would be a full participant, which typically
is the last stage before a player clears the protocol.
So it's good to see that he has just progressed
his way through and is at least health wise clear
to return. Because as we've seen what I mean right

(02:41):
now in Houston, c J. Stroud missed three games because
of a concussion. So obviously concussions are nothing to you know,
mess around with. So it's not good to see that
he's been medically cleared and good to go in that regard.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Now, the other two players that will be keeping an
eye on specifically today, cave On Thibodeau and Dexter Lawrence.
We do not have any information about what their status
may be right now. Again, Coach Kafka may also say
something about practice, whether or not they're expected to work
maybe limited, maybe full, maybe not at all. We don't

(03:13):
know the answer to the Yeah, but those two guys
certainly very important. I mean, if Charlie Bullen's going to
go into his first game as a coordinator, I know
we'd love to have those guys in the lineup.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Of course. I mean, those are two of the Giants'
top defenders. Now, Yesterday was obviously Thanksgiving Day, the Giants
did not actually hold a practice, but since the game
is on Monday, the Giants had to submit their first
official injury report of the week. So yesterday's injury report
was a projection, but it was projected that both Dexter

(03:44):
and Kavon would not have participated. Kevon's obviously missed the
last two games with the shoulder injury. Dexter clearly something
happened during last week's game. He didn't play quite as
much as we were accustomed to seeing in this you know,
second half of the game. Obviously, he wasn't on the
field for the big Jamior Gibbs touchdown run in overtime,

(04:07):
and Mike Kafka has since told us that the elbow
injury that caused him to miss the whatever last chunk
of last season, he you know, somewhat banged it up again.
It's the same elbow. He's been listed on the injury
report this week with that elbow. It's the same elbow.
So I think that's why the Giants are going to
be extra cautious with that because it is the same

(04:30):
injury that he just hurt last year and forced him
to miss the last five games of the season. We'll
see if he's able to get back on the practice
field today or tomorrow. I mean I would think for
either of maybe not Kavon because he's missed two weeks now,
but if Dexter is able to get on the practice
field in any capacity tomorrow, today or tomorrow, I think
that would put him in a good trend him in

(04:51):
the right direction towards suiting up on Monday. But it
remains to be seen. We got to keep an eye
out for the injury report.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Two injuries that we are not just looking at, but
we know are going to be a factor for the
Patriots the left side of their offensive line. Yeah, I
mean they've they've they've already come out and said it will.
Campbell's on injured reserve. Okay, he's got an MCL that
there's a no brainer there. He's on IR. He's not
playing this Monday night, and nor is Jared Wilson, their

(05:19):
starting left guard, who has a high ankle sprain, and
coach Mike Rabel already said yesterday he's not playing Monday night.
He's already he's already said it.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
He's out. That the initial news with Wilson was, you know,
the pat Patriots were quite relieved that they did not
have to put him on injured reserve. But this is
that injury just happened less than a week ago. So
even if Mike Rabel had not said it yesterday that
he would be out, I would say there would have
been a ninety nine point nine percent chance that Jared

(05:49):
Wilson would have been out anyway. So they are down
their whole starting left side of the offensive line. Uh,
And so they have a I gotta pull up there
depth chart real quick. But their backup left guard.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Ben Brown is a journeyman, Yeah, a real journeyman in
the truest sense of the word. In fact, last year
he was a center, a starting center for them for
over half of the season. He did allow one and
a half sacks during that time period. And Vederian Lowe,
who they got from the Vikes, is going to be

(06:23):
their starting left tackle. Last season, he allowed five sacks
and was penalized thirteen times. Suffice it to say, if
you know anything about the Patriots this year, their offensive
line has not been very good. They've won in spite
of them now and also if you look at their

(06:44):
play direction charts, they don't have much success running to
the left side, and now their starting left guard and
left tackle are unavailable. If you're the Giants defense, you
have to like your chances to at least be able
to diagnose what they're going to do offensively, because this

(07:07):
is a big problem for them. They are strictly a heavy,
right handed running team. That's just the way they have
been all season. It's not going to change with subs
playing the left side of the line.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
No, definitely not. And if you were to, if you
look at Drake May's stats the last three games, he's
only been sacked one time in each game, which that
if you just look at that, you know, across the
whole season, that would be fantastic for an offensive line.
The two games before that, though, against Atlanta and Cleveland,
which I will say obviously Cleveland Miles Garrett tremendous defense,

(07:38):
but he got sacked six times in each of those games. Yes,
so while the last three weeks might look good, the
three weeks before that, because before the Cleveland game he
got sacked four times against the Titans. This offensive line
has struggled to protect Drake May. As good of a
season as Drake May is having, and he's obviously in
the MVP conversation right now, the offensive line has not

(08:01):
really done him many favors this season, and as you mentioned,
I can't imagine it's gonna get much better when you
lose your starting left tackle and your starting left guard.
This is a I feel like I've said this several
times over the last month or two, but this is
a prime opportunity for Abdual Carter to really, first of all,

(08:21):
to get that first sack of the season. Hopefully even
more because as we know, Brian Burns typically lines up
on the left edge, which makes him a line up
against the right tackle well part of where he's primarily
lied down.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, part of the problem is they do juggle their
three pass rushers a lot, and without Kivon it's kind
of changed things a little too.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
But Burns has primarily has taken more most of his
snaps at least, I don't.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Have to breakdown.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
I don't know what the actually At least before this
past week, it was a majority. I'm not maybe last
week changed it a little bit, but regardless, Abdul is
going to have a great opportunity to hopefully pick up
his first full sack of his career of the season.
You know, Darius Alexander just did that last week, got
his first two.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Well, remember Morgan is the right tackle. Remember that too.
He's been around a long time and he's a proven veteran.
But to be honest, I mean even the Jets got
right of them.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, Solvin veteran. I'm not saying he's approven like all,
but he's a guy that's managed to find a way
to stick around the NFL, as is given credit for that.
He's more, I would say of An, I don't want
to say an upgrade, but a better tackle probably than
the backup left tackle, Thearian Low. So either way, the
two edge rushers, hopefully three hopefully Keevon will be able

