Big Blue Kickoff Live 11/5 | Looking Ahead to the Bears

Madelyn Burke and Shaun O’Hara look ahead to Chicago, talk about the defense, and take calls from fans. 

0:00 - Looking ahead to Chicago

18:08 - Calls

25:23 - YouTube Comments

28:37 - Jalin Hyatt

35:11 - The defense 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff line. Nobody can
ever tell you that you couldn't do it because you're
on Giants dot Com. You know what I saw? Do
your giant cry and the Giants mobile down out of
the Giants Podcast network.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's welcome into today's episode of Big Blue Kickoff Live,
presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New
York Football Giants. I'm Madeline Burke alongside the Super Bowl
champ Shawn O'Hara. The phone number here to a one
nine three nine four five one three, or can find
us on social media using hashtag Giants Chat. We're coming
at you live from the Giants Podcast Studio, presented by

(00:46):
Hackensack of Meridian Health. Keep getting better. It's Wednesday, my dudes.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
How you doing, Sean, I'm doing fantastic. What an action
packed trade deadline we had yesterday, the Giants not trading
any players. But I'm happy to report that after the
trade of last week trading Madeline for John Shmo, we
have traded John back to his normal schedule and now
we are we're re acquainted and.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
You can you can control all delete Big Blue Kickoff
Live trades it's undue.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
No more trades, No more trades.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
We're back back to where we got a.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Lot of holidays coming up, so I'm sure there's going
to be some shuffling cards.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, I can imagine it. I can imagine it. But
you know what, we're here, We're back.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Glad to be back in action with you. Last time
I saw you was Sunday. Yeah, we were trying to
wrap our heads around a really tough performance. But you
have been super busy. You know, you're you're living that
bi coastal life right now. So I'm just glad that
you were here and you got some sleep.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, well the ladder, the ladder, maybe not, but yeah,
sleep when we're some sleep. I definitely blinked a little
bit longer than normal, but yeah, I just got back
from l A. I got a chance to do Red
Zone ot with Scott Hansen. Your pals want to race business.
Great dude, one of the best in the business, elite
ball knower, and can confirm he does not peek the

(02:06):
entirety of Sunday. He doesn't. That was the first thing
I asked him. I said, listen, scottsh I know that
you get asked this at least once a day. But
what's what's the strategy. What's the bathroom strategy? And he's like,
I dehydrate myself on Saturdays. I don't go because I
don't My nightmare is even if you know they're soughtful
and they're going to a game play by play is

(02:26):
on the call, He's like, what if an amazing play
happens and I'm in the bathroom and I miss it?
He doesn't want to miss it. Also, fun fact, and
I'm sure you know this, the NFL network offices have
heated toilets. Yes, like this toilet seats are heated, you know,
just heated.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
They like clean themselves, like there are more buttons on
the toilet than on your remote control.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
You walk in, the lid just opens itself. It's like
motion sensing. It's like, hello, welcome to the bathroom.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah. I think Mark Quinn's eel takes credit for that.
When when they were planning all that stuff, that was
one of his big contributions. He was like, don't tell
Roger Goodell that we have these toilets in here, because
he will go nuts. But Scott Hansen is he's obviously
he's a great you know football broadcaster, but an even
better person. Great dude. He helped me out my very
first year with the NFL network. Scott taught me everything.

(03:15):
I didn't know anything about TV. I didn't go to
school for I didn't know anything. So, like, one of
the first shows I did was with Scott. It was
Total Access and you know, they hand you the rundown.
It's like a block B block, C block, and I'm like,
what's B block? Like that to me is a backside
scoop between are to tackle, Like, I don't know what,
but what do you mean blocking? Like I'm I'm thinking,
I got like, yeah, there are segments in the show.

(03:37):
So I would always listen to Scott and I would
at peppering with questions what does that mean? He would
get done reading like a highlight or some something on camera,
and then he would immediately say, there's not enough pad
in that. What why why don't you put it pad?
And I'm like, Scott, what is pad? Yeah? And you
know he would kind of tell me it's the amount
of time after a video cuts out, to give you
time to set it up or go segue to the
next thing.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
So yeah, so then just like a freeze when they're
transitioning and it's like the video just stops.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah. Yeah, And to this day, I feel like, you know,
I owe so much of my TV knowledge to Scott
having the patience he would have Syracuse and I'm a
Rutgers guy, so he didn't hold that against me. But
a lot of people don't know Scott was a long snapper,
he played for Syracuse, and he was a heck of
an athlete. I think that's what endeared him to the game.

(04:23):
But yes, I found out firsthand his whole Red Zone
routine because I used to do Total Access on Saturday night. Yeah,
and he would have to. He would be prepping the
whole time for the show but also for Red Zone,
and he literally would not have a sip of anything
starting on Saturday. He would completely cleanse himself. And I
just admired the commitment because he was not going to

(04:44):
get Wallypip for any reason.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
No chance on Red Zone, no chance, no walipitp moments.
He's on his feet the entire time, pacing back and
forth watching the in studio octobox.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Theer's more than eight actually amazing stamina.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Amazing stamina, great person great personality. What a gem. And yeah,
it was a lot of fun. And now we're back.
I made it back. I was like, listen, there's no
chance I'm missing my Wednesday show with Sean again this week.
So we yeah, we're back in the back in the
New York group reunited. It feels so good, even though yes,
the last time I saw I've already deleted that I've

(05:17):
meant in blacked myself from Sundays.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Well, it probably feels like two weeks given you your run.
But our last postgame show, you know, I think we
started out with like that was just such a disappointing
performance on both sides of the ball. And you know,
it's funny because after we do that show, I get
in the car, I drive home. I kind of listened
to Smelk and Tiki break it down a little bit
more with poly dots on the postgame radio show. And

(05:43):
when I get back to what, you know, as I
get home and things start to kind of saturate a
little bit more, and then you start watching the film.
There were so many inconsistent plays that I think that's
why the word that came to mind at the time
was just disappointing, because there are plays that could have
been made, Yeah, on both sides of the ball, and
it's things, you know, It's like, hey, theo Johnson makes

(06:05):
makes it unbelievable play for a touchdown and then drops
a routine pass play in the middle of the field
on a third down Darius Slayton, unbelievable throw that might
might be one of the best throws I've seen Jackson
Dark throw in the NFL to Darius Slayton towards the
end of the game, and instead of making the catch
for a touchdown, the ball sports out things that just like,
you can't be a good team and have those happen

(06:27):
on a consistent basis, So that inconsistency was what was
really disappointing to see, especially you know, going up against
the team that was as mangled and marred from an
injury standpoint as you were. That you felt like, all right,
these two or two teams, they're really trying to fake
find their way. And I thought the four Niners executed
better in a lot of areas defensively, man. And I'll

(06:51):
be honest with you. As I went back and watched
the film and I started watching the first couple series,
Jihnant's defense played lights out. I mean, they were all
over Christian McCaffery. They were all over this offense. They
were swarming to the ball. I saw it, unbelieve amunt
of plays and then it's almost like they just ran it,
like started to run out of gas as the game
went along. And I don't know if that's because, you know,

(07:11):
because they are a little bit thin with the injuries,
and maybe some guys are taking more reps than they're
used to, but were also too.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
It might be because of the fact that the offense stagnated, right,
you know, I think you talk to defensive players and
you think, what are the worst was the worst thing
that you could hear on the sideline as the defensive player,
it's punt team, get ready, you know, because like, wait,
we're back in already, you know, And I think when
you're on the.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Field, no, that's a great point. And you know, we
hit on that. After that opening drive touchdown, three on
the next four possessions were three and outs. So yeah,
the defense all of a sudden got worn out. But
there were definitely some times where I felt like the
forty nine ers did a really good job on offense. Yeah,
of attacking different sides of the defense, They nobody runs
more prestnot motion than the forty nine ers. And you know,

