Big Blue Kickoff Live 12/10 | Turning the Page to the Commanders

Madelyn Burke and Shaun O’Hara turn the page to the Washington Commanders, talk about the last four games of the season, and take calls from fans. 

0:00 - Turning the page to the Commanders

17:10 - Calls

28:00 - Last four games

34:30 - More calls

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. Do you know what I saw?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
You?

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Your Giant Pride and the Giants Mobile app.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
See what Tuck down?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
We all We're all tapering.

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

Speaker 4 (00:23):
Let's go on. Bus of Crazy Dogs.

Speaker 5 (00:25):
Has a hot Welcome into today's episode of Big Blue
Kickoff Live, presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of
the New York Football Giants. My name is Madelin Burke,
alongside the Super Bowl champion Sean O'Hara. The phone number
here to A one nine three nine four five one three,
or you can find us on social media and join
the conversation using hashtag Giants chat uh. Just a reminder

(00:47):
and archive of the show and our entire podcast network
is available on the Giants Mobile app, podcast Platforms Everywhere
and Giants dot Com slash podcasts. We're coming to you
from the Giants Podcast Studio presented by Hackensack Meridian. How
to Keep Getting Better? It's Wednesday, my dudes, December tenth,
Week fifteen is upon us. We're coming off of buye
How is your bye week.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
It was spectacular. I didn't know what to do with myself.
Like on the weekend, I'm like, it's Sunday, like you.

Speaker 5 (01:14):
Know, home football beyond.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Yeah, possibilities are endless. So yeah, so it was like, oh,
go good, you can go hang all these lights. I
was Clark Griswold hanging up Christmas lights. Those are always
so it's always so fun. They're so easy. You know,
they never get tangled, never get nodded. And then you
know what's awesome is when you put all the lights
up and then it's like that does that looks like crap?

Speaker 5 (01:36):
It's like do it again?

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Excuse me. I just spent three hours out here freezing
my you know what's off and that's all that's all
you get. The key is like I didn't realize this,
but like you can't pull them too tight. So like
if you pull them too tight, then it looks like
it's like a line, so you kind of have to
like let them. It's like you kind of have to
layer them.

Speaker 5 (01:56):
You gotta let them have a little flat.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
So there is an art form. You can't just you know,
be a meathead and just you know, strangle the tree
like I did the first time, so kind of do
it twice. But you know, I threw on, threw on
the little the little beats, okay in the air, put
on some Christmas carols, got in the mood and then
and then got after the eggnog.

Speaker 5 (02:16):
Okay, there we go. That's like that's a little work
life balance right there. You gotta earn that nog.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
It was good. How was your bie week?

Speaker 5 (02:23):
It was nice. It was nice to be able to
just kind of lounge and watch football and chill. I
didn't go anywhere this this week. I just kind of
stayed local and just Red Zone and chill exactly.

Speaker 6 (02:35):
You know.

Speaker 5 (02:35):
Shout out to our dear friend Scott Hansen.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Who Scotty Scotty down.

Speaker 5 (02:39):
Scotty is the best. Scotty does know.

Speaker 4 (02:41):
It's funny. I find myself like when I'm in fan mode,
like you're saying, and you're watching, so I will turn
like a main game on the TV and watch a
little bit with my son, and then I'll have the
red Zone on like my iPad. Yeah, and I'm like
listening to the iPad and I as soon as you know,
we're going quad box box. So as soon as Scott
jumps into that like doing it's like all right, you

(03:03):
go over that. Then Yeah, like there's I feel like
you're just constantly and there's constant action. Yeah, there is
no like all right, I'm gonna go go grab a
beer or bathroom break or any of that. It's like
NonStop and yeah, I think I get it.

Speaker 5 (03:17):
Yeah, a Sunday as a fan is a really nice experience.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
Yeah, get everything done. Yeah, there was no nine to
thirty game, no no International Series game, so that kind
of I felt like it was a very productive weekend.

Speaker 5 (03:29):
Yeah that's great. And you got your Christmas lights up?
Have you started the holiday shopping yet?

Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah, that that has begun. That's that's an ongoing process.
But yeah, I mean the tree, the tree. The tree
was up before Thanksgiving because Thanksgiving was late this year,
so I was alerted to that.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
And think it was late. And it feels like December
is like ten minutes long. It's it's flying already.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
Yeah. The big challenge right now is you know, the
elf on a shelf in my house. That is so
every morning that is the mad scramble. So it's like
I try to try to get the kids, like, hey,
everybody gets dressed, get ready, for school and then we'll
look for the elf. They don't listen. They're like immediately
running around the house trying to find the elf.

Speaker 5 (04:12):
And what's the best pro tip like that, you what's
the best circumstance you've got the elf in so far
this year?

Speaker 4 (04:17):
Well, you know, the elf does it himself.

Speaker 5 (04:19):
So yeah, I mean that you found him and I should.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
Yeah, it's you know, he he has gotten himself into
quite a few predicaments. You know, toilet paper was involved.
One time. We found him head first in the eminem jar,
you know, so he's got a little bit of sweet tooth.
But yeah, it's you know, he's been very mischievous. And

(04:41):
then actually he disappeared for a day which I had
never seen and didn't know happen. You know, you're not
supposed to You can't touch them. If you touch them,
they need fairy dust to come back to life. But
our kids were not getting along very well. They were
being mean to each other. So the elves went back
in the pull and they left a letter for the

(05:02):
kids saying that if you guys don't want us to
report to Santa that you're not being kind to each
other and you're bemean where we've had it with the
shouting to fight and the yelling we're gonna We're going
to disappear for a day. Wow, that was that was
a big That was a big you know whip that
got cracked in the house.

Speaker 5 (05:18):
These elves on a shelf, run a tight ship in
the Ohare house.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
Yeah. I can't wait for Christmas though it's upon us.

Speaker 5 (05:23):
And hey, here are the giants facility. We've got the
Christmas tree up, We've got the wreath up outside the building.
We're in the festive mode. And the gift that keeps
on giving is four more games, starting with a divisional one,
didn't it?

Speaker 4 (05:35):
Did that escalate quickly? Or is it just me? Like
I saw that the other day, four more, four weeks
left coming off the boy, this was a late bye.
I never I don't think I've ever personally experienced a
bye this late in the season. Yeah, but I mean
December tenth right now, Like you know, that's it's it's
wild to think that there's just four games left.

Speaker 5 (05:55):
It's wild, and especially too when you consider the fact that,
you know, the last ten seasons, the bye week has
been around, you know, week nine, ten eleven, like right
almost in the middle of the season. Yeah, So having
it this way, it feels like an entire season has
been played and then there's essentially, you know, for it's
a preseason worth of games remaining on the docket. And

(06:15):
you know, Giants have been eliminated from the playoffs. The
Commanders as well have been eliminated from the playoffs. Giants
have lost seven in a row, Commanders have lost eight
in a row. But you know, a division matchup is
still division matchup. You still want to play and get
a win in the division, something that the Giants have
been prioritizing, you know, coming off of last year, that
was a point of emphasis, like, hey, you got to

(06:35):
get wins in the division. That's where you start to
close that gap. But in the holiday spirit, you know,
the Giants are favored in this one, which is a
nice change of pace at home in a game that
might be snowy.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
That would be nice. So like snow football. We got
a taste of that in the Buffalo game. Now is
that Yeah, And it's funny like some guys just play better,
yeah thanicle like Josh Allen has built for that. Yeah,
if you have a good running game like that, that
always kind of transferres well in the snow. But yeah,
I mean, so the Giants and Washington played in Week one.