(09:42):
to return, but at the very least Brian Burgs and
Abdul Carter they have a very good opportunity to just
wreak some havoc on this offensive line.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
That would be impressive if that, if that does go
down for the Giants, because what we know about the
Pats just so you guys have little bit of an idea. Yes,
they're ten and two, okay, but here's the thing. They
have struggled I mentally like the Giants have in the
red zone offensively, and that's because their offensive line is
not a power line. They have not been able to

(10:12):
bully people down inside the five and inside the ten.
They become very one dimensional down there. And we've talked
about this for years, okay for years. If you don't
have a strong offensive line, the red zone where everything
gets compacted, is going to be all that more difficult

(10:32):
for you. And that is one of the very big
achilles heels on this Patriots team. Quite frankly, their defensive
line is not very stout either. And when you look
at why they have somehow miraculously you smoking mirrors to
get the ten and two, you look at the fact

(10:55):
that there's second in the league and fewest mistackles, so
they're fundamentally sound and don't let people escape forty five
miss tackles. That's it.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Shocker on a micro Vrabel defense.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Tell me about it. They only have eleven drops on offense.
The Giants have over two dozen, all right, just by comparison,
so you understand they're not screwing up games. They're not
in the business of giving out charity, even though it's
the holiday season. That's not what the Patriots do. And

(11:26):
that's why when they're in position to win these games,
they do win these games. Also, the other number zero
in turnover ratio. Anytime you can be zero or plus,
you're giving yourself a much better chance to win.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
That's it. It's really simple, and they've just done a
great job on both sides of the ball in key situations.
I'm talking about third and fourth down. Oddly enough, oddly enough,
you know, they're twelve games into their season. They also
have their by next week, similar to the Giants, but
oddly enough they rank on offense, they are they have

(12:02):
the seventh best third down offense and the fourth and
the third best fourth down offense. On defense, they are
ranked as the seventh best third down defense and the
third best fourth down offense. They have the same ranks
on third and fourth down on both sides of the ball,
which is kind of just crazy. Twelve games into his season,

(12:24):
but it is in the red zone where they have struggled.
As you mentioned, they come into this game ranked nineteenth
in red zone offense, and here is an opportunity for
the Giants to really take advantage because they rank dead
last in red zone defense.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
And that's because the line is not very stout, and
especially now that Milton Williams got placed on injury reserve.
Last big loss for he was big loss.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
He was their primary reason why they come into this
game with the second best rushing defense in the NFL.
Last week was the first game they played without him.
Chase Brown had over one hundred yards against him. That's
not a coincidence. This came after I believe no running
back had more than fifty eight yards against them in
any game. And then they lose Milton Williams and Chase

(13:09):
Brown goes off, So definitely not a coincidence there. The
defensive line definitely took a hit without him. So maybe
this is an opportunity for Tyron Tracy to keep it rolling.
He's been on, you know, a bit of a hot
steak these last two games, and especially in the passing game.
New England is one of the worst defenses in terms
of slowing down opposing running backs in the passing game.

(13:32):
I think they ranked second or third most receptions allowed
to running backs this season, so this could be a
good opportunity, a big opportunity for Tyron Tracy to have
his Was it third consecutive one hundred yard game in
terms of yards from scrimt yards from scrimmage?

Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yea, yeah, yeah. You mentioned the running back sixty to
sixty five receptions against the Patriots this year coming into
this week's action, second most among defenses in the league,
and also, quite frankly, tight ends seventy six receptions against
their defense also coming into the week, tied for second
most in the league.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
THEO Johnson, I mean, it's not hard.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
You know, you've won a game plan against this team.
It's not hard, so okay, but it's about being clean
with your execution for sure.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
But speaking of the tight ends, THEO Johnson, over the
last three games, he has set new career highs in
receiving yards twice, first a couple of weeks ago, three
weeks ago, and then he beat it this past week
in Detroit. But over the last three games he ranks
I believe it's second or third among all tight ends
and receiving yards over the last three weeks, and I

(14:42):
believe it's fifteenth overall in the NFL over the last
three weeks. In terms of receiving yards, he has looked,
especially this last week in Detroit, that one catch where
he jumped up and high pointed it, that was probably
the best catch I've seen him make in his short
NFL career. He is really developing into a great contested

(15:04):
catch option in the passing game. Obviously, he's had his
issues with drops the season, but I feel like the
drops have come on kind of the easy passes, and
then he's going up and making these really difficult, impressive
receptions while contested. So that's fair. So hopefully, again similar
to what I have just said about Tracy, this is

(15:25):
a very good matchup for THEO to keep this recent
hot streak going. Let's see if they can do it now.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
The reason that the Pats in some ways have such
a good defensive numbers despite not having a very stout
defensive line is because, quite honestly, they've been able to
score very very often. Thanks to Drake May, who has
had a sensational season. They're averaging twenty six points a game,
seventh in the league. And by the way, he has

(15:54):
one dynamite safety valve in Hunter Henry Henry with forty
one catches over five hundred yards. He's caught five touchdown passes.
He has been a very important bailout guy when the
protection breaks down, and that's that's where Drake made Obviously,
he's got Stefan Diggs there. Diggs. Quite frankly, I'm not

(16:18):
gonna do this because I've been doing this now for
the last three weeks. I've been going over some of
the Giants offensive numbers compared to the team they're playing,
and the Giants offensive numbers come out very favorable, certainly comparable,
if not favorable. So I want you folks to understand
why Dale Robinson's actually haven't just as good, if not
a better year, than Stefan Diggs is having. Just so

(16:39):
you guys are aware of that this is not the
Digs that was destroying people with the vikings a few
years ago. He's a little bit less of a player,
but he's also coming off a horrible injury two years ago.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yes, that's what I was gonna say that he it
was last year that I believe that he had to
tour he was with Houston and he and he was
in his season got cut short, and to begin the
season of this year, New England kind of eased him
into action. You look at the first maybe month or so,
he just he wasn't playing that much. He was getting
targeted when he was out there, but he really just
his snapcounts weren't that high. Those have increased as they've

(17:14):
gotten further and further along the season and he's gotten
further removed from the injury. He's now playing basically a
full time role. And you're right that he's not quite
the same as you know, the Stefan Diggs from the
Vikings a couple of years ago, but he's looked pretty
darn good most weeks. He is definitely the you know,
the leading receiver for New England in terms of receptions

(17:34):
in yards. I agree that Hunter Henry is definitely the
safety blanket. But the thing that I found interesting is
drink May is really spread the touchdowns out. So like
all the pass catchers on the New England offense, Hunter
Henry has five, Kaishawn Boudi has five, but then Digs
has three, to Mario Douglas three, Mattcollins two. Then you
get into you know, Travon Henderson with one and other guys.

