Big Blue Kickoff Live 6/12 | Breaking Down OTAs and Pressers

Paul Dottino and Matt Citak discuss everything that they saw at the Giants’ 9th OTA, talk about what players said in their press conferences, and take calls from fans.

:00 - OTA #9 review

22:00 - Calls

32:50 - 2025 season

39:15 - Historic Giants games

48:00 - Quarterback room

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

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

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Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't.

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Do it because you're on giants dot com.

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Seventeen fourteen at the finals One time down? We all
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App part of the Giants podcast network.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Let's go on, hell on the crazy dog.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hasn't Welcome to Thursday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff live
here on Giants dot Com. It's presented by Cadillac, the
official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants. So
glad you could join us for this afternoon program. Of course,
our time did change a bit because of today's practice
and media session schedule. If you'd like to join in
on the program, it's two on one nine three nine

(00:47):
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four five one three Also on Twitter at hashtag Giants Chat.
As a reminder, you can always find that archive of
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Mobile app cast platforms everywhere at at Giants dot com,
slash podcast, Paul Theatino, He's Matt Sidetech gorgeous, gorgeous day

(01:08):
in North Jersey this morning. I mean, look, I know
it's a little warm for something.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
A little too hot for a little warm for some people,
but well, imagine what trading Cam's going to be. Oh,
I know, I remever, so let's just put that into perspective.
But a good day.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Plenty of plays on the offensive side of the ball,
several plays on the defensive side of the ball. And
I think the one thing that we should make clear
to everybody is that in these practice sessions that they're
going through these OTAs, they're setting up specific seven on
seven and eleven on eleven situations. As they will explain

(01:47):
to some of the writers today, they've been doing more
of that this spring than they have in previous springs.
And for today, it was red zone stuff. Red zone
was the big concentration on the seven on sevens and
the eleven on eleven. So that was the big concentration.
So when we tell you that a bunch of touchdown
passes were thrown, understand they didn't have far to go.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, I mean, look, there have been some days during
these OTA practices where the offense is focused in the
red zone like today, like you know, the first day
two weeks ago. Then there are other days, you know,
where most of the offensive plays are taking place on
you know, the offense's own twenty to thirty yard line,
and obviously those days they're going to be quite a

(02:28):
fewer touchdown passes as you know you'd come to expect,
obviously from being seventy yards out as opposed to fifteen
yards out.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
So right, so let's get to some of the stuff
that we saw today, because once again Russell Wilson actually
had a bad practice yet.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
One even one not a bad practice overall. No, he
as Darius Slayton, is that he's had like a couple
of throws here and there that yeah, weren't the you know,
the best throw weren't exactly where they needed to be.
But a couple of throw out of I don't even
know how many he's thrown, quite a lot to have
just a couple of bad throws, like Darius Layton said,

(03:06):
especially on those deep balls. He's had one, maybe two
slight misses on these balls since he got here. Yeah,
you take that any day of the week.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
I just I'll be honest. The more that I see
him on a daily basis, the more impressed. I am
with the guy. I'm I'm just being frank with you. You
guys know, early in his career I thought he was
more of a system quarterback with the Seahawks, and there's
no doubt about that. Right they wanted to pound the ball,
they wanted to use play action, they wanted to use rollouts,
get him away from the interior between the tackles because

(03:40):
he is shorter and he has trouble seating over the line.
So there were only certain routes that you can run
in certain combinations with the route tree because of the
vision issue. And of course a lot of those years
Seattle did not have the greatest offensive line either, which
we know is comparable to what the Giants have been
putting on the field in recent years too. There are

(04:00):
certainly schematics that you have to deal with when you
have a quarterback who is shorter, a Breeze, a Wilson
you know years ago, Doug Flutie. That's just part of
the game. You have to be able to scheme around it,
all right. Having said that, just watching this guy every
single day, I can't help but be impressed. Now he's
thirty six plus years old, he's gone to you know,

(04:22):
ten Pro Bowls, he's gone to two Super Bowls. You know,
he's not the guy he was at the very beginning
of his career in Seattle. He's probably a lot smarter.
He is very determined and precise. And I've said this
to you too, Matt. Look at the conditioning on this guy.
He has cut out of stone. He has done everything