(07:53):
use check is constantly flipping sides. The tight ends are
constantly flipping.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
And what that does is sometimes use check flip sides
a little bit too soon, don't you know? They just
let it happen, even though they.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Let him have a full step before.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
That might encourage again, those.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Of you that aren't privy to this, mada I was
talking about the fourth and one quarterback sneak where you
used check the full back move before the ball was snapped.
It was clear obvious the defense guys are pointing out,
Timbeau is pointing out, everybody's pointing out fall start, and
the rest missed it. So how many times have you
seen the refs miss a call against the Giants or
go forward the Giants this season? It feels like it's
happening way too frequently. But I think this this forty

(08:34):
nine Ers offense kind of exposed a couple of things
with the defense in terms of how they line up
in one formation, tight end left, full back left, and
then boom, tight end comes over emotion the other side,
full back goes and there was an error in the
defensive adjustment to now the strength of formation is to
the right, and they weren't all on the same page.

(08:54):
So those are things that should be fixable because it's
just recognition as players. But I looked at a lot
of the stuff that they executed well in that in
those first two or three drives that then they did
not execute as well in the second half. And at
the end of the game when the four Nits were
trying to just pound the rock, that's when they kind

(09:16):
of took over the game and you could see the
Giant Stevens wearing out. But that's why when I look
at the game and I see the players making the
plays in the first twenty plays of the game and
then not executing on those same exact plays and tackles
and getting off blocks right, that to me, I always
lean at the players like, that's your job, Like you
were in position for the first quarter of the game,

(09:39):
and then as the game progressed, things did not. They
were not executed to the same high level that they
were previously. That is the job as a player. You've
got to play your best football in the fourth quarter
with the game online, you can't play your best football
in the first quarter and then just truck coast and
I feel like that's kind of that was the theme
that I saw defensively.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Right, and you got to kind of keep it going
all game. They got you know, they got some offense
going late, but again, I as we talked about on
the postgame show on Sunday, it was against prevent defense
and a lot of that just Jackson Dart's unwillingness to
lay off the gas. That's one of the great things
about him as a young leader in this locker room.
We saw his frustrations after the game, and not frustration

(10:21):
more again that disappointment word that we expressed on the show.
It felt like he was expressing that as well in
the postgame media availability. It was just this defeated nature
of just like I don't I don't like to lose,
and I know that there's more talent and ability on
this team than what we're executing right now, and can
we level it up on the road in Week ten

(10:43):
in Chicago in the Shan O'Hara Bowl. You know, the
team you've played for and won a Super Bowl with
against the team you as a young child, a wee
lad grew up rooting for. Yeah, it's an interesting matchup
this one.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah, this is Look. You if you love football as
a young kid, you know you know who Walter Payton was.
Walter Payton was my favorite player. I wore thirty four
before I was destined to be an old lineman, back
when I could still run and keep up with people.
So it was Mike Singletary on defense and Walter Payton.

(11:17):
Those were some of my childhood idols. But if you
love football, playing in Soldier Field, I mean it's like
playing in Lambeau. Yeah, this is a historic site. You know,
football in Chicago it means something. Some might call it
a religion. So this game for any young player or
fan that loves the game of football, this is a

(11:40):
great opportunity to get to play the Chicago Bears in
Chicago at Soldier Field. It's going to be great, you know,
great football climate, great football weather. This November in Chicago
is great football weather. So this is a great opportunity
for them. But to your point about Jackson, I like
way that he is frustrated and is not shy and

(12:05):
sharing it. Like, look, I think that that just kind
of shows his leadership. That Look, I have an expectation
of myself and of my team, and the number one
thing is did we win or did we lose? Like
he's not into moral victories. He was asked before about
how do you feel about your personal performance? He shot
it down right away. It doesn't matter how I play.
We lost. Yeah, that is what you want to hear.

(12:25):
And that's the type of mentality that you need when
you're talking about your top ten percent of players on
your team. Those are the guys that have to set
that tempo and set that expectation and that standard of excellence.
And that's what Jackson Dart is doing now. I think
the other frustration too, is you know, he's taking some
hits and he's you know, he's gotten he's taking some

(12:46):
rookie lumps as well. Yeah, and then there are times
where it's, hey, you know what, I'm making some good
throws here and I'm making some plays like you guys
got to step up for me, and you're supposed to
be helping me out here. I'm the young buck, like,
you know, you're supposed to make it easy on me,
and we're making it hard on ourselves. It doesn't need
to be that hard. And I think that's where some
of that frustration boils over so carried over into this week.

(13:09):
You know, I always felt like you know, during the week,
that's when you that's when you check all the boxes.
That's when you set yourself up and give yourself a
chance to win. On Sunday, you have to go out
and execute it. But bring that same fire, in the
same passion to the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday practice and.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Execute on both sides of the ball. This is going
to be a challenge, especially for this defense. When you
look at the way that this Bears team is playing
of late, I mean the beginning of the season, they
were really reliant on Caleb Williams in the passing game.
They finally started leaning heavier on the run in the
last several weeks. Then DeAndre Swift goes down and common
on guys like I got this hundred seventy six yards
rushing for the young guy this week in Chicago and

(13:47):
also the Bears, not one, not two, four different players
through a pass Caleb Williams threw for three touchdowns and
caught one. They're getting so creative with what they're doing
on the offensive side of the ball, which Number one
tells me they feel stable and confident in their base
and Number two tells me Ben Johnson is trusting this
team to do more, and number three tells me that,

(14:09):
you know, the Giants defense is going to also have
to get creative in a way to kind of figure
out how to cover what they're doing.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, this Bears offense is starting to look like the
Ben Johnson offense that we saw in Detroit. Yeah, you
mentioned DeAndre Swift. He has two hundred yard games. He
goes down and Kyle Mnungui, the Rutgers Scarll at Night
is filling in and rattles off one hundred and seventy
six yards rushing. Yeah, I mean that is basically what

(14:37):
you saw in Detroit with Jamir Gibbs and David Montgomery,
like a one two punch in the backfield. Caleb Williams
has not thrown for three hundred yards yet this season. Like,
he doesn't have a three hundred yard game. He hasn't
thrown the ball over forty times in a game. So
when you think about the identity of this Bears offense,
they are clearly trying to be a run first team.
And I don't know what DeAndre Swift's status is right now,

(14:58):
but that's where they're going to try to hang their
hat on. That's their identity and that's what they want
to do. How ironic that the one thing the Giants
are struggling with right now is stopping the run. And
that's something that you know, has we've been talking about
for weeks now, like that has to get better, Like
at some point we got to put that fire out.
So this is a great challenge right here. You know

(15:20):
what the Bears are doing up front, the way that
they're running the football, that's mission number one, Like, let's
stop the run. We can't give up big plays. And
then Kayleb Williams has shown his ability to add lib plays,
extend plays with his legs, get out of the pocket,
move around. So again it's another mobile quarterback that you've
got to find a way to contain. Keep him in
the pocket, don't let him hurt. You don't give up