(17:57):
But I don't know if you saw the stat I
saw this because of Dan Salamone upstairs. He's a big
Dan Marino guy. But I get it. Drake May is
only the second quarterback ever joining Dan Marino, to have
nine consecutive games with a passer rating over eighty and

(18:19):
leading the team to victory. Because the Patriots are obviously
on this nine game winning streat. True, he's had an
eighty plus passer rating in every game, second one to
do it. The last one to have close to this
many games was Lamar Jackson, who had eight games with
a win and in the eighty plus passer rating, and
that was his first MVP season back in twenty nineteen.
So we mentioned Drake May in this MVP discussion. Obviously,

(18:42):
he's got some stiff competition with that quarterback in Los
Angeles that seems to have drank from the fountain of
youth this year in Matthew Stafford. But he's firmly in
the MVP conversation and for good reason.

Speaker 4 (18:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Look, I don't dispute that for one second. I think
he certainly is a viable candidate. I think Daniel Jones
is a viable candidate for the Colts. By the way,
did you happen to notice they said he had a
sore leg? Right, So he plays the game last week
against Kansas City and he's fighting a sore leg, and
that afterwards they check him out and they say, oh,
you have a fractured fibula.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
It does not sound fun to play through WHOA.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
I am telling you no, that does not sound the
least bit fun. But certainly we wish all the best
to Daniel as he continues to have a wonderful season
with the Indianapolis Colts. Our number is two one nine
three nine four five one three. If you'd like to
give us a call, we will be here until one thirty.
We continue to monitor the situation outside here at the

(19:44):
practice facility, and it looks like we do have some information,
it says here from our very own Josh malk Yeah,
John is out there listening to CAFA. He says, I
don't know if this is actually a quote from Kafka
or not, but he is indicating that Kafka has said

(20:05):
Dart will get all the reps in practice now that
he is back and he is working his way back.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
If you're getting all the reps, I've assumed that, barring
some sort of setback that would put him in line
to you would think.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
Kafka has also said Banks and Nuban will be in
full today at practice, So that's a good return for
both of those defensive backs. And he quote feels good
unquote about Dexter Lawrence making it back. So that's what
we have at this point. Yes, without using the words
Dart is going to start. I see here he says

(20:44):
Dart doing well, working his way back. I'm going to
assume again, folks, this is not one hundred percent. We
don't have the words Dart will start. We don't have
those words. But I would assume unless there's some type
of setback. When you say the guy is working well
his way back, but doing well, I would assume he's

(21:05):
on target.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
But we'll have to say yeah, especially because on Wednesday,
Kafka told us that both Jackson and Jamis would be
getting some of the reps with the first team offense.
Now John is telling us that Kafka said that Jackson
is going to get all the reps if they're not
letting Jamis take first team reps in practice today. That
makes me think they clearly expect Jackson to be the

(21:28):
one starting.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, so hopefully that will continue to be the case
and everything will be exactly as the Giants are planning it.
And on Monday Night football, the country is going to
get to see two of the more exciting young quarterbacks
in this league be on opposite sides of the field.
And I know this not that anything the network feels

(21:50):
is of consequence to those in the building, but I
guarantee you the TV people would be very happy to
have May and Dart doing battle.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
Oh yeah, I mean, any chance you have an opportunity
to watch two up and coming quarterbacks, now obviously Drake
May and year two obviously further along than Jackson is
as a rookie, but nonetheless two up and coming quarterbacks
on the younger side that you know, hopefully will be
two of the faces of the league for the next
decade plus. Fingers crossed, at least for at least for Jackson. Yeah,

(22:22):
it's it's definitely going to be one of the more
entertaining quarterback matchups I think we will see all season.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
John Rings John also sends us a message that Kafka
has said he's going to put new defensive coordinator Charlie
Bullen into some live situations in practice to call plays,
and that's a good thing to do, you know. Coach
Bullen told us a little while ago that even though
he's never called plays before during practice, he said, when

(22:48):
you're on the sidelines, you're part of the staff, you
think like if you were maybe to call a play,
how would you deal with this? What would you want
to do? He said, you always are preparing in that regard,
so I get it. It's not the same, but Mike
is going to do what he can to prepare him. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
I mean, that's all you can do for a guy
getting ready to call the plays on defense for the
literally the first time in his coaching career. But it
was very clear from hearing Charlie speak he's grateful and
very excited for this opportunity. I mean, it is a
chance for him to show, you know, that he can
do more than he has been doing as a coach
in the NFL. I for one, am excited for him.

(23:30):
I mean, I don't know about you, but I sure
think Charlie is probably the most personable position coach that
at least I have encountered in my seven seasons year
in terms of how he's been around the building for
these last you know, two season and a half. So
I'm excited for him.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
He also ran some tackling drills the other day at practice.
She said, you know that you'll see that periodically. Sometimes
sometimes they'll do individual tackling drills. Sometimes they'll do him
as a unit with the team's that's something that you'll
see every once in a while. They thought as a staff,
and he, much like Kafka talked about the cooperation between

(24:09):
the staff, the staff has had a lot of universal input,
if you will, with a lot of what these guys
are trying to do as they've had to change some rules.
Tim Kelly of course now being the OC and Bullend
now being the DC under interim head coach Mike Kafka,
and he was saying that, you know, as a staff,

(24:29):
we kind of thought, you know what, maybe this wouldn't
be a bad idea. Work on some fundamentals, work on
some techniques with their tackling drills, because after all, the
other day again in Detroit, they had some very costly mistackles.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
Yeah, for sure, and I've seen on Wednesday, I saw
a lot of people online try like making a big
deal out of the tackling drills. I mean, it is something,
as Charlie said, that they do sometimes. It's not like, yes,
there is a reason why they did it this week
after what had been to Detroit in terms of the mistackling,
But there have been practices throughout the last at least