(07:11):
I don't think anybody would have thought that both these
teams would have bene seven game and eight game losing streaks.

Speaker 5 (07:18):
Well, especially Washington, who won the NFC East last season,
has now had a significant drop off, and in large
part due to the injuries they've dealt with. Jaden Daniels
a lot Terry McLaurin out, you know, they've just been
banged up.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Yeah, it's it's really this is like the attrition Bowl,
you know, and both teams have lost a lot of
talented players. Obviously Jane Daniels, you know, he disocated the
elbow then came back and hurt again. And Mariota's kind
of he had a couple of bad interceptions, so you
know that part of it's been kind of tough.

Speaker 5 (07:52):
Zach Ertz towards ACL last week. It's the Viking, such
a brutal play, especially at that point in his career.

Speaker 4 (07:57):
Yeah, and you mentioned McLaurin, you know, he he was,
he was on the shelf for I wanted to say,
like eight weeks. It felt like a long time. It
felt like two months. Yeah, you know this will be
this is these are those games I've been on a team.
So when I was my rookie year in Cleveland, we
started out two and one, we ended up going three
and thirteen, and those last four weeks of the season,

(08:20):
you know, it was a real gut check for a
lot of guys. You know, it's you know, everybody wants
to know what are you playing for? And you know
that's you know, that's where you got to really be
a pro. And you know, the holiday season is it's stressful,
it's tough. You got a lot of things going on. Distractions,
wife born at home. Yeah, there's a lot of there's
a lot of babies, a lot of Baby Jesus is
out there.

Speaker 5 (08:40):
Yeah, a lot of babies were born, a lot of.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
A lot of eight ounce you know, eight pound baby Jesus,
Baby Jesus. That's what that's way I picture. And so
the challenge mentally is to not get exhausted with everything
else going on, you know, and I think, you know, look,
everybody's fighting. You're playing for a job. Like I don't

(09:02):
care if it's your first year in the league or
if it's your seventh year in the league, or your
twelfth year in the league. This is what you're getting
paid to do. You got to be a pro. And
this is where I think you really the whole brotherhood thing.
We're playing for each other, we're playing for all the coaches,
because it'd be easy to just kind of mail it
in and.

Speaker 5 (09:19):
Playing for that and playing for that part of you
that dreamed of playing in the National Football League. Right
at one point, you were a young person saying I
hope that I have an opportunity to play on this stage.
And if you were to tell you ten year old
so and so, hey, you'll get to play in the NFL,
but you're going to play for a team that's been
eliminated from the playoffs, I think ten out of ten
people would say I'll take it.

Speaker 4 (09:39):
Yeah. And ironically, we were in this position last year
that we're playing the Colts at home. They needed to
win for the playoffs. We were dead in the water,
and we won, thankfully, because we were about to go
over at home on the Giants hundred season, so and
that win, there was still a lot of mixed emotions.
So I kind of feel the same way right now
for the Giant. For Giants fans, we're in a totally

(10:00):
different situation because we have a quarterback. You know, it's
not like, hey, we need the number one, number two,
number three over pick because we got to get a QB.
So I think that'll be a little different. But last
year there was there was a lot of conflict in
met Life Stadium when we beat the Colts. I'd never
seen that before from Giants fans. But I think given
where the season is at right now, we got two
home games in a row, now Washington and then Minnesota

(10:21):
that next week, those are two winnable games. You got
to play good ball, like at this point the season,
there should be there should be no room for bad
ball and no room for the errors. You play a
clean game, you're gonna win, and that's what it comes
down to. And eggnog tastes better after.

Speaker 5 (10:36):
A victory, exactly. Winning eggnog is what we're all here for.
I mean, you mentioned too, with the four games remaining
in this season, some fans might be focused on the draft,
and right now, as it stands, the Giants do currently
hold the number one overall pick, but their remaining strength
of schedule is one of the easiest in the league.
When you know, you mentioned the Giants do have a quarterback,

(10:57):
they have a lot of those needs addressed, so that
number one pick might be as valuable as perhaps in
other years. But for fans who might be saying, oh, well,
we need that top draft pick, why would we win
this game at this point? I mean, I think you
want to win every game you play, and even if
it's for nothing. And there are so many times where
you see the number one overall pick has been a
success and the number one overall pick maybe hasn't been

(11:19):
the best player in the draft. I mean, you look
at some of the rookie of the year considerations for
this your Ashton Genty was picked sixth A Mecca A.
Booka was picked nineteenth. Tyler Warren fourteenth, Cam Skataboo Giants
rookie running back who was having an incredible season before
he got hurt. It was a fourth round pick. So
you can find talent in so many different areas of
the draft. Wherever you pick, you're going to get a

(11:41):
good player. And also just a hat tip to camp
Skataboo too. He's back in building today, he posted on
his social media walking into the building just about seven
weeks after his eight weeks after his dislocated ankle surgery.
He's walking on his own into the building and you know,
on the road to recovery. Happy to see Scatt getting

(12:02):
back there.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
But yeah, that's always great too. As a player, you know,
when you're hurt, you don't you don't feel like you're
part of the team, so you know, you're kind of
some guys will come in when the players are out
on the field and you rehab then so that you're
not getting in the way of the players that are
getting treatment prior to or after practice, so you kind
of feel a little disconnected. So it's always good, you know.
I know whenever it was when I was injured late

(12:24):
in my career and that time off, it's you just
kind of feel like you're you're isolated, So it's always
good to be around the guys and and for the
locker room two to kind of see a guy like
Scatt come back in there. You know, I know he
he's still bringing that energy even though he's you know,
not one hundred percent, but that's always a big factor.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
You know.

Speaker 4 (12:42):
You were talking about the number and overall picks and
just got me thinking, like, what are the Giants playing
for right now? As a team as a franchise as players.
I go back to Eli's rookie year, so it was
my first year at the Giants two thousand and four.
I'd come over as a free agent from Cleveland and
Eli started halfway through the season. He lost his first
six game games, and there was growth in there from

(13:04):
a learning perspective, like, Okay, there are things I can't do.
Here's the things that I need to get better at.
But it also we kind of tailored things. After the
first four games, five games, we started to realize that, Okay,
Eli kind of got a little more vocal, like, hey,
here are the things that I like, and here things
that I see and that I read well, or I

(13:25):
this is this play is it feels really good for me.
I like these route combinations, and I like the way that,
you know, we can build off of this. So I
think that's an opportunity for Jackson Dart to kind of
have a little bit more of a you know, look,
have a little more of a voice as far as look,
these are the things that I see and these this
is what I do well. I like these routes and

(13:45):
these concepts versus zone, and I like these more versus man.
So you know, I know Eli started to get a
little more vocal with that. But then I go back
to the last game of the season. It was at
home against Dallas. We were five and ten at the time,
and on the last drive of the game, in two
min offense marched all the way down the field and

(14:05):
we scored a touchdown, we won the game. Those are
things that we were able to carry into the next year.
And it was growth for Eli, it was growth for
us of an offense. So yeah, that's really what this
is all about. What are these next four games about?
These games are about Jackson Dart learning how to win.
Jackson Dart and this offense and this team learning how
to win, learning how to finish games. And next year

(14:25):
is going to be next year, but you still every
player needs to learn.

