Big Blue Kickoff Live 5/21 | NFL Rule Changes Reaction

Paul Dottino and Matt Citak discuss the NFL rule changes that were voted on at NFL spring meetings, talk about the Giants schedule, and take calls from fans.

:00 - Rule change reactions

32:00 - Calls

36:30 - The schedule

46:30 - Giants season

56:00 - Hard knocks announcement

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Episode Transcript

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

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On Giants dot com.

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Happen part of the Giants podcast network.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's going on on the Crazy Dogs hasn't fun? Hello,
will gain everybody, and welcome to Wednesday's edition of Big
Blue Kickoff Live, presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle
of the New York Football Giants. On Poultatino. He's Matt Sidetech.
We're gonna be here for the next rainy hour in
the New York City area. It is coming down and

(00:43):
is gonna be this way further, I think the next
three days not enjoyable weather, but it is what it is. Uh,
maybe you'll just enjoy watching the Knicks beat up on
Indiana tonight in Game one of their Eastern Conference Final.
But in the meantime, we're gonna be here for the
next hour A two, A one nine three nine four
five three to take your phone calls, and we have

(01:04):
so much to get to today, because four of the
rules proposals have been dealt with by the league owners
at the league spring meetings. Now, we don't have official
notification from the league. I don't believe on all of them.
We may have it on part of them, but the
reports coming out from ESPN and NFL Network, we'll discuss
those reports. Again. We do not have necessarily official clarification

(01:29):
on all of these, but we do have the preliminary
results as they have been reported by the reputable networks
ESPN and NFL Network. We are coming to you as
always from the Hackensack see right here. As it says Hackensack,
We're already in health podcast studio, keep getting better. We
appreciate their participation as well in all of our programs.

(01:53):
And let's go through quickly the four items that we
know about, and then we'll go to get to your
calls A two on one nine, three, nine, four five
one three, and we invite you to chime in however
you decide you want to. One of these is of
more interest I think to the Giants specifically than maybe

(02:14):
the other three. That one would be about the flag
football during the twenty twenty eight Summer Olympics, because every
team is going to be allowed one guy to go
into the flag football competition, and you can also let
your international designated player go too. He doesn't count against

(02:34):
you a lot man. But that's the details. The point is,
there's going to be an insurance policy on these players
if they get injured during an Olympic event or Olympic
practice sessions. There's going to be salary cap credit given
to that team if such player is injured. So the
NFL has done their best to eliminate the key hurdles

(02:58):
that somebody might have in terms of this rule. They're
also going to have to deal with the players' union
on this. They have not given final approval, so we'll
wait for that vote. I think that's important for people
to know. The players' union has not voted on it yet.
They still have to, but the league has said yes. Also,

(03:18):
the Olympic Committee has to tailor very specific specs as
to how this is going to be done. The practices.
They don't want them interfering with the NFL players practice
schedules or they're conditioning drills and everything else that they do.
So there's a lot of little details that still have
to be ironed out, but the headline is that the

(03:40):
twenty twenty eight Olympic Games in Los Angeles will have
at least the possibility of NFL players playing some flag football.
I think it's fun. I do think it is dangerous
for the injury situation, but they have now tried to
cover that with those stipulations. So it will be very

(04:04):
interesting to see how many players actually want to do it.
I think that's the first question. How many players will
want to do it. I think some guys will, Like
the NBA had a bunch of guys wanted to play
in the Dream Team. Oh yeah, can't wait to play
for the United States. Didn't get a chance to win
an Olympic medal when I was in college. I want
to go win one, and I want to play for

(04:25):
the USA. Some players will want to do it. Other
players may not want to do it. So I don't
know how this is all going to shake out at
the very end, but it's certainly going to add a
lot of spice to the summer games. I think a
lot of US football fans will probably a little bit
be more interested.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, I mean, I think this was a no brainer
for the NFL and I think that was kind of
evident when the voting came out and it was a
unanimous vote. All thirty two owners voted to approve this yesterday,
and quite frankly, there's no reason for anyone to, I
feel like, to be opposed it. I mean, we see
in every other major sport in NBA and NHL, the

(05:10):
players in those leagues are allowed to participate in the Olympics.
I mean, the NHL season is when the Winter Olympics
take place, and the season just pauses for a couple
of weeks in order to let these guys go represent
their countries in baseball. You know, the World Baseball Classic
obviously is consistent of mostly or a lot of MLB players,

(05:31):
which and that takes place I think right before spring
training or like the very beginning of it. So honestly,
I feel like it would have been more of a
headline if the NFL said, no, we are not going
to allow our players. So I'm glad that that was
obviously not the case. It had again unanimous vote. Everyone
was on board. As you mentioned, some players are obviously

(05:52):
very excited about this. Justin Jefferson has been leading the charge, yes,
and he is one of the best players in the
entire NFL. He's been leading the charge. He clearly is
thrilled about this and will be participating, you know, barring
some unforeseen circumstances in a couple of years in the
Olympics in twenty twenty eight in Los Angeles. Whether other
players you know follow suit, It's going to be sort

(06:12):
of just a case by case basis. Like some players
are going to be very excited about it. Others are
going to be like, you know what, this is right
before the start of training camp. And as much as
I would love to represent my country, I have a
you know, six seven month grueling season right ahead of me.
I'm going to take those last couple of weeks and
rest up before training camp start. So I think this
was clearly the right move. We'll see how many players

(06:35):
you know, take advantage of this now. I feel like,
I mean, obviously, we see this in every sport. It
is an honor to represent your country in the Olympics,
a great honor that very few people in the history
of this world get to do. So a lot of
players are going to take advantage of that. They're going
to go out there try to win a gold medal.
I mean, as you said you brought up the NBA,

(06:56):
there are some years where the US team in the Olympics,
the men's basketball team, consists of some of the best
players in the league. There are other Olympic sessions where
it's not exactly your you know, top tier A list players.
You're still getting very good players, but not the upper echelon.
So it's gonna really be up to the players, which

(07:17):
is quite frankly what it should be. It shouldn't. I
would have had a little bit of an issue if
the owners kind of said, no, we're not going to
allow our players to represent their countries, because again, it
is a tremendous honor. So the owners, the league, everyone
did right here. Obviously, as you mentioned, there's still gonna
have to be some sort of agreement made with the NFLPA,
But considering how much the players have been pushing for this,

(07:38):
I can't imagine that's gonna be much of an obstacle.
I feel like it's just kind of figuring out some
of the exact terminology they're going to use for this agreement.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
And you know, in most cases, you know, your football
guys never get a chance to even do anything remotely
close to representing their country. I mean some of the
guys are track stars. Yep, Okay, some of them are.
Some of them at times may have been collegiate wrestlers