(25:05):
since I've been here seven seasons where they would just
you know, do this a random week practice their tackling.
So well, I understand some people trying to make a
big deal out of it. It's it's not out of
the norm for them to be, you know, practicing tackling
occasionally throughout the season.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
All right, we'll go to the phones at two A
one nine, three, nine four five one three. Time for
you guys to join in on the fun. We go
to Marty from metahawking and a happy Lake. Thanksgiving to
you and all the viewers and listeners out there. Thanks
for calling in today.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
Yeah, same to you, Paul, you and your family and everybody. Uh, well,
do you have any information on this six foot six
tight end they brought in during the week? Anything? You know?
You have anything on that I.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
Did not see him out there today. So if he
came in for a visit, he's probably.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
Just one of those international player.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
Oh the international guy's talking about a million? Oh yeah,
that he was. He came in a few days ago,
didn't he. Yeah, I believe that was on Monday when yeah,
it was Ames Willa he took. I'm sorry, we go
day by day here, Marty. When you start talking about
something that happened a few days ago, that's like that's
already in a rearview mirror. Yeah, what do I know

(26:20):
about him? You're right? He is six six, he's a
big guy. I saw I saw him walking in the
hall the other day. Okay, but no, what do I
know about him as a player. I honestly I don't
have any information.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Syracuse guy, Yeah, media, I was gonna say, in sixty
one games across five seasons at Syracuse, he had nine
receptions for sixty yards.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
And he's a blocker for sure. Yeah, I mean, just
look at him. You can tell he's a blocker.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
But look he's he's taking the you know, the extra
practice squad spot you get for the exemption for being
in that international player, So you know, could he this
is clearly like a developmental project. You know, we've seen
the Giants have guys on the practice squad in that
international exemption spot over the last couple of seasons, so

(27:07):
it is it's clearly the I would say, a long
term project where if he ends up contributing down the road,
great and if not, it's you know, pretty low risk move.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Martin. The only thing, and I can't comment directly, I
know that's probably more of what you want. But the
only thing I will add is that they gave up
the international spot that Jude Mcatammany had had. That's that
exemption spot.

Speaker 5 (27:33):
You know.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
They gave that up Jude was released so that they
could put this tight end in that international spot. Now
that's probably because they signed the kicker Saul about a
week and a half ago to the practice squad. So
they had Mcatammany, Saul and Coup three kickers in the building.

(27:55):
That's pretty unusual to be out.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
There were at least a couple of days where before
Graham was put on IR.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
So they thought enough of this tight end's physical prowess.
I suppose that you know what, we got three kickers
in the building. We don't need to do that. Why
don't we just kind of swap out the kicker with
the you know, for the tight end. That probably tells
you something that they think there's there's something there, but

(28:24):
I don't. I would be shocked if he plays this year.
I can't imagine. I can't imagine he would play it
before the season's over.

Speaker 4 (28:32):
Yeah, yeah, it's a long shot, definitely. All right, Well, hey,
thanks for the info' that's more that's been told about
him than in the press.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
So I'm glad. It's sometimes, Marty, these names just become
that little tiny piece of transaction type in the paper.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
And unfortunately, you're right, we should probably do a better
job of letting you in on some of those things.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
I was gonna say, the assistant coaches speak to so
that would be a good opportunity to find out a
little bit more about him. But there was no replacement
for Tim Kelly as the tight ends coach, So I
don't know if he's going to go out there to
speak since he already spoke today as offensive. I don't
think he's going out there so then, and that would
be the guy to ask about Maximilians anyway, Thanks.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Marty, Thanks take care. Two oh one nine three nine four, five,
one three. Just to be a little general here, we
could tell you, and this is not a secret. Every
week during the season they'll bring in almost every week
they'll bring in a van and it's got one two, three,
four five, could have six guys who come in and

(29:41):
they get they get a workout, they get an interviewed,
they get physical and in a lot of cases they'll
swap out a practice squad roster spot. And so these
transactions they really do go deep under the radar. Okay,
they really do. And that's no disrespect to any of
those players. For those guys, it means the world to

(30:02):
them that they even got to step into an NFL facility.
So I don't want to besmirch them in any way,
but these transactions tend to be ones that go so
deep under the radar that nobody really pays much attention
to them. Now. On the other hand, sometimes guys are
brought in during these these visits during the course of
the year because they're truly looking for that short list,

(30:25):
figuring that if somebody gets hurt at a particular position
on the roster, they need to be able to call
somebody up right away, and they don't want to have
to wait. They don't want to have to look around
what's available. No, No, we know ex player is available
as a receiver or as a tight end. We got
a need for it. We're calling that guy up. We're
getting them inn here Mounday morning. And that's and that's

(30:45):
the way sometimes this goes. You find you're trying to
find guys on the short list, and then other times
you're simply looking to maybe swap out a practice squad
player because you just think that they may be something
there that you might want to have down the road.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, I was gonna say, and you know, especially in
a season like this, you know, obviously the Giants are
two to ten eliminated from playoff contention, so it could
be an opportunity, especially coming out of the buy that
last four game stretch, to just get a look at
someone that maybe the Giants had some level of interest
in but never really had an opportunity to bring in previously.

(31:20):
You know, add that guy to the practice squad, have
him in the building for a couple of weeks and
see if there's you know, if there's anything there. Because
as soon as the season's over, you know, within forty
eight hours of the season's over being over, it comes
out that, you know, Giants sign x amount of players
to those reserve future contracts. Right, Those are the guys
that typically finished the year on the practice squad. You'll

(31:42):
see a lot of them sign those reserve future deals.
So no doubt it could be someone that the Giants
just want to get somewhat of like a head start
to get them in the building for thinking about next
season and training camp preseason, to see if they can
sort of develop a guy like that into someone that
could actually contribute and make the roster next year.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
I think one of the things that I'll be looking
forward to during the course of this offseason, And you know,
I don't want to really get too deep into this
because we're not going to look ahead at the draft yet,
but over the course of the last month or so,
whether it's practice squad guys or guys who come in
and maybe you know, get a practice squad spot. Yeah,

(32:24):
looking forward to twenty twenty six, I'm interested to see
if they think they've got a developmental receiver. You know,
Cambriy has played some special teams, gotten activated. We heard
coach Gibriel talk about him this morning saying, hey, he
works hard, he's smart, he's tough. We gave him a chance.
He went in there, did what he was supposed to do,

(32:45):
did his job. He was good at it. These are
the kinds of things Dante Miller, still on the practice squad,
hasn't had a chance yet. I hope at some point
he gets one. Okay. These are the kinds of things
that as you whittle down the end of your schedule,
you know, you want to keep these things in the

(33:07):
back of your head and saying, hey, yeah, that guy,
that guy did this, that guy did that. He had
a chance to play, and look what he did, because
in the off season you're gonna want to think, well,
maybe he's a guy you're going to want to keep
around and maybe give a chance to during the off
season program and say, hey, if you step up here,
you got a chance to be something with us.

