December 19, 2025 • 58 mins
Paul Dottino and Matt Citak preview the Giants vs Vikings game, talk about the Giants special teams unit, and take calls from fans.
0:00 - Vikings preview
13:00 - Abdul Carter and the defense
28:00 - Vikings offense
32:20 - Calls
44:00 - Giants special teams
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff line.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
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because you're.
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On Giants dot Com. Do you know what I saw
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Speaker 3 (00:14):
And the Giants Mobile Finals one Tundown.
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Part of the Giants Podcast Network. Let's go on craz
Dogs Fun. Hello again, everybody, and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
To Friday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live, presented by Cadillac,
the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants.
We come to you from the Giants Podcast Studio presented
by Hackensack Meridian Health Keep getting Better Paul Tatino, along
with Matt Sidetak, We'll be here for the next hour.
We will talk Giants football with you as they prepare
(00:48):
for Sunday's home game against.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
The Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
In addition to that, folks, as you know the Giants
coming into this last home stretch. Yeah, yes, they are
trying to win. Obviously. Mike Kafka has said this ad
infinitum as everybody keeps asking them about how do you
approach these games? And it's all about trying to win games.
But this game in particular for me, Matt holds a
(01:14):
very special interest and folks, if you think about it
for a second, you'll understand where I'm coming from. There
are two reasons why I really am extremely excited about
this game and have this under the microscope, even though
standings wise.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
It doesn't mean a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Okay, and by the way, I'm not talking about draft
pack either. Let's hear it, let's get let's make that clear,
because you and I I don't yes, of course we
don't subscribe to that stuff. I have two things that
I'm very very very very interested in in this game.
The first one is obvious. Jackson Dart is going to
face the most complex, chaotic blitz package that the NFL
(01:58):
has to offer because of Ryan Flores, the Vikings defensive coordinator, who,
no doubt, given his history with interviewing with this organization,
is going to throw more than the kitchen sink at
Jackson Dart on Sunday, and I'm sure very badly is
going to want to win this game and do what
he can to wreck havoc on the Giants offense. That's
(02:20):
what Floraes does now for Dance from his perspective, you
know you talk about an education that he's receiving this
year as a rookie. There are few things better, in
all honesty, few things better than being thrown into a
situation like this. Against that scenario, I'm really excited to
(02:48):
see how he handles it, and to be honest with you, folks,
and I.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Again the final score.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Sure, the Giants want to win, and that's clearly what
everybody in that locker room wants as well, But I'm
more focused on how does Jackson Dart do against a
very uniquely challenging defense of which he has not seen
anything like what the Vikings will throward him on Sunday
(03:19):
and will not in the next two weeks as the
season closes down.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
This is a big deal for me.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, I was about to say this is by far
and away Jackson's toughest challenge remaining on the schedule because
no offense to Patrick Graham of the Raiders or Matt
Eberfliff's of the Cowboys, but they don't bring quite the
same punch to their defense and their defensive systems as
Brian Flores does with the Vikings. This is going to
(03:46):
be a great test for Jackson. As you mentioned, something
he has not faced ever before, won't face.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
For the next couple of weeks. This at this time
of year.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I mean we've said this now for the last couple
of weeks, but this time of year, the thing that
we want to see most is just some of these
young players on the roster that will be here next
year and moving forward to see them have some breakout
performances like we saw from Abdullah last week. That was
a great step in the right direction for Abdul Carter
last week. Now, Jackson in the second half was great
(04:16):
against the Commanders. He really struggled in the first half though,
So if he could put together a more complete performance
against this defense on Sunday, Not that we're already not feeling,
you know, encouraged about the promising start to Jackson Dart's career,
but it would just you know, go a little bit
further and giving us even more confidence that he's ready
(04:39):
to be, you know, the guy for this team in
twenty twenty six and moving forward.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It would be a significant step for him, it really would. Now,
just to make sure you guys totally understand why we're
not just kind of going with a crazy narrative here.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
These are legitimate facts.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
About this Vikings defense that you guys ought to be
away as you watch Jackson Dart try to navigate the
hurdles that they're going to throw at him. First of all,
they by far lead the NFL in blitz percentage on
passing downs at forty three percent.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
That's number one. So they're coming.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Hard and often, all right, basically.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
A staple of the Brian Flores defense.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
That's what he does. Okay, he's like even more wink
than wink. Okay, that's number one.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Number two.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I don't have their blitz percentage against running place. Nobody
seems to keep that. I don't know why, but nobody seems.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
To keep that.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But tackles for a loss this year, which does indicate
getting hit behind the line of scrimmage, which of course
is a byproduct of sending guys. They have eighty five
tackles for losses this year, which is third in the
NFL okay. So it's like a wave of purple all right.
In addition to that, I also should tell you that
(06:03):
opponents in the red zone only forty touchdown conversion rate,
which is tied for second best in the NFL okay.
This is a legitimate a legitimate mountain that Jackson Dart
is going to have to navigate on Sunday. Those three
things right there, those are all big, big time, big
(06:25):
time numbers for this Vikings defense.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
They are overall ninth in.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yardage allowed, so ninth best in terms of fewest yards
allowed by the opponent, and they are the fifth best
passing defense according to yardage allowed. These are all critical
rankings that all point toward Jackson Dart having to navigate
a difficult day.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I had someone say to me last night, well, how
many sacks do they have? Why don't they have more
sacks than the Broncos if they send all these guys. Well,
because Flores, much like Wick Martindale, believes that pressure's pressure
breaks pipes.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
It's not just about the sacks.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
It's about the pressure and the chaos you cause that
forces your opponent into making mistakes. And sometimes pressure is
better than a sack because a pressure may force a
turnover or a significant loss, which is just as good
as a sack. If it turns out to be a
(07:31):
run and it's a seven yard loss, it could you know.
So that's why despite the fact that they only have
thirty five sacks on the season, which is tied for
eleventh in the league. They don't have huge sack numbers.
The other item that's important to note, and I don't
know if you did any of this in your preview
(07:52):
that you did for Giants dot com. They've got thirteen
different players who have at least the sack this year,
which shows you the variety of guys and the variety
of packages. It's not just the frequency of his blitzes,
it's the variety of what he's sending. That's why people
(08:15):
call this defense chaos.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I mean he is probably the best defensive play caller
in terms of disguising his looks, I mean, disguising where
the blitz is coming from. He blitzes a lot, but
it is very tough for opposing offenses of offensive lines
to figure out where exactly the blitz is coming from,
because you know, they'll have you know, six guys up
on the front and then all of a sudden, two
(08:39):
of them drop back at the snap and someone else
that wasn't even on the front he's the one that
gets sent in as the blitzer. So Tim Kelly was
talking about this yesterday, how like, as we've said, this
is gonna be a tough test for Jackson. He hasn't
seen a defensive system quite like this, But and Mike
Kafki also mentioned today, Jackson has done a great job
of being able to recognize defenses from the looks that
(09:03):
he gets pre snap and very quickly post snap being
able to sort of interpret the defensive look that he's getting.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So this is certainly going to be the.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Toughest challenge for him in that regard, because again, Flores
does a tremendous, tremendous job of confusing opposing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Quarterbacks, and I'm talking about quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Veterans that have been around the league a long time
and have seen a lot of looks, and he still
confuses them with all the different looks that he presents.
One other stat I just I saw from next Gen
Stats that pertains to this is Jackson has been getting
the ball out in under two point five seconds, which
is sort of the barometer they use for quarterbacks, at
(09:44):
the seventh highest rate of any quarterback in the NFL's
pretty good, and he's success. He's had success when getting
it out quickly. However, the Vikings have allowed the second
lowest completion percentage to quarterbacks when they throw throw in
under two point five seconds.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So even though.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Quarterbacks are trying to get rid of the ball quickly
to you know, help cancel out these blitzes that they
don't know where it's coming from, the defense is prepared
for it and have been doing a good job of
at least at the very least getting their hands on
the ball or forcing incomplete passes.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
So, yeah, this is.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
This is going to be another great challenge for Jackson,
and if he can come out and have another performance
like he did in the second half against the Commanders,
but do it for all four quarters against this defense,
that'll be very, very impressive and have all of us
feeling even better about him, you know, as the season
comes nearing its end.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Now the cap off the Dart point. So the Vikings
defense leads the NFL with pressures on forty one percent
of their plays. So even though they're not getting the
huge sack numbers, the pressure numbers are there. And by
the way, that does translate into the Vikings who have
(10:59):
absolutely caused all kinds of havoc in the backfield. It
translates into when you look at their defensive numbers and
you look at the fact that they shut out Washington.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Thirty one and nothing two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yep, okay, they held the Bears to nineteen points. I know,
you know Cincinnati early in the season they held them
to ten. They're giving up twenty two points a game,
which is thirteenth in the league, but there have been
several that's an average.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
There are several games they've been under that.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So on any given week, they are fully capable of
making life very very difficult for you to score.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
As I said, the red zone.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Number is just ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
All right, Yeah, this is not a team that you
want to get too far behind. No and their offense
the last couple of weeks has looked a lot better
and paired with how the Giants defense has played for
basically the last two months, you know, it'll be a
challenge for Jackson and the whole offense. If they're you know,
trailing two touchdowns early and have to play from behind,
(12:04):
and the Vikings defense really gets to just pin its
ears back and get after Jackson, that is going to
make it a very long and tough day for the
Giants offense.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So got to get out to a fast.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Start, so this would be a real feather in Dart's
cap if he is able to produce and certainly at
a high level against this defense, I will give you
their one Achilles heel. I don't know if you if
you were able to research this, the one Achilles heel.
The Vikings have, unfortunately with their offense, which is really
(12:39):
bad with turnovers.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Oh, they've thrown twenty interceptions this year. They lead the NFL,
and given the ball away for picks. It's about field position.
That's the one way that you can score against this
defense without having to navigate Mount Everest is if you
get a turnover and get really easy field position. That's
(13:02):
and unfortunately for them, that's why their record is six
and eight, okay, because their defense has really put them
in a lot. I mean, their offense has put them
in a lot of bad spots over the course of
the season and then made things really difficult and stressed
out their defense.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
That's the one thing.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
If they are put in a really tight spot by
their offense, like any good d you can take advantage
of them, all right, It's that simple. But don't expect
to necessarily move the ball downfield effectively against them, and
don't expect to hit big plays. By the way, opponents
only have twenty nine pass plays or of twenty yards
(13:43):
or more against the Vikings this year, fewest than the NFL,
So you're not gonna hit any bombs, or probably not
too many.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
They don't give up too many of those big explosive plays.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
All Right, Enough about Dart, but that's why this is
a huge game for me watching him.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I in the worst way want to see.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Jackson Dart have a really good game Sunday, even if
the Giants lose. For goodness sakes, I want him to
play really well. Yeah, that would be great. With number
two Abdul Carter Folks. Christian Darisaw is supposed to be
the starting left tackle for the Vikes, but he hasn't
practiced all week.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Correct he's hurt.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yep, we don't know for sure, but we don't think
he's going to play.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
I mean it depends.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
If he sits out practice again today, that would certainly
put him on the wrong side of questionable.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Right, we don't have the injury report yet for today.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
If he gets out there in any sort of capacity,
I would say that would make him trending the other.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Way towards Sudio. So we'll find out soon enough.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Here's why it's a huge game for Abdul Carter. Since
his second disciplinary situation that forced him to miss the
first quarter against the Patriots, he has played seven really
good sound quarters of football, quarters two through four against
New England in which he also won a sack, and
(15:06):
then four terrific quarters last weekend against Washington YEP which
he again back to back games with sacks, career high
seven tackles last week, career high three tackles for a
loss last week career high two forced fumbles in a game.
Also recovered his second fumble in the season. He was
impactful by many organizations. He was an NFC Rookie of
(15:29):
the Week, was he not?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
He was Pro Football Focuses Rookie of the Week. He
made the Pro Football Focus Overall Team of the Week.
He was their highest ranked edge defender across the NFL.