(08:07):
and they gone on, could have maybe been Olympians maybe
you don't.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Know, occasional rugby player like Nate Ebner.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, exactly. So for the most part though, football players,
as they go through college's football players and then get
to the NFL, they don't even get the opportunity. There's
no pathway for them to get into the Olympics. So
this gives them a chance and if they want to, okay,
and if they don't, they don't have to apply. Yeah,

(08:35):
it's really pretty simple. So I thought that was I
agree with you. I thought it was a no brainer,
and it was unanimous. That was yesterday. That actually came out,
I think right after our show was over, So I
wanted to get that one out of the way first. Now,
three other items that were all part of the deal
since that time that we have now understood at least

(08:55):
the reports are what has passed and what has not passed.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
These are all took place this morning.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes, Yes, declaration of on sidekicks to be expanded, beyond
the fourth quarter has passed. Now, what I like about
this is that they're now going to let any team
when they are behind to declare an on sidekick at
any time during the game. This kind of came to

(09:23):
the forefront last year when Philadelphia was hammering the Kansas
City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. They had scored late
in the third they were still getting hammered, and I'm
sure they would love to have tried it on sidekick
to get the ball back to attempt to make the
game competitive. But guess what, there was still a little
time left in the third quarter, so they couldn't do it.

(09:46):
The rule that was put in place last year was
you could only do it in the fourth quarter, So
they've now expanded it so that you can ask for
an on side kick at any time if you're the
trailing team. Also, they're moving the tea back. Now. This
is interesting and I'm not sure I totally get this.
Dean Blandino, the former Supervisor Officials of the NFL, was

(10:07):
just on serious NFL I was coming in. He didn't
understand exactly why they did this either. But they're going
to move the tee back to the thirty four on
an on side kick. They'll allow the kicking team to
line up at the thirty five, as was the case before,
but now the kicking tee is going to be moved

(10:30):
back a yard. Apparently there's a thought process that that
might increase the opportunity to recover it.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, that's that's everything I read said that. I'm not
sure thinking behind it. I don't fully get it. I
guess there's you have a split second more now to
get you know, that little bit down the field to
try to recover it. I don't know if the one
yard is really going to make much of a difference.
I guess we'll we'll find out, But yeah, I don't

(11:00):
I don't get that the reason Yeah, as you said,
the reasoning was they believe that it will lead to
an increase in kickoff kicking teams recovering the on side kicks.
I don't know if that will be the case, and
if it's not, there might be more changes to this
rule yest year.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
It could be.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
I would not I do not think that this is
going to be the final final version of the on
side kick rule for you know, the rest of the
history of this league. But they're trying something new but
in terms of expanding it beyond the fourth quarter, I
was shocked last year when it came out that they
were saying you only could do it in the fourth quarter.
I didn't really.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Understand that that was horrific. I think everybody who could
accept the rule said, well, wait a minute, though, there's
something wrong with it, yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
Because it's not like, you know, it's not like you
can surprise a team by doing it a surprise on
side kick, like you still have to declare it. So
the fact that they were limiting it to just the
fourth quarter, quite frankly, didn't make much sense last year.
So I'm glad after one season they you know, remedied
that and change it to what it should be, which
is now, if you're just losing the game, it could
be the first quarter. You could be down seven to

(12:04):
three if you really want to do an onside kick.
Boy used to be, Yeah, on side kicks were a
matter of surprise. You could do it at any time. Yeah,
surprise elements no longer there. But if a team chooses
to do it in the first half, so be it.
That's their prerogative now.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
The number that they gave out on serious NFL and
I don't have the specifics. All they gave was the percentage.
They said it was about six percent success ratio. Did
you see a number anywhere?

Speaker 1 (12:28):
No, but I mean I honestly would have thought it'd
be even lower than that.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah, they seem like they barely it was just about
six percent apparently.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
I feel like, off the top of my head, I
can maybe remember like one or two onside kicks being
recovered by the kicking.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Team last year. I mean, we don't see every one.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
No, of course, but it's definitely rare. We're talking about crumbs.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Here, Yeah, you know, and I don't know that that
this rule is gonna make those crumbs any bigger.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
No, they might have to move the tea back a
little bit further next year to see much of a difference.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
All right, So that one passed, all right? So now
that came down to two other rules that were in play,
and we're going to save the big one for last.
We're going to go to the Lions taking back their
entry into the rules proposals about seating by playoff, playoff

(13:18):
seating by record. They simply decided, and I did not
see anything from them as to why they pulled it back.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Did you see a quote, not a quote from the Lions,
but the reports were that they it was just very
clear that they did not have the support that you know,
they The number I saw was that they were around
maybe ten teams that were in support of it. Obviously,
in order to change a rule, you need was it
twenty four? Twenty four, twenty four, So if you're at ten,
you're obviously not even fifty percent of the way there.

(13:45):
So I think they were just like, we're not even
going to bother.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
It's a waste of time.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
It's a waste of time. We've got, you know, bigger
issues to talk about.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
We're not in the owners meetings. It's not our time
that they're wasted.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
No, for sure, but it did from what I read,
it does seem like there is some momentum. It's not
like this is going to be, you know, just because
they took the proposal off this year that we're never
going to see it again. We are certainly going to
see this proposal again next year, and especially if you
have another situation like we saw in the NFC this year,
where the Vikings and Lions had the two best records

(14:16):
in football and they were playing Week eighteen and the
loser was the fifth seed. If a situation similar to
that happens again, it's just gonna put this argument right
back into the forefront next offseason.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
The report the Swarting on Serious NFL Radio was that
they left open the possibility that they might consider receding
after the first round. Maybe for twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
It wasn't that part of this proposal.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
I don't know if it was or it wasn't, because
I did not see all the idiosyncrasies in every one
of the proposals. But apparently that part, if it was,
still got some conversation. But they're not going to think
about it for this year. That's being put off. If
it was originally part of it, I'm not even sure.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
All right.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
So now the big one, right is the Tousche push one.
Now here's the interesting part. According to I guess it's
outward career. Did he have the number? Somebody had a
lot of people put the number out. They got twenty
two votes to ban the Toush push. They needed twenty four,
all right, so they came also close. Now the interesting

(15:26):
part for me is that the NFL Health and Safety
Committee recommended they ban it, which goes to everything that
I told you guys about yesterday. Okay, it's my belief.
It's not a safe play, and it encourages a dangerous play,
and obviously the Health and Safety Committee has serious concerns

(15:48):
about it. They recommended a ban. As far as I'm concerned,
that justifies banning the play. But having said that, it
did not get enough votes, we knew for sure that
the Eagles we're gonna vote to down the band, so
that meant it was gonna be you know, you needed
twenty four out of thirty one, not twenty four out