Speaker 4 (33:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
One by just a quick update, I just heard from
Dan Solomon. Yes, it is confirmed that Mike Kafka said
Jackson Dart will start on Monday.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
It has confirmed it.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
He's getting all the first team reps today and tomorrow.
You know, obviously, barring some freak accident or whatever, Jackson
Dart will start Monday night.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Okay, well there you go. So now we do have
the confirmation Dart will start Averts the Pats. Well, that
definitely makes the ESPN people happy.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
I think it makes all of us happy, you know.
I've seen a lot of people on Twitter on you know,
some even analysts and stuff, say there's no reason for
the Giants to bring Jackson back at all this year,
just put him on ice for the rest of the season.
I for one, could not disagree more with that, because
this is a rookie quarterback who has seven games of

(34:24):
experience under his belt. That's it. It's not like, you know,
if you want to talk about the Washington situation with
Jaden Daniels, that one I can understand a little bit
more because he had an entire full season last year
led Washington to the NFC Championship. Now they're in a
completely lost season. I personally don't see much for Washington

(34:44):
to gain with bringing jad and Daniels back late in
the season now. But for Jackson Dart, he's literally only
played seven games in the NFL. As a rookie quarterback,
you need to get as much experience as humanly possible. Obviously, now,
everyone we want Jackson to be safe when he's out there.
We want him to you know, hopefully take less hits,

(35:06):
not you know, not every single opportunity he gets to
fight for that extra yard or two some cases. As
Tim Kelly just mentioned before, you know, one of the
biggest things Jackson needs to learn is there's a difference
between fighting for that extra yard with eight minutes to
go in the first quarter and fighting for that extra
yard when there's thirty seconds left in the fourth quarter.

(35:27):
There's a big difference between them. So we want obviously
everyone wants Jackson to be smart, take less hits in
these final five games, but it is so valuable for
him to be out there and getting as much experience
as possible because we want to see him next year
take another huge leap and to set himself up for that,
he's got to face as much you know, experience, face

(35:49):
some adversity like get reps in now. So I just
I'm happy that this is the route the Giants are
going with Jackson being cleared and immediately being put it
back out there. Because he's got five games left. I
want to see him play well these final five games,
obviously hopefully win a couple of games. But just get
him out there, get more experience because that's gonna help

(36:11):
him next year.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Well, this will be his first primetime road game with
the Giants.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, we remember what happened in the last primetime game.
That was Yeah, the highlight of the season went over
Philadelphia at home.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Every experience when you're a rookie is a new experience,
and so there needs to be something that comes of it.
You have to learn something from it, you have to
gain something from it, if nothing else, just the opportunity
to go through it. So I do understand all of that.
Just as a matter of contractual information, Daniel Bellinger is

(36:45):
a free agent at the end of the season, so
it was Chris Manhertz, so you know THEO Johnson will
be here, but the other two guys are going to
be unrestricted free agents at the end of the year.
And now you have Thomas Faedoni coming off an injury
which he's wearing a these days.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Okay, also seventh round rookie that has not played much
outside of special teams.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
No, and I and I honestly, I don't question his
toughness after coming off to a cell Nebraska. I don't
I don't question for Donye at all, I know he
will be back, but for sure, you know, the Giants
will want three tight ends on the roster going into
next season, so they're going to wind up having somebody

(37:29):
during the off season. They got two guys under contract
for dony and Johnson, they're gonna want to have a
third tight end of the contract.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
So maybe even more than that. Oh, for sure, you
probably have a training camp, we'll go with five. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yeah, But my point being, this is a chance to
take a look at the international player at tight end,
and you know, maybe he becomes one of those guys
who sticks around on a reserve deal.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
You just don't know.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
And so again, just thinking ahead a little bit. That's
the kind of conversation that you have when you talk
about some of these guys who do fly deeply under
the radar. Is there a chance that maybe he could
be a guy you'd want to carry through the offseason
because you're going to want to give him a spot

(38:14):
or at least a chance to earn a back end
spot on the fifty three.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
Yeah, I mean that one hundred percent that will likely
be you know, that sort of explanation will likely be
the route behind some roster moves we see over the
next you know month, plus these last five games, six
weeks of the season, there are gonna be some moves that,
you know, we might look at just on paper and
be like, well, that's interesting. I don't know how that
guy is going to contribute this season exactly, but some

(38:41):
of these moves are with an eye towards next year.
And just real quick about your last point about every
you know experience that Jackson is experiencing now is a
new one. That is a very good point about this
being his first road primetime game, because the Giants had
three primetime games this year, two of them were at
home and then this one on the road. And that's

(39:02):
coming off of a poor season last year where expectations
outside of his building before this year were not very high.
With Jackson playing the way he's been playing, hopefully a
healthy Molite neighbors a healthy Camp Scataboo. Whatever other offseason
editions the Giants make in the coming months, the Giants
might be like a popular pick to like surprise teams

(39:25):
next year, which could land them in more primetime games
than we've kind of been accustomed to these last couple
of years. So agree with you completely that Jackson getting
this experience of playing in primetime under the bright lights
in an opposing hostile environment is a very good experience
because he could be you know, he could have two
or three games like that next year. So it's good