Speaker 5 (14:29):
How to do that and how much of that does
carry over though, because I'd be curious. Yes, you know,
he's learning, you know, how to step into this role
as a leader, step into this offense in this way.
But you know, there are certain changes that are a certainty,
including a head coach and the coaching staff, and with
that being considered of something that's going to be different
from his rookie to sophomore season. How does that affect

(14:51):
a young player's growth and trajectory in that way?

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Yeah, I mean it's going to affect it, you know.
I think the challenge really is going to be whoever
that new coach comes in, what that relationship is going
to be like. And look, if you get hired as
the head coach, whether it's Mike Kfger, whether it's somebody else,
you come in, you know one of your first calls
is going to be to Jackson Dart. You know, I
look forward to working with you can't wait to get

(15:16):
to work. I'm sure they're both going to feel the
same way. And you know, if anything, it actually probably
if you were coming back with the same offense and
the same coaches, maybe you don't start as early. Maybe
you wait till March to start kind of diving into
the game plan and the self scout and doing all that.
You get a new head coach, you know what, it's Hey,
maybe i'd take a couple of weeks off, but like,

(15:36):
maybe I'm jumping into this in January and February. I
want to get ahead of the curve. So when we
come in here together as a team, I'm in command
I've got control. I understand the offense. I understand the language,
the verbiage, the formations, the motions, all that, because I've
got to be the general and I've got to put
everybody on the right page. So I think if anything
could interject a little bit of energy going into that
second year for Jackson Dart and the rest of the offense.

Speaker 5 (15:57):
And we know Jackson Dart is a ball lover. I
mean this Giants by week. He stayed local and kind
of stayed locked in and wanted to continue to make
football and this team and this offense is priority. When
a lot of people could say, hey, I wouldn't fallst
you for taking some time off and you know, bingeons
and Netflix shows or whatever it is you want to do.
But you know, he's a young player who loves the
game and is determined to be good at it and

(16:19):
stayed locked in during the buy.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
Yeah, I think that's good. And it's especially because you know,
when you disconnect during the season sometimes it's hard to
kind of rewire, right. You know, the off season is
so much longer now that it used to be. To
you know, I remember starting offsetain program like March eighth. Yeah,
one year with coach Golflin and now I don't even
think the offstin program starts on mid April, so you

(16:44):
do have you have like three full months off January
February March, like those three months completely off unless you
play in the Pro Bowl, which really isn't much of
a game anymore anyways. But you know that's that's a
lot of time. So you have plenty of time to travel,
go do what you need to do to go do
what you want to do, and you know, have some fun.

(17:04):
There's plenty of that before. That's before the allsoing programming
starts and then you know it's it kind of ramps
up from there.

Speaker 5 (17:10):
Yeah, Giants fans, make sure you go and subscribe to
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(17:33):
podcasts two on one, nine, three, nine, four, five one
three is the phone number. It's head of the phone lines.
We've got Jeff in Maine online one. Jeff, you've been
holding the longest. Thanks for calling in a Big Blue
Kickoff Live. You're on with Sean and Madeline.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Oh hey, guys, all afternoon. Great to talk to you.
You guys describe me as true Giants fans and are
awful knowledgeable, so I appreciate it. I've got kind of
a philosophical question about two point attempts and a follow
up if possible. I think two point attempts are possibly
one of the most exciting plays in football, and yet
no one hardly ever talks about them. And the thing is, statistically,

(18:08):
you've got about a ninety five percent chance of making
a point after kick and about a forty seven point
five percent chance of a two point conversion, so it's
almost exactly a two to one ratio. So right now,
the criteria for determining which one to go for is
a point differential at end of game. And you know, sure,
that's that's legit, But I think a better way to

(18:29):
do it would be to depending on how highed the
opposing defense is. So, if you've been running up and
down the field twelve play drives like the whole half
and the opposing defense is visibly exhausted, I think you
have a higher chance, stepistically to make a two point conversion,
even if it's in the first half. So I think

(18:50):
teams should go for it more, go for more two
point conversions, and it's an exciting play.

Speaker 5 (18:55):
I like that that point, Jeff, and I like that perspective.
But I also think too one thing that's missing from
the statistical element is just the team consideration, the personnel consideration.
If your team isn't necessarily great in the red zone
and executing on short yarded situations, or if their defense
as tired as they are, is really elite in red
zone because it's such a different, you know, compacted situation.

(19:16):
That's something to take into consideration as well. It's not
just getting one yard in the middle of the field,
it's getting one yard in that you know.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
Yeah, Jeff, we appreciate the call, and I love the
numbers aspect of it, and you know, I think the
percentage is the thing that's interesting. So the forty seven
percent chance of two point conversion, I think the one
thing that you're both hitting on is you have to
account for the variable change. The variable change is what
you mentioned, Jeff, and what you mentioned metal Jeff. It's hey, look,

(19:44):
if we've had a fourteen play drive, these guys are gassed,
you know, we call them you know, if they've got
their hands on their hips over there, we call them
hose h oh.

Speaker 5 (19:53):
I like that. You had to spell that because we
got to clarify it.

Speaker 4 (19:56):
Yeah, not the other kind.

Speaker 5 (19:58):
I mean that word's been thrown around the media in
the last several weeks.

Speaker 4 (20:01):
Not the gardening tool, not that one. But they're like, hey,
look we got them on their heels, their gas, let's
keep going. So there's that variable. There is the variable
you're talking about. How good are you in the red
zone to begin with? You know, are you scoring in
the red zone? You know that if you're not a
great red zone offense, why would you go for two?
It's it's a very similar play. And I also think,

(20:23):
you know, week to week, you know, you kind of
look at what is our team doing well right now?
And I think the matchup part is always the best part.
I was listening to a Nick Saban quote the other day,
and he was talking about one of his first learning
experiences as a young coach and he was calling the plays,
and they come down to the last play of the
game and they got a score to win this game,

(20:45):
and the head coach comes over to me and goes, Hey,
what are you going to call it? He goes, and
I think you should call the play. He didn't want
to want the responsibility. And a guy he said to him,
he said, when it comes to this situation, don't think
of plays, think of players. So that variable change as well,
is what are the matchups looking like? Because if I've
got a mismatch, if I've got a six to three
receiver over there with a five seven corner, like you

(21:06):
know what, I'm going to be more inclined to go
for two and I'm going to take that matchup more
than I would if all of a sudden, you know,
you're looking over there and I've got a six to
one receiver and a six to one corner, I don't
love that matchup as much week to week.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
So number who's having a good game, Who's who's you know,
ready for a heat check kind of thing, versus who's
maybe usually at this level but maybe today not play.
You got to take into consideration how things are going
in this specific game, not just the macro.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yeah, it's kind of like, you know, if somebody came
up to you and said, hey, I'll give you a
million dollars right now, guaranteed, or you can press this
button and you have a fifty percent chance of winning
five million dollars, right Like, what are you going to do?
Like give me the mill all day long? Yeah, I'll
take that because I can end up with nothing or five.
Like it's you know, it's a little bit of a
gamble on risk. So I'm with you, Jeff, I'm taking

(21:56):
the point, Like, give me the extra point until I
don't until I had until I have to go for two.
You know, the people going for early, going for two
early on in the game. I feel like then you're
just chasing points and now you're behind the eight ball.
So I think the going for two that should happen
only in the fourth quarter when you desperately need to
get back into the game or kind of flip the
tables from a one score to two score. That's kind

(22:19):
of when it really needs to rear its head more circumstantially.