(15:42):
any of those big plays because he gets out of
the pocket. And now we're struggling and coverage.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, yeah, And you know the Giants are dealing with
some injuries as well. I mean John Michael Schmidt's not
practicing today, Jermaine a Luminor not practicing, about Collins, Paulson
a debo again not practicing. He missed last two games.
Darius Mowassa, Chauncey Golston, several key players, especially on the
defensive side of the ball. We've got John Holland back
in there, which is a nice that's great sign.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
Made him back there. Things have really kind of it
looks like they've really struggled since Javon Holland went out.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Well, Javon Holland and Paulson, Ndiebo and Cordelle Flott all
go out in one fell swoop almost and so then
your your safety and two of your top three corners
are out and then our green goes out. So you're
you know, you're down depth at corner.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
That's where we've seen a lot of the big plays happen,
just guys out of position, bad angles, Corey inserting in
the right area.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Corey Black, a talented young guy but a seventh round
pick who two weeks ago was on the Jets practice squad,
gets his first start last week for the Giants, and
you know, making the most of it. But again, you know,
thrown in baptism by fire right there. That's a tough one,
and that's something that you know, posing quarterbacks are going
to target, but the injuries, you know, everyone deals with
them around the league. Two A one nine is the

(17:00):
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(17:20):
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to A one nine three nine four five one three
is the phone number Boneland lighten up. So let's get
to some of the calls Sean, starting with Lou in Pennsylvania. Lou,
welcome to the show. You're on Big Blue Kickoff Live
with Sean and Madeline.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
Hey, how you doing doing well?

Speaker 2 (17:40):
How are you low?

Speaker 4 (17:41):
I'm doing well?

Speaker 5 (17:42):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (17:43):
What I wanted to act Sean in a locker room
because it seems like the team is more talent than
talented than what they actually playing on the field. Do
you think a different voice in the room and the
differensive side because different a new voice in the room
will help or you just think it's the play not EXEQ.

(18:05):
And that's what's happening. And with all we have looked
like we have house uh front seven. It started from
the beginning of the season. Why are we struggling to
stop the run so much? Is dex the lawrence still hurt?
And I'll take the answers all here.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
Thanks so much for the call, Lou, got it, Lou, Yeah,
I appreciate you calling in. So I guess I'm a
little confused when you were talking about the locker room
and is there need to be a new voice in
the locker room. So I'm not sure if you're saying
a veteran player or if you were referring to a coach,
But I feel like the coach would not be in
the locker room. He would be in the media room.
So I'm trying to kind of read between that question there.

(18:48):
I think this is a good veteran locker room. I
think they do have some really good leaders, and I
feel like, you know, when you've heard Keavon Thibodeaux and
Brian Burns and Dexter Lawrence and Bobbio Kak when you've
heard them talk after the game like they're all plays
blame on themselves. This is not a fragmented locker room.
Locker room, they are not blaming the coaches, blaming you know,
the offense. I think they're taking ownership and they know

(19:11):
that they're it's about execution, and you know, look, there
there's always gonna be times in a game where you
know what, maybe you're in a bad defensive call, and
you know what, the coaches will always own up to
that offensive coaches do that too. Hey, look that was
a bad play call. We should have never ran that
play against that defense or against that front. We put
you in a bad position. So there are some of
those things that happen every single week. I don't feel

(19:32):
like this Giants team is lacking leadership in the locker
room or accountability. I think that they are frustrated because
they think that they, like you said, are a very
talented defense, and I think that they are. But when
you're not, you know, when ten guys are all on
the same page and doing the right thing and one
guy is not, that's when you give up a big play.

(19:53):
If you have nine guys that are in the right
spot and two guys that one has a mental bust
and the other one just misses a tackle. Now you've
got bad football. And so that's where the team concept
really comes to fruition, and I think that they are
aware of that. I think they're trying to find a
way to fix that. And look, the only way to
do it is to go out and execute. You've got

(20:13):
to go out and prove it to each other, to
the fans, to your coaches, and to yourself. So with
your question to the front, is Dexter Lawrence hurt? Not
that I'm aware of. Dexter Lawrence is playing his butt
off you. So for the last two weeks, I've went
back and watched all of his plays. Dexter Lawrence is

(20:35):
in the backfield, pushing guys back on pass pro, He's
in the quarterback's lap. I have a zero issue with
dexhorh Lawrence. I think he's playing as the effort is
not a factor. It's not an issue. So I don't know,
you know, I'm not sure where that came from. But
the Exter Lawrence is also getting a lot more attention
than most other defensive tackles in the league. He has

(20:57):
four hands on him. I'm pretty much every pass play,
first second down for his pass play at play action,
he's got a center and a guard. They both have
their hands on him.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
It's challenging because he set the bar so high last
season for himself. You know, nine sacks in the first
half of the season as a nose tackle is tough.
So we have seen the upside of what Dexter Lawrence
is capable of. And not to say what he is
doing is not strong now, but I think some fans
might say, well, in comparison to when he had an
excellent last year, a very good year kind of falls short.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
That season for Dexter Lawrence with that many sacks is
it's not just oh that was a good season. That
was a unicorn as a nose guard or defensive tackle
that doesn't happen like sacks are not how you grade
his performance, like that's maybe defensive end you can, you
can do that, but there are so many different things
that come into play with sacks, and for Dexter, you know,

(21:53):
his sack production is really what you look at is
look at Burns and Thibodeau and Carter because their production
on the outside is because they are one on one,
they're on islands in that area. Yeah, so I think
that that is Dexter Lawrence is wearing that like a
badge of honor because he knows those good my dudes

(22:13):
are getting sacks on the outside because I'm taking two
blockers and if I got two guys on me, that
means you guys are one on one. So now you
guys got to win. And that's that's the role that
he you know, I think he embraces that. He understands that,
and that's the respect that teams are giving him because
they're saying, we don't think our guys can hold up
one on one on Dexter, so let's, you know, make
sure that we handle that. And Dexter's job really is

(22:35):
to push that pocket back so the quarterback can't step up,
so now he can't avoid that edge rush. And that's
why we've seen all that production. So it goes hand
in hand with that, and you know, I think Dexter
is Look, I have zero issue with him. I think
he's playing as hard as he possibly can. And you
know what, the sacks aren't there, the big plays aren't
really there. I mean, he did have an interception that

(22:57):
he almost took to the house. I guess the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Justin Herbert tackled him.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
Maybe maybe if he scored and he had a fix
six to go with his stats, you know, maybe that
would endear fans. But but yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
He was doubled on that play, gets a hand up,
swats it down and is able to pick it. I
mean that play alone.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
I don't know why he's becoming the punching bag for
the defense. But you know, when I look at this front,
I don't look at the inability to stop the run
or some of these big plays. It's not because of
the front four, and it's it's because you know, look,
we losing Michael McFadden I think is a big blow.
It's been a big blow to this defense.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Darius Muisau. Now he got banged up in that game,
and you mentioned he's on the injury report. You know,
you put him in there and he can't do the
same things that Michael McFadden can do. So I think
there's been some growing pains with him there. And then
I think the safeties have really struggled with coming up
and making tackles and inserting, you know, into those eight
man fronts. As you try to stop the run, you

(23:55):
bring down a strong safety, you bring down a free
safety to make it an eight man box. And there's
times when they took poor angles as they insert. You know,
we even saw deontaey Banks, you know, struggle to make tackles.
We've seen that week in and week out. You know,
as a corner, you're the forced defender. You're on the outside.
It's your job to push everything back to the inside.
If you kind to lose that leverage, now all of

(24:17):
a sudden, you have no help. You know, he's out
the sideline and out the gate. So there's a lot
of different reasons for all that. But I certainly wouldn't
place the blame on the front floor as you were
bringing up. And I certainly don't see any issue with
dex or Lawrence's play.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
And when things aren't going well, people you don't like
to look at, say, okay, who can have pointed the
finger at? Who can I blame? And that's you know,
understandable human nature. Everyone wants to pound of flesh. We're
getting some YouTube comments as well, one from Johnny Mack,
which our producer today. Johnny Mack has clarified it is
not him. It's a different Johnny Mack.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
Different.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
There's two of you, Johnny Max.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
I don't think.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
I don't think we can handle two Johnny Max. But
I love that YouTube works for a BBK doesn't want
for Monday night football. But I'm glad to see your
subscription now paying off.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
At least we still got you here on BVK. Johnny Mack,
not producer. Johnny Mack, says, THEO Johnson's drops are building up.
Why don't you make Daniel Bellinger tight end one? Daniel
seemed to show a lot of potential before his injury,
didn't seem to get as many reps after. Well, he
didn't play last week because he was out with that
neck injury. So we're not quite yet at the after
part of that injury. Johnny Mack, not producer Johnny Mack.