(39:46):
to have him do it this year where obviously you
want to win, but the you know, the stakes are
not quite as high as hopefully they will be next year.
So good experience for him. I'm happy he's going to
be out there.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, I'll say this right now. With those two very
exciting rookies and neighbors coming back, I think the Giants
will have at least three prime time games next year.
It would not shock me if they even have four.
No matter what their final one loss record is this year,
that would not shock me at all.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
I mean, the networks want to see these young up
and coming quarterbacks, and through seven games, Jackson has looked
pretty good in that regard.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
So anyway, two on one nine three, nine, four five
one three, we do have phone lines open if you'd
like to give us a call. One thing that we
did see yesterday during the Thanksgiving schedule, the Dallas Cowboys
wound up beating the Kansas City Chiefs and put themselves
back into the wild card race. That's part of the

(40:45):
Giants Division. Obviously, it looks as though the Giants in
Washington will be battling it out as the also Rams
in the NFC East because Dallas has suddenly somehow woken
up and in the last couple of weeks they have
asserted them as a team that at least you have
to have a conversation about.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
Well, I'm honestly not that surprised. Their offense has been
playing at an elite level basically all season, and that
was even with Ceedee Lamb missing a month of the season.
It was their defense that has been the big, big
problem in Dallas. And you know, props to Jerry Jones
because he went out there and made a couple of

(41:25):
very big, aggressive moves before the trade deadline, bringing in
some veteran players to help improve the defense, and when
you combine them with some of the injured defenders that
they have now coming back, almost half their defense is
different from you know, week five. Almost half of their
starters on defense are completely different guys and kind of

(41:47):
proven veteran guys that were not there earlier in the season.
So it doesn't surprise me that they're especially the defense
has taken a jump over these last couple of weeks.
I mean, Quinnin Williams is a very good football player.
We know, we've seen him from not too far away
playing in Melife Stadium here. He is very good and
has helped immediately upgrade their run defense, which I mean

(42:11):
every asset of their aspect of their defense was really struggling.
So it doesn't really surprise me that they have catabulted
themselves right back into the playoff race. It's still going
to be an uphill battle for them to make the
playoffs because they're still behind several other very good NFC
tam I mean, the Lions are out of the playoffs
right now, and they're still ahead of Dallas, so Dallas

(42:32):
still has some work to do. The Giants will obviously
play them week eighteen. That could end up being a
very big game for Dallas if they keep trending in
this direction, and.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Quite frankly, also could be a possible flex game.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
If the game ends up meaning something for Dallas and
Jackson continues to play well, then it could. Yeah, there's
a chance.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yeah, just as you know, Just so you know, folks,
a little fyi in discussing next year's schedule. Now we
know that they're three games that still need to be
determined based on the final standings of the twenty twenty
five season, But just to give you an idea of
what we were talking about in terms of primetime games
that the networks may want when you're talking about a Dart,

(43:14):
a scataboo and a neighbors and so forth. Outside of
the division opponents, Giants have home games against Arizona, not
so sexy. San Francisco, yes, Jacksonville kind of not really,
Tennessee not really right. But then on the road Indianapolis.

(43:35):
Oh my goodness, what a storyline there.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
If DJ resigns there, what a storyline Giants ad Coults.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
That would be one storyline that some network exec is
going to be foaming at the mouth to get. Oh yeah,
Giants are at Houston. Probably not that sexy of a game.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Giants Ramsey defenses in the League CJ.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
Stroud, Yeah, Houston the great market though, true, La Rams.
Giants at La Rams. You're talking about New York LA.
That's a big time market. So you could definitely see
that as a possible And we all know whenever the
Giants go to Seattle, it usually does not turn out
well more often than not. But but that is a

(44:21):
West coast, East coast thing, and you know, I don't
know that that would necessarily be an attractive primetime game.
I'm not so sure that it would.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
We'll always have that Colt McCoy game in Seattle.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Yeah, well, of course, so the Isaiah Simmons block field
goal too.

Speaker 3 (44:37):
But then even the the TVD matchups for the Giants,
that obviously will depend on where the Giants land in
the standings in the NFC East, but they play on
the road against the NFC North same place finisher, which
who knows. It's if the Giants finish in fourth in
the division. That seems likely it will be Minnesota. Minnesota

(44:57):
if they're basically a quarterback away, just kind of crazy
because they just, you know, spend a first round pick
on a quarterback last year. But if they decide to
pivot away from JJ McCarthy and bring in a veteran,
that team is immediately a contender again. So that could
be an appealing matchup for a prime time matchup. And
even if it's not Minnesota, Chicago, with the way they're

(45:18):
playing Lions Packers. All of those would be great matchups.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Tight division, there's really no way to tell exactly how
that's going to shake out.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
Yeah, I mean, the top three teams in that division
in any sort of order could go one, two and three. Yeah,
over the next six weeks. It would not surprise me
in the slightest went now the same place finisher in
the NFC South. That's probably not the most appealing matchup, No,
and AFC North. I think it depends if if Giants
end up being matched up against you know, Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Maybe.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
I mean it depends probably if they end up with
a top pick and then end up picking you know,
the top quarterback in the draft this upcoming year, or
if Sins continues to you know, plays really well over
these final six weeks and establish himself as the starter,
then maybe that would be an appealing storyline.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
But there's a possibility there, I guess.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
Point being, there are several matchups where we easily could
see them the Giants playing in prime time, So getting
Jackson as many primetime experiences as possible this year, when
again the stakes are not quite as high, it's just
going to be valuable for him in the long run.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Yeah, because it wouldn't shock me if they give the
Giants to NFC East primetime games. Of course, you know
any of that yet, Kenny, you know the way those
games are. You know those are always attractive to the
networks anyway. And so the point is there are some
other non division opponents that you could see a network wanting.
So that's what we talk about with that. All right,

(46:44):
let's go back to the phones and let's see who else.

Speaker 4 (46:46):
Do we have here? Uh?

Speaker 2 (46:49):
Do do do? I went? I blew it off the screen.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
Rich in Virginia, Hi, Rich, you're next of the show god.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
Father and Matt always a pleasure, happy thanksgiving you great
you two.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
Rich.