Speaker 5 (22:22):
If you know your red zone offense is performing at
a high level, and perhaps your special teams and your
kicking game is not. Maybe that's a situation where you say,
you know what, let's go for two here because that's
what our team as composed right now is thriving in.

Speaker 4 (22:34):
Yeah, from a I don't really love to talk about
kickers too much, but there's also an argument to be made.
You know, if you go for two early on and
all of a sudden, kickers use those extra points as
their ability to get into a rhythm. Hey, I've got
I've kicked a couple of pats, like, I'm locked in,
I'm good to go. We need a game winning field

(22:54):
goal fifty three yards. I'm locked in. I've had three
kicks already. Game you're going for two, and you're taking
that away from your kicker. His first kick is the
game winning fifty four yard kick, you know he doesn't
have as much confidence maybe or you know that there's
something to that as well that I think you got
to take into consideration. So yeah, there's a lot of
I know, analytics are out there, and some people call
him analytics because they think that they lie. I heard

(23:17):
that the other day, But you know, the analytics just
because the analytics say, oh my gosh, we have a
fifty chance of getting this two point version. I'm going
to go for it right now, You've got to kind
of take all of the other factors into account because
that fifty is not equal for all thirty two teams.

Speaker 5 (23:34):
Right absolutely to A one nine three is the phone number.
Let's get to some updates coming at you. Jane Daniels
has been ruled out for Sunday by the commanders. Marcus
Mariotto will be starting, so that's notable. It is early,
as you mentioned too, like this, like some.

Speaker 4 (23:54):
Of that's got to be just protecting him, right, Like
I mean, this is if you're Washington, that's your franchise quarterback.
You know, he disokayed his elbow. He just got reinjured.
Like did they learn anything? I know it's a different staff,
different owners of all, but RG three kind of same
kind of thing. Like, you know, don't don't ruin Jade Daniels.
You're on an eight game losing streak, like I don't
know if they are they mathematically eliminated.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
They were out of the loss of the Vikings.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
You know, there's no need to put him out there
if he's not one hundred percent and risk him re
injuring or doing something else right.

Speaker 5 (24:27):
Absolutely. The other updates out of Mike Kafka's media availability
is that, let's see, it looks like that the Giants
are opening the window on Bo Collins and Jeff josh
A Zudu today, So that would be a couple of
players returning to health.

Speaker 4 (24:47):
Yeah, left, I know the Giants activated Darius Mussau and.

Speaker 5 (24:52):
Or Green Yeah yeah, and uh yeah, just keeping up
with the latest on the media availabilities. Also, did you
know this is a great observation from Ryan Dunlevy is
that Mike Kafka six years younger than Philip Rivers, who
is now on track to potentially start for the Colts
on Sunday, but Mike Kafka will not.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
It was a joke when I first saw that that
Philip River was signing with the Colts. I'm like, as
a coach, like I thought he was coming in as
like an assistant.

Speaker 5 (25:20):
He also, he signed a one day contract in July
to ceremoniously retire with the Chargers because that was a
you know, franchise that he spent the majority of his
career with. So it's like, does he do it again?
Do we Mulligan the ceremony, I mean we so, just.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
To clarify too, he has been signed to the practice.

Speaker 5 (25:36):
Squad, to the practice squad however.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
A practice now and then based on that, then they
could activate him and then he could end up starting
the game.

Speaker 5 (25:44):
But reportedly he has been using the Colts offense in
his son's high school football and he and Shane Styken
have been in regular communication about schematics and plays and
all that, so he's well familiar with it.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
Interesting. Yeah, so Eli, where you're at, let's go phil
doing it now. What's interesting too, is that Philip is
eligible for the Hall of Fame in twenty twenty six.
I believe.

Speaker 5 (26:10):
I'm curious if that if.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
He gets activated to the active roster, that resets that clock.
If he stays on the practice squad, it does not
reset it. So technically he can go there and he
can serve, you know, as the practice squad quarterback during
the week and you know, get some reps, you know,
and he could be on the practice squad for the
next three or four weeks and just kind of help
the team out and being there kind of as a

(26:31):
break glass in case of emergency. But I'm pretty sure
you have to activate him on game day in order
for him to be available.

Speaker 5 (26:38):
Right absolutely, so that would be once he's the third
emergency quarterback. But I don't know how a practice squad
would affect.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
This might be a ploy for him. He might be saying,
you know what, likes Eli's going to get in. I'm
not getting in. I need to He needs his zone.

Speaker 5 (26:52):
He wants to me first ballot to.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
Push it back in a few years to let all
these other quarterbacks get in and then that way I
have a shot.

Speaker 5 (26:58):
There you go, there you go. And then other news
Kvon Thibodeau Jamie Gillen not practicing today. Kafka is saying
that they're just trying to be smart with Gillan early
in the week, so we'll see.

Speaker 6 (27:07):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (27:08):
Cavon of course the last couple of games dealing with
that injury, so it remains to be see how the
week unfolds, but as of today Wednesday, Cavon not practicing.
Giants fans with another impactful draft agency class in the books.
That means it's full steam ahead. Take your Phantom to
the next level with a Giants season ticket membership and
catch all the action at MetLife Stadium with an exciting

(27:30):
home schedule on the Horizon, and with a membership, you'll
also stay connected to the 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 tickets. That is it two
one nine three nine four five one three. Let's go
back to the phone lines. We've got Dennis in New
Jersey online to Dennis, welcome to the show. You're on

(27:53):
Big Blue Kickoff Live with Sean and Madeline.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Oh my god, keim voun with you guys. It's exciting.

Speaker 5 (27:58):
Oh I'm happy to have you.

Speaker 6 (27:59):
You look at amazing.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
Thank you, Dennis.

Speaker 6 (28:01):
I just want to say I have been a Giants
since I was born, and going back to what you
said about whether the Giants playing for I believe it's
giant pride building that family that rending together, is still
building the community thing together to win these four games.
That's what I believe. I think they can do it.

(28:23):
I know they can do it. I believe in them.
They are the Big Blue wrecking Crew. And that's what
I just wanted to say say.