(25:23):
But you know, THEO Johnson also leads the Giants with
five receptions or five touchdowns right now, five receiving touchdowns,
So he is producing in a high way and that
volume of targets that he is getting, and yes, there
are a couple of moments that even THEO is going
to look at and say, I want that one back.
That's kind of what happens when you have a volume
that high and got to clean it up. And yes,

(25:44):
Daniel Bellinger, when he is back and healthy and back
ready to play, I would be certain that he's going
to have a significant role in this offense.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Again, THEOS it's a little perplexing because he makes a
lot of hard catches. Yeah, he has good hands, and
you know it's.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Like sometimes when it's too easy, you're already thinking, oh, yeah,
I got this one in the bag, and you're already
thinking of something else. Yeah, you got to kind of remember,
even though it feels easy, catch the ball, then take
a step towards the house.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
Yeah. I think, just kind of in my brain as
I kind of go back to some of the drops
that I've seen from THEO, I feel like the times
when he does struggle with the drops is when it's
almost like he doesn't see the ball until it's too late.
He's late getting his hands up to catch the ball,
so he's turned around. It happened a couple of times
with Russell because Russell does throw some fast balls and

(26:34):
the ball got on him quicker than he thought, and
so he didn't have his hands up ready to catch it.
So it's almost like he's reacting to the balls on
me now. And in this latest game, he kind of
ran like a little curl route and as he sat
down and kind of got came out of the break,
the ball was already on him and it was over here,
and so he kind of he was late with his
hands reaching back like this to catch the ball as
opposed to if he was ready and going. He's catching

(26:56):
the ball in front of him. So I think some
of that is technique wise, you know, because THEO has
I mean number one, he's a really big target. And
to your question about Bellinger, I feel like there are
two different types of tight ends. Like Bellinger is more
of an h back, more of a guy that you're
going to kind of get out of the backfield. You're
not going to really ask Bellinger to run down the seam,

(27:16):
and he doesn't have that same kind of body control
that THEO does, as you know, when it comes to
running routes and receivers. But you know, it's Theo's second year.
I think there's still some things that he's still working
at and honing his craft and getting better at and
certainly making those routine catches routinely is one of the
things that I know he's focusing on.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah, Giants fans, with another impactful draft and free agency
class in the books, that means it's full steam ahead
of the twenty twenty five season. Take your fandom to
the next level with a Giants season ticket membership and
catch all the action at MetLife Stadium, connected to club
all year round, not just on game days, with exclusive
member access and benefits. To learn more about a New
York Giants season ticket membership, visit Giants dot com slash

(27:58):
tickets two A, one nine, three nine, I have won three.
Let's go back to the phones. Joey in California. Joey,
You're on Big Luke Kickoff Live with Sean and Madeline.

Speaker 7 (28:07):
Hi.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
Sean, Hi, Madeleine, thanks for having on the show. Uh. Well,
first of all, I'm a little surprised that with the
trade that mine passed and the Giants did not trade
away either Evan Neil or Jalen Hyatt. Evan who hasn't
played a game at all this year. He hasn't even
suit it up, so I'm very surprised they're holding onto him.
But you know what, what.

Speaker 3 (28:30):
What did you think they were getting for him, right?

Speaker 4 (28:32):
Well, I I mean, how.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Do you know that they didn't try to How do
you know that they didn't try to trade him?

Speaker 4 (28:39):
Oh No, I'm not saying they didn't try to trade.
I'm just surprised that they didn't.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Okay, So if they tried to trade him and nobody
offered anything valuable for them, then you know, what are
you supposed to do?

Speaker 4 (28:50):
I mean, yeah, I understand. I'm just saying I'm surprised.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
I'm not.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
I mean I would have thought with the can't.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, so why if you're another team, why why would
you trade for Evan Neil? He's not even playing.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
You know, maybe he fits in their offense better than
he's fitting ours. I mean, he's not.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
Even playing, So what are you training for?

Speaker 4 (29:13):
No, just you know, fit front pick. Maybe maybe a
player that's not playing as much on their team.

Speaker 7 (29:18):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
I'm just spitballing here. So thank you for Also. Jalen Hyatt,
I have I remember I was at that game in
Arizona in twenty twenty three and I saw him just
be a playmaker and I was like, Okay, this guy
has got something. And ever since then, it's been downhill
for him, and when Malik Neighbors got hurt, I was like, Okay, Jalen,

(29:42):
this is your time.

Speaker 5 (29:42):
This is it.

Speaker 4 (29:44):
I hope to see you on the field. And now
he's doing kicking pump returns, which is fine, But at
the same time, I'm like, I'm a huge Giants packing game.
It's very conservative, it's short field most of the time.
I'm wondering, are they not having enough confidence in Jalen
Hyatts on this offense or are they not willing to

(30:06):
risk Jackson Dark throwing eat balls down the field.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
I think I don't know that it's a confidence issue.
I think it's more of just understanding where Jalen's strengths are.
And I think when we watch in recent weeks, and
you know we've talked about that on this show as well,
Like Jalen's got a lot of speed and if he
gets open grass in front of him, he can break away.
But if he can't, if he does not get separation
from a defender, you know, he has a harder time

(30:31):
coming up with a fifty to fifty ball if he's
got a defender in his pocket. That's when you see
the incomplete passes in his direction. And so I don't
know if it's not trusting Jalen but perhaps understanding the
coverage that he is playing in and whether it's to
his benefit to throw out his direction.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
I feel like receivers have to earn targets, like we're
not just gonna throw the ball your way and just
hope that, you know, you find a way to make
a place. So you know, I think you earned that
trust in practice every single day. I think I think
everybody's been disappointed with Jalen Hyatt and where he's at
right now in his career. And I don't think anybody

(31:12):
thought that this is where he was going to be
when they drafted him. They thought he would make more
of an impact. And so I agree with you with that.
Like you know, when the Lak Neighbors went down, everybody
was looking to see, like, all right, who's going to
step up? Who's going to be that guy? You have
a great opportunity like seize the moment, Like you would
like to see a player step up and say, you

(31:32):
know I'm gonna do I'm gonna be that guy. I'm
gonna do whatever it takes. And you know, I think
everybody was hoping that Jalen Hyatt would do that and
he would be that guy, and it hasn't happened for
a myriad of reasons. But I also I feel like
he's been given some opportunities. He's made some he's made
some good catches at times, and you know, look, there's
been some times where even when he was open, Jackson

(31:55):
Dard has missed him. You know, there was a couple
of games where he was streaking down the middle of
field the Denver game, you know, like he's wide open,
and you know it's a misfire. So it's not all
on him every single time. But I think the fact
that Gunner Olszewski was in the game and he wasn't,
you know, towards the end of his game, you know,
I look, I think that tells you a lot about
where he fits in on this offense. And you know,

(32:18):
believe me, if he was beating guys one on one
during the week, like he would be getting a shot
on Sunday, and you know, your quarter the quarterbacks see
it too, when they're doing drills and when they're over
there doing one on ones with the defensive backs and
they're throwing to them, they know who can get open,
who can't. So that is already in their mind. And
now when it comes game day, like when I'm in trouble,

(32:38):
I know who I'm looking for and I know who
I'm counting on that if I put this ball in
their vicinity, that they're going to come down with that catch.
Those are those are the trust factor throws that you've
got to have.