Speaker 4 (47:02):
So a question we've educated for years, and you know
my conference called Budds Strategy Coach, even going back to
DC in the TC days. Mike Kafer said the other
day he's got people in the booth making those decisions
helping him out like wend the challenge, et cetera. Do
you know who's up and those that booth which coaches.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Well, if you're talking about the strategic guys involved in
the in the two point conversions and the guys involved
in the flags for the video review, exactly. Those those
are different guys who are not technically part of the
on field coaching staff, like when you hear about tight
ends coach, running backs coach, et cetera, et cetera. I

(47:47):
don't know technically if we're allowed to talk about those people.
To be frank with you, I don't know that we are.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
I also just I don't know who exactly.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Oh, I know who they are. I just don't think exactly.
I don't think we're allowed to talk about them though, Yeah,
because technically they're not like in uniform coaches.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
They're the front office.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
They're they're advisors, and they're part of the booth. I
don't know that we're actually allowed to identify those names.
So I don't want to step out of bounds yet.

Speaker 4 (48:13):
Rich Okay, which, okay, I I respect that. But what
you're saying is they're and not coaching staff. For say,
they are part of the staff.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
Well, it's part of the yeah, part of football operations.
Ye're part of football operations staff. They're not like you know,
suits who who don't have anything to do with football. No,
that's that's not the case. They are part of the
football operations staff. I just don't know that we're allowed
to necessarily name them.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
I mean you can on giants dot com the whole
everyone that's on the football side is listed there, yes,
with their titles, so you're more than welcome to go.
And you know, look at everyone that's listed there on
the the front office side. It's just we, as Paul say,
can't just say exactly who is the one that's you know,
buzzing down saying hey, challenge that.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
I will tell you this, rich know, there's a cooperative effort.
Everybody up in the booth upstairs has a headset on
and they do have ability to communicate with the coaches
down on the sideline. And there will be times where
you will hear the head coach will say, and this
has happened many times in the past, well, the guy's
up in the booths were all screaming at me on
the headset. We got to look at that, you know.

(49:20):
So it doesn't have to be just one person saying
I want that video review. There may be four or
five people in that booth who are on headset saying
you got to look at that. Because he was out
of bounce.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
It likely is more than one guy probably down saying hey,
probably take a look at that, because if it's just
one you know, then it's it's just one person's opinion.
But if the whole booth up there saying hey, take.

Speaker 4 (49:42):
Coming out, click, Yeah, so what we what we say
that is in the military, it's called a collaborative effort.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Yeah, that sounds good, Rich, I like that.

Speaker 4 (49:52):
Do you know why any chance do they I assume
they're making informed decisions or recommendations to MK that they
have a TV up there to replicate what we're seeing.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Well, this is another sticky point, all right, how can
I delicately describe this? The video replay reviews that the
coaches get upstairs in the box are no different than
what you're going to see either in the stadium on
the scoreboard or on the television replay that is, on

(50:25):
the monitors that are upstairs in the press box. They
don't get a separate angle or a separate view or
any kind of different replay than what's either available on
the scoreboard or on the TV replay monitor.

Speaker 4 (50:44):
Okay, Okay, that's you know exactly, So they're seeing what
we're seeing.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
Yes, yes, they're not seeing anything different, which, to be
frank with you, you know, there's a new system that
the NFL put in place this year. They have cameras
all around every area of the stadium, specifically for replays.
The coaches are not tied into that system, so they

(51:11):
cannot look at alternate views even if they wanted to,
But the league does have access to those views and
the replay. The replay headquarters at the NFL has access
to those views. So I guess what I'm telling you
is the coaching stabs of these teams, when they're sitting
up in the press box, they don't have the full

(51:35):
access to make a one clear decision. They have the
same access that the fans do.

Speaker 4 (51:42):
Yep, okay, okay, that's good. All right, gentlemen, You guys
rock and keep up the great work that you always do.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Thanks Rich, Thank you very well. David Smith nine says,
what are your predictions for the end of the year awards?
I don't know if he's talking about the Giants Awards
or just the NFL awards.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
I'm assuming NFL awards.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
And it's way too early to there are some great
candidates for each.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
What are your predictions?

Speaker 2 (52:09):
My heart says, I want Daniel Jones to win the
m v P Okay, how about that. I don't know
if he will, but I want him to.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
I'm gonna go with Matthew Stafford for m VP because
he clearly is the front runner right now and I
don't see the Rams slow down anytime soon. They are
on a fast track to the number one seed in
the NFC.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
I think you're right. I simply said I want Daniel
Jones to get, but he won't. Drake Mays a great pick.

Speaker 3 (52:34):
New England guy going Drake May. That's a shock. It's
a very crazy as.

Speaker 5 (52:40):
Jonathan Taylor is an argument too.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Definitely he has an argument. It's just as we know,
it's become a quarterback award. So I know Jonathan Taylor
will win Offensive Player of the Year because that seems
to be the award that the best non quarterback gets,
even if he deserves MVP. But yeah, that is my
pick for Offensive Player of the Year. Defensive Player of
the Year. It's hard to say anyone other than Miles Garrett,
who is on pace to unfortunately break Michael Strahan's sack record. Hopefully,

(53:09):
hopefully hopefully he slows down, but the guy's getting like
four sacks a game. It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
Who are they playing the rest of the way. Could
you check that for a minute.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
I'd like to know, because not that it matters too much.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
No, somebody's got to get in the heads of those
left tackles and make sure he does not break.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
So he's got a matchup against Trent Williams this week.
That's gonna be tough for it. But then he gets
the Titans. Not as tough, No, the Bears, not the toughest. No,
the Bills, who at least granted the Bills matchups in
week sixteen. But Sean mcdermotan ounce today that the Bills
are without both of their starting tackles this week. Granted again,

(53:47):
that's three weeks later, so chances are one of them
at least comes back. Dean Dawkins and Josh.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Allen does tend to run away from people.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
Yes, you know he last week he got sacked I
eight times, couldn't believe that. Not great. Then he's got
the Steelers and finishes up against the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
He's got a chance.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
He's definitely got a chance because he doesn't need that
many more unfortunately, But you never know, I ever know.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Jan Bogaki's sixty one thirty four says Jackson Dartt will
take less hits now because he doesn't want to miss
games playing and simple.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
Certainly the hope.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
I hope, yes, I certainly hope he has learned his
lesson because look, if you ever watched the John Gruden
quarterback class, and I think you have finally gotten a
chance to see it, you know, Gruden laced into him
pretty hard and heavy. You know, kid, I don't like this.
What the heck are you doing? You can't do this.