Speaker 5 (28:29):
I respect the positivity, Dennis. Thank you for that, and
thank you for the call.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
Yeah. Look, I mean New York Giant Pride. You could
you walk all over the building. It's everywhere, you know, smart, tough, dependable,
you know, all the acronyms are there. This These are
Pride games. That's what it's all about. It's about the
decal on your helmet and the name on the back
of your jersey. So as a player, you know, we
talked about that, those are the messages. And look, these
next four games, they're they're all winnable games, right, I mean,

(28:57):
how how great would you feel as a Giant fan
as a player to just rattle off four straight wins
and say, look, you know what, like we're changing the culture.
We're not going to let this, you know, turn into
you know, an eleven game losing streak that people are
going to remember. What was the twenty twenty five season
all about? Well, you know, we lost eleven straight games

(29:17):
like that. Nobody wants to be a part of that.
So you got Washington this week, Minnesota next week at home,
then you're at Las Vegas against the Raiders, and then
you're at home against the Cowboys. So two divisional wins,
you know, and all four of these games are winnable.
I think the biggest thing is just clean it up.
Like the Giants have been finding ways and inventing ways

(29:37):
to lose games by their own accord and through their
own infractions and mental layers and you know, bad football.
So that is what they've got to eliminate. And if
you can do that, there's no reason why they can't
win four games in a row.

Speaker 5 (29:50):
Well, right, And good teams find a way to win,
and bad teams find a way to lose, and that
the Giants. I think part of it is a culture
shift and a narrative shift, not just around the outside,
but around the way that you know it feels inside
the building of you know, getting used to being a
team that expects to win week in and week out,
as opposed to a team that is, Okay, we've had

(30:11):
our struggles and this is where it's going and this
is what's the expectation for this week. I think part
of that starts, you know, one game at a time,
with creating and setting a new expectation of this is
a team that is going to compete and is going
to win and is going to finish a game.

Speaker 4 (30:25):
Yeah, And and confidence is a big part of that
when you have that belief. Hey, you know what, like,
all right, we are going to get the game into
the fourth quarter, and then we're going to find a
way to make a play, make a throw, make a catch,
make a block. And then you know, defensively, they trust
that you know, you're going to go out there and
you're going to score points, and and on offense, you
trust that you're going to your defense to close it out.

(30:46):
Like those are things that you talk about all the time. Hey, believe, believe,
believe that you've got to go out and do it.
And when you do it, then all of a sudden,
now the belief is there, and now the confidence is there.
And those are things that are tangible.

Speaker 5 (30:59):
Yeah. Absolutely, two one three is the phone number. Let's
go back to the phone lines. Ke on in Patterson,
key On, You're on Big Blue Kickoff Live with Sean
and Madeline.

Speaker 7 (31:08):
How's it going, Hey, good afternoon, guys, Good afternoon, Madeline,
Good afternoon, Sean. How you're doing.

Speaker 5 (31:14):
Happy holidays, Happy holidays, Thanks you for calling in.

Speaker 7 (31:19):
I'm well, I'm very optimistic about these last four as
you guys are just saying, I think that we could
win them. I think that especially this next game. I
think it's very win to move. I know we lost
the last couple of games, but I think they played
very well despite losing. How we lost to the Patriots,
I think we were playing good football. And one other

(31:40):
thing I want to say is I'm very optimistic about
next year. I think that the team is going to
be put together the right way eventually, you know, and
I think it's time for us to make that shift,
to make that change. What do you think, Sean, What
do you think? What do you guys think?

Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yeah, look, I'm with you, and you know this season
and it's gone sideways for so many reasons, but you know,
there were so many games that could have gone the
other way. You know, I think the Giants have lost
five games when when leading going into the fourth quarter
by ten points or more. I maybe butcher in that

(32:18):
stat a little bit, but those games are winnable, and
you know, you flip a couple of those games, even
if you win three of those games, you know, the
season feels totally different. I will I do agree with
you Money. The Money Night game against the Patriots, that
was the first time the Giants looked like their record
like that. They were down seventeen to nothing by the
end of the first quarter. You know, you give a
big punt return for a touchdown. You know, I had

(32:40):
a couple of self afflicted wounds early on in that game,
and that game got away quick. And the Patriots that's
how they won a lot of their games this year. Like,
they're very well coached, they're very well disciplined. They're not
going to give you anything for free. They're not gonna
they're not going to loot, you know, hand you a gift.
And I think that's something that Giants can learn, lean

(33:01):
back on and learn from. You know, this is Mike
Rabel's first year in New England. Nobody expected the Patriots
to be as good as they are right now, and
they're doing it because they're not being themselves. So that
is a recipe for wins and for victories. I think
the Giants have. They've played really good. Like if the
game ended after three quarters, we would have a lot

(33:23):
more wins. And I think they're just learning that the
fourth quarter, somebody's got to step up and make a play.
And those are things that players have to learn through doing.
You know, you can't talk about it, you can't you know,
show them film and say this is you know how
other teams are doing it, like they've got to go
out and do it.

Speaker 5 (33:40):
Yeah, you got to do it. And you know, you
get that confidence from execution. You get that confidence from
preparation and from example, and so seeing how that this
team continues to build it. But I do appreciate the
amount of confidence that we've got from the caller so
far today. I feel like there's a lot of optimism.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
I like it.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
You know, the holiday spirit is upon us. We're feeling good,
we're feeling joyful, and I'm here for it. The Giants
official connected TV streaming app, Giants TV brings original video
content and game highlights on demand and direct a Big
Blue fans. Giants TV is free on Apple TV, Roku,
and Amazon Fire TV, and on the Giants mobile app.

(34:15):
To A one nine three is the phone number we've got.
Zach calling from Arizona. Zach, welcome to the show. You're
on Big Blue Kickoff Live with Sewn and Madeline.

Speaker 8 (34:25):
It's a big honor to talk to you both. Madison Madeline,
I live in Arizona, so but I live in the
southern part, so fare down.

Speaker 5 (34:37):
Oh, Sean, I was really close. I was really close
to being like, let's bond over the sun devil vibes,
but alas it's.

Speaker 8 (34:43):
All right, Well we always have skataboo, right, Yeah, sean
huge fan. I would love to hear from a two
time Super Bowl champ about a coach being able to
instill a culture and what culture needs and how important
it is to an entire team, because I love Dabel,

(35:05):
but obviously that part was missing. I know he's got
a great relationship with.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
The players, but accountability.

Speaker 8 (35:14):
And culture colliding flash coming together, Like, can you just
talk that through and and how important it is to
get us on the right track to Super Bowls.

Speaker 4 (35:25):
Yeah, great question. I appreciate the call, you know, I'm
I'm sure it must feel weird to be in flip
flops on Christmas Day, but when you're in southern Arizona,
I'm pretty sure that's that's the mode, right, You're you're
rocking shorts and and and yeah. Yeah, you know, the
culture and the accountability they absolutely go hand in hand.

(35:47):
So I'm glad that you brought up the accountability factor
with culture because that that's really what you're trying to instill.
And the accountability factor is little things matter, you know,
and when you overlook them and when you let things lied.
It's like being a parent, you know, like you have
to be hard on your kids and you have to
hold them accountable, and sometimes it's hard to do. You know,

(36:08):
you love your kids, but you know that that's what's
right for them, even though they may not like you
in the moment and they may not like being held accountable.
You have to do it for the betterment of the
team and for the for the long run. You're not
doing players any favor by letting them get away with things,
you know, whether it's being late to things, whether it's
you know, missing things, not showing up for stuff, not

(36:29):
putting in the preparation, not watching film.