Speaker 4 (32:50):
Well, I'm gonna let you guys go, but before I do,
I just want to make one more I just want
to make one more thing. This past weekend, the Giants
wore the roll back to uniforms.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
And legacy legacy uniform legacy, legacy, legacy.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
I have said it before on the show. I will
say it again. Those need to be the permanent home uniforms.
Those helmets are awesome, the jerseys are awesome, the fans
love them. I look if ownership is listening this, please
make those the permanent home uniforms. Thank you, guys, have
a nice day.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Thanks so much for the college Joey. Yeah, they did
look good.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
I like the legacy they do. They look sweet, but
we don't play well in them.

Speaker 7 (33:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
I feel like it's like every year we bust out
those legacy uniforms, we're doing a disservice because it doesn't
look like the same football used to be in those jerseys.
So but again, you can't wear those every single week
and then now all of a sudden, you don't love them
like that. Yeah, the novelty of them is kind of
part of what's really cool.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
If those become the normal, then the Giants' current uniforms
become the legacy, and then the rarity of the current
uniforms becomes, Oh, those look sharp, we should wear those
more often.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah. Also, I also think that, you know, the sales
in the in the team stores would go down if
that was, you know, like, you gotta bust, you gotta
pump them out. You got it to bring them out.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
And luckily for Joey, you can go to NFL shop
dot com or the Giants team store and get you
legacy jersey.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
You can wear legacy stuff every single game, every single
Sunday if you want. We love it.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
We love it.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
The Giants official connected TV streaming app, Giants TV, brings
original video content and game highlights on demand and direct
to Big Blue fans. Giants TV is free on Apple TV, Roku,
and Amazon Fire TV, and on the Giants mobile app
to one free free free ninety nine. So great, it's
in everyone's budget. U t A one is the phone number.

(34:40):
Going back to the lines, they're lighting up Phil in
North Carolina. Phil, thanks for calling you on Big Blue
Kickoff Live with Sean and Madeline.

Speaker 7 (34:48):
Yeah, thanks, Madel and Sewan. Good job, good job as usual. Hey,
So really frustrated with the with the defense obviously, and
that last game, And what I can't really wrap my
head around is that Christian McCaffrey getting open several times

(35:10):
wide open, when all during the week the whole emphasis
should have been on Christian McCaffrey. And how it should
be kind of relayed to the players is if you're
unsure about coverage, right, always opt for taking Christian McCaffrey.

(35:32):
It's like there was a play where Corey Black, I
know he's new, but you got to drum into these
players that, Okay, if there's any there's the most important
person on their offense, right, do not let him be
by himself. And he was several plays that was just

(35:53):
it's just mind boggling. And that to me is coaching, coaching,
and and you know, making sure that you know that.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
That message was you don't know that that message wasn't related.
And I don't think anyone in that locker room doesn't
acknowledge the impact that Christian McCaffrey has on that forty
nine ers offense.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
Yeah, I don't chalk that up to coach. And I
know I know the exact two plays you're talking about
because I watched them on film as well, Because, like you,
I have the same questions, how do we let that
guy get open? Like he was the he was the
cover of Madden Football, like the video game. Like so
like when they break the hudle, you're always like, where's McCaffrey, right,
Like that's what everybody does. So believe men Shane Bowen

(36:36):
and the coaches, like they were telling them, hey, look
when they get down in the red zone, fine McCaffrey,
because they're gonna they have plays designed to get him
the football. So let's talk about the first one, the
touchdown throw. All right, Christian McCaffrey. Defensively, all right, you're
looking at the offense. They break the huddle. Christian McCaffrey
is on the left. They have trips right, all right,
three receivers to the right. Christian McCaffrey is on the
left side of the quarterback. All right, Bobby o'caak has

(36:59):
him in coverage and Bobby's looking at him. All right.
The balls snap, Christian McCaffrey comes in front of the
quarterback across the offensive formation, all right, and he leaks out.
So Bobby ocarike, all right, that's my guy. He turns
to run. You know what those three receivers did. They
formed a picket fence. They all ran in cutting routes
and they were right there, standing there in Bobby Ocarick's way.

(37:21):
So now he turns and oh my gosh, I've got
a wall of bodies. I've got like, how do I
get through all this? He's trying to He looks like
Frogger trying to get through traffic on the other side
of the road, and he gets caught up. He gets
caught up in the in the melee, and Christian McCaffrey
is wide open for a touchdown. It it's easy. So
you don't think Shane Bonen showed him that play. I
guarantee you they have run that play before. I've seen

(37:42):
the Chiefs run that play with Kelsey with other guys.
Andy Reid loves those type of plays. Where you use
those guys coming and of the field. It's a rub
route basically. So I guarantee you Bobby o'cake has seen
that play and he just got caught up. Now, in
that situation, what you would like to see is, hey,
it's trip's lef. You know what McCaffrey's over here. I'm
gonna get a little depth pre snap. This is Bobby

(38:04):
Ocaoke's brain working. I'm gonna get a little death right
now because I don't want to get picked, all right,
So that's Bobby ocaarag.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
It's on him.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
I don't you can't. I don't blame the coaches for that.
I guarantee you he was told be ready for this
and as soon as you see him going that way,
you got to beat him to the punch. So that
was on Bobby okarak. Now the second play you're talking
about is towards the end of the game, McCaffrey leaks
up the left sideline and you're talking about Corey Black.
He gets caught, doesn't understand see where he is pre snap.

(38:32):
The forty nine ers ran a guy in motion over
to that side. All right, there was no receiver to
that side. If I'm not mistaken, a guy comes over
in motion and now he's the m Man alliance, and
now Corey Black thinks, all right, that's my guy. Now
I haven't coveraged. It was a play action fake. So
now he sees run at first, and as he steps up,
he doesn't realize that Bobby Ocarake and Brian Burns have

(38:56):
the tight end. So Burns was actually in coverage and
it was actually Kittle and the other tight end both
on that side, and Corey Black for a second looked
in at the tight end and saw the runfake and
then before he knew it, McCaffrey was already by him.
So that is a player that is now filling in
for an injured player who I guarantee you they've seen

(39:16):
that play on Scout team because the four nine ers
run that play a lot. It was not a new
play and he just lost his coverage responsibility and he
kind of got caught up in, oh, I think it's
run because it's the end of the game. They're running
their foreman an offense, and it looked like run. It
sounded like run to him, so he was taking a
step up thinking run, and boom, it was like that

(39:37):
gotcha moment, like got him and McCaffrey's up the sideline.
So those are two different players making a mistake mentally
as to who do I have in coverage and how
do I prevent this from being a big play. I
don't want to hear the coaching thing. No, this was
player execution. They know better than that. They failed on
the execution part of it. It's on them.

Speaker 7 (39:59):
Yeah, we're gonna disagree on that showing because I think
the first one, I think that's a bad play call.
If you're gonna have, ok take McCaffrey, Yeah, I think
you know, you just into something.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Who would you put? Who would you put on the caffey.