In Week fifteen, he was nominated for the PEPSI Rookie
of the Week award. But and we could have a
whole episode on this, but he did not win to
(15:51):
Corey Krosky Merit of the Commanders one And that's what
we could go into this later. But yeah, there's a
guy on Reddit who basically has rigged the system for
the PEPSI Rookie of the Week oh reward.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Every single week he like, at the beginning of the week.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Will say who who he wants to win, and then
that guy has literally won every single time. Anytime the
commander is nominated, the commander players won. Anytime a commander,
no commander has been nominated and a different player in
the NFC East was nominated having the best stats of
that week, no one else in the NFC East has won.
(16:25):
For example, just real quick, the week that Scatt had
the three touchdowns against the Eagles, Yes, and he clearly
should have won, you know, one hundred yards three touchdowns.
Ted McMillan from the Panthers won having caught three passes
for like twenty five yards and two touchdowns. And it's
because there's this one guy who at the beginning of
the season said I found a way to rig the system.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Oh he told people, he wrote on Reddit.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
There's a post on Reddit saying I found a way
to rig the system, and every week that he has
wanted someone to win, that that person has won. Sorry
to go off an little tangent there, it's just ridiculous
that that's how the Rookie of the Week award gets decided.
And I know it's great that it's a fan vote, but.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Do you think that's actually how it gets decided. But
he's actually found a way.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I mean, because he's literally, at the beginning of each
week has like said, player X is gonna win, and
player X has won every single time.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It's crazy. I don't think that's after the games.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, Like once they announced who the finalists are for
the award each week, he says, Look.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I trust you you've been keeping track.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, anytime a commander's been nominated, even if he's like,
by far and away the worst finalist, the commander player
has won.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Wow. Sorry to go off on. It's good that you
let people know. That's good.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
It's crazy and I wish I could say, you know,
let giants fans, let's all go out and vote, but
it sounds like it wouldn't even make a difference because
this guy has found a way to just completely rig it.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Wow. All right for the commanders.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
But here is the point though about Carter. So not
only do you want him to continue stacking and have
a third consecutive good game, which I would be really
happy to see because I want him to finish out
this season by kicking people's.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Butt every week.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yes, all right, because that does mean something. Sure, it
means that he's figured it out. It means that he
is matured into the spot. He understands what it is
to be a pro. And now you know what you're
going to get out of him moving forward. You won't
be sitting there in the off season saying, hmm, I
wonder if he's mentally focused the way he needs to be. Right,
(18:30):
So you're on board with me on this one, all right?
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Now, if Darisol.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Plays, we know he's a quality left tackle. Okay, depending
upon which which firm you you you want to grat
use their grades. He's either given up two or three
sacks so far this season. Depends on which which people
you want to you want to believe. But here's what
I want to tell you. If daris Aw plays, that's
(18:56):
a legitimate challenge, and if he beats him, it's a
real feather in cap. If he doesn't play, just in
school is going to be the starting left tackle for
the Minnesota Vikings. If you don't know who he is,
I don't blame you. He is a six year pro
who came into the league with San Francisco and played
(19:17):
for Tampa Bay and is basically a journeyman tackle. He
is their third tackle. Okay, he would be the starting
left tackle this season, although he has played sparingly in
some other games. In his six starts, he has allowed
five sacks.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
He is a guy.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Who is, as many scouts like to say, a ja
G just a guy.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
He is not of.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Higher ilk, which means Abdul Carter. If that's the guy
you're lining up across from on Sunday, you.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Need to have a big game. Yeah, agree completely.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
You know, I've written about Abdul in a few of
my different articles throughout the week. Obviously, as you mentioned,
he's been fantastic the last seven quarters. I mean, yes,
he's got the sackson back to back games, the forced
fumbles last week. He's gotten ten total pressures over the
last seven quarters combined. You know, this is the Abdul
Carter I think everyone was expecting. Yeah, when the Giants
(20:21):
selected him third overall. And he's had some tough matchups.
I mean his matchup last week against the Commanders, it
wasn't easy. No, going up against Laramie Tunsel and at
least for while Tunsa was out there, right, and then
you know, occasionally also lining up against Josh Connolly, But
this is probably his toughest matchup remaining on the schedule.
(20:43):
I mean, I guess I'm not sure is Colton Miller healthy.
I thought I saw he was banged up.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
I thought he was hurting too.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Yeah, Colton Miller is a fantastic tackle. If he's playing,
that would obviously be a very tough matchup as well,
But we'll just focus on this week. But Christian darrisol is,
when healthy, could play like a top tackle in the NFL.
He's been a little inconsistent this year, but we've seen
him do it before at a very high level. So yeah,
(21:10):
if Abdull can take advantage and win this matchup this week,
similar to what we're just talking about with Jackson going
up against the Flora's defense, that would just be a
such an encouraging sign of growth and development from Abdull Carter. Again,
he's twenty two years old. He turned twenty two after
like a month into the season. I know he got
(21:30):
obviously got off to a rough start to his career
with you know.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
The half sack through twelve games.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Then there was a couple of disciplinary matters. You would hope,
especially after the second incident whatever happened, that he's learned
his lesson in terms of the off the field stuff.
And based on what the coaches, like Charlie Bullen was
talking about this yesterday, it certainly seems like Abdull has
taken a big step the last couple of weeks in
(21:57):
terms of his maturity all for the field, in terms of,
you know, making sure you're on time, not.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Missing any meetings anything like that.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
He's been coming in early, coming in early, even and
Charlie Bollen said yesterday that not only has he himself
done everything that he possibly can in terms of off
field preparation, but that he's also encouraged and brought some
of the other guys in the room and just on
the defense with him, like to these early sessions too,
these extra overtime film sessions or whatever it might be.
(22:28):
So it certainly seems like Abdul has over the last
few weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I don't want to keep saying.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Like learned his lesson, but that is kind of what
it seems like, hopefully, and so it would be great
if he can continue this clearly extra effort in the
off field work to then translate to more production on
the field, because obviously the consistent production was the one
(22:55):
thing we did not see from him the first twelve weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
So he had some flashes some games.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
With presures, but it wasn't really resulting in any actual
on field production. And so the last seven quarters we
have seen that, and it would be fantastic and have
all of us feeling again a lot better about just
like the overall direction of some of this young nucleus,
if Ablu Carter.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
These last three games can just ball.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Out get a couple more sacks and then all of
a sudden, you know, we were looking at half a
sack in his sax season total through twelve games. If
he somehow finishes with like five sacks, obviously going into
the year we all thought that probably would be higher,
but considering how the season started, that would be a
fantastic way for him to end the season.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
In spite of the inconsistencies. And maybe this stat actually
shows you the inconsistencies. Next Gen stats, right, they define
quick pressures as any pressure under two point five seconds, right,
next Gen stat says he's got thirty one of these
quick pressures this year, which is fourth most in the
entire National Football League, which tells you when he wins
(24:02):
his snap he is potent. Yeah, but the inconsistencies come
from the fact that there were too many snaps where
he's not winning, and there are too many snaps where
over the first two thirds plus of the season he
was neutralized.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, that's the problem. And also, like, obviously, pressures are great.
You'd rather a pressure than nothing at all, But pressures
only get you so far. And you know, as you
mentioned earlier, like, yes, some pressures can lead to turnovers,
can lead to bad decisions made by the quarterback, but
some of those pressures need to result in sacks because
the negative players really sets the offense behind. Once you
(24:41):
get behind the chains, it's tough to overcome that. So
the pressures are great and you obviously you love to
see it, but he does need to do a better
job of translating some of those pressures into actual sacks,
which we haven't did not see him do for most
of the season, but again in the last two weeks,
seems like he's kind of flipped a switch in that regard.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
So those are the two things that you know, I'm
really gonna be focused on Sunday, and I get it again,
these guys really want to win, so of the coaches,
I just would love to see those two guys have
terrific games. You would think that would enhance the Giants'
chances to win, obviously, but it's also theoretically possible both
(25:25):
guys could play really well and the Giants could still
fall short.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I mean, for sure we kind of saw that at
least in the second half of last week's game. Both
guys did play great, yes, and we did didn't still
resulted in an eight point loss.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
The evidence is there. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
So in addition to those two guys, and this is
kind of connected to at least the Jackson part, but
I'm also very interested to see just how the offensive
line as a unit performs against this defense and the
blitz package from Brian Flores, because I know we've spoken
about it, you know, at times, especially the last like
a month or two, the offensive line is really playing
great year and it's getting overlooked because of obviously the
(26:03):
two and twelve record. Yeah, but you know, and I've
mentioned this before with you PFF does that weekly offensive
line ranking where they ranked the offensive lines across the
league for the whole season. Giants moved up. Now they're
nine in the entire league according to PFF. But again,
PFF is not the end all be all, but no
they're not. But I mean, if you told us before
(26:24):
the season started the Giants at least from the PFF
ranking would be have a top ten offensive line, we
all would have signed up for that in a heartbeat. Yeah,
So this is another very tough test. Just like it
is for Jackson, it's a tough test for the offensive
linement as well, if they can have another good, clean
game and also continue to get the run game going
(26:44):
because Tyron Tracy's you know, he's really picked it up
this last month or so. Other than the one Patriots
game that he left early, He's got ninety seven or
more total yards from scrimmage in his last three full games.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
He's averaging sixteen touches for one hundred yards a game.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Yeah, he's looked great. So this will be a very
good test for the whole offense, starting with the offensive line.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Jackson, Tyrone the mess, big responsibility for the center to
deal with this Vikings blitz package. And I was talking
to Tyrone Tracy the other day and he said he
is really looking forward to this because he wants to
know how far he's come in terms of being able
to help keep his quarterback standing up.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Yeah, this is just a good barometer for everyone on
the offense going up against this defense.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
The wide receivers too.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
The Vikings have been phenomenal at limiting opposing wide receivers
this season, so it might be tough sledding for Wandel Robinson,
Darius Slayton, the whole wide receiver corps. But if they
can get some level of production against this defense. Again,
it's just the season is what it is, but it
would just be an encouraging step in the right direction
(27:54):
as we head towards the off season where there will
be a lot of decisions to make up and down
on the roster.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Final thought about this, just so you know who you're
looking for again, it's a variety of guys that are
going to be coming on the blitz. Their leading sack
guy for the year is inside linebacker, Believe it or not,
Eric Wilson, who has five and a half, tied with
Dallas Turner, last year's number one pick, who also has
(28:22):
five and a half and their right end Jalen Redman
has five. Now, ironically, the guy with the best sack
resume is Jonathan Greenard.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Who's out. He's out. He's got a shoulder injury.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
He's an ending shoulder and he's only got three sacks
on the season. Now, when he was with the Houston Texans,
he was a guy who kicked it after the quarterback.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
He had double digitsat I mean even last year with
the Vikings he had twelve. He did he was a
pro bowler.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
So you know, he is their most dangerous individual sack artist.