(16:09):
of thirty two, because Eagles with ones that were gonna
fight it. They even brought Jason Kelsey down there, apparently
to lobby on their behalf. You guys know how he
feels about it. You know how I feel about it.
There's no sense in wasting another hour talking about this.
If you guys want to vocal your voice to your opinion,
you're welcome to and I won't jump on you. I

(16:30):
promise you that, because it is what it is.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
I just want to clarify one thing about my stance
because I thought I made it clear yesterday. But I
feel like because you and I got a bit of
an argument that maybe I got veered off from my
point because Okay, got a lot of tweets since the
show yesterday, and a lot of people understood where I
was coming from, but a few people clearly did it.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
I got mixed tweets, to be honest with you.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
So I just want to clarify. I was not sitting
up here yesterday saying the NFL should not ban the
touch push. All I was saying saying was that I
don't think it is fair to use player safety as
the reasoning behind banning it because there's just no evidence
to support that. That was all I was trying to say.
I said, and I remember saying this, if you think it,

(17:15):
you know, ruins the integrity of the game, or it
goes against what the NFL stands for, whatever that sort
of reason may be, that is totally fine, and I
can respect that. My stance was there is just no
evidence to support that this play has any more injury
risk than any other play, because that is what the
evidence says. That was my stance. And Okay, it's just

(17:38):
based on some of the tweets, like a few tweets
that maybe was not very clear.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
I would love to know, because all we have are
the reports from ESPN and NFL Network. They're saying the
Health and Safety Committee said ban it. I'd love to
know what their discussion was and what their presentation was,
and what they're reasoning was to say it should be banned.

(18:04):
I think you'd like to see it too, because you know,
you don't seem very sold on it, and that's okay,
But for clarity's sake, I'd like I'd like to see
what they have to say too, because I feel strongly how.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
I do no, no, one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
If that don't have that.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
If that committee, you know, showed evidence saying, you know what,
there actually is an increased risk, my stance would change immediately.
The thing that is most important to me is the
player safety. If that became an actual risk, if there's
evidence to show, hey, this play actually does increase the
chance of concussions or whatever injury, I would be fully

(18:39):
on board of banning.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
It's just got to be curious as to why they
said to banning.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
No for sure. So my question to you is going
to be, because I actually don't know this, who consists
of the members of that committee. Is it just is
it just some of the owners, because if it's just
some of the owners and like let's say, for example,
the Green Bay Packer, well they don't have a actual owner.
I don't know who they're representative would be in this situation.
But you know, if it was someone like that and

(19:06):
they were on that committee, then I kind of feel like, well,
they might just kind of be pushing that, you know,
narrative because they just want this play bad. I don't
actually know who's part of the committee, so I'm.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Not I'm trying to look it up. I'm trying to
look it up. Okay, here it is. It's composed of
the chairman from each of the other NFL medical committees,
as well as the heads of the NFL Physician Society
and the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society. And here they are,
doctor Robert Anderson, doctor Robert Brofie. I must tell you

(19:41):
I do not know these people. These are obviously very
high ranking medical officials. Sure, Doctor Javier Cardenis, I believe
he was one of the fellows who was involved in
the whole concussion issue some years ago. Doctor Tony Cassolaro,
Doctor Elliott Hirschman, I know he was a Jets physician

(20:02):
for quite a long time, doctor Richard Hinton. Yeah, look
at the at the.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
Okay, so it's not owners, No, it's not These.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Are significant Yeah, these are significant medical people. I've heard
of doctor Tom Mayers from the NFL Players Union. We
know doctor Allen Sills, Yeah, we know about him, he's
from the NFL. I really don't know much about these
other people other than clearly they have titles and very

(20:31):
significant qualifications in the medical community, for sure.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
So to your point, I really do wish that this
committee would release their argument as to why they believe
it should get banned, because maybe maybe that would help
clear up people like me, other people that are like
I don't know about banning it. It would help clarify
our stances for surely if they showed to.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Pause though when you hear that they said it should
be banned, that would cause you to pause.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yes, But my only counter somewhat counterpoint would be that
while we are not privy to what the committee, that
committee said, the owners, the owners are. They obviously made
the presentation to the owners and they still didn't get
the vote, which I could be wrong, but I feel
like if the owners were presented information saying this directly
leads to more injuries that it would have been banned.

(21:18):
Then that's just my opinion. Again, we're not in those
meetings and that don't make sense.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
That makes perfect sense. I would agree with you on that.
That makes sense. If it was that clear that these
medical folks are saying get rid of it, you'd vote
get rid of it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
I feel like even Jeffrey Lurry, if there was evidence
showing that the play was dangerous, I feel like even
he would be like, you know what, Okay, we got
good use out of it, helped us win the Super Bowl.
But if you have evidence to support then it is
dangerous for players, then let's ban. Now.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Dean Blandino again on serious NFL. As I was coming in,
he speculated. He didn't say he knew, all right, let
me make that clear. He did not say he knew.
His speculation was that several of these teams who voted
to keep it in aren't playing Philadelphia this year, so
therefore they didn't care. That was one thing he said.

(22:11):
I don't know if I agree with that, but he
offered that as one item. The other item that he
offered was that there was a perception, as I'm sure
some people got from our debate yesterday at all people
are going after the Eagles because they're the ones who've
perfected it. They're the ones who did so well with it,
they won a super Bowl with it. He actually went

(22:33):
as far as to say, as if next year the
Eagles don't win the Super Bowl in twenty twenty five
and it comes up again, he went as far as
to say that there's a better chance that actually will
pass because he thinks that there was this perception that
it was an anti Eagle vote.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
I don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
I give that to you, folks. That's what Blendino said
this morning on the radio. I will offer you this
piece of information. Though, I did take a time to
look up Tom Brady's career success on quarterback sneaks that
did not evolve touch push because they didn't do that
in Tampa or in New England, was ninety one percent

(23:14):
for his career. He played a long time in this league,
and he had a ninety one percent success ratio on
quarterback sneaks of one yard or less. That was ESPN
reported that they went back and got the numbers. ESPN
and I know there's another company called True Media that

(23:35):
actually kept some numbers apparently last season. I don't know
if you saw that online somewhere, but somebody has put
their stats online ESPN. I looked at theirs because they
went through the last three seasons. Their numbers different from
True Media, which only did last season. But I'll go
with ESPNS because it's a three year sample size. They
said that Philadelphia and Buffalo are by far the two