Speaker 7 (40:14):
We're gonna have We're gonna have to maybe do cover
cover four or something like that so that we get
equal spacing on the we have someone on the outside
there instead of having everybody in the inside. So that's me,
you know, But we're so we'll disagree on that.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Well.

Speaker 3 (40:31):
Number one that Giants. The Giants play a lot of
man covers. So Bobby o'kake is our best cover linebacker,
So I have no problem with him being one on
one with Christian McCaffery, and I have no problem with
him covering I think he could do it in that situation.
In that play, he got caught up and you know
what that's you know that that's part of the game. Yeah,
but you're not gonna play cover four in the red zone, right.

Speaker 7 (40:54):
You've seen him live more than me, so.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
I just any and they're both Standford guys.

Speaker 1 (40:59):
So you think to do that, you.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
Think a Stanford guy would would have would have had
that figured out?

Speaker 6 (41:04):
Right?

Speaker 3 (41:04):
That was Stanford on Stanford crime right there, McCaffrey and okay.

Speaker 7 (41:08):
Yeah, yeah, and then just one one more thing and
thanks for that answer before, is that why why do
you think it's been this way for ten to thirteen years?
Why do you think our receivers can't make contested catches?

(41:30):
Are we drafting the wrong people? You see it on
the other team all the time, people making contested catches
against us, but we can't make any contested catches. Haven't
been with that years.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
I would disagree with that bill. There's some pretty iconic
contested catches that Giants receivers have made.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
Well, I would agree with the last few weeks.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
Last Neighbors milic neighbors. Yeah, milik Neighbors thrives in contested catches.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
Obj You know, that was kind of how he created
his whole brand was contested catches. You know, I think,
you know, if you were look at the Giants, you
know when the season started, like Malik Nighbors a number
one receiver. But when you look at like the Cincinnati Bengals,
you know, and they've got Jamar Chase Anti Higgins. You know,
you look at some of the other teams, they've got

(42:20):
two or three guys like that. You know, the Rams
Pooka Nakua like that, you throw the ball anywhere near him,
he's coming down. With Devanta, they have DeVante Adams as
their number two receiver. Like that guy's a ball hawk.
So you know, I think I would agree with you
that we don't have enough of those guys. You know,
but when your number one guy goes down and Milik Neighbors, like,
it's hard to replace that production. You know, you'd like

(42:44):
to think that somebody would step up. And we were
talking before about would it be Jalen Hyatt, would be
Darius Slayton, Uh, would it be Bo Collins? You know,
because we they're capable of doing that. We saw both
Collins do it. We saw little Jordan Humphrey do it
earlier this year. Those were kind of the contested catches guys,
And look they did in the preseason, they did it.
They've done it sporadically throughout the year. But yeah, I mean,

(43:06):
I think that's ultimately the goal as a general manager
is how do we get more of those guys? How
do we get more of those guys on the roster,
and how do we have more guys so if we
do lose one of them, that somebody can step up
and fill that void.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, and thank you so much for the call, Phil.
We appreciate you you trying.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
To fill I like the call. Here's my thing with
the coaching stuff, like, I feel like it's just it's
a lazy narrative out of coaching and coaching and here's
my theory on that. And I'm coaching my son's football team,
so I'm an assistant coach. I coached the O line
in the D line. One of the things that I
talk from day one when I'm coaching the defensive ends,
your number one job is you don't let the ball

(43:43):
get outside you all right, at all costs. Like I
don't care if you don't make the tackle, but you
cannot let the ball get outside you, And I tell
them if you do that, you'll I will take you
off the field. Like that's your number one job. Defensive
vent you attack that tight end or tackle, you play
outside on free and if you the quarterback, running back,
or anybody coming your way and the ball is near you,
you attack it upfield. Second game of the year, defensive end.

(44:08):
Boom hits the guy. Oh, I see a full back dive.
He puts his head in there, right, and they go
out the outside, big, big run. All right, Boom, I
pull him off field. What can't you do? I can't
let the ball get outside? Okay, what happened? So is
that my fault? Am I a bad coach? I told him,
I told him a hundred times, you cannot let the

(44:29):
ball get outside of Yet he messed up. I'm sure
there's a parent on standing saying all the coaches don't
know their elbow from their ass, you know, just like
you just did. But I know, damn sure, I know
what I'm doing and I'm coaching him. But he's human.
He's also twelve, you know, so as a pro like
I get it at twelve year old, makes a mistake
like he's you know, I mean, the kid's been playing
football for a year, maybe two. But you don't expect

(44:52):
pro players to make those same mistakes. But they do,
you know, they do. One of the biggest fallacies, it's
human nature.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
I mean, as a pro player, as a pro and anything.
You've got a million things that you're keeping track of
in your mind, and there's bound to be one moment
where something happened so quickly and you're like, oh, I
knew that, I knew better. But in that moment, you know,
you're retaining a lot of information. It's human nature. And
I mean, to your point, it's like parenting. You know,

(45:19):
like you could tell your kids, hey, take out the trash,
take out the trash, take out the trash. You come
home the trash isn't taken out. Is that you not
telling them, Is that you being a bad parent, or
is that them just being like, oh, yeah, I forgot
or I didn't do it.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
You know.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
And to Phil's point, it's not that the coaches aren't
telling them. Christian McCaffrey is a focal point. It's not
that they don't know. Christian McAffrey. It's not that you
know your kids don't know the trash. She needs to
be taken out just sometimes.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Yeah, yeah, if it's something that you didn't teach them, right,
or hey we I showed you this, or we rehearsed this,
we practiced it, we walked through it. Then obviously all right, now, hey,
look I shouldered the blame. You know what, I never
that's a play we never saw. I never coached that.
You know, you can't expect players to do something that
you haven't taught them or that they haven't seen. So

(46:05):
there's that part of it. But you know, I think
one of the biggest fallacies in the NFL. And I
learned this my rookie year when I was in college
and aspiring to be in the NFL. I had this vision,
you know, in college, like, man, if I made a mistake,
I'm like, that's it. If I make a mistake, if
I miss a block, or if I if I get beat,
like I'm never going to make it in the NFL
because the NFL is perfect, Like those guys don't make mistakes.

(46:26):
Could nothing could be further from the truth. And Bruce
Arians I give him credit to this day for this.
He had an accountability sheet after every single practice. We
would come in after a Wednesday practice, he would make
note of every error, mental error, miss block, or penalty
that any player had in that practice, and he would
put your name up there. So you'd walk in there,
your name's on blast, and if your name showed up

(46:47):
multiple times, everybody knew like you were the DOMI like,
all right, that's the guy that you know we can't
count on. And sure enough, by the end of the season,
it would start with fifteen players and then it would
slowly whittle down and it would be only like three.
That's how we knew that we were getting good as
a team when you know what, we weren't being ourselves.
So I always put that on the players because you're

(47:07):
a pro, you're getting paid. This is it. You're not
going to school, you don't have any other job. Your
your only job is to know what you're supposed to
do on every single play, in every single situation, and execute. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Execute. And then in Los Angeles there's a summertime basketball
league called the Drew League. It's at a gym at
high school gym in downtown in LA and oftentimes, you know,
a lot of NBA players will come through, a lot
of really good street ballers will come through it's a
really great product. But I bring this up because on
the wall in the Drew League there's a giant poster
that says, no excuse, just produce. And it's like a