But this is about the combination of guys and the
scheme more than it is about one particular guy, because
again they don't even have anybody with more than six acts.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah, but as we're talking about these Vikings pass rushers,
you should also note in terms of the injury report,
what's the name Javon Hargrave defense, veteran defensive lineman. Three
sacks on the three and a half sacks on the season,
which ranks fifth on the Vikings. He is not practiced
yet this week, so similar boat to Christian dearisaw. We'll
(29:31):
see what the injury report says today. He's dealing with
a thigh injury. You know, the Vikings are in a
similar situation to the Giants in terms of they are
out of the playoffs. The playoffs are not going to
happen this year. So at this point of the year,
when you have guys banged up, coaches need to make
decision is it worth, you know, trying to have a
guy fight through an injury for a game. I don't
(29:53):
want to say that's meaningless, but it doesn't have playoff
implications at least, So we'll have to keep an eye
out on the injury report, which we should.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Get in the next hour or two. Another good battle
to watch.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
And I'm just trying to make this game interesting for
you folks, because I know a lot of people probably
don't have a lot of interest in this game. But
you know, if you want to get your eyes on
the microscope here, there are some really, really good football
battles to watch. Cordell Flat against Justin Jefferson. I mean,
Flatt's given up one touchdown pass all season.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
He has been dynamite.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
That one scares me a little and has nothing to
do with Flat. It's just the fact of Jefferson. We
all know how good Justin Jefferson is the fact that
his numbers on the season look like they do, and
especially his numbers the last couple of weeks. You know,
we talked about how the Vikings have sixty five points
over the last two games. That's what Jefferson doing basically nothing.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
He's been really down. That scares me.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Really seems like he's kind of due for one of
those Justin Jefferson explosion games, and I certainly hope it's
not going to come this week.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
In the last three games, he's combined for six catches.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
In thirty seven yards. That's insane.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Now, apparently he and JJ McCarthy are not very much
on the same page. McCarthy wants to dump off a
lot more short and medium range passes. Jefferson is used
to going longer. Their timing has not been very good,
and consequently, all of a sudden, Justin Jefferson has been
somewhat of a pedestrian receiver. In fact, there's numbers for
(31:20):
the season. He's got one one hundred yard game that
was in the first month against Pittsburgh, when he caught
ten passes for one hundred and twenty six yards. For
the year, sixty six catches for over six hundred and
thirty yards at only twelve and a half yards a
catch and only two touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
That is not a Justin Jefferson stat line, especially the
touchdowns part.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
I mean, there are four players on the Vikings that
have more receiving touchdowns than Justin Jefferson, and two of
them are tight ends.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
All right, so that's insane.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
What I will say to you is Jefferson's on the down.
He's got three weeks to try to resuscitate his electricity
going into the offseason. I do think it would be
a feather in Cordel Flott's cap if he can keep
him down.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
And to LSU guys, so you know they're both gonna be,
oh yeah, extra interested in taking advantage of the matchup
and beating the other guy.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
All right, So folks, uh, that sets the table for
Sunday's game at home against the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
I just think there was some very fascinating.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Football stories to be looking for matchups that that really
got my blood pumping, even though we're talking about two
also ran teams trying to finish up the end of
the regular season.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
All right, let's go to the phones.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
At two one nine three, nine four five one three.
Coach Marvin is first on the show today.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
Hello, coach, how are you doing? Paul and Matt all right?
Speaker 1 (32:48):
How are you? How are you?
Speaker 5 (32:50):
I'm doing okay, I'm doing all right. I was listening
to the show yesterday. I wanted to comb it on
that a little bit. But that thing Matt was just
talking about about the player of the week, I'm hoping
the NFL is going to investigate something like that that
that shouldn't be happening.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
I hope so too.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
But this guy known in week one that he was
able to do it, and nothing has changed so far.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
But I hope you're right, coach.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Yeah, hopefully this week. Yeah, it's a tough defense they plan.
But the one thing I like about Dart is that
he has very good pocket awareness, and and I think
that they do send those guys they got to be
careful of him because he also had that escapability to
(33:37):
get outside. So hopefully that will be an advantage for Dart.
But it's a difficult defense to figure out because they've
got so many moving parts to their defense. Correct, you
don't know who's who, and but I'm hoping and thinking
that his pocket awareness, which is he's excellent in that
(33:59):
will help him now. Because the reason I bought that
up also is because Charlie from Maine was talking and
and Charlie Wilson, those guys, I never try to put
down what they say. I kind of like listen to
what they're saying, and they have some some really concerns
(34:24):
that I can agree with. I think they kind of
like jump over the cliff a little bit. Because he
was talking about Dark yesterday, that Dark he don't like Dark,
and that that surprised me that he said that, And
because you know, he said that Dark may not make
it through his career, which I if he keeps playing
I feel it's reckless. He may be correct in that manner.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Coach, if I can ask you to pause for half
a second, I think you would probably agree with me.
Maybe you won't, but I thought last week against Washington,
Dark took a big step forward. I don't think he
did anything reckless against the Commanders last week, and it
was the first game that I thought of his nine
NFL starts this season where I could honestly tell you
(35:14):
there was not one play that made me WinCE.
Speaker 5 (35:19):
I agree with you, Paul, Yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't
concerned in the Washington game at all.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
And that's a good sign.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Yeah, And that's the learning career he has to get.
I remember in August, people was concerned about him diving
head first for touchdowns. I remember they talking about that
he was doing it, and then Dable was telling him
to calm down a little bit. But you know, it's
just just concerned that.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Men.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
Lance got into it a little bit. I'm sorry for
the listeners that heard that, but I believe those guys.
Once a quarterback runs out there, they come in after
him and and they and if you're not gonna slide,
they're gonna make you pay for it. And and I
just think he's a very I loved how elusive he is.
(36:10):
But I think he's got to take a page out
of some of these guys books and know when to
make those runs on first the first series of the game.
You don't want to take on linebackers trying to get
a first down, you know, I mean, you have to
pick your spots on that. But Wilson was not Wilson,
(36:32):
but Charlie was said he didn't like him, and I
was wondering what Charlie thinks about the how accurate he
can be downfield. A lot of times our guys are
dropping passes that he putting right on the money with
the with the defensive back right on him. So he's
shown that he can anticipate, he has accuracy, and I
(36:53):
love those things in a quarterback, and he's elusive. I
just like him to protect himself. And that's all I hear.
If anybody that watches the game talk about is that,
you know, they don't want him to take as many
hits that he's taken. And that's just a small concern.
And my last part Jonathan was on also. I wanted
to talk to him yesterday because he was talking about
(37:13):
we always talking about the Giants culture, and the culture
is from the Lawrence Taylor days, from the straight Hand days,
justin Tug and all of that, and those guys were
like leaders, and we don't really have one of those
vocal leaders. I'm not saying we don't have leaders, but
we don't have a leader among leaders. And then he
(37:35):
made a great point that we have guys. The guys
that's been here is Slayton Index to Lawrence, and I
can't remember the other maybe Andrew Thomas may be the
other one that has the most time here in the
with the Giants organization. And those are really soft spoken people.
(37:57):
I'm not gonna say they can't get into somebody. They're
really to me, they're soft spoke.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Well, there's no intro role kind of guy coach, right,
Andro role was was like a rabbit dog and he
would let you know about it an art beat.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
Right, And that's what you need, Paul. You need those
guys on the table. So they do have them, and
they are in the young guys that are coming neighbors
is one of those guys. Dark is one of those guys.
Because and Scataboo because if you notice, a lot of
people kind of gravitate to these guys, and I think
(38:34):
that's what Scatabuu brings. Because I have people here from
Philadelphia stopping me in the parking lot because they see
I got giant stuff on. And they were talking about
that Eagles game, but mainly they were talking about Scataboo
and how much they respect them only what he played
about one half or a quarter in that game. And
those people grab the.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Game in Philly, Yeah, the game in Philly.
Speaker 5 (38:57):
He got hurt, right, the one in Philly, and those
people in that stadium gravitated to him, and the people
on that team gravitate to him. If you notice when
he was hurt and they were talking about that thing.
We even to WWE. He had his players with him,
But who was the one in the middle, in the
front of those players that duel Carter was there, but
(39:18):
it was Scataboo. They went with Scatabool. Scataboo didn't go
with them. They look at that event with Scataboo and
that's the leadership you need, and that's what we need
them to have. And I think a lot of that
comes from when we get our next coach, what does
he what kind of discipline he brings in? And people
don't believe in culture, but culture is real and I
(39:41):
believed in that. I've coached a team that didn't do
well in my first year. I put that. That's what
I put, that discipline in them, and the thing we
live by this my last part of the day is
I always say to this team and I can text
them right now, any of those players that played for me,
and I will say we're going to start together and
(40:01):
we're going to and they all and I say, they
don't say it unless you believe it. We're going to
finish together and we still live that today and that's
the culture you have to bring to this team.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Thank you, coach.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
You guys have a merry Christmas. You took to you
Next week.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
I hope we do get to talk to you again,
but if we don't, happy holiday, Thank you, coach. Thoughts
about what we have seen from practice and from Dart
and from talking to the coordinators and Kafka this week
in terms of the mentality of this team and how
together they continue to be. You've been in that locker
(40:37):
room as I have. This locker room is very upbeat.
I know it's a terrible record that they have, but
if you go in that locker room, you would not
know what the record is.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Yeah, I mean there's no doubt whatsoever. This team is
still fighting and trying to win football games. And I
know some fans might not want to hear that because
of the conversation unfortunately we've had all too often this
time of year the last couple of seasons.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
But this team is still going out and trying to win,
you know.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
I mean, there's no giving up from the locker room,
which obviously that is a good thing. You don't want
guys giving up and just mailing it in at the
end of the season because they're eliminated and the record
is what it is. You want to see them continue
to fight now. It would be great if, you know,
showing this fight actually led to a win or two.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I know, because I don't know.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
Yeah, this team is not given up, everyone, starting with Jackson.
I mean, Jackson has really seemingly taking a step in
his leadership. I mean he's one of the voices in
the locker room. Now, would you guys listen to him?
Speaker 2 (41:43):
That a few weeks ago, after I forget which loss
it was, he seemed really downtrodden after the game, and
people said to me, it looks like the losing is
starting to get to him and beat him down. But
I think since then he's reversed his field and he
seems like he's gained his his his mojo again.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
So it was after the Patriots game in the locker
room the day after, right before everyone left for the
bye week. You're right, that was probably the most I
guess dejected I've heard Jackson in any of his media sessions.
They you know, left got a couple of days off,
we're out of the building for a few days. Came
back and he looked like his old self in terms
(42:25):
of how he his composure, how he spoke to the media,
how he was you know, I'm sure his demeanor with
his teammates did not change much, but you're right that
that one day in the locker room he did seem different.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
You know, it was his first game back.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
He did not have a great game against the Patriots,
and that Monday night matchup took the big hit where
the whole narrative was all about him not being able
to protect himself, which I'm sure he's sick of hearing
that by now. So yeah, but since then, all of
last week, all of this week, he has been you know,
that chipper leader, like standing in front of the room
(43:02):
type of guy, let's go get it, let's go get it,
let's go win this game. Which obviously he's twenty two
years old, he's a rookie, but hopefully you will be
around here for a very long time and leading this
team for a while. Hopefully that is the type of
leadership that you want from your quarterback, from hopefully your
franchise quarterback.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Special Olympics New Jersey's annual snowball is seting the Rutgers
Football Stadium in twenty twenty six. This annual flag football
tournament will be on the field from March sixth through
the eighth next year. The six on six tournament will
feature competitive recreational in co ed divisions, and all proceeds
benefit thousands of Special Olympics New Jersey athletes across the
(43:41):
Garden State. Register your team today at New Jersey Snowbowl
dot org. That's Njsnowbowl dot org. Pearson, anything coming up
this week on a huddle that everybody needs to know about?
Speaker 4 (43:54):
Yes, we just posted the Tyrone Tracy interview. It's about
a twenty minute interview. He talks about his two touchdown
game last week, about the Vikings defense coming up, and
then on the audio version, we have a preview with
Matthew Caller covers the Vikings and then Mike Kafka and
Bob pop I have their weekly interview as well.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
All right, good stuff. As always, John's always filling up
stuff in the huddle again. You can subscribe by going
to your favorite podcast platform or go to giants dot com,
Slash podcasts, Apple podcasts, wherever it is that you go
to get them every week. We always try to fill
up a lot of stuff there to enhance your enjoyment
of New York Giants football. All right, before we get
(44:31):
to anymore calls, and if you'd like to give us
a dial, it's two on one nine three nine four
five one three. We've got one about fifteen minutes or
so left, maybe ten minutes or so left in the program.
The other item that I wanted to talk about, Matt
is that, and I kind of don't want to bring
it up, but I have to. The Giants have another
new kicker this week, Yes they do. And from listening
(44:54):
to Mike Kafka today, Ben Soles has you know, the
for University of Pittsburgh kicker who's a rookie. He's been
in a few camps, but this would be his NFL debut,
and it certainly sounds like they're committed to having him kick.