(23:59):
teams that use the tush push more than anybody else
in the last three seasons, and they converted on one
hundred and forty two out of one hundred and sixty
three opportunities eighty seven percent. Okay, yeah, that's what they claimed,
which is actually four percent less than tom Brady.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
I spent that.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
As great as the touch push is, tom Brady actually
did better with a standard quarterback sneak.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Think about that for a minute. Well, I have two
I guess questions.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
Two more and then you can get then you do. Okay,
let me just finish out the rest of the other staff.
The rest of their stat was that the one hundred
and sixty three tush pushes by Philly and Buffalo over
the last three years was more than all of the
other thirty teams combined, just to show you how these

(24:52):
two teams more heavily favor using it than anybody else
because the rest of the league really does not apparently
care much for the to play or at least to
use it, or can't do it, whatever the reason is.
The rest of the league and whatever limited number they had,
And again they didn't have the chart with all these numbers.
I wish they had the ESPN story I had only

(25:14):
had these limited facts. They said, of the thirty teams
combined over the last three years, they were only successful
on seventy one percent of their plays, which again goes
back to Tom Brady was at ninety one percent. I'm sorry, folks,

(25:34):
the regular quarterback snick was more effective. Whatever. I just
found that very very very interesting. Now, go ahead, whatever
you want to throw out there.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
I just have questions about that. For starters, the rule
that you were known that you are not allowed to
push an offensive the ball carrier forward was removed in
two thousand and five, correct, which means for majority of
Brady's career that rule was not in place. So we
don't know how much of those ninety one percent career

(26:04):
sneaks he actually had a running back helped pushing him forward. Nobody,
to my recollection believes.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
As when Blentino was on this morning too, he said,
you know, this is only the reason they abolish the rule.
Let me go back to this. He said, the reason
they abolished the rule in two thousand and five was
because it was too difficult to call one. The officials
were having trouble figuring it out. God only knows why,
but look, they got enough trouble, too difficult to call,

(26:36):
and second of all, it wasn't happening very often. They
were more concerned about players pushing and pulling each other
on plays downfield than they were with the line of scrimmage.
So he said, they finally decided in two thousand and five,
and he said it was to his chagrin that why
have the rule on the books when we're really calling

(26:58):
it anyway and it probably doesn't really come into play.
So that's why they erased the rule about assisting a runner.
And then he said, so, now, because of what Philly
started and then Buffalo kind of piggybacked a little bit,
they kind of touch pushed themselves out to the back
of the formation. That's why this suddenly became an issue.

(27:21):
I don't know how many times Brady was pushed in
the back. I don't know that any of us really
have thought much about it, because he came into the
league in two thousand and two thousand and five the
rule went away, so a lot of the years he
played without it. But I just again we're talking recollection here.

(27:43):
To everybody's conversations in years past, it's always been said
that Brady was the best at the quarterback sneak. No
one ever really suggests that he needed any help, but anyway.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
He certainly is considered to be, you know, maybe pre
Jalen Hurts and Toush push, the best quarter back sneak
sneaker ever.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Sure. All I'm saying is like, because it wasn't as
obvious as the tush push formation, which when a team
lines up in the touch push, everyone in the entire
stadium and watching the game knows exactly what is coming,
no doubt, because there weren't situations like that for Brady
and basically his entire career because I can't remember, you know,
the Bucks at the end of his career running the

(28:24):
Toush push.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
So they didn't want to do it. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
I mean it's a little different when you got a
forty three year old no doubt there than.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
That no doubt. And yet he still did some sneaks.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
For sure, he still did some, But I'm just saying
I feel like they're there. And I don't know this
for sure, but there could have been a lot of
times where you know, you had the running back or
the tight end giving him a little shove, and it
just and it just wasn't noticed because the touch bush
wasn't a thing for all those years.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
I can't say I don't have any evidence either way
on this.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
No, It's just that was just something I was.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
I don't care you remember that.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
That's that.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
So I don't remember the conversation ever coming up that
he was getting that kind of push, because I would
think that after the rule was was erased in two
thousand and five, I would think if it had happened
certainly on a frequent basis, people would have raised issue
and said, wait a minute, what's going on here. I
think it would have been noticeable and people would have
started talking about it. I suspect, but I can't say

(29:21):
for sure. Yeah, I'm not gonna go back and watch
every Tom Brady Snap with the Patriots. I'm sorry, I'm
not a glutton for punishment. And then the only other
I will watch the two Super Bowls against the Giants, though.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
The only other thing I wanted to ask, which I
know you don't have those numbers in front of you
because you just put ESPN.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
That's what it is.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
I'm just I'm wondering why ESPN decided to combine the
Eagles and Bills together when clearly the Eagles have been
known to be like the masters of this play, Like yeh,
I can think of the top of my head, maybe
twice in the last couple of years where a team
was actually able to successfully stop the Eagles and they
were obviously like that. Was it one hundred and forty

(29:59):
two at a one sixty three and the twenty one stops?
How many I'd be willing to bet that at least
fifteen were Buffalo I don't know. Which is just interesting
that they decided to combine the two. I guess it's
because those two have run it the most and that
just makes the sample size bigger. But clearly the Eagles
are on their own level and their own tier when
it comes to running that play.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Yeah, no doubt, and they were able to do it
without Kelsey.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Kelsey retired and everyone thought, oh, there goes the touch push.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
Nope. I wasn't even concerned about that play. I thought
the line would just take a hit without him. Somehow,
it didn't happen.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Didn't happen, Jeff Stoutlin, that's why.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, tell me about it, all right, folks.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
That is our take on.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
All of the happenings of the last twenty four hours. Again,
as far as I know, the NFL has not officially
commented on any of these votes, have they.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
So they announced the flag, football announced yesday, They announced
the on side kick, they did this morning, Okay, so
the rest. I don't think there's been an official announcement
yet about the touch push. I think it was just
the on side kick, okay.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
And we know the Lions did announce that they were
pulling back the playoff seating thing. Yes, they did that themselves.
The Lions talked about that all right. So really the
touch push one is the only one. We don't have
any official word from the NFL on. But again, NFL
Network and ESPN are repating it.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
Jeffrey Lurry is talking to the media about it. I
think as we speak, I see Jeremy Fowler tweeting quotes
from Jeffrey Lurry.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
So no doubt break dancing during the media conference. I'm sure.
All right, So now we go to the phones and
we go to you guys at two oh one nine three,
nine four five one three Ron in New Jersey is
online one. You're first on the program.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Hello, hey guys, good to talk to you. Hi. You
stole on my sounda for the most part, I don't
want to beat it dead hole, so I'll be fairly
quick here. First, yesterday's show is very entertaining, Matt. I
thought you were coherent. I agree with your argument. I
don't know why people couldn't pick up on that.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
So welke you done.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
You appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
We're just We're just here to have fun, guys. That's
all we want you guys to have fun too.

Speaker 4 (32:05):
But one real quick question and then my real real question.
You still can't pull players? Am I correct on that?

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Correct?