(54:46):
Availability is the most important thing that I need as
a coach. I need to know I can count on
you to go out there and play for me every weekend.
He couldn't have been any more open, frank and honest.
And yet Jackson during the first half of his rookie season,

(55:06):
I don't I don't think the word reckless is necessarily appropriate.
But let's just say I think we would all agree
he's been perhaps too aggressive with his legs.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Yes, I mean there have been, you know, a couple
of plays where you can ease like he sought out contact.
He was like, there were a couple of plays I
forgot which game was. There's one play in particular where
he was running on the sideline and it would have
been so easy for him to literally just take one
step to the left out of bounds, and instead he

(55:38):
initiated contact with the defender on the sideline and like
he was fine. But that's just an unnecessary hit that
as a quarterback gets further into his career, learns to
not take. I mean, Josh Allen as a rookie. Granted,
Josh Allen's bigger, but as a rookie, Josh Allen bigger
a ton of hits yep. And as he's you know,

(55:58):
had more experiences in the end, he has learned in
order to be available for his team every week, he
can't take as many hits and he doesn't take as
many hits running with the ball. Obviously, if you're getting
sacked or hit a quarterback hit in the pocket, there's
not a ton you can do. You can try to
get the ball out a little quicker, but sometimes, obviously,
as we know, you got to stay in the pocket

(56:18):
a little bit and take a hit in order to
make a throw. But as a runner, Josh Allen has
learned to take less hits. And while it might be
a little tough to see Jackson Dart doing that right now,
I just a reminder. He's seven games into his rookie season,
like he will learn to do this. Because we haven't
heard from him yet, I'm assuming he might speak either

(56:38):
today or he will speak either today or tomorrow. But
it's probably been killing him to not be out there
with his teammates. And that's not a feeling that any athlete,
you know, anyone that's ever played sports, hates being hurt
and not being able to play with their guys, with
their brothers. So I would imagine that it's been killing
him to not be out there and you know, hopefully
a little bit of a learning experience to not quite

(56:59):
take his many hits.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
I'm just looking back at his college numbers, three hundred
and ninety three rushes and again we don't know how
many of those were scrambles or design rushes, but that
comes out to over eight and a half rushes a game.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
That also you have to keep in mind that counts
all of the sacks. Yes, in college, they do dumbest
thing out.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
I can't stand that I call college play by play
and I can't stand that.

Speaker 3 (57:25):
They do that. Yeah, so just keep out of mind.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
Yes, you know that's probably double. You know what I'd
like to say, as you're an NFL quarterback, But anyway,
it is what it is, all right, folks, Before we
go quickly, I know Matt always posts all the stuff
that comes up on giants dot com. Anything on the
huddle this week that we should know about.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
Yes, we actually posted it before be left for Thanksgiving
or before everyone else left. We're obviously still here. But
John spoke to Javon Holland that interview. The video is up.
It got posted on Wednesday. I don't believe Pierson crack
if I'm wrong, but I don't believe we're getting any
new podcast today.

Speaker 5 (58:04):
Brian Hoyer will either go up today or tomorrow, just
kind of a Patriots preview and then yeah, Holland went
up today this morning.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
It was just today. Yeah, oh okay, never mind that Wednesday.

Speaker 5 (58:14):
But Javon has a great interview, talked about his interception
last week and what the Patriots offense presents.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
He is a big personality that obviously has a ton
of experience facing New England, coming four years from Miami. Yeah,
he knows all about the Patriots. Granted, this Patriots team
a lot different than the Patriots team from a couple
of years ago, but oh.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Josh McDaniel was back, so you know that's just second
tenure now with the Patriots. Anyway, that'll do it for
today's edition of the program. Don't forget the Giants playing
on Monday Night Football this week, so you can enjoy
your Sunday watching all of the other teams around the league,
whether you've got your special cable package or you have

(58:55):
your local channels up, and we will be back once again.
I leave on Tuesday, correct, I believe Monday we are
not going to have a show, right because we're short
on staff.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
There's no show since everyone's either going to be in
Foxborough or wherever they work.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Well, short on staff because we got to work the
Foxboro game. So as a reminder, Monday Night Football that starts.
Of course, it was it eight twenty or eight fifteen,
I believe a fifteen. Yeah, eight fifteen on Monday night
Eastern time, So two hours prior we'll have the Wfan
Giants radio pregame show, myself Schmelt Barber, Dicky Barber. We'll
also have the radio postgame show and the MSG Giants

(59:33):
postgame show live. All that stuff is available, and of
course you can always go to the Giants app if
you're in region and you can hear the radio call
as well with Bob and Carl and Howard.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
Yes, and just heads up about next week because obviously
following the game the Giants go on they're bye week
finally week fourteen. But I believe we have shows scheduled
for Tuesday and wednesdayday next week, and then no shows
Thursday and Friday because everyone in this building is getting
so much needed a little time off a lit'll break.

(01:00:04):
So just the heads out, there will be only two
shows next week.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Pearson, you can come in if you like.

Speaker 3 (01:00:09):
That's okay. Go vote for the Giants for Pro Bowl though. Yes,
Pro Bowl voting has begun. You know, we have been
the Giants social accounts of putting out a lot of posts.
All you gotta do is retweet. If you have a
Twitter account, One retweet equals one vote, So go vote
Brian Burns, Jackson Dart, whoever whichever Giant you want, go
vote him to the Pro Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
Andrew Thomas Andrew.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
All pro never made a Pro Bowl is crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
And Brian Burns should be automatics for anybody who does
vote those guys.

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
Whoever else you might want go vote them to the
Pro Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
All right, thanks for listening to today's episode of Big
Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle
of the New York Football Giants. We come to you
as always from the Giants Podcast Studio, presented by Hackenshack,
Meridian Health, Keep getting Better, Formatt Sidetech, and Pearson Butler.
Our producer, I'm Paul Tatino again. Happy late Thanksgiving everybody,

(01:01:02):
enjoy your weekend, and Giants football coming up on Monday night.
Take care, everybody,