His long in college was of fifty eight yards in
(45:15):
terms of made field goals. But Mike talked about him,
and so did Gobriel, Michael Gobriel, the special teams coordinator, yesterday,
they feel pretty good about his prospects.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yeah, I mean, look, it's, as you mentioned, a guy
that has never taken an actual kick in an NFL
regular season game, So in that sense, you don't know
exactly what to expect. But coming from the University of Pittsburgh,
he's kicked in weather. I don't think weather is going
to be a concern with him. It's not like he's
a guy that has played his whole collegiate career kicking
(45:49):
in a dome or in warm weather. He's probably used to,
you know, crazy wins and cold winters, cold falls. The
thing that I found interesting, which Dan Salomon pointed out
to John and I, was that so Sauls will be
the fifth different player to attempt to kick for the
(46:10):
Giants this season, because there's the three kickers and then
Jamie had the one extra point he attempted. Wow, five
different players attempt to kick. Across the rest of the
NFL thirty one other teams, there have been thirty eight
players total that have kicked, So it comes out into
an average around one point two kickers per team. And
(46:31):
then this will be the Giants fit. So that's an
unfortunate situation. Then, obviously, you know, stemmed from the injury
issues with Graham Gano. Obviously going into the year the
expectation was that Graham would be the kicker for the
whole season, and you know.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Yes, he is a.
Speaker 3 (46:50):
On the older side, a veteran kicker, but still I
don't think anyone could have fully expected the injuries that
he has dealt with. And obviously, you know, young Wayku
was brought in to what everyone thought would be that
veteran kicker to come fill in for the rest of
the season. Obviously he had his own struggles kicking in
(47:10):
this environment, in this you know, with the weather. He
had a career in Atlanta kicking in a dome. So
now we're onto Ben Saals. Then the one thing that
Dan also pointed out to me last night, which I
did not even think about prior to him bringing this up, is.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Ben sALS is a lefty. Yes, so we're switching it up.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
The whole field goal unit is switching it up from
what they've been doing all season.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
But as they say, the operation, the operation. Yes.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
But the one thing that I think is a little interesting,
we don't know for sure if Jamie Gillen is playing.
He's been limited in practice this week, which I would
think would maybe put him towards the better side of
questionable but we don't know for sure.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Right his injury has been left knee injury. If he
is the.
Speaker 3 (48:01):
Punter on Sunday, presumably I would think he would be
the holder as well.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
I mean, that is a role that he's had since
being it's his usual job.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
But with a lefty kicker, that means he'd be going
down on his bad knee as the holder, which I
don't know. If you, I don't know you, obviously, I
would think you wouldn't want you're somewhat banged up kicker
having to put even more you know, weight and pressure
on that bad knee oche.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
The backup hold.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
I was going to say back, I was gonna say,
maybe someone else serves as the holder this week until
Jamie gets closer to full health. That is a possibility,
but it's just something that we knew. Ben Salz is
a lefty. I hadn't thought about the whole operation, and
then Jamie is the holder with his left knee injury,
how that might play into the whole equation. I was
a little surprised that no one on the beat decided
(48:53):
to kind of ask about this, or maybe they didn't
quite put it together, because again I didn't put it
together until Dan brought it up. But I'm interest to
see if there is any switches to the operation on
Sunday given everything I just said now.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Interestingly enough, Sauls when we got a chance to talk
to him a couple of days ago, he talked about
how when he was at Pittsburgh. Remember the pitt Panthers
play in the same stadium as the Steelers do, the
old Hines Field, and they train like in the same spot. Okay,
they're training complexes right next to each other, and so
(49:29):
there's a lot of interaction there. So he told us
that he gleaned a lot from Chris Boswell, who's been
a really good Stealers kicker for a long time, and
if you remember, was a former Giant.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
He was with the Giants.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
Back in the training camp and pre season of twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
That's a good guy I learned from. Okay, I learned
from yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
And in addition to that, he also learned from Coup
in Atlanta last year when he had a pit stop
in the camp with the Falcons. So the one thing
that we've been told by him and also by Golbriel
is that even though he is quote an undrafted rookie kicker.
He has had some experiences and been able to sponge
(50:12):
off some very respectable and highly thought of kickers to
kind of glean as much as he could. As he said,
he's never kicked here before, but he does understand bad weather,
and he has kicked outside here, and he's certainly done
his research and his homework. He feels like, you know,
(50:32):
this is a great shot. He's looking for the opportunity.
He's appreciative, and he feels as though he's prepared as
well as he can be.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Yeah. I mean, look, we see across the NFL every
season kickers kind of come out of nowhere, guys that
you would not expect to be, you know, NFL kickers
all of a sudden.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
I mean Brandon Aubrey literally came out of nowhere UFL.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
He is now the BEATFL he was in the spring league.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
Yeah, and he is now probably the best kicker in
the NFL, one of the bestest. He is the best.
You know.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
We see teams in recent years spend draft picks and
like high draft picks on kickers. It almost never works out.
The guy is on a new team by two seasons
into his career.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
So they do better on the second or third team
than the first team.
Speaker 3 (51:14):
Yes, so we don't know what to fully expect from
Ben Sol's you know, I'm acknowledging you know. It could
obviously go poorly, just like kind of the kicking operation
for a lot of the season has gone in general,
But it could also be you know, sort of like
a diamond in the rough situation.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
We don't know.
Speaker 3 (51:32):
We're gonna find out on Sunday and presumably the next
three weeks. I mean I would right now, he's the
only kicker on the roster, So yes, I would say
the job is his.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
Obviously.
Speaker 3 (51:42):
If Sunday goes very poorly, then their changes could be made,
similar to any other position.
Speaker 2 (51:49):
But I don't want the Giants to go into the
off season not having any idea who their kicker might
be next year. I would love to see this kid
have three great weeks at least a taste.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
Of some stability.
Speaker 3 (52:03):
Yeah, then you bring him back on some sort of
deal to bring him into training camp. I would assume
even if he does play well the next three weeks,
you probably bring in another guy as well, have some
sort of competition. But yeah, it would be fantastic if
we could go into the off season with at least,
you know, the inclination of all right, we might have
our kicker here, yep, so we'll see how he does.
Speaker 5 (52:25):
This.
Speaker 3 (52:25):
Sunday will be a big game. I don't know what
the weather is supposed to be like Sunday. I think
I heard it's actually supposed.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
To forty pretty nice.
Speaker 3 (52:31):
Yeah, So whether it should not be a concern today
and next week obviously going to Vegas in a dome,
whether it will not.
Speaker 1 (52:39):
Be a concern there, noll not.
Speaker 3 (52:41):
So that would potentially leave Week eighteen against the Cowboys
at MetLife Stadium as what could be the.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
Final weather game. Yes, the Giants face and sauls is
the potential kicker.
Speaker 2 (52:54):
Forty five degrees and only a six percent chance of
pre ship.
Speaker 1 (52:58):
So we like that. It looks real good. Looks real good.
For better than this morning. Uh.
Speaker 2 (53:03):
The other item that I just wanted to address real
quickly before we sign off. We only have a couple
of minutes left on the program if you want to
get in two A one nine three nine four five
one three.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
The other brief item to throw out there, Tyler.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Nuban, who was excused yesterday for personal reasons, was back
on campus today and practicing. At least that's what Mike
Kafka had said he would he would be out there today.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
So that's kind of nice. Uh.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
I bring that up because the safety spot kind of
raised some eyebrows.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
Last week.
Speaker 2 (53:32):
We saw Javon Holland returning punts and some of the
writers were very concerned about that because they've seen, as
we've all seen before, some Star regulars get punt return
duties over the years and get hurt yep. So a
question was asked about Holland's ability to do so and
(53:53):
why put him out there. Well, Gobriel and Kafka talked
about the fact that he's really really good in terms
of bilding the punts and catching the ball. You know,
he's been one of those guys since training camp who's
been in that. They have like seven or eight guys
who rotate since the beginning of camp who just kind
of practiced doing it even if they don't think they're.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
Going to be used.
Speaker 2 (54:14):
But what we were told is that they like Javon's
Holland's ability to field the ball, catch the ball, and
then I think Gobriol even said they like the way
he runs with it too. So that's why Javon Holland
was out there. Now, in all honesty, he is one
of your two starting safeties.
Speaker 1 (54:35):
I would prefer he's not.
Speaker 2 (54:37):
I don't know what they're going to do this week
or in the last three games as a whole. If
he will continue to be back there, I would think
Oshevski since he's been cleared, I would think Oshevsky will
be back there on part return duties. But I just
wanted to throw that out there for you because I
know there were some people who were very surprised shocked,
And I don't know if it was answered on any
(54:58):
of our other shows because we he didn't get answer
until we talked to Gobriel yesterday about why Holland was
was was get back there.
Speaker 3 (55:06):
I don't remember if it was Gobriel yesterday or Kafka wednesday,
but one of them said, like, yes, we put him
back there for everything you just said.
Speaker 1 (55:15):
But the expectation was most of the time he would
just call a fair catch, right, which it has not been.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
Yeah, which most of I feel like the puzzies field
that he has, he has not called a fair catch
on everyone.
Speaker 1 (55:28):
He did have a.
Speaker 3 (55:28):
Couple of small short returns but they said they put
him back there, as you mentioned, just because they feel
the felt the most confidence in him just being able
to cleanly field it.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
Not really expecting much, if any, of a return, but.
Speaker 3 (55:43):
Yeah, I would assume with Gunner Ochski back, you probably
will retake his role as the punt returner. He is
listed as the starting punt returner on the unofficial depth chart,
so as long as he plays, which he's been full
all week, I don't see why he wouldn't. I think
that would make him, say at least the favorite to
probably be the returner. Kafka did mention before that Tyler
(56:07):
Nuban returning to practice would be the only change to
the injury report from yesterday, which, going about off of
yesterday's I would assume that that means Bo Collins is
likely out because he DNP all week. Keeveon Thibodeau probably
out with DMPs all week, Natcho, same thing. Dimitrius Flannagan fouls.
(56:31):
I'm not sure because he's had an illness and that
you know, while players have missed obviously some practice days
because of illness, typically is not something that the guy
deals with for like an entire week that forces him
to miss the game.
Speaker 2 (56:44):
Sunday, and if he feels bad to tomorrow he'll probably Yeah,
so I would think, you know, unless it's some very
very bad illness.
Speaker 3 (56:51):
But I mean, if it's what's been going around to
everyone in the locker room and across the league, I
would assume that would put him on the right side
of questionable for Sunday, and then Evan Neil will probably
will not be activated. It sounds like if he's not
practicing again today because of he what did Kafka say
(57:12):
that he felt sore after his first full practice?
Speaker 1 (57:15):
Yeah, I believe they listed neck and hamstring.
Speaker 3 (57:19):
Evan no, I think just hamstring him. OK, So it
sounds like he will not be activated. I agree with
that for Sunday. Everyone else I would think puts them
on the right side of questionable at the very least.
You know, Drew Phillips has been limited in practice this week,
but three straight limited practices, I would think.
Speaker 1 (57:39):
That he will play.
Speaker 3 (57:40):
The only one that I'm interested to see is Jamie
Gillen because as a punter and it's your kicking leg
with the knee injury that one, you know, maybe they
want to see him get back to full before they
bring it back.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
I don't know. We should get the final injury report
in about an hour.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
And remember, Johnston is still all the roster.
Speaker 3 (58:00):
Austin is still on the practice squad. Yes, yeah, he's
still in the building.
Speaker 2 (58:03):
Elevated, elevated as a practice squad elevation for sure.
Speaker 1 (58:07):
Exactly. All right, folks, that'll do it for this edition
of Big Blue Kickoff Live.
Speaker 2 (58:11):
Presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New
York Football Giants. Remember, on Sunday, the Giants will host
the Minnesota Vikings a one o'clock kickoff. A pregame on
WFAN Radio here in New York starts at eleven am,
John Tiki Barber and myself. Then after the game you
can check out the two hour Giants postgame show on WFAN,
(58:31):
or as soon as the game's over, we have the
one hour MSG Giants Postgame Live as well.
Speaker 1 (58:38):
So we'll be busy.
Speaker 2 (58:39):
We hope you guys take the time to check us
out and enjoy some New York Giants football.
Speaker 1 (58:44):
Until then, we.
Speaker 2 (58:45):
Are coming to you from the Hackensack Meridian.