Speaker 6 (36:32):
You know.

Speaker 4 (36:32):
Look that every every player is given an iPad. Now,
it used to be the playbooks were a hard copy
and you can never tell if somebody was looking through
the plays or watching film. Now everything's on the iPad.
They know exactly how much time you're spending on that screen.
Like they can look at it and say, you didn't
you looked at three minutes of film or you looked
at your playbook for three minutes this week on your
own time. So those are all things that you know,

(36:52):
you've got to you've got to hold each other accountable
for the teammates have to do it as well. So,
you know, we talked early on this year about how
the veteran leadership in this locker room was really strong,
and there are a lot of really good leaders that
go out there and kind of show these players here's
how it's done. And I think there's a lot of
that that happens, you know, in meetings out on the field.
Practice habits, things that you're working on to get better.

(37:16):
But as a coach, you know, it's things that you
have to show them, and sometimes you have to show
them like, look, this is what happened in practice, Like
we've got to fix this. Like we can't just let
things go on. And you know what, if you run
a play and somebody messes it up, it's back on
the ball. You know. We used to have a saying
on Friday practices, no bobs. No bobs today, all right,

(37:37):
no back on the balls, like everybody like, get your
shi t right, focus, lock in. We're not having any errors,
no mental errors, no penalties, no bobs, And those are
things that you you have to instill and it's look,
this is our standard of excellence, and it's definitely starts
at the top with the coach, with the head coach,
with all the position coaches, and you know, the players

(37:58):
have to take ownership, and that is well. But I
think Mike Kafka, that's one of the big things that
he's been adamant about. He's a former player. He understands
how how monumental those things are. If you know everybody
is skipping over one little detail, you know, the accumulation
of all that is bad football and it's sloppy football,
and so those are things that you can't overlook. You

(38:19):
can't cut corners, and you've got to make sure that
everybody's dotting the i's and crossing the t's, and that
shows up. You could see it, you know, fans, you
see it. You see it on Sunday well and.

Speaker 5 (38:29):
Sean you likened it to parenthood too, And it's like,
you know, if you let the little things slide, you
let the little things slide, then when the big thing
happens and you try to come down on that, it's like, well,
you were okay with this, this, this and this, Why
is this not okay? It's like you have to hold
that accountability from square one, otherwise it'll come out of
the woodwork. And then you know that seems like what

(38:49):
since when is this not okay?

Speaker 4 (38:51):
Yeah? And it's you know when you have multiple kids,
you know, it's like you can't let one kid have
dessert and the other kids don't, right, you know, it's like, hey,
all are nothing.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
So unless you've got to strict elf on the shelf
in the house, then maybe they'll.

Speaker 4 (39:02):
Can have different rules for different players everybody. You know,
that was one of Tom Coffin's big things was, you know,
nobody's above the team. It's team above self, and I'm
gonna hold everybody accountable from the starting quarterback all the
way down to the fifty third guy on the rosser.
Everybody's on the same you know that they are in
the same line and you have the same rules.

Speaker 5 (39:22):
Yeah, yeah, And thank you for the call, Zach. Appreciate that.
We've got some YouTube comments. Scotty Young sixteen sixty nine.
Any info about Gunner also thinking about a running back situation.
With the injury to Tracy, will they bring in Turbo
Miller Gunner Ochevsky not practicing today, of course, suffered at
the concussion a couple of weeks ago, I saw him
walking around the cafeteria that he is in the building,

(39:44):
but not practicing. Not yet cleared. Tyrone. Tracy Kafka says
that he's good to go after suffering his hip injury
on Monday Night Football before the buye, so should not
be an issue for Week fifteen against the Commanders and the.

Speaker 4 (39:59):
Giant Air Gray he was. Was Eric Gray activated.

Speaker 5 (40:03):
Or he is? I believe, yeah, but not not yet
back in the mix.

Speaker 4 (40:08):
In that regard, I'm not sure if that was just
you know, for practice purposes to activate Gray and have
him out there.

Speaker 5 (40:16):
Yeah, I mean the Giants have had you know, the
Giants are the only team in the league this season
with four players each with three hundred or more rushing
yards per NFL research. It's Tyrone, Tracy camp, Scataboot, Jackson Dart,
and Devin Singletary Tyrone leading the Giants four hundred and
thirty four rushing yards on the season. But they you know,
they have been able to at times, you know, move

(40:36):
the ball in an efficient way in the run game,
much better than years past. I think, you know, we've
seen some struggles in that in the consistency there it
feels like the run game is, especially now at this
point in the season, starting to get more established.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
It's it's definitely been better in the second half, and
I feel like the one thing that continues to happen
is in the first quarter, sometimes even the first half,
it seems like the Giants are not sure who to block,
And when I go back and watch film, it's and
it's not just the offensive line, Like the offensive line
could block everybody correctly, and a safety knife in front

(41:11):
of a receiver, you know. I saw Isaiah Hodgens, you know,
he got beat on a play and the plays blocked beautifully.
It should have been a ten yard game, ends up
being three yards because the safety beats him. There was
another play where Theo Johnson didn't know what linebacker he
was blocking, so he went out and blocked the safety
and didn't come down and combo with Andrew Thomas.

Speaker 5 (41:30):
So are those circumstances, Are those like preparation circumstances or
are those just hey, you know, we've got a look
that we thought was one way and it ended up
being another.

Speaker 4 (41:38):
I think what happens is on both those plays, there
was motion, so you get defenders that are kind of moving.
So I call it FBI. It's football intelligence, Like you've
got to know, like, Okay, I have a spot, like
I have the second you know, second spot, pass declareed.
So we always come up with we declare a linebacker.
That's our mic, and every concept is based off of that.
You have one past the declared linebacker. So you've got

(42:00):
to have that awareness. And if you have not run
that play a lot of times and you get up
front that a defensive look that maybe you're not aware
of or you have not seen, you've got to find
a way to overcome that, and you've got to find
a way to adjust on that. But those are things
that I feel like have plagued the Giants early on,
which is why we see the one yard gain, two
yard gains, one yard gain, no gain early on, and

(42:22):
then as they figure it out, then they run that
play the second time. Now a sudden, it's a pop,
it's a seven yard run. I feel like Devin Singletary
has really done a good job coming in off the bench,
and he's had some big some big runs. You know,
he runs hard, he's decisive, he gets vertical. I'd like
to see Devin get get some more carries. You know,
I think he's one of those guys that you know,
all running backs are like this. The more carries they get,

(42:44):
the more they see the defense, the more they kind
of feel the run fits and feel where the creases
are in the soft spots. So the more you run
the ball, the better everybody gets and the more confident
they get with our right, here's where the double team
should be, and here's where the running backs are going
to fit.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Well.