Speaker 5 (32:13):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (32:14):
Okay? But here's Paul where I disagree with you a bit. Yesterday.
The emotional Of course, we're all going to be emotional here.
We're fans, right, That's what we're supposed to be. Do
you really think if the push hush was most successfully
run by Carolina Falcons any teams that aren't in the playoffs,

(32:37):
are we really having this conversation?

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Albert Brier kind of thought the same thing. He mentioned
that this is a big mountain out of a molehill,
that maybe it's not as big of a deal. Well, look,
I can only tell you how I felt, and I've
explained it. I'm not going through it again. It honestly
show me too. Yeah, I'm just saying I have no

(33:01):
hatred for the Buffalo Bills. By the way, let me
make that clear. Buffalo is the second most team that
uses this. I have no hatred against the Bills either.
I just don't think the play is good. I don't
I don't think, oh you would ban it?

Speaker 4 (33:16):
Yes, don't.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
You?

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Just saying he understood what you're saying about the you know,
thet and safety part of it.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
And I think maybe maybe that's where Blaindino's speculation comes in,
that there is a perception here that it's an anti
Philly vote, and maybe he's right. Maybe that perception was
one of the reasons why a couple of people may
have backed off I.

Speaker 4 (33:40):
Don't know or even an anti winner approach. Okay, every
play dangerous, we know that.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, it's a rough game.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
Defensive coordinators need somebody tell him not to do a
missile and they shouldn't be defensive.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Well, you know Greg Williams obviously you know it instructed
some of his Shames players some years ago to do
some nasty stuff too. He got suspended for it.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
I just want to say I really enjoyed yet I
couldn't listened to it live, so I was. I was
anxious to call today. Thank you again, Matt, well done.
Talk to you guys again, all right, appreciate.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
I appreciate the support.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
See, that's that's the good news, because we do want
to be enjoyable and engaging here too. Even if you
guys simply laugh, I don't care. That's okay, because if
you're bored, you won't come back to the show. We
might have doubled our ratings today because we got all
heated and sweaty under the collar over this stupid push

(34:40):
push thing.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Yeah, I was, let's say, at the end of the day,
as he did, as we might sometimes get and yesterday
we got a little heated, but at people.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
After fifteen seconds. It didn't bother me.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, but at the end of the day, we're talking
about football here, Like, it's not like we're talking about
you know, world politics or you know, life or death situations.
We're talking about the game that we all love, and
obviously it is serious in our lives, but at the
end of the day, it's not the most serious topic
in the world.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
So I'm happy when they started doing this thing, like
three I guess it was three years ago. I guess
that's when, because that's when ESPN started with their stats,
So I'm guessing they're thinking three years it first started.
If you remember, it was being called the Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
Shove, the Brotherly sho Brotherly Shove.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yes, I'm glad it changed to Tush Push, because now
it took it away from being just a Philadelphia play.
Buffalo started, Buffalo started, but it's still kind of associated
with them. Yeah, but when we when the name changed
to Tush Push, that that changed a bit of the

(35:49):
of the color of the play from eagle green to
maybe a little less ego.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
That's fair, Okay.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
I was glad for that because maybe maybe you wouldn't
have to deal with that stigma of making it a
rule against the team, but who knows, maybe that's the case.
All Right, we go back to the phones. Line two
has Jason and new Haven. You're next on the show.

Speaker 6 (36:13):
Hello, Hey, shows going on? Hi, good, good, good, Yeah,
great conversation you guys had yesterday. I thought it was
pretty entertaining.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Good.

Speaker 6 (36:24):
You know, hey, listen, I'm you know, big Blue to
the to the death. I'm always in the roof of
my guys. Hey, if you're able to use that play
to your advantage, God bless you. I mean, you know,
I never really I was mad at it. If the
Giants were using it and was successful at it, i'd
be room for them to keep them keep the rule too.

(36:46):
So you know, I guess maybe in the future, if
they start to have some more injuries, you know, maybe
they'll change that play. But I guess enough about that topic.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the schedule,
if you don't mind. I know you've guys talked about
it nauseum, but I haven't called. But I just wanted
to get you your two opinions on what I'm about

(37:07):
to say. So, of course, we know we have a
pretty tough schedule. I think any team you're play in.
The NFL is a tough team personally. These guys are
the top of the top, so you're always gonna have
to bring your lunch pale when you play any team,
even quote unquote the bottom feeders of the league. Sure,
So what I'll say is this, right, and I always

(37:28):
use this. I know, Paul, you're not a big analytics guy,
and I'm not either. I listened to a little bit
of it. I'm more of old school, but I can
understand some of the things with some of the analytics
and maybe Matt, maybe you're more analytical or whatever. So
last year I did a little research. This is from PFF.

(37:49):
Excuse me, PFF Power rankings schedule wise, right, they're power
rankings before last season. Sorry, So the number one team
in there the rankings was the Niners, right, they finished
with They finished with a six and eleven record. The
Commanders were ranked thirtieth before last season, three spots behind

(38:14):
us made it to the conference championship. The Vikings were
ranked twenty fifth. They went on to have a fourteen
and three record. The Broncos are ranked in their twenties,
I believe, and wound up winning ten games. So I'm
just using that as example to say, and it's not
necessarily for you two gentlemen of all the fans that

(38:36):
are freaking out, Oh my god, we're gonna win two games,
We're gonna go one game. Fire Shane fire Table. I've
always stated the NFL is a year, is a week
to week and a year to year league. Nothing transfers over,
always from a positive standpoint or a negative standpoint.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
Right.

Speaker 6 (38:55):
I believe we've dramatically improved as a roster. Right, all
this stuff has to of course materialize on the field. Right,
the guys at the coaches, the training staff, the players,
front office, they all have to make a concrete now
because I believe the rosters better from quarterback room, the

(39:17):
secondary room, to the defensive line room, even the depth
of our offensive line. I think we've done a really
good job. Receiver room I like, but I like another
guy there. I guess you could say, yes I would,
but I like it so far. Running back room, I
think it's a little more has more depth, more youth
to it, which I like. So all I'm saying is

(39:40):
everybody just calmed down. Not you too, but I'm speaking
to the fans who are very you know, pessimistic, and
I get it. The team hasn't necessarily given us a
lot to root for the last ten years, right, But
I've always said the NFL is year is a year
to year league. You don't know who is going to
fall off. You don't know who's going to run. Nobody

(40:01):
thought the Niners were going to be six and eleven. Now, yes,
they have some injuries, of course, the injuries are part
of the game. Nobody had the Commanders. I don't think anybody. Well,
if somebody would have had you, but one thousand dollars
last year, you probably wouldn't have bet they had made
the data made conference finals. There's no way you to
bet it.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Can you sign us up for this this year? I mean,
we're ready, give us a pen. All right, we're ready.