Speaker 1 (58:48):
Health Podcast studio.
Speaker 2 (58:50):
Keep getting better on Paul Tatino, He's mat Sidetech and
we will see you next time.
It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff line.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
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because you're.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
On Giants dot Com. Do you know what I saw
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Part of the Giants Podcast Network. Let's go on craz
Dogs Fun. Hello again, everybody, and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
To Friday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live, presented by Cadillac,
the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants.
We come to you from the Giants Podcast Studio presented
by Hackensack Meridian Health Keep getting Better Paul Tatino, along
with Matt Sidetak, We'll be here for the next hour.
We will talk Giants football with you as they prepare
(00:48):
for Sunday's home game against.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
The Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
In addition to that, folks, as you know the Giants
coming into this last home stretch. Yeah, yes, they are
trying to win. Obviously. Mike Kafka has said this ad
infinitum as everybody keeps asking them about how do you
approach these games? And it's all about trying to win games.
But this game in particular for me, Matt holds a
(01:14):
very special interest and folks, if you think about it
for a second, you'll understand where I'm coming from. There
are two reasons why I really am extremely excited about
this game and have this under the microscope, even though
standings wise.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
It doesn't mean a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Okay, and by the way, I'm not talking about draft
pack either. Let's hear it, let's get let's make that clear,
because you and I I don't yes, of course we
don't subscribe to that stuff. I have two things that
I'm very very very very interested in in this game.
The first one is obvious. Jackson Dart is going to
face the most complex, chaotic blitz package that the NFL
(01:58):
has to offer because of Ryan Flores, the Vikings defensive coordinator, who,
no doubt, given his history with interviewing with this organization,
is going to throw more than the kitchen sink at
Jackson Dart on Sunday, and I'm sure very badly is
going to want to win this game and do what
he can to wreck havoc on the Giants offense. That's
(02:20):
what Floraes does now for Dance from his perspective, you
know you talk about an education that he's receiving this
year as a rookie. There are few things better, in
all honesty, few things better than being thrown into a
situation like this. Against that scenario, I'm really excited to
(02:48):
see how he handles it, and to be honest with you, folks,
and I.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Again the final score.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Sure, the Giants want to win, and that's clearly what
everybody in that locker room wants as well, But I'm
more focused on how does Jackson Dart do against a
very uniquely challenging defense of which he has not seen
anything like what the Vikings will throward him on Sunday
(03:19):
and will not in the next two weeks as the
season closes down.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
This is a big deal for me.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, I was about to say this is by far
and away Jackson's toughest challenge remaining on the schedule because
no offense to Patrick Graham of the Raiders or Matt
Eberfliff's of the Cowboys, but they don't bring quite the
same punch to their defense and their defensive systems as
Brian Flores does with the Vikings. This is going to
(03:46):
be a great test for Jackson. As you mentioned, something
he has not faced ever before, won't face.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
For the next couple of weeks. This at this time
of year.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I mean we've said this now for the last couple
of weeks, but this time of year, the thing that
we want to see most is just some of these
young players on the roster that will be here next
year and moving forward to see them have some breakout
performances like we saw from Abdullah last week. That was
a great step in the right direction for Abdul Carter
last week. Now, Jackson in the second half was great
(04:16):
against the Commanders. He really struggled in the first half though,
So if he could put together a more complete performance
against this defense on Sunday, Not that we're already not feeling,
you know, encouraged about the promising start to Jackson Dart's career,
but it would just you know, go a little bit
further and giving us even more confidence that he's ready
(04:39):
to be, you know, the guy for this team in
twenty twenty six and moving forward.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It would be a significant step for him, it really would. Now,
just to make sure you guys totally understand why we're
not just kind of going with a crazy narrative here.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
These are legitimate facts.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
About this Vikings defense that you guys ought to be
away as you watch Jackson Dart try to navigate the
hurdles that they're going to throw at him. First of all,
they by far lead the NFL in blitz percentage on
passing downs at forty three percent.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
That's number one. So they're coming.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Hard and often, all right, basically.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
A staple of the Brian Flores defense.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
That's what he does. Okay, he's like even more wink
than wink. Okay, that's number one.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Number two.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I don't have their blitz percentage against running place. Nobody
seems to keep that. I don't know why, but nobody seems.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
To keep that.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But tackles for a loss this year, which does indicate
getting hit behind the line of scrimmage, which of course
is a byproduct of sending guys. They have eighty five
tackles for losses this year, which is third in the
NFL okay. So it's like a wave of purple all right.
In addition to that, I also should tell you that
(06:03):
opponents in the red zone only forty touchdown conversion rate,
which is tied for second best in the NFL okay.
This is a legitimate a legitimate mountain that Jackson Dart
is going to have to navigate on Sunday. Those three
things right there, those are all big, big time, big
(06:25):
time numbers for this Vikings defense.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
They are overall ninth in.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yardage allowed, so ninth best in terms of fewest yards
allowed by the opponent, and they are the fifth best
passing defense according to yardage allowed. These are all critical
rankings that all point toward Jackson Dart having to navigate
a difficult day.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I had someone say to me last night, well, how
many sacks do they have? Why don't they have more
sacks than the Broncos if they send all these guys. Well,
because Flores, much like Wick Martindale, believes that pressure's pressure
breaks pipes.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
It's not just about the sacks.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
It's about the pressure and the chaos you cause that
forces your opponent into making mistakes. And sometimes pressure is
better than a sack because a pressure may force a
turnover or a significant loss, which is just as good
as a sack. If it turns out to be a
(07:31):
run and it's a seven yard loss, it could you know.
So that's why despite the fact that they only have
thirty five sacks on the season, which is tied for
eleventh in the league. They don't have huge sack numbers.
The other item that's important to note, and I don't
know if you did any of this in your preview
(07:52):
that you did for Giants dot com. They've got thirteen
different players who have at least the sack this year,
which shows you the variety of guys and the variety
of packages. It's not just the frequency of his blitzes,
it's the variety of what he's sending. That's why people
(08:15):
call this defense chaos.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I mean he is probably the best defensive play caller
in terms of disguising his looks, I mean, disguising where
the blitz is coming from. He blitzes a lot, but
it is very tough for opposing offenses of offensive lines
to figure out where exactly the blitz is coming from,
because you know, they'll have you know, six guys up
on the front and then all of a sudden, two
(08:39):
of them drop back at the snap and someone else
that wasn't even on the front he's the one that
gets sent in as the blitzer. So Tim Kelly was
talking about this yesterday, how like, as we've said, this
is gonna be a tough test for Jackson. He hasn't
seen a defensive system quite like this, But and Mike
Kafki also mentioned today, Jackson has done a great job
of being able to recognize defenses from the looks that
(09:03):
he gets pre snap and very quickly post snap being
able to sort of interpret the defensive look that he's getting.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So this is certainly going to be the.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Toughest challenge for him in that regard, because again, Flores
does a tremendous, tremendous job of confusing opposing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Quarterbacks, and I'm talking about quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Veterans that have been around the league a long time
and have seen a lot of looks, and he still
confuses them with all the different looks that he presents.
One other stat I just I saw from next Gen
Stats that pertains to this is Jackson has been getting
the ball out in under two point five seconds, which
is sort of the barometer they use for quarterbacks, at
(09:44):
the seventh highest rate of any quarterback in the NFL's
pretty good, and he's success. He's had success when getting
it out quickly. However, the Vikings have allowed the second
lowest completion percentage to quarterbacks when they throw throw in
under two point five seconds.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So even though.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Quarterbacks are trying to get rid of the ball quickly
to you know, help cancel out these blitzes that they
don't know where it's coming from, the defense is prepared
for it and have been doing a good job of
at least at the very least getting their hands on
the ball or forcing incomplete passes.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
So, yeah, this is.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
This is going to be another great challenge for Jackson,
and if he can come out and have another performance
like he did in the second half against the Commanders,
but do it for all four quarters against this defense,
that'll be very, very impressive and have all of us
feeling even better about him, you know, as the season
comes nearing its end.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Now the cap off the Dart point. So the Vikings
defense leads the NFL with pressures on forty one percent
of their plays. So even though they're not getting the
huge sack numbers, the pressure numbers are there. And by
the way, that does translate into the Vikings who have
(10:59):
absolutely caused all kinds of havoc in the backfield. It
translates into when you look at their defensive numbers and
you look at the fact that they shut out Washington.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Thirty one and nothing two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yep, okay, they held the Bears to nineteen points. I know,
you know Cincinnati early in the season they held them
to ten. They're giving up twenty two points a game,
which is thirteenth in the league, but there have been
several that's an average.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
There are several games they've been under that.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So on any given week, they are fully capable of
making life very very difficult for you to score.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
As I said, the red zone.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Number is just ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
All right, Yeah, this is not a team that you
want to get too far behind. No and their offense
the last couple of weeks has looked a lot better
and paired with how the Giants defense has played for
basically the last two months, you know, it'll be a
challenge for Jackson and the whole offense. If they're you know,
trailing two touchdowns early and have to play from behind,
(12:04):
and the Vikings defense really gets to just pin its
ears back and get after Jackson, that is going to
make it a very long and tough day for the
Giants offense.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So got to get out to a fast.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Start, so this would be a real feather in Dart's
cap if he is able to produce and certainly at
a high level against this defense, I will give you
their one Achilles heel. I don't know if you if
you were able to research this, the one Achilles heel.
The Vikings have, unfortunately with their offense, which is really
(12:39):
bad with turnovers.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Oh, they've thrown twenty interceptions this year. They lead the NFL,
and given the ball away for picks. It's about field position.
That's the one way that you can score against this
defense without having to navigate Mount Everest is if you
get a turnover and get really easy field position. That's
(13:02):
and unfortunately for them, that's why their record is six
and eight, okay, because their defense has really put them
in a lot. I mean, their offense has put them
in a lot of bad spots over the course of
the season and then made things really difficult and stressed
out their defense.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
That's the one thing.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
If they are put in a really tight spot by
their offense, like any good d you can take advantage
of them, all right, It's that simple. But don't expect
to necessarily move the ball downfield effectively against them, and
don't expect to hit big plays. By the way, opponents
only have twenty nine pass plays or of twenty yards
(13:43):
or more against the Vikings this year, fewest than the NFL,
So you're not gonna hit any bombs, or probably not
too many.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
They don't give up too many of those big explosive plays.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
All Right, Enough about Dart, but that's why this is
a huge game for me watching him.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I in the worst way want to see.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Jackson Dart have a really good game Sunday, even if
the Giants lose. For goodness sakes, I want him to
play really well. Yeah, that would be great. With number
two Abdul Carter Folks. Christian Darisaw is supposed to be
the starting left tackle for the Vikes, but he hasn't
practiced all week.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Correct he's hurt.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yep, we don't know for sure, but we don't think
he's going to play.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
I mean it depends.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
If he sits out practice again today, that would certainly
put him on the wrong side of questionable.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Right, we don't have the injury report yet for today.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
If he gets out there in any sort of capacity,
I would say that would make him trending the other.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Way towards Sudio. So we'll find out soon enough.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Here's why it's a huge game for Abdul Carter. Since
his second disciplinary situation that forced him to miss the
first quarter against the Patriots, he has played seven really
good sound quarters of football, quarters two through four against
New England in which he also won a sack, and
(15:06):
then four terrific quarters last weekend against Washington YEP which
he again back to back games with sacks, career high
seven tackles last week, career high three tackles for a
loss last week career high two forced fumbles in a game.
Also recovered his second fumble in the season. He was
impactful by many organizations. He was an NFC Rookie of
(15:29):
the Week, was he not?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
He was Pro Football Focuses Rookie of the Week. He
made the Pro Football Focus Overall Team of the Week.
He was their highest ranked edge defender across the NFL.