(47:42):
motto that is could not be true or it is
so great, and it's you know, whether you're you know,
Kevin Durant coming in or Lebron coming in to get
a run in, or you know young streetballer who just
wants to get in some good basketball. It's just like,
it doesn't matter, just produce. Just go out there, make
the play, execute, no excuse, just produce. And that's just
to your point. It doesn't matter. You know, how many

(48:03):
years you've been in the league, doesn't matter. You know,
everyone makes some mistakes and if they make up for it,
just like that, you've completely redeemed yoursey.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Just what I thought you could possibly be any dummer.
So there is look and the NFL look as a business.
Everybody knows it's a production business. Like what you're talking about.
If you don't produce, like you'll be out of a job.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
Player, especially over a longer period of time.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
But coaches know this too, Like coaches lose games, players
win games. Right, So when you win a game, it's like, hey,
the players did great, they were awesome. All the praise
goes to the players. When you lose a game, coaches,
good coaches always say it's on us because that's just
the way that the business is. Even when it's not
on them. They know, like, look our players, like they

(48:49):
messed this thing up, Like we we told them what
to do, we told them what was going to happen,
and they still mess it up. But coaches, that's the
that's the creed that they live by. When you lose games,
it's on us as coaches. When you win games, it's
you did a good job, it's the player that did it.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
Yeah, absolutely to a one nine, four five, one three.
We've got time for one more call Len, and Columbia
Maryland is on the line. Len, Welcome to Big Blue
Kickoff Live. You're on with Sean and Madeline.

Speaker 5 (49:13):
Thank you, Hi Madeline, Hi Sean. So then, I haven't
had an opportunity to talk to you this season, and
I thought I'd give it a shot.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
Love it.

Speaker 5 (49:22):
So here's the here I am. You know, one of
one of the frustrations of getting through to the program
is you have to wait and you're forced to listen,
you know, otherwise you can kind of feed the cat.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
With you've got a cattive audience.

Speaker 5 (49:40):
Close. Sorry, you've got to listen to our show, Len,
I think, and so I kind of got away from
what I was originally going to talk about. But give
me thirty seconds to just kind of respond and say this.
I'm getting tired of the coach them up philosophy. Bottom line,

(50:05):
we need better players. We just need better players. We're
not competing. I'm tired of the let's coach them up.
If these guys can't do it, get somebody else who can.
If they can't remember how to make a play, turn
that run to the outside to the inside, if they
can't do it or can't remember to try to do it,

(50:26):
get somebody else to do it. Hey, sure, let me
let me get on a little lighter note here. I'm
sorry about the frustrations.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
Your frustration is like you're not solo in that lens,
like there's a whole um.

Speaker 5 (50:40):
I know, I'm a regular I'm a regular caller at
SIN since the advent of the show. I go back
a decade. So yeah, I know. Thank you for addressing
the rivalry. Chicago Bears New York Giants. When you say it,

(51:02):
it sounds important. Oh my god, Sean, I mean, can
consider this. We have played more champ World Championships games,
including Super Bowls against the Bears and any other team.
Got to go back in history to find some of
those but and some of the greatest players in the

(51:25):
history of the game played against each other in this
in this rivalry. I think I think we ought to almost,
you know, watch the kickoff on Sunday in reverence of
what these two titans of the NFL have meant to
the NFL. It's just you can't write the history, Sean.

(51:49):
You can't write the history of the NFL. Igo Bears,
New York Giants. I've been to Soldier Field too. They
were in ninety three Giants Bears. We won that game.
It was Dan Rees's first game, and Bill wants that
with the Bears first game as a head coach, and

(52:11):
we came away with a win. Great weekend, Sean. On Saturday,
I saw a Notre Dame beat Northwestern, and on Sunday
I saw the Giants beat the Bears. That's a great
football weekend.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, famous mustache.

Speaker 5 (52:26):
Yes, yes, yes, I think he coached at the University
of Pittsburgh too. But Madeline, Johnny Mack beat me to it.
But I was going to offer my opinion and ask
you to respond to it. But I'm going to do
it anyway and maybe phrase it in a little different way.
If you can't catch the ball, you can't start. For me.

(52:49):
I don't want to go the Bellaner route. We have
cut tight ends better than feel over drop balls. The
last two weeks have been more frustrating than anything because
the drops have come on third down and it's taken
us out of the game, essentially out of the games

(53:12):
in both cases. Feel catch the ball sitting on a bench,
watch for a while, and catch you're a receiver. Don't
tell me about how the blocking is improving, Madeline. I
don't care about his size and speed. And that was
a great play early in the first quarter, on that
first touch, and it really was. It really was terrific play.

(53:34):
You got to catch the ball. Feel you sit, you watch,
what do you think?

Speaker 7 (53:38):
Man?

Speaker 2 (53:38):
I don't disagree, especially in the imperative situations on third down.
You want to get a catch in that moment. But
to the point that Sean made earlier, you know when
you talked about how some of his former teammates would
make some you know, aquanogu in moments and then they'd
have a big play and always forgiven. I mean, THEO
Johnson has kind of had a little bit of a balance. Again,
like we mentioned, he leads the team in receiving touchdowns

(54:00):
this season. He has been a reliable target for Jackson
Dart on so many occasions. But you're right, Lend, there
are some occasions in which you're like that one right there,
that one. You need to continue to be reliable, not
have your oops a daisy moment and so not. No,
I don't disagree. I don't think that it's worth cutting
THEO Johnson because he has made quite a few plays

(54:21):
and has made a significant impact on this Giant's offense.
But you are right, maybe he needs to spend a
little bit more time with the jugs machine. Maybe he
needs to work on the timing a little bit better.
I'm not quite sure, you know, to Sean's point he
made earlier, getting his hands up earlier, turning around earlier,
understanding the pacing and the timing of the route and
the way that the ball is going to come out,
and working on that chemistry with the quarterback could be

(54:43):
the solution here to your point though, Yes, the drops
are not something you want to see and they're absolutely frustrating,
and that's valid and the.

Speaker 7 (54:53):
Timing and.

Speaker 5 (54:55):
I appreciate that. Sure. Let me ask you a quick
question on take the answer real fair?

Speaker 7 (55:00):
Can real real?

Speaker 5 (55:00):
Quickly? Kind of take me through the development of the
game plan. I mean, this is the first day of
the practice week. I suspect, Well, I don't want I
don't want to say what I suspect. I want you to.
I want you to tell me, But tell me how
that game plan gets gets gets formulated. You can pick
one side of the ball. Maybe you no offense better.

(55:22):
I assume the quarterback gets to play in the night
before before anybody else and then you you know what
evolves from there. But to talk about input to it,
how it changes going through and I know it's I mean,
it can go right up to the kickoff. You know,
if somebody gets hurt in practice before the game, you
know you're on plan B for that phase of the game.

(55:44):
But take take me through the development and who really
has input and who makes the final decision that yes,
this is what we're going to try to do. On Sunday. Hey,
thanks for taking my call. I'm sorry if I got
a little frustrated. You guys are great. Let's go Giants,
let's beak the bears.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Thanks for the call and thanks for thanks for holding.