Speaker 6 (40:25):
Let's go so so and I'll make a quick kick
frew points so you get other callers.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Right.

Speaker 7 (40:32):
Last year's season was rough. You know, I'm not gonna sugarcoatter.
We all know that you guys covered the team. I'm
sure it's rough for you guys to watching it both.
But here's what I'll say, and maybe you guys would
disagree with me. To me, we could easily won and
I you know, I hate to go revision its history

(40:53):
because it doesn't matter anymore, but just for the sake
of the schedule argument and shrink the schedule, who you play.
There are a few games I look out last year
and I say, what.

Speaker 6 (41:03):
Would our season? Would we have been a playoff team
or a conference championship caliber team? Probably not? Maybe, but
probably not. There's a few games that stick out to me. Right,
everybody's hyping up the Commanders, right, they had a great year.
I'm not taking that from them. The first game we
played them, we lost. We lost.

Speaker 5 (41:24):
No.

Speaker 6 (41:24):
The second game we played them, we lost by field goal.
The first game we played them, I thought we played
very well, but we had no kicker. So those are
two games that stick out to me. The Panthers game.
I'm not gonna bring up his name because he's not
part of the roster anymore. Quarterback play and that Panthers game,
to me was it just wasn't up to snuff. And

(41:48):
I don't know if you guys, I don't think you
guys would disagree with me on that one. The Saints
game lost by field goal. That Bengals game I thought
we I thought personally we outplayed the Bengals in that game.
I thought so too, and we lost that game. The
first Dallas game, I thought we played very well. I

(42:09):
thought we held that offense really in check. I thought
our defense played very well, office didn't offense didn't give
us much. That's another game. So all I'm saying to
everybody that calls in, and it's so pessimistic.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
And I get it.

Speaker 6 (42:20):
As fans, we're very emotional. I'm a Knicks fan as well.
I get it. It's it's a lot of emotions built
into our teams. But some rational has to take over.
Some have some optimism because we are a better team.
Like I said, they have to prove it on the field, yes,
but all we should go off right now is on paper,
and on paper we are a better team. So everybody

(42:43):
just calmed down. Let's let this thing play out. Let's
pray for great health for the team. I know injuries
are part of it, and I'm not putting that in
the universe, but it is a part of the NFL.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Jason, we got to get to other calls. But here's
what this is exactly why I appreciate it. This is
a exactly why I love the season. About five hundred
thousand times more than the offseason because we have games, yeah,
and we get to see the players do what they

(43:12):
have to do, and we have tangible results and tangible evidence.
We don't have to spend twenty five hours a day
talking about hypotheticals and what ifs. You know, I like facts,
I like games.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
I'm with you, But I do agree with a lot
of what Jay said. I mean, he some of what
he said. You and I have been saying since the
schedule came out. That's a year to year league. You
don't know what teams are gonna repeat their success, what
teams are gonna fall, and what teams are gonna rise.
That's why you have to actually play the games on
your schedule. But just the one thing that he mentioned
that I do want to sort of remind fans that

(43:52):
are more on the pessimistic side, is as horrendous as
last year went as a whole. Let's not forget the
season started with the team going two and three. The
offensive line through the first five games was completely healthy
and played every single snap together. And it wasn't until
I believe it was that Week six game, the night
game against the Bengals, when Andrew Thomas got hurt, yeah,

(44:13):
and then proceeded to miss the rest of the season
where things crumbled and fell apart. And we've spoken about
how you look back at the last two years when
Andrew Thomas got hurt is sort of when things on
the offensive side of the ball at least completely fell apart,
for sure, And you're right, injuries do happen every year.
Could Andrew Thomas get hurt again, of course it's possible.

(44:33):
But when healthy, it was a very solid I'm not
gonna say it was outstanding, but the offensive line was solid.
It was getting the job done the team. Week five,
the team went to Seattle and upset a good Seahawks team,
beat him by nine points.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
And that's what I want to stop you at for
one second, because I want to take a poll. Johnny Matck,
get your mic on a second here, all right, the
three of us in this room, when the Giants stunned
the Seahawks, when Isaiah Simmons blocked that kick at the
end of the game in Seattle, the House of Horrors,
where the Giants have had so many bad bad days,

(45:11):
Giants win that game. Are any of us thinking that
after that second win of the season, They're only gonna
win one more game the rest of the way.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
Come on, be honest, no, no way, right not that
thought did not come close to roma that was crossing
my mind.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
It was not even a possibility.

Speaker 4 (45:28):
Was no.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
After that win, we were like, Okay, this is the
team that we saw in twenty twenty two that no
one had any expectations for, and they went out surprised
everyone and made a run to the playoffs. This is
a team that's starting to look like that.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
That's it. That was the match for me that was
gonna start the fire. The Giants were gonna be that
team that we expected now and it didn't happen. So
not only sometimes do you not know going into the
season which you got, sometimes week to week you don't
know what you've got because you never know what's gonna
do fail you. Yeah, all right, we go back to

(46:03):
the phones. Cliff in New York. You are next online
three thanks for calling.

Speaker 5 (46:10):
Hey, guys, great show. I agree with those comments. You
really lit me up all week, not just yesterday. The
uh Jason was talking about what I wanted to get
to about Washington.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (46:25):
You know, we were not hopelessly outclassed by that team.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
At all.

Speaker 5 (46:30):
They were two of the eight one score losses out
of the nine one score games. And I think that
the context that's going to help us this year is
what we the dreaded September football, especially the first game.

(46:54):
I think we're we're really in a position to to
to to uh surprise them. As much as we like
to see some preseason pads work in preseason games, that
shows us something I don't think they're gonna I don't
think Dave was going to show anybody a damn thing, and.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
And and should he in terms of plays, No, he
should not show anybody his playbook. I would like to
see some of the regulars get some more snaps though, but.

Speaker 5 (47:26):
That's another I know, I know I agree with that,
as you've said it over the years, but but still,
what was Belichick's famous comment about September football? Was it
just the first game or wasn't it the whole the
whole month? Don't recall I think it was like an
extension of the preseason. Well like that.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Well, Bill Pollian is the is the one that I
follow on that. He always says it takes you about
four games to figure out what your team is, and
it is like an extension of the preseason.