In Week fifteen, he was nominated for the PEPSI Rookie
of the Week award. But and we could have a
whole episode on this, but he did not win to
(15:51):
Corey Krosky Merit of the Commanders one And that's what
we could go into this later. But yeah, there's a
guy on Reddit who basically has rigged the system for
the PEPSI Rookie of the Week oh reward.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Every single week he like, at the beginning of the week.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Will say who who he wants to win, and then
that guy has literally won every single time. Anytime the
commander is nominated, the commander players won. Anytime a commander,
no commander has been nominated and a different player in
the NFC East was nominated having the best stats of
that week, no one else in the NFC East has won.
(16:25):
For example, just real quick, the week that Scatt had
the three touchdowns against the Eagles, Yes, and he clearly
should have won, you know, one hundred yards three touchdowns.
Ted McMillan from the Panthers won having caught three passes
for like twenty five yards and two touchdowns. And it's
because there's this one guy who at the beginning of
the season said I found a way to rig the system.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Oh he told people, he wrote on Reddit.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
There's a post on Reddit saying I found a way
to rig the system, and every week that he has
wanted someone to win, that that person has won. Sorry
to go off an little tangent there, it's just ridiculous
that that's how the Rookie of the Week award gets decided.
And I know it's great that it's a fan vote, but.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Do you think that's actually how it gets decided. But
he's actually found a way.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I mean, because he's literally, at the beginning of each
week has like said, player X is gonna win, and
player X has won every single time.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It's crazy. I don't think that's after the games.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, Like once they announced who the finalists are for
the award each week, he says, Look.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I trust you you've been keeping track.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, anytime a commander's been nominated, even if he's like,
by far and away the worst finalist, the commander player
has won.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Wow. Sorry to go off on. It's good that you
let people know. That's good.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
It's crazy and I wish I could say, you know,
let giants fans, let's all go out and vote, but
it sounds like it wouldn't even make a difference because
this guy has found a way to just completely rig it.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Wow. All right for the commanders.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
But here is the point though about Carter. So not
only do you want him to continue stacking and have
a third consecutive good game, which I would be really
happy to see because I want him to finish out
this season by kicking people's.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Butt every week.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yes, all right, because that does mean something. Sure, it
means that he's figured it out. It means that he
is matured into the spot. He understands what it is
to be a pro. And now you know what you're
going to get out of him moving forward. You won't
be sitting there in the off season saying, hmm, I
wonder if he's mentally focused the way he needs to be. Right,
(18:30):
So you're on board with me on this one, all right?
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Now, if Darisol.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Plays, we know he's a quality left tackle. Okay, depending
upon which which firm you you you want to grat
use their grades. He's either given up two or three
sacks so far this season. Depends on which which people
you want to you want to believe. But here's what
I want to tell you. If daris Aw plays, that's
(18:56):
a legitimate challenge, and if he beats him, it's a
real feather in cap. If he doesn't play, just in
school is going to be the starting left tackle for
the Minnesota Vikings. If you don't know who he is,
I don't blame you. He is a six year pro
who came into the league with San Francisco and played
(19:17):
for Tampa Bay and is basically a journeyman tackle. He
is their third tackle. Okay, he would be the starting
left tackle this season, although he has played sparingly in
some other games. In his six starts, he has allowed
five sacks.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
He is a guy.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Who is, as many scouts like to say, a ja
G just a guy.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
He is not of.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Higher ilk, which means Abdul Carter. If that's the guy
you're lining up across from on Sunday, you.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Need to have a big game. Yeah, agree completely.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
You know, I've written about Abdul in a few of
my different articles throughout the week. Obviously, as you mentioned,
he's been fantastic the last seven quarters. I mean, yes,
he's got the sackson back to back games, the forced
fumbles last week. He's gotten ten total pressures over the
last seven quarters combined. You know, this is the Abdul
Carter I think everyone was expecting. Yeah, when the Giants
(20:21):
selected him third overall. And he's had some tough matchups.
I mean his matchup last week against the Commanders, it
wasn't easy. No, going up against Laramie Tunsel and at
least for while Tunsa was out there, right, and then
you know, occasionally also lining up against Josh Connolly, But
this is probably his toughest matchup remaining on the schedule.
(20:43):
I mean, I guess I'm not sure is Colton Miller healthy.
I thought I saw he was banged up.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
I thought he was hurting too.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Yeah, Colton Miller is a fantastic tackle. If he's playing,
that would obviously be a very tough matchup as well,
But we'll just focus on this week. But Christian darrisol is,
when healthy, could play like a top tackle in the NFL.
He's been a little inconsistent this year, but we've seen
him do it before at a very high level. So yeah,
(21:10):
if Abdull can take advantage and win this matchup this week,
similar to what we're just talking about with Jackson going
up against the Flora's defense, that would just be a
such an encouraging sign of growth and development from Abdull Carter. Again,
he's twenty two years old. He turned twenty two after
like a month into the season. I know he got
(21:30):
obviously got off to a rough start to his career
with you know.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
The half sack through twelve games.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Then there was a couple of disciplinary matters. You would hope,
especially after the second incident whatever happened, that he's learned
his lesson in terms of the off the field stuff.
And based on what the coaches, like Charlie Bullen was
talking about this yesterday, it certainly seems like Abdull has
taken a big step the last couple of weeks in
(21:57):
terms of his maturity all for the field, in terms of,
you know, making sure you're on time, not.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Missing any meetings anything like that.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
He's been coming in early, coming in early, even and
Charlie Bollen said yesterday that not only has he himself
done everything that he possibly can in terms of off
field preparation, but that he's also encouraged and brought some
of the other guys in the room and just on
the defense with him, like to these early sessions too,
these extra overtime film sessions or whatever it might be.
(22:28):
So it certainly seems like Abdul has over the last
few weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I don't want to keep saying.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Like learned his lesson, but that is kind of what
it seems like, hopefully, and so it would be great
if he can continue this clearly extra effort in the
off field work to then translate to more production on
the field, because obviously the consistent production was the one
(22:55):
thing we did not see from him the first twelve weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
So he had some flashes some games.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
With presures, but it wasn't really resulting in any actual
on field production. And so the last seven quarters we
have seen that, and it would be fantastic and have
all of us feeling again a lot better about just
like the overall direction of some of this young nucleus,
if Ablu Carter.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
These last three games can just ball.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Out get a couple more sacks and then all of
a sudden, you know, we were looking at half a
sack in his sax season total through twelve games. If
he somehow finishes with like five sacks, obviously going into
the year we all thought that probably would be higher,
but considering how the season started, that would be a
fantastic way for him to end the season.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
In spite of the inconsistencies. And maybe this stat actually
shows you the inconsistencies. Next Gen stats, right, they define
quick pressures as any pressure under two point five seconds, right,
next Gen stat says he's got thirty one of these
quick pressures this year, which is fourth most in the
entire National Football League, which tells you when he wins
(24:02):
his snap he is potent. Yeah, but the inconsistencies come
from the fact that there were too many snaps where
he's not winning, and there are too many snaps where
over the first two thirds plus of the season he
was neutralized.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, that's the problem. And also, like, obviously, pressures are great.
You'd rather a pressure than nothing at all, But pressures
only get you so far. And you know, as you
mentioned earlier, like, yes, some pressures can lead to turnovers,
can lead to bad decisions made by the quarterback, but
some of those pressures need to result in sacks because
the negative players really sets the offense behind. Once you
(24:41):
get behind the chains, it's tough to overcome that. So
the pressures are great and you obviously you love to
see it, but he does need to do a better
job of translating some of those pressures into actual sacks,
which we haven't did not see him do for most
of the season, but again in the last two weeks,
seems like he's kind of flipped a switch in that regard.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
So those are the two things that you know, I'm
really gonna be focused on Sunday, and I get it again,
these guys really want to win, so of the coaches,
I just would love to see those two guys have
terrific games. You would think that would enhance the Giants'
chances to win, obviously, but it's also theoretically possible both
(25:25):
guys could play really well and the Giants could still
fall short.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I mean, for sure we kind of saw that at
least in the second half of last week's game. Both
guys did play great, yes, and we did didn't still
resulted in an eight point loss.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
The evidence is there. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
So in addition to those two guys, and this is
kind of connected to at least the Jackson part, but
I'm also very interested to see just how the offensive
line as a unit performs against this defense and the
blitz package from Brian Flores, because I know we've spoken
about it, you know, at times, especially the last like
a month or two, the offensive line is really playing
great year and it's getting overlooked because of obviously the
(26:03):
two and twelve record. Yeah, but you know, and I've
mentioned this before with you PFF does that weekly offensive
line ranking where they ranked the offensive lines across the
league for the whole season. Giants moved up. Now they're
nine in the entire league according to PFF. But again,
PFF is not the end all be all, but no
they're not. But I mean, if you told us before
(26:24):
the season started the Giants at least from the PFF
ranking would be have a top ten offensive line, we
all would have signed up for that in a heartbeat. Yeah,
So this is another very tough test. Just like it
is for Jackson, it's a tough test for the offensive
linement as well, if they can have another good, clean
game and also continue to get the run game going
(26:44):
because Tyron Tracy's you know, he's really picked it up
this last month or so. Other than the one Patriots
game that he left early, He's got ninety seven or
more total yards from scrimmage in his last three full games.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
He's averaging sixteen touches for one hundred yards a game.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Yeah, he's looked great. So this will be a very
good test for the whole offense, starting with the offensive line.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Jackson, Tyrone the mess, big responsibility for the center to
deal with this Vikings blitz package. And I was talking
to Tyrone Tracy the other day and he said he
is really looking forward to this because he wants to
know how far he's come in terms of being able
to help keep his quarterback standing up.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Yeah, this is just a good barometer for everyone on
the offense going up against this defense.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
The wide receivers too.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
The Vikings have been phenomenal at limiting opposing wide receivers
this season, so it might be tough sledding for Wandel Robinson,
Darius Slayton, the whole wide receiver corps. But if they
can get some level of production against this defense. Again,
it's just the season is what it is, but it
would just be an encouraging step in the right direction
(27:54):
as we head towards the off season where there will
be a lot of decisions to make up and down
on the roster.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Final thought about this, just so you know who you're
looking for again, it's a variety of guys that are
going to be coming on the blitz. Their leading sack
guy for the year is inside linebacker, Believe it or not,
Eric Wilson, who has five and a half, tied with
Dallas Turner, last year's number one pick, who also has
(28:22):
five and a half and their right end Jalen Redman
has five. Now, ironically, the guy with the best sack
resume is Jonathan Greenard.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Who's out. He's out. He's got a shoulder injury.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
He's an ending shoulder and he's only got three sacks
on the season. Now, when he was with the Houston Texans,
he was a guy who kicked it after the quarterback.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
He had double digitsat I mean even last year with
the Vikings he had twelve. He did he was a
pro bowler.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
So you know, he is their most dangerous individual sack artist.
But this is about the combination of guys and the
scheme more than it is about one particular guy, because
again they don't even have anybody with more than six acts.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah, but as we're talking about these Vikings pass rushers,
you should also note in terms of the injury report,
what's the name Javon Hargrave defense, veteran defensive lineman. Three
sacks on the three and a half sacks on the season,
which ranks fifth on the Vikings. He is not practiced
yet this week, so similar boat to Christian dearisaw. We'll
(29:31):
see what the injury report says today. He's dealing with
a thigh injury. You know, the Vikings are in a
similar situation to the Giants in terms of they are
out of the playoffs. The playoffs are not going to
happen this year. So at this point of the year,
when you have guys banged up, coaches need to make
decision is it worth, you know, trying to have a
guy fight through an injury for a game. I don't
(29:53):
want to say that's meaningless, but it doesn't have playoff
implications at least, So we'll have to keep an eye
out on the injury report, which we should.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Get in the next hour or two. Another good battle
to watch.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
And I'm just trying to make this game interesting for
you folks, because I know a lot of people probably
don't have a lot of interest in this game. But
you know, if you want to get your eyes on
the microscope here, there are some really, really good football
battles to watch. Cordell Flat against Justin Jefferson. I mean,
Flatt's given up one touchdown pass all season.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
He has been dynamite.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
That one scares me a little and has nothing to
do with Flat. It's just the fact of Jefferson. We
all know how good Justin Jefferson is the fact that
his numbers on the season look like they do, and
especially his numbers the last couple of weeks. You know,
we talked about how the Vikings have sixty five points
over the last two games. That's what Jefferson doing basically nothing.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
He's been really down. That scares me.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Really seems like he's kind of due for one of
those Justin Jefferson explosion games, and I certainly hope it's
not going to come this week.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
In the last three games, he's combined for six catches.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
In thirty seven yards. That's insane.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Now, apparently he and JJ McCarthy are not very much
on the same page. McCarthy wants to dump off a
lot more short and medium range passes. Jefferson is used
to going longer. Their timing has not been very good,
and consequently, all of a sudden, Justin Jefferson has been
somewhat of a pedestrian receiver. In fact, there's numbers for
(31:20):
the season. He's got one one hundred yard game that
was in the first month against Pittsburgh, when he caught
ten passes for one hundred and twenty six yards. For
the year, sixty six catches for over six hundred and
thirty yards at only twelve and a half yards a
catch and only two touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
That is not a Justin Jefferson stat line, especially the
touchdowns part.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
I mean, there are four players on the Vikings that
have more receiving touchdowns than Justin Jefferson, and two of
them are tight ends.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
All right, so that's insane.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
What I will say to you is Jefferson's on the down.