Speaker 5 (43:00):
The more you run the ball, the more you get
used to being the hammer, and the more you hammer
the same spot, you know, the softer that spot gets
and the easier it gets to break through.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
Now, yeah, no doubt. And you know, look, New England's
run defense is really good. You know, that's one of
Mike Rabel's calling cards. He's always been every team he's coached.
When he was in Tennessee, they were always very good
to stop in the run. You know, that's something that
he coaches really well. So that was a very good
litmus test if you can run the ball against them,
and you can pretty much run the ballgainst anybody. Because

(43:28):
there was a lot of exotic fronts and looks and
a lot of stunts Yeah.

Speaker 5 (43:33):
Meanwhile, the Commanders run defense not among the best in
the league. They're allowing an average of one hundred thirty
five and a half rushing yards per game six point
two yards per play allowed. That's thirty first in the league.
Only the Bengals are allowing more. So, the ability for
this Giant's run game to get going, especially with Tyrone
being healthy, with Singletary getting out there, perhaps is something

(43:53):
that they're going to be leaning on even more this week.
And you never know too. I mean, I think Monday
night it looked like Jackson Dart was mind full of
perhaps not leaning so much on the run as he
usually would, of course, not wanting to take that tool
out of his bag, but you know, leaning on the
other players to do so. If he does kind of
get back into his comfort zone of kind of breaking

(44:14):
off a few as well, we'll see if he gets
it going.

Speaker 4 (44:17):
Yeah, I mean, I expect Jackson Dard to run like yeah,
you know, like and he's said it himself, like, that's
part of my game, that's part of what I do.
And you know, Sunday we were fanning out watching games.
You know, look, Patrick Mahomes is running all over the place, exactly,
justin Herbert running all over the place. So there are
ways that you can still use your legs and not
take big hits. So I think that's what he's got

(44:37):
to learn. And look, the only way he's going to
learn it is by doing it. So even for him,
you know, he's a work in progress and he's learning that.
You know. Look, it's a physical game. Quarterbacks get hit,
you know, it's just don't take the unnecessary hits. And
I think he.

Speaker 5 (44:51):
And don't throw a stiff arm with your throwing hand.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
Yeah, don't. Don't. Don't use your right arm for anything.
You know, get the yards that you need to get
and then get out of bounds or get down. But
there is a time and a place for it. If
you're going to run for extra yards, do it in
the fourth quarter. Don't do it in the first quarter,
first second, first half. You do not need to fight
for yards. If the game's on the line and you
got to do it, then go.

Speaker 5 (45:10):
For it and pick your spots. Two A, one, nine
three is the phone number. Let's go back to the
phone lines. Hank in Tennessee. Hank, thanks for calling Big
Blue Kickoff Live. You're on sewn and Madelin.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
First time call a long time fan.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
Love it. Thanks for calling in, Hank.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
I'm seventy eight years old and I've been a fan
since the septis.

Speaker 5 (45:30):
Wow, first time, long time, We love it. What do
you got for us today?

Speaker 8 (45:37):
Ah?

Speaker 2 (45:37):
One main question, why are you referees missed in the
head to head It's.

Speaker 5 (45:46):
That's tough to say. I don't, you know, I think
officiating a game in real time is a hard job
to do.

Speaker 4 (45:53):
Yeah, I'm not sure if you're speaking about a particular play,
but yeah, look, the.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Game is, the game is fasting. Of the three plays
in a Monday night game, Jackson, Dart, Gunner and un
helmet hit.

Speaker 4 (46:15):
Yeah, I know they called one on THEO that there
was a helmet helmet hit on THEO with Gunner. You know,
he's a returner, you know, So I mean.

Speaker 5 (46:25):
Yeah, I think you don't. You don't want to see
somebody get hit so hard that the paint comes off
their helmet.

Speaker 4 (46:28):
I mean, that was that was a brutal hit, But
I don't think it was illegal. And you know, I
mean you're not supposed to leave with the crown of
your helmet. Those bang bang plays are tough. The Jackson
Dart hit on the sideline. If that's the one you're
referring to, that was shoulder. That was not a helmet
hit shoulder.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
If you look at it, it was a helmet the
helmet hit because it turned going around up in the air, it.

Speaker 4 (46:49):
Was it was shoulder. That was shoulder. I'm telling you
right now, they are putting they're rolling that out as
clinic tape in linebacker rooms and defense rooms. This is
how you hit. And you can't leave the crown of
your helmet. That's the penalty. Now, the helmet can have
you can have contact with the helmet. It can be
a helmet to helmet contact as long as it's not
initiated with the crown of the helmet. And look, that's

(47:10):
part of football, like some of it's gonna be out there,
but they're trying to eliminate using the helmet as the weapon,
and that's really what the spirit of the rule is.
So I think it is tough to it's tough to officiate.
But if you're if the defenders coming in his heads
to the side and they're still helmet contact, then they're
not going to call a penalty. But if you come
in there and you lead with the helmet, it's visible,

(47:31):
you can see that. The referees can see that, and
they will throw the flag every time, even if you
don't necessarily make contact with their helmet. If you're leading
with the head as a defender, that flag is coming out.
So that's what they're looking for. But you know, look,
there's when you're watching a football game, everybody's watching it.
There's thousands of eyeballs on every single play. When there's
a play to the sideline, there may be two referees

(47:51):
that have eyeballs on that play and that are responsible
for seeing that, So that's four eyeballs on that play.
There's going to be some that are missed. But I think,
you know, for the most part, you know, when you're
at you got the human element in it, there's going
to be some misses. There's gonna be some miss calls,
you know. And I think that in the bang bang

(48:13):
play and the speed of the game, it's hard to
be perfect. It's hard to bat one hundred percent or
bat a thousand if if you're if you're an official.
But you know, I do think the Jackson Dart play,
when I first saw it, I thought it was helmet
the helmet and then they show the repuat and I
was like, that was clean hit. And even Jackson Dart
will tell you that was clean hit.

Speaker 5 (48:32):
It was a clean hit. It was a physical hit,
and I think it's valid to acknowledge that, acknowledge the
fact that, yeah, the Patriots were coming with some ferocity
in that. But in terms of, like you mentioned, Sean,
the spirit of the rule and the spirit of that,
the league has definitely made it a priority to protect
the health and safety of the players and the best
that they can and the officials you know, are tasked
with that, and so you know, it's an imperfect science

(48:54):
officiating a game. But I don't think that there's some
you know, vendetta to kind of ignore those those plays,
especially when it comes to the head. But thank you
so much for the call. Thanks for calling in from Tennessee,
Hank the first time long time. You know, it'll be
it's a tough one to look at because hindsight is
twenty twenty. You know, you see something in real time,
you see it in a slow mo replay, You're like, oh, yeah,

(49:16):
that could have been a different.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
Yeah, and look, you know, like there's a difference between
hitting a quarterback in the pocket. Sure, and then when
the quarterback is running. Yeah, and once a quarterback breaks
the line of scrimmage, he's a runner, he's a ball carrier.
Now they have rules to protect them as well. If
they start their slide, you can't hit them, so then
kind of all gloves are off at that point. Like,

(49:39):
but we've even seen that kind of get dicey. You know,
if the guy isn't going to slide, is he going
to slide? And then all of a sudden, you know,
he runs through the defender. So you know, defensive players
are really they're in a little bit of a precarious
situation when the quarterback does start to run because they've
got to be careful. Like if I come over here
and I'm gonna light this guy up and he starts
to slide, I've got to pull off. But I've also

(50:01):
got to protect myself because if he doesn't slide, I
can't let him truck me and run me over. So
there's you know, those are things that you have to
practice and you've got to you know, it's hard to
practice that live. You know, how do you how do
you practice that live? In practice against you know, a quarterback,
so maybe you practice against running backs. But that's that's

(50:22):
a tough spot for defensive players to be in as well.