Speaker 5 (47:56):
Okay, I think that's in our huge favor. A third
of the eight losses by one score was the one
Jason was talking about with Dallas, and I just think
we've improved more than both teams. I think everybody talks
about the quarterback in Washington and how what a wonderful

(48:18):
debut he had, YadA, YadA. Nobody talked about the new
general manager and the new coach, and the Belichick also
had given a shout out to that new general manager.
I heard at some place, and I was scared, and
I had reason to be. As it turned out, he
signed that guy Lougo for eight million, and he re
signed them for a lot more than that. And Wagner and.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
He made some good trades this offseason too, and they
added some vets. Now, this Washington team has improved in
some very important areas.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
That trade for Laramie Tunsel is so monumental for them,
like that. Their offense was great last year behind a
not so good offensive line, and they went out and
added Laramie Tunsel and all Pro tackle. They drafted Josh Connerly,
who was one of the top tackles in the draft.
That offensive line at least has the potential to take
a huge step up, with obviously Jade Daniels being you know,

(49:15):
the franchise quarterback. Now, I don't know how much further
up you can go after from what last year, what
he showed, but having such an improved offensive line obviously
only going to help him.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
See that's the problem. I do think he'll take a
step back, But how is he going to fall on
his face when they've improved all the elements around.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Him so much Deebo Samuel as well.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
I know it's going to be almost impossible for him
to totally fall apart because they've given him so many pieces.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Although we did say the same thing about c J.
Stroud going into last year, step everyone would agree he
did take a step back despite that though, no, definitely not.
I mean, the Texans still what when Penn Games had
made the playoffs. So I'm not going to go ahead,
I'm not going to sit up here and say that
he took such a huge step back. But he did
look a little bit better as a rookie than he

(50:02):
did this past year now, and that was with all
of you know, the pieces that they had on offense
as well, So it is possible that Jadon Daniels hits
the sophomore slump, but again, even if he does, I
don't expect it to be much.

Speaker 5 (50:15):
Yeah, yeah, I get well, I expect us to have
a pretty damn good chance of jumping both of those
first two games. Well, uh, they're not going to know
what they're going to get in the first game at all,
and they're only going to have that much film from

(50:36):
that game for the rest of the month. I think
it's September. Football is in our in our favor this year.
I also wanted to say, I think the fifty three
has to carry four quarterbacks. If somebody goes down, then
the rookie has to be the backup. And that can't happen.
We don't. Nobody does that.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
Wait, Cliff, Cliff, hold on, hold on. If you go
with three, which you do is you put a fourth
quarterback on the practice squad, and then what you're talking
about is really not even more than a one week
proposition at most, because you could always bring if you've
got one of your three guys hurt long term, you
could always bring that guve up from the practice squad.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
Yeah, it might not, you know, you would run the
risk if you, let's say, at the end of training camp,
decide we're not going to carry you Tommy DeVito, because
I think he would be the choice. Right now, you
would think that of the most likely quarterback to not
make it, there is a chance he could get picked
up by another team her one games in the NFL.
He's young, he's developing. It's certainly possible. But if that

(51:38):
were to happen, if the Giants were to waive him
and he were to get picked up by someone else,
I would almost guarantee that there would be another veteran
quarterback of some sort signed to the practice squad to
prevent that exact situation that you just brought up from happening.

Speaker 5 (51:53):
Yeah, qb room Well, since the end of the year,
is our present backup for four million a year, who
made great strides with his interceptions when he was coached
by Sean Payton. And I'm not saying that Dabel has

(52:15):
earned a comparison to Peyton yet, but as a quarterback whisperer,
I think he might be pretty close. And if he
gets any time with him, I'm dying to see what
Jamis can do. Really well, Matt, I'll say.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
This hopefully Russell Wilson plays well enough that you don't
have to worry about seeing anybody else. But I would
also add one other caveat to what we were just
saying about that fourth quarterback. The Giants aren't good enough
to carry four quarterbacks out of fifty three man roster,
because that's another roster spot you could give away to
somebody else who you may need at another position.

Speaker 6 (52:50):
You know, you can't.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
You can't do that to yourself.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
As much as you want to, obviously, you know, protect
the development of Jackson Dart, which obviously everyone agreed would
be one of the most important priority is of the season.
You can't do that at the detriment to the rest
of the roster because you are still trying to go
out there and win games every week.

Speaker 5 (53:09):
Okay, well that's that's a little real. That's reassuring. But
I really, I really would love to see what what
Jamis can do.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (53:18):
He doesn't have to do it because Russell gets hurt.
Russell's on a one year deal. I don't I'm I'm
thinking that he's expecting to just to try to show
enough to get a multi year again, even though he's
getting older. Uh, and and that he shows enough to
get that kind of deal and that and we get
Jamis and we don't have to be held bent on

(53:39):
getting Jackson in uh anytime soon. And who's to say
that they have a lot of respect uh Shane and Dable.
They don't call the backup quarterback. They call him the
number two and and and and and they refer to
that and and and they feel that with what we

(53:59):
pay aid to get Jackson, Uh we we we can,
we can, uh you know, we could. We can think
of him as developing as a number two and be
worth it, I think, especially if there's if there's guys
that are more highly regarded coming down the pike in
the next year or two, which would be comparable to

(54:20):
the twenty three class that had so many guys step
in as rookies. And so I'm feeling pretty good about
that room. And as far as Washington improving there all, well,
they have to prove it in in real games. I
don't know who they're coaches.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
Yeah, everybody does. Well that that would be Bobby Johnson,
the former Giants old line coach.

Speaker 5 (54:43):
Oh really it did you know?

Speaker 1 (54:47):
He did a pretty good job.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
I was going to say he scraped it together, didn't
he He scraped it together. Last year they did it off.
They did it off to keep that rookie. Uh you
know productive.

Speaker 5 (54:57):
I just I just think we can jump both of
the first two game.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Hi, Cliff, thank you, thanks Cliff. Two one real quick,
before we get to the the last caller I got.
There was a announcement just made what we got. I
want everyone to just buckle up real quick. Roger Goodell
announced that the Buffalo Bills would be the summer Hard

(55:21):
Knocks team and then for the in season Hard Knocks.
Of course, when they follow a full division, it is
the NFC East, So the Giants will be one of
four teams on the in season Hard Knocks. I know
how excited everyone must be for that.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
It is what it is.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
You're not pulling my leg.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
I am not pulling your leg. This is ian rapaport
saying Roger Goodell just announced okay, wow, So I let
it let it off by saying buckle up, wow. And
at the very least, in this version of Hard Knocks,
the Giants will obviously be one of four teams, so

(56:07):
it's not like every single episode will be twenty four
to seven covering the Giants. It'll be about all four
teams in the division. So a little less of a
spotlight here on us in East. Rather would they have
picked a different division, it would have been that would
have been nice. I would have appreciated that.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
But well, thank you for catching that of the off
the computer. We go to Matt in East.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
I slip hello, Sorry to bring the vibes down there.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Yeah, that's that's a real nice way to throw cold
water on this program. Go ahead, Matt, you're the last
caller on the show today.

Speaker 3 (56:41):
Hi guys, how you going today?