He's got three weeks to try to resuscitate his electricity
going into the offseason. I do think it would be
a feather in Cordel Flott's cap if he can keep
him down.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
And to LSU guys, so you know they're both gonna be,
oh yeah, extra interested in taking advantage of the matchup
and beating the other guy.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
All right, So folks, uh, that sets the table for
Sunday's game at home against the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
I just think there was some very fascinating.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Football stories to be looking for matchups that that really
got my blood pumping, even though we're talking about two
also ran teams trying to finish up the end of
the regular season.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
All right, let's go to the phones.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
At two one nine three, nine four five one three.
Coach Marvin is first on the show today.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
Hello, coach, how are you doing? Paul and Matt all right?
Speaker 1 (32:48):
How are you? How are you?
Speaker 5 (32:50):
I'm doing okay, I'm doing all right. I was listening
to the show yesterday. I wanted to comb it on
that a little bit. But that thing Matt was just
talking about about the player of the week, I'm hoping
the NFL is going to investigate something like that that
that shouldn't be happening.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
I hope so too.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
But this guy known in week one that he was
able to do it, and nothing has changed so far.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
But I hope you're right, coach.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Yeah, hopefully this week. Yeah, it's a tough defense they plan.
But the one thing I like about Dart is that
he has very good pocket awareness, and and I think
that they do send those guys they got to be
careful of him because he also had that escapability to
(33:37):
get outside. So hopefully that will be an advantage for Dart.
But it's a difficult defense to figure out because they've
got so many moving parts to their defense. Correct, you
don't know who's who, and but I'm hoping and thinking
that his pocket awareness, which is he's excellent in that
(33:59):
will help him now. Because the reason I bought that
up also is because Charlie from Maine was talking and
and Charlie Wilson, those guys, I never try to put
down what they say. I kind of like listen to
what they're saying, and they have some some really concerns
(34:24):
that I can agree with. I think they kind of
like jump over the cliff a little bit. Because he
was talking about Dark yesterday, that Dark he don't like Dark,
and that that surprised me that he said that, And
because you know, he said that Dark may not make
it through his career, which I if he keeps playing
I feel it's reckless. He may be correct in that manner.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Coach, if I can ask you to pause for half
a second, I think you would probably agree with me.
Maybe you won't, but I thought last week against Washington,
Dark took a big step forward. I don't think he
did anything reckless against the Commanders last week, and it
was the first game that I thought of his nine
NFL starts this season where I could honestly tell you
(35:14):
there was not one play that made me WinCE.
Speaker 5 (35:19):
I agree with you, Paul, Yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't
concerned in the Washington game at all.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
And that's a good sign.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Yeah, And that's the learning career he has to get.
I remember in August, people was concerned about him diving
head first for touchdowns. I remember they talking about that
he was doing it, and then Dable was telling him
to calm down a little bit. But you know, it's
just just concerned that.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Men.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
Lance got into it a little bit. I'm sorry for
the listeners that heard that, but I believe those guys.
Once a quarterback runs out there, they come in after
him and and they and if you're not gonna slide,
they're gonna make you pay for it. And and I
just think he's a very I loved how elusive he is.
(36:10):
But I think he's got to take a page out
of some of these guys books and know when to
make those runs on first the first series of the game.
You don't want to take on linebackers trying to get
a first down, you know, I mean, you have to
pick your spots on that. But Wilson was not Wilson,
(36:32):
but Charlie was said he didn't like him, and I
was wondering what Charlie thinks about the how accurate he
can be downfield. A lot of times our guys are
dropping passes that he putting right on the money with
the with the defensive back right on him. So he's
shown that he can anticipate, he has accuracy, and I
(36:53):
love those things in a quarterback, and he's elusive. I
just like him to protect himself. And that's all I hear.
If anybody that watches the game talk about is that,
you know, they don't want him to take as many
hits that he's taken. And that's just a small concern.
And my last part Jonathan was on also. I wanted
to talk to him yesterday because he was talking about
(37:13):
we always talking about the Giants culture, and the culture
is from the Lawrence Taylor days, from the straight Hand days,
justin Tug and all of that, and those guys were
like leaders, and we don't really have one of those
vocal leaders. I'm not saying we don't have leaders, but
we don't have a leader among leaders. And then he
(37:35):
made a great point that we have guys. The guys
that's been here is Slayton Index to Lawrence, and I
can't remember the other maybe Andrew Thomas may be the
other one that has the most time here in the
with the Giants organization. And those are really soft spoken people.
(37:57):
I'm not gonna say they can't get into somebody. They're
really to me, they're soft spoke.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Well, there's no intro role kind of guy coach, right,
Andro role was was like a rabbit dog and he
would let you know about it an art beat.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
Right, And that's what you need, Paul. You need those
guys on the table. So they do have them, and
they are in the young guys that are coming neighbors
is one of those guys. Dark is one of those guys.
Because and Scataboo because if you notice, a lot of
people kind of gravitate to these guys, and I think
(38:34):
that's what Scatabuu brings. Because I have people here from
Philadelphia stopping me in the parking lot because they see
I got giant stuff on. And they were talking about
that Eagles game, but mainly they were talking about Scataboo
and how much they respect them only what he played
about one half or a quarter in that game. And
those people grab the.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Game in Philly, Yeah, the game in Philly.
Speaker 5 (38:57):
He got hurt, right, the one in Philly, and those
people in that stadium gravitated to him, and the people
on that team gravitate to him. If you notice when
he was hurt and they were talking about that thing.
We even to WWE. He had his players with him,
But who was the one in the middle, in the
front of those players that duel Carter was there, but
(39:18):
it was Scataboo. They went with Scatabool. Scataboo didn't go
with them. They look at that event with Scataboo and
that's the leadership you need, and that's what we need
them to have. And I think a lot of that
comes from when we get our next coach, what does
he what kind of discipline he brings in? And people
don't believe in culture, but culture is real and I
(39:41):
believed in that. I've coached a team that didn't do
well in my first year. I put that. That's what
I put, that discipline in them, and the thing we
live by this my last part of the day is
I always say to this team and I can text
them right now, any of those players that played for me,
and I will say we're going to start together and
(40:01):
we're going to and they all and I say, they
don't say it unless you believe it. We're going to
finish together and we still live that today and that's
the culture you have to bring to this team.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Thank you, coach.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
You guys have a merry Christmas. You took to you
Next week.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
I hope we do get to talk to you again,
but if we don't, happy holiday, Thank you, coach. Thoughts
about what we have seen from practice and from Dart
and from talking to the coordinators and Kafka this week
in terms of the mentality of this team and how
together they continue to be. You've been in that locker
(40:37):
room as I have. This locker room is very upbeat.
I know it's a terrible record that they have, but
if you go in that locker room, you would not
know what the record is.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Yeah, I mean there's no doubt whatsoever. This team is
still fighting and trying to win football games. And I
know some fans might not want to hear that because
of the conversation unfortunately we've had all too often this
time of year the last couple of seasons.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
But this team is still going out and trying to win,
you know.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
I mean, there's no giving up from the locker room,
which obviously that is a good thing. You don't want
guys giving up and just mailing it in at the
end of the season because they're eliminated and the record
is what it is. You want to see them continue
to fight now. It would be great if, you know,
showing this fight actually led to a win or two.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I know, because I don't know.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
Yeah, this team is not given up, everyone, starting with Jackson.
I mean, Jackson has really seemingly taking a step in
his leadership. I mean he's one of the voices in
the locker room. Now, would you guys listen to him?
Speaker 2 (41:43):
That a few weeks ago, after I forget which loss
it was, he seemed really downtrodden after the game, and
people said to me, it looks like the losing is
starting to get to him and beat him down. But
I think since then he's reversed his field and he
seems like he's gained his his his mojo again.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
So it was after the Patriots game in the locker
room the day after, right before everyone left for the
bye week. You're right, that was probably the most I
guess dejected I've heard Jackson in any of his media sessions.
They you know, left got a couple of days off,
we're out of the building for a few days. Came
back and he looked like his old self in terms
(42:25):
of how he his composure, how he spoke to the media,
how he was you know, I'm sure his demeanor with
his teammates did not change much, but you're right that
that one day in the locker room he did seem different.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
You know, it was his first game back.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
He did not have a great game against the Patriots,
and that Monday night matchup took the big hit where
the whole narrative was all about him not being able
to protect himself, which I'm sure he's sick of hearing
that by now. So yeah, but since then, all of
last week, all of this week, he has been you know,
that chipper leader, like standing in front of the room
(43:02):
type of guy, let's go get it, let's go get it,
let's go win this game. Which obviously he's twenty two
years old, he's a rookie, but hopefully you will be
around here for a very long time and leading this
team for a while. Hopefully that is the type of
leadership that you want from your quarterback, from hopefully your
franchise quarterback.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Special Olympics New Jersey's annual snowball is seting the Rutgers
Football Stadium in twenty twenty six. This annual flag football
tournament will be on the field from March sixth through
the eighth next year. The six on six tournament will
feature competitive recreational in co ed divisions, and all proceeds
benefit thousands of Special Olympics New Jersey athletes across the
(43:41):
Garden State. Register your team today at New Jersey Snowbowl
dot org. That's Njsnowbowl dot org. Pearson, anything coming up
this week on a huddle that everybody needs to know about?
Speaker 4 (43:54):
Yes, we just posted the Tyrone Tracy interview. It's about
a twenty minute interview. He talks about his two touchdown
game last week, about the Vikings defense coming up, and
then on the audio version, we have a preview with
Matthew Caller covers the Vikings and then Mike Kafka and
Bob pop I have their weekly interview as well.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
All right, good stuff. As always, John's always filling up
stuff in the huddle again. You can subscribe by going
to your favorite podcast platform or go to giants dot com,
Slash podcasts, Apple podcasts, wherever it is that you go
to get them every week. We always try to fill
up a lot of stuff there to enhance your enjoyment
of New York Giants football. All right, before we get
(44:31):
to anymore calls, and if you'd like to give us
a dial, it's two on one nine three nine four
five one three. We've got one about fifteen minutes or
so left, maybe ten minutes or so left in the program.
The other item that I wanted to talk about, Matt
is that, and I kind of don't want to bring
it up, but I have to. The Giants have another
new kicker this week, Yes they do. And from listening
(44:54):
to Mike Kafka today, Ben Soles has you know, the
for University of Pittsburgh kicker who's a rookie. He's been
in a few camps, but this would be his NFL debut,
and it certainly sounds like they're committed to having him kick.