Speaker 3 (56:05):
Then, don't ever be don't ever apologize for being frustrated.
That means care like we love the passion. So thank
you for calling in, thank you for waiting, Sorry for
the long, long pause before you got a chance to ask.
I love the question about how does the game plan happen?
Because there are a lot of hands in this and
this so pretty much Monday, you come in after a game,

(56:26):
all right, the coaches have already watched the film, they've
grated the players out. You get together as an offense
and a defense, but you have a team meeting. First.
Coach kind of addresses the elephants in the room. You know,
here's what here's what what didn't go well, Here's what
went well. After a win, obviously that's a little bit
easier to come in and do. But then you break
up offensive defense. You kind of break down here's some

(56:48):
of the corrections that we need to make before we
move on to next week. Then after you've done all
that maybe you have a walk through or workout, then
you kind of flush that game. All right, now we're hey,
we're done. You know, we're done with the four. Now
we're onto the Bears. I would usually, you know, personally,
I would start watching film on Monday on my next opponent,

(57:09):
just kind of on my own, just kind of getting
like a general theme. And if I didn't do it
on Monday, I would do it on Tuesday. So Tuesday
is the player's day off. But starting Monday night, the
coaches they start breaking down film on the next opponent.
All right, hey, we're playing the Bears. Okay, what are
they doing well? Who ran the ball well against them?
What plays did they run? Do we have plays similar

(57:30):
to that? Who threw you know, for the most yards
against them? What passing plays and concepts do they play?

Speaker 6 (57:37):
Man?

Speaker 3 (57:37):
Do they play more zone?

Speaker 5 (57:38):
Like?

Speaker 3 (57:38):
What what did teams do successfully against them? So you
start watching to get to know their defense and their offense.
Then Monday night, the coaches are all meeting. They're building
up the game plan for the following Tuesday. They spend
the whole day going over Okay, here are the plays
that we're going to implement. Here are the running plays.
Here are the passing plays. During those conversations, it's also okay,

(58:00):
is anybody out, Like, did anybody get hurt in this
last game that we need to be aware of. Right,
So you mentioned Daniel Bellinger was not available last week,
so you could have gone in on Tuesday. Hey, we're
gonna run a lot of two and three tight end formations.
We're gonna pound the rock, pound the rock. You find
out Tuesday night after doing all that, Belly's out, Like,
we don't think or we don't think Belly's gonna have
a chance to play. All right, you know what we
need to adjust. So now we got to get away

(58:21):
from the two and three tight end packages. Now we're
going to run more single tight end, you know, maybe
one or two tight ends. We got to kind of
adjust that package. So the game plan is kind of
brought about on Tuesday. The coaches meet. They meet as
an offensive staff, they meet as a defensive staff. Mike
Kafka obviously the offensive coordinator Dable is in that meeting.
All of the other position coaches are in that meeting

(58:42):
as well, and they all have a say. They all, hey, look,
I'm sure they talked to Carbon Priscilla the office line
coach Karen, what do you like? What do you like
this week? You know, what are the boys doing?

Speaker 1 (58:50):
Well?

Speaker 3 (58:51):
What kind of runs really gouged the Bears defense? And
you kind of go over that and you talk about, Okay,
what personnel are we going to run that out of?
Have those players healthy? Do we have enough of those guys?
So we put this into the game plan. We're gonna
be able to run it no matter who's in and
who's out. So those are all things that come to fruition.
Now what has changed is every player now has one

(59:14):
of these, yeah, the iPad, So we would have to
come in on Wednesday morning to physically get the hard
copy of the binder that was the weekly playbook.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
Now initially uploaded immediately.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
It's sent, so they might send it Tuesday night. They
get send it a Wednesday morning, so you're on your
way in to the facility. You come in, you get
in the hot tub, you're doing whatever you're doing. You
can look at the playbook immediately, so there's no excuse
to not have already laid eyes on it by the
time you walk in there. But Wednesday, you are installing
that game plan for the week, and it starts with
first and second down runs on offense, all right, all

(59:46):
of your first and second down runs go in, all
of your play action passes go in on Wednesday. Thursday
is when you do third down, right, So you have
a package of place for third down, and we break
it up third and two to five, third and five
to seven, third down and seven plus all right, so
you have kind of three categories there, third and one

(01:00:07):
or two we consider short yardage. We do that on Fridays.
So Friday is short yardis and goal line and more
red zone and two minutes, and then Thursday is third
down and some red zone. So that's how you kind
of break up the week as far as installing what
you're going to do. So it's all like it's game
situational kind of game planning. So Wednesday that's your heavy run,

(01:00:27):
your heavy Wednesdays you're usually your most physical day. Thursday's
kind of like your next most physical day, and then
Friday we call it fast Friday. Everything's fast. You're not
in pad, you're just running through all those different schemes.
So that's kind of how the playbook is developed on
both sides of the ball and how it's implemented, and
then you definitely you tweet things as the week goes along.
The worst thing that can ever happen is somebody goes

(01:00:48):
down on a Friday practice. Yeah, now all of a sudden, Okay,
you know what, we had plays designed for that guy
in the game plan, and now he got hurt on
a Friday practice and he's out. Now we got either
sub somebody in for those plays, or we got to
just kind of take those places out of the game
plan and same for another week. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
Yeah, it's a thorough, thorough process. And that's just like
the overlay of it, and there's so much costing that
goes into it, constantly evolving a lot of cooks in
that kitchen, kind of formulating what is best from all
angles of this as they build to.

Speaker 3 (01:01:18):
Our other colors. Point, like you're saying, a lot of
cooks in the kitchen. You know what helps cooking is
when you have really fresh ingredients, absolutely and really good ingredients,
you're gonna make a good meal.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Better ingredients, better pizza better. Yeah, nice plug, I won't,
but yeah, but we are. We're turning the page to
the Chicago Bears, and before we wrap up the show,
we just had to send a little congratulations to your
former head coach Tom Coughlin. He's among nine coaching semifinalists
for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of twenty

(01:01:47):
twenty six.

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
Yeah, congratulations. Coach. Had a chance to talk to him
last week. Actually, he was just inducted to the Syracuse
Sports Hall of Fame, So I know, I was an
unbelievable honor for him, and you know, very very deserve
award for him. And I kind of told him, you know, coach,
you know you've had a big impact on all of

(01:02:08):
us as players and as men. And one of the
quotes that Coach Coffin used to always have was, it's
amazing what a team can accomplish when no one cares
who gets.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
The credit as a Ben Franklin quote.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
Ben Franklin. Yeah, and you know, Tom, you said he
had on a T shirt for us. It was in
our team meeting room and playing for him, you felt
that from him. He never cared about the credit. He
never wanted it. It was never about him. But I
told him, you know, I know you never cared about
the credit, but I'm glad to see that you're getting
some because you deserve it. And I also told him,
congrats on that Hall of Fame. We got one more

(01:02:39):
to go, so I'm rooting for him. I know that
it's you know that list is there's some really accomplished coaches.
So you know, my beef with the Hall of Fame is,
why are we only letting one coach in? Like, let's
let if five deserve to go in, like, get him
all in, Like let's not wait until they're posthumously inducted, Like,
let's do it and if if Look, I think Belichick

(01:02:59):
is on there as well, right, so you know, I
think obviously he's he's a no brainer. But like, you know,
you can you're allowed to have more than one. You're
you shouldn't limit it to just five players.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
How lucky are we though to be in an arrow
or NFL football has so much talent that we're like,
who gets to get in the Hall of Fame this time?
All these people deserve it, and we got to I
hate that they have to wait, watch and in your
case play for some of these people who we're getting
the none.

Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
Well let's go see fingers crossed for TC. Yeah, that's
what happens, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
Well that's a wrap for our Wednesday show with Big
Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle
of the New York Football Giants. And archive of this
show and our entire podcast network is available on the
Giants Mobile app, podcast platforms Everywhere and Giants dot com
slash podcast. Thanks for joining us from the Giants Podcast
Studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting better.

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
Please, please keep getting that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Let's let's let's do this for the Super Bowl champ
Sean O'Hara. I'm Madeline Burke. We'll see you next time.