Speaker 6 (56:43):
Hi?

Speaker 3 (56:43):
Good?

Speaker 4 (56:43):
Are you good?

Speaker 3 (56:46):
To talk about this tush push? I think the best
argument against it is what Mark Schliu said. You know,
they banned the defense from pushing in the name of safety,
So like, why was it okay for the offense to
push now? I think, you know, I know Matt was
saying about, you know, having some evidence on injuries. I

(57:07):
don't know, maybe they found a lot more injuries when
the defense pushed, but kind of sounds contradictory that, you know,
you the defense can push in the offense, I mean,
the offense can push and the defense can't.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
That is a totally fair point.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Coach Marvin brought that up yesterday and I did check
he was right. Yeah, Chris Jones, Chris Jones, you know,
did did come up with an issue following a touch
push in the Super Bowl. Look, hey, we know, we
know what the arguments were two and four and somehow
it still came up to vote short. So it is

(57:41):
what it is for at least another year.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
And the other thing is for me personally, I don't
mind them pushing so much. My I have a big
problem when you watch it sometimes and you see them
like the running back or.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Whoever, how about the spot of the ball, how about.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
That grading his waistband and lifting them up, and that
I have a problem with.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
Yeah, well, you know part of the issue for me.
And when I talk about safety, and this goes not
just for this play, it goes for all plays. I
think there are too many times. And I appreciate that
officials don't want to blow the whistle early. I get
that you do that you take away the potential maybe

(58:22):
of an escape and of a really good play, So
I'm sensitive to that. I think there have been too
many times in recent years where I've seen the pile
and you know, there's this rugby scrum going on, and
the officials don't blow the whistle quick enough, and then
by the time you've got nine bodies on top of

(58:44):
that guy with the ball, how are you really supposed
to get a legit spot?

Speaker 1 (58:48):
It's fair. I mean, when they don't blow the whistle
fast enough. Like you said, there are instances where you
see guys like five seconds into the pile starting just
leaping out of nowhere and diving on top I mean
to be Franks, which that I would say is more
a player safety issue.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
No doubt. And that's part of where I'm coming from.
And you know, I'm not going to say that some
of these things are not first downs or touchdowns when
Hurtz does it, but there are moments. There are some
of those plays when he does this touch push. Some
of them he does get enveloped by that mass of humanity,

(59:27):
and when the referees finally come in to start grabbing
bodies off the pile, I don't know where his forward
progress was really stopped. There are other times where you
can see him, you could say, all right, he got
the first down, but there are plenty of times on
this touch push thing where you can't see him. And
then all of a sudden, they're coming up with a
miraculous spot and they give him the first down? Are

(59:50):
they just assuming he got it?

Speaker 1 (59:52):
See that again, that is a valid argument as to
why it should get banned. See that I can support
because I agree with you. There's I can't even count
how many times throughout just this past season where a
team ran the toush push Eagles or whoever else it
might be, and there's no possible way the refs could
actually see where the ball should be spotted. They just

(01:00:13):
it seems like they sort of just guess or they
put it where it like they last saw the ball
before the pile kind of started, which could be you know,
a yard further back from where the ball actually shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Be spoke about it. That is a valid argument, because
you got the balls there, it gets hiked. There's players
in front of the guy who coming at him. He's
now pushing himself into that pile, and there were people
behind him, so there were instances where you lose sight
of him.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Yeah, you just can't see that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
You can't say that at all. And yet oh okay, well,
now the officials come running in. They don't blow the
whistle wide away because they don't know where forward progress
was stopped. And then sometimes you don't even hear the whistle.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
I swear to you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Sometimes you don't even hear it. Maybe they're blowing it,
maybe they're not. I don't even know. And then finally
they start pulling these people off and okay, there's the
ball first down.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Really, Yeah, that I agree with you on.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
So that's all I got, Matt, Yeah, that's all I got.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
I don't like when they grab the waist unless that's
my problem.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
Well that's not cool either. Yeah, thank you, Thanks, Matt,
appreciate the call. All right, two on one nine three
nine four five one three four Tomorrow it'll be you
and Lance me tomorrow. Ye, people will kick off live
or her at twelve thirty pm Eastern Time for one
hour live every weekday. Otherwise it's on the Giants podcast Network,

(01:01:36):
It's on giants dot com slash podcast, It's on the
Giants mobile app. The huddle has do we you know?
Do you know who we got? Anybody knew?

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
Tomorrow?

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Marcus Saddlefield goes up tomorrow cool.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Along with I believe the next Baldy breakdown.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Then oh, I watched the Abdukada one.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
Yeah, it was good. I think tomorrow I want to
say tomorrow is Jackson Dart. I think it's we're going
in order of the guys how they were drafted. Dart
would be tomorrow, and then that would be true. I
think starting tomorrow, I believe every day there will be
a new one till we finish the draft class.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
You know what I like about the Abdul Carter When
folks do check it out, it's only about two and
a half minutes. He goes through a number of different
elements in different ways that Abdul Carter's skill set can
be applied and how he can attack an offense. It's
not just like, Okay, he's coming on the edge every play. Yep.
He takes you through different ways that Carter can damage

(01:02:38):
another team. And that's what that's what. It's a real
good like thumbnail sketch. Bold He's awesome. We love Balding.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
He's great.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
So that's on the Giant social platforms as always. Giant
season ticket memberships are available for the upcoming season at
bet Live Stadium, but you can stay connected to the
team all year long. You get exclusive member access and benefits.
Go to Giants dot Com, Slash tickets and the Giants Mobile,
Lap Giants TV, all kinds of streaming info there. Some

(01:03:07):
of the stuff that we just talked about on Twitter,
it's always on Instagram, It's always on Facebook, it's everywhere.
Do we do TikTok?

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Though we do have a TikTok?

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
We do have one, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
See, so all that stuff is I would say, it's
not exactly the same content that goes up on Twitter
all the those days and the goofy questions. Yeah, the
mini mics, yeah exactly. And I will say I would
just want to uh endorse one article that's currently up
on Giants dot com that Dan Salomon, our senior managing editor,
put together. Uh there. John Schmelck interviewed two of the

(01:03:40):
national scouts of the team that played a big part
in the Giants that week last week's huddle. There's not new,
but Dan rid it up wrote it up, okay, what
the national scouts saw in several members of the draft class,
but namely Abdull Carter and Jackson Dart. It's an interesting
quick read. Highly recommend giving it a look.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
Folks. I know, so we went a tadlong today, but
we had a lot of stuff to talk about with
all these rules proposals and so forth. This has been
Big Blue Kickoff Line, presented by Cadillac, the official luxury
vehicle of the New York Football Giants. From Outside Tech
on Poltatino, We'll see you again next time.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
So long, everybody, go next