His long in college was of fifty eight yards in
(45:15):
terms of made field goals. But Mike talked about him,
and so did Gobriel, Michael Gobriel, the special teams coordinator, yesterday,
they feel pretty good about his prospects.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yeah, I mean, look, it's, as you mentioned, a guy
that has never taken an actual kick in an NFL
regular season game, So in that sense, you don't know
exactly what to expect. But coming from the University of Pittsburgh,
he's kicked in weather. I don't think weather is going
to be a concern with him. It's not like he's
a guy that has played his whole collegiate career kicking
(45:49):
in a dome or in warm weather. He's probably used to,
you know, crazy wins and cold winters, cold falls. The
thing that I found interesting, which Dan Salomon pointed out
to John and I, was that so Sauls will be
the fifth different player to attempt to kick for the
(46:10):
Giants this season, because there's the three kickers and then
Jamie had the one extra point he attempted. Wow, five
different players attempt to kick. Across the rest of the
NFL thirty one other teams, there have been thirty eight
players total that have kicked, So it comes out into
an average around one point two kickers per team. And
(46:31):
then this will be the Giants fit. So that's an
unfortunate situation. Then, obviously, you know, stemmed from the injury
issues with Graham Gano. Obviously going into the year the
expectation was that Graham would be the kicker for the
whole season, and you know.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Yes, he is a.
Speaker 3 (46:50):
On the older side, a veteran kicker, but still I
don't think anyone could have fully expected the injuries that
he has dealt with. And obviously, you know, young Wayku
was brought in to what everyone thought would be that
veteran kicker to come fill in for the rest of
the season. Obviously he had his own struggles kicking in
(47:10):
this environment, in this you know, with the weather. He
had a career in Atlanta kicking in a dome. So
now we're onto Ben Saals. Then the one thing that
Dan also pointed out to me last night, which I
did not even think about prior to him bringing this up, is.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Ben sALS is a lefty. Yes, so we're switching it up.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
The whole field goal unit is switching it up from
what they've been doing all season.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
But as they say, the operation, the operation. Yes.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
But the one thing that I think is a little interesting,
we don't know for sure if Jamie Gillen is playing.
He's been limited in practice this week, which I would
think would maybe put him towards the better side of
questionable but we don't know for sure.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Right his injury has been left knee injury. If he
is the.
Speaker 3 (48:01):
Punter on Sunday, presumably I would think he would be
the holder as well.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
I mean, that is a role that he's had since
being it's his usual job.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
But with a lefty kicker, that means he'd be going
down on his bad knee as the holder, which I
don't know. If you, I don't know you, obviously, I
would think you wouldn't want you're somewhat banged up kicker
having to put even more you know, weight and pressure
on that bad knee oche.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
The backup hold.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
I was going to say back, I was gonna say,
maybe someone else serves as the holder this week until
Jamie gets closer to full health. That is a possibility,
but it's just something that we knew. Ben Salz is
a lefty. I hadn't thought about the whole operation, and
then Jamie is the holder with his left knee injury,
how that might play into the whole equation. I was
a little surprised that no one on the beat decided
(48:53):
to kind of ask about this, or maybe they didn't
quite put it together, because again I didn't put it
together until Dan brought it up. But I'm interest to
see if there is any switches to the operation on
Sunday given everything I just said now.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Interestingly enough, Sauls when we got a chance to talk
to him a couple of days ago, he talked about
how when he was at Pittsburgh. Remember the pitt Panthers
play in the same stadium as the Steelers do, the
old Hines Field, and they train like in the same spot. Okay,
they're training complexes right next to each other, and so
(49:29):
there's a lot of interaction there. So he told us
that he gleaned a lot from Chris Boswell, who's been
a really good Stealers kicker for a long time, and
if you remember, was a former Giant.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
He was with the Giants.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
Back in the training camp and pre season of twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
That's a good guy I learned from. Okay, I learned
from yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
And in addition to that, he also learned from Coup
in Atlanta last year when he had a pit stop
in the camp with the Falcons. So the one thing
that we've been told by him and also by Golbriel
is that even though he is quote an undrafted rookie kicker.
He has had some experiences and been able to sponge
(50:12):
off some very respectable and highly thought of kickers to
kind of glean as much as he could. As he said,
he's never kicked here before, but he does understand bad weather,
and he has kicked outside here, and he's certainly done
his research and his homework. He feels like, you know,
(50:32):
this is a great shot. He's looking for the opportunity.
He's appreciative, and he feels as though he's prepared as
well as he can be.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Yeah. I mean, look, we see across the NFL every
season kickers kind of come out of nowhere, guys that
you would not expect to be, you know, NFL kickers
all of a sudden.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
I mean Brandon Aubrey literally came out of nowhere UFL.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
He is now the BEATFL he was in the spring league.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
Yeah, and he is now probably the best kicker in
the NFL, one of the bestest. He is the best.
You know.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
We see teams in recent years spend draft picks and
like high draft picks on kickers. It almost never works out.
The guy is on a new team by two seasons
into his career.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
So they do better on the second or third team
than the first team.
Speaker 3 (51:14):
Yes, so we don't know what to fully expect from
Ben Sol's you know, I'm acknowledging you know. It could
obviously go poorly, just like kind of the kicking operation
for a lot of the season has gone in general,
But it could also be you know, sort of like
a diamond in the rough situation.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
We don't know.
Speaker 3 (51:32):
We're gonna find out on Sunday and presumably the next
three weeks. I mean I would right now, he's the
only kicker on the roster, So yes, I would say
the job is his.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
Obviously.
Speaker 3 (51:42):
If Sunday goes very poorly, then their changes could be made,
similar to any other position.
Speaker 2 (51:49):
But I don't want the Giants to go into the
off season not having any idea who their kicker might
be next year. I would love to see this kid
have three great weeks at least a taste.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
Of some stability.
Speaker 3 (52:03):
Yeah, then you bring him back on some sort of
deal to bring him into training camp. I would assume
even if he does play well the next three weeks,
you probably bring in another guy as well, have some
sort of competition. But yeah, it would be fantastic if
we could go into the off season with at least,
you know, the inclination of all right, we might have
our kicker here, yep, so we'll see how he does.
Speaker 5 (52:25):
This.
Speaker 3 (52:25):
Sunday will be a big game. I don't know what
the weather is supposed to be like Sunday. I think
I heard it's actually supposed.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
To forty pretty nice.
Speaker 3 (52:31):
Yeah, So whether it should not be a concern today
and next week obviously going to Vegas in a dome,
whether it will not.
Speaker 1 (52:39):
Be a concern there, noll not.
Speaker 3 (52:41):
So that would potentially leave Week eighteen against the Cowboys
at MetLife Stadium as what could be the.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
Final weather game. Yes, the Giants face and sauls is
the potential kicker.
Speaker 2 (52:54):
Forty five degrees and only a six percent chance of
pre ship.
Speaker 1 (52:58):
So we like that. It looks real good. Looks real good.
For better than this morning. Uh.
Speaker 2 (53:03):
The other item that I just wanted to address real
quickly before we sign off. We only have a couple
of minutes left on the program if you want to
get in two A one nine three nine four five
one three.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
The other brief item to throw out there, Tyler.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Nuban, who was excused yesterday for personal reasons, was back
on campus today and practicing. At least that's what Mike
Kafka had said he would he would be out there today.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
So that's kind of nice. Uh.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
I bring that up because the safety spot kind of
raised some eyebrows.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
Last week.
Speaker 2 (53:32):
We saw Javon Holland returning punts and some of the
writers were very concerned about that because they've seen, as
we've all seen before, some Star regulars get punt return
duties over the years and get hurt yep. So a
question was asked about Holland's ability to do so and
(53:53):
why put him out there. Well, Gobriel and Kafka talked
about the fact that he's really really good in terms
of bilding the punts and catching the ball. You know,
he's been one of those guys since training camp who's
been in that. They have like seven or eight guys
who rotate since the beginning of camp who just kind
of practiced doing it even if they don't think they're.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
Going to be used.
Speaker 2 (54:14):
But what we were told is that they like Javon's
Holland's ability to field the ball, catch the ball, and
then I think Gobriol even said they like the way
he runs with it too. So that's why Javon Holland
was out there. Now, in all honesty, he is one
of your two starting safeties.
Speaker 1 (54:35):
I would prefer he's not.
Speaker 2 (54:37):
I don't know what they're going to do this week
or in the last three games as a whole. If
he will continue to be back there, I would think
Oshevski since he's been cleared, I would think Oshevsky will
be back there on part return duties. But I just
wanted to throw that out there for you because I
know there were some people who were very surprised shocked,
And I don't know if it was answered on any
(54:58):
of our other shows because we he didn't get answer
until we talked to Gobriel yesterday about why Holland was
was was get back there.
Speaker 3 (55:06):
I don't remember if it was Gobriel yesterday or Kafka wednesday,
but one of them said, like, yes, we put him
back there for everything you just said.
Speaker 1 (55:15):
But the expectation was most of the time he would
just call a fair catch, right, which it has not been.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
Yeah, which most of I feel like the puzzies field
that he has, he has not called a fair catch
on everyone.
Speaker 1 (55:28):
He did have a.
Speaker 3 (55:28):
Couple of small short returns but they said they put
him back there, as you mentioned, just because they feel
the felt the most confidence in him just being able
to cleanly field it.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
Not really expecting much, if any, of a return, but.
Speaker 3 (55:43):
Yeah, I would assume with Gunner Ochski back, you probably
will retake his role as the punt returner. He is
listed as the starting punt returner on the unofficial depth chart,
so as long as he plays, which he's been full
all week, I don't see why he wouldn't. I think
that would make him, say at least the favorite to
probably be the returner. Kafka did mention before that Tyler
(56:07):
Nuban returning to practice would be the only change to
the injury report from yesterday, which, going about off of
yesterday's I would assume that that means Bo Collins is
likely out because he DNP all week. Keeveon Thibodeau probably
out with DMPs all week, Natcho, same thing. Dimitrius Flannagan fouls.
(56:31):
I'm not sure because he's had an illness and that
you know, while players have missed obviously some practice days
because of illness, typically is not something that the guy
deals with for like an entire week that forces him
to miss the game.
Speaker 2 (56:44):
Sunday, and if he feels bad to tomorrow he'll probably Yeah,
so I would think, you know, unless it's some very
very bad illness.
Speaker 3 (56:51):
But I mean, if it's what's been going around to
everyone in the locker room and across the league, I
would assume that would put him on the right side
of questionable for Sunday, and then Evan Neil will probably
will not be activated. It sounds like if he's not
practicing again today because of he what did Kafka say
(57:12):
that he felt sore after his first full practice?
Speaker 1 (57:15):
Yeah, I believe they listed neck and hamstring.
Speaker 3 (57:19):
Evan no, I think just hamstring him. OK, So it
sounds like he will not be activated. I agree with
that for Sunday. Everyone else I would think puts them
on the right side of questionable at the very least.
You know, Drew Phillips has been limited in practice this week,
but three straight limited practices, I would think.
Speaker 1 (57:39):
That he will play.
Speaker 3 (57:40):
The only one that I'm interested to see is Jamie
Gillen because as a punter and it's your kicking leg
with the knee injury that one, you know, maybe they
want to see him get back to full before they
bring it back.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
I don't know. We should get the final injury report
in about an hour.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
And remember, Johnston is still all the roster.
Speaker 3 (58:00):
Austin is still on the practice squad. Yes, yeah, he's
still in the building.
Speaker 2 (58:03):
Elevated, elevated as a practice squad elevation for sure.
Speaker 1 (58:07):
Exactly. All right, folks, that'll do it for this edition
of Big Blue Kickoff Live.
Speaker 2 (58:11):
Presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New
York Football Giants. Remember, on Sunday, the Giants will host
the Minnesota Vikings a one o'clock kickoff. A pregame on
WFAN Radio here in New York starts at eleven am,
John Tiki Barber and myself. Then after the game you
can check out the two hour Giants postgame show on WFAN,
(58:31):
or as soon as the game's over, we have the
one hour MSG Giants Postgame Live as well.
Speaker 1 (58:38):
So we'll be busy.
Speaker 2 (58:39):
We hope you guys take the time to check us
out and enjoy some New York Giants football.
Speaker 1 (58:44):
Until then, we.
Speaker 2 (58:45):
Are coming to you from the Hackensack Meridian.
Speaker 1 (58:48):
Health Podcast studio.
Speaker 2 (58:50):
Keep getting better on Paul Tatino, He's mat Sidetech and
we will see you next time.
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