Speaker 5 (50:24):
Yeah, it is a tough one. All right, John, Let's
talk a little bit about this game on Sunday before
we wrap up the show, Giants Commanders, you and I
are going to be on the set in a cold
MetLife stadium wrapping it up, maybe snowing perchance, wrapping it
up on Giants Postgame Live. I do have confirmation that
we will have two heaters on set, all right. I
just want to give a shout out to Georgie. How

(50:46):
tip to Georgia who who's the MVP of making sure
that we are as warm as possible on the set.
But when you consider when you fast forward to Sunday
around five pm Eastern, what we're recap this game, what
are you anticipating to be talking about at that point.

Speaker 4 (51:03):
Well, I think you know, based on what we're talking about.
You know, when you look at what Washington has struggled
with defensively, Joe Whitt Junior was the defensive play caller
and Dan Quinn kind of took those duties away from
him a couple of weeks ago. You know, you want
to look at what do we want to attack. And
I think this, based on what we're talking about, is
gonna be cold. It could be snowy.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
You know.

Speaker 4 (51:24):
I know everybody wants to see Jackson Dart sling sling
the rock, but this this needs to be a run
first offense, like let the offensive line take over the game,
let them be aggressive, let them come downhill. And the
Giants have used a lot of two tight end formations
this season, so I expect them to stick with that,
and I feel like the play action builds off of that,

(51:45):
and that's when Jackson Dart is dangerous when the run
game is working, and now he can kind of build
some of those quarterback design runs off of that, and
then you can build some some play action off of
that as well. That's when you're going to get the
single high safety. So you know, I think it should
be a big game for Tyrone Tracy as long as
he's healthy and David Singletary, and you know, I think

(52:06):
as well as that. You know, I think getting the
ball out quick is big. Like you don't need Jackson
Dart to sit back there and throw the ball forty
five times in five seven step drops. So I think
we'll see a lot of screens, a lot of quick throws,
kind of get the ball out. Jackson Dart throws a
slant ball really well. You know, you can just kind
of see he's really confident when he's throwing a slant.

(52:27):
He lets that ball rip and he's been really accurate
with that. So I think offensively, that's what we're going
to see, you know. Defensively, I feel like our defensive
line has done a really good job against Washington. You know,
I expect this to be you know, Brian Burns is
second in the league right now with twelve sacks, thirteen sacks.
I expect him to have a big game.

Speaker 5 (52:47):
You know, they've got Mariota doesn't get sacked.

Speaker 4 (52:51):
He's tough to bring down. Yeah, you know that he's
I don't think people realize how physical and how strong
Mariota is, and I.

Speaker 5 (52:57):
Think that's big.

Speaker 4 (53:00):
You know, Look, Jane Daniels is slippery. He's a little
bit more elusive, and he's got a little more stinky
leg in him. I think Mariota is just more of
like he's like a Ben Roethlisberger, Like you can get
to him, but he's gonna shrug you off if you're
not running through the tackles. So defensively, you know it's
it's gonna be a similar ball game from Washington. I
think the key defensively is obviously Terry McLaurin being back.

(53:21):
You know, he's he's a tough matchup. You know, I
think you take him out of the passing game. But
Deebo Samuel, they are going to have wrinkles for him.
So you gotta find wherever they break the huddle, where's
Debo like, because hes gonna line up. He's gonna line
up in the backfield. He's gonna line up with the slot.
They're gonna throw screens to him. They're gonna try to
get him the ball in space and see if you
can tackle him one on one.

Speaker 5 (53:40):
When I think of Deebo Samuel as a player, though,
I think of a guy who makes makes plays after
the catch. Right yards after the catch is his his
sweet spot. And this year he's had uncharacteristically low numbers
in that regard. You know, he's kind of been tackled
on contact. Is that in terms of you know, the
timing of when he's getting the ball is that you know,
is he having an off season? But that's something is
an interesting point to his game. That's usually you know,

(54:02):
his star tool in his bag that he's not really
executing on this year.

Speaker 4 (54:06):
Yeah, I think it's been tough, and I think not
having McLaurin out there, you know, has really changed things
for Debo. Like you know, when when he came to
Washington and it was all right, mclaurin's number one, I'm
gonna be the wrinkle guy. I'm going to be the
slot guy. And when McLaurin was out, things kind of
change offensively. But I think the other challenge too is
you know, when you're switching quarterbacks, the rhythm and the
timing is not there. So you know, hopefully in the

(54:28):
postgame show we're talking about two hundred yards on the ground, Yeah,
you know, two hundred yards rushing offensively. I think I
think THEO. I think THEO has proven that Jackson darr
is looking for him like that's his guy, whether he's
supposed to be throwing at the THEO or not. Like
Theo's getting the ball so that that's kind of his
favorite target, especially down in the red zone.

Speaker 5 (54:50):
And Wandale Robinson too. I mean Wandale, you know, he's
having a career high in receiving yards so far this
season has been such a reliable target, especially since Flake
Neighbors going down and the passing game. But you know,
as we talked about this, it's got to be a
run first game on both sides of the ball. I mean,
the Commander's fourth in the league in rushing yards per
game as well, So you know, really going to come

(55:10):
down to who's got that old school NFC three yards
and a cloud of dust or three yards and a
cloud of snow.

Speaker 4 (55:15):
Big Burns game, Big Bobby Ocarecat game. Yeah, this is
big when you're the mic linebacker and you've got a
team that's running the ball well like that, Like that's
that's your chime, that's your time to show up.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (55:25):
Are we going to see a sexy DEXI dance?

Speaker 4 (55:27):
Yeah yeah I think so. Yeah, I think a sexy
dexy snow angel. There we go. That's that's what we're
looking for.

Speaker 5 (55:34):
Let's manifest it. It's manifested right here on Big Blue
Kickoff Live. All right, Well, with that we leave you.
It's Week fifteen. The Giants have the Commander's Sunday one
pm at MetLife Stadium. Sean and I will be doing
the post game show on television on MSG Networks and
Giants dot Com. We've also got postgame radio with Shmellek
and TGI and a whole week of Big Blue Kickoff
Live leading you up to it. Because it's only Wednesday.

(55:56):
So that's a wrap for today's show. Presented by Cadillac.
Big Blue Kickoff Live is a part of the Giants
Podcast platforms everywhere in giants dot Com slash Podcast, we've
been coming to you live from the Giants Podcast Studio
presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting better for the
super Bowl Champion Shan O'Hara, I'm Madeline Burke. We'll see
you next time.