(04:43):
that he could possibly do to train himself to make
sure he can last in this league.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, I mean, look, as you said, he is thirty six,
he is on the shorter side. But like, don't take
that as a saying that he is not like an
incredible athlete, because you're right, he is like compact. I
can't remember any quarter seeing a quarterback like that in
person before, certainly not in the you know, this my
seventh season. He looks like a yeah, he's not built
like a quarterback, but when he throws the ball, he

(05:10):
throws it like as the best of them. Like he
he has looked so impressive out there, and it has
made the entire offense just looks so much better than
in years past. Like it's not it. I don't even
want to compare it to previous seasons because it's like
night and day different. And you hear all of the
guys speaking, whether it's today after practice, Darius Laydon, Antyron

(05:33):
Tracy spoke on the offensive side, even Paulson Adiba, who
granted obviously was not here last year. He's new. But
it doesn't matter who, which player or coach is speaking.
Every single one of them notes about how the energy
and the vibes are just different. Though obviously the whole
quarterback room is revamped, but it starts with the Russell

(05:53):
Wilson because he is the starting quarterback right now and
will become week one, you know, barring barring injury. He
has helped as we expected him to, helped just elevate
the floor of this offense. Like, I don't think this offense,
assuming everyone, you know, the starters stay healthy, I don't
think the offense is gonna, you know, have quite as

(06:13):
many three and outs as often as they did in
the last couple of seasons. Russell Wilson is just elevating
everyone in the offense, which it's been a little while
since they had a quarterback that was able to do that.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah, So let's talk about some of the plays today.
Starting out, Wilson had a really nice throw, looped it
in the left corner for Slayton for a touchdown. Then
he threaded a slant over the middle for Wandel Robinson
for a touchdown, and Darton Winston had a couple of
really nice ones in that period.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Two.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
This was the seven on seven.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yes, so this is the opening seven on seven period.
That Slayton touchdown was just the second play of the period.
And then he was I believe it was back to
back plays. He had slayed in and then it right in. Yeah.
And then Jackson dark came on as he's been doing
a lot. You know, they've been switching. Russell's definitely been
taking the most snaps with the first team offense, but
they've been trying to mix Jackson in for at least

(07:06):
one or two plays as well. Yeah, and he threw
a just absolutely beautiful touchdown pass to Daniel Bellinger. Again,
this is all inside the red zone, but similar to
you know what you're just saying about Russ, Jackson threw
this ball and just dropped it right above and it
was right in front of us in the corner of
the end zone, right above the defenders outstretched arms, like

(07:27):
could not have placed it more perfectly right into Daniel
Bellinger's arms for a touchdown. And then a little bit later,
Jameis Winston came on and threw a touchdown pass to
Dante Miller, who hadn't just ran a nice route got open.
Jamis hit him in stride in the end zone for
a touchdown.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
And the thing about Turbo, if you're going to hit
Turbo in the back corner of the end zone, you
got to make sure it's in the right spot because
he doesn't have a lot of length.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, he's a smaller.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Guy and and the ball needs to be right there.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Winston can do that.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
The problem is the consistency thing. I have to be
honest with you, folks. There were times when you see
a play like that and you're like, wow, that was sweet.
And then there were other throws with him that just
aren't quite where they need to be. And that's just
the nature of what Winston's been his whole career.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, I mean, I would say today he was especially
good practice for Jamos. It was one of his big
He was on point. He had a couple of throws,
including one a little bit later breaks the deep pass
to Daleen Combre. It was like a forty plus yard
game where he again just dropped it right there. Throws
like that. You're like, this is why this guy was

(08:33):
the number one overall pick ten years ago.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
He threw the was like that, threw tightrope b also
to bow Collins as well, yep, which was a nice,
nice toss.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
That was I believe Jamis's second touchdown.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, it was later, it was in the last period.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah. So I mean again, these quarterbacks, the quarterback room
is a lot better than it's been as a whole
in recent years.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
There's just no doubt about that. All right, let's talk
about the first eleven on eleventh period. This is where
the defense made some nice plays.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Okay, I had here the Veto threading a touchdown past
the cambray at the beginning of that period, which was
nice throw by DeVito. And again I don't want to
leave him out. The Vito's had a nice spring, he
really has. All four quarterbacks have shown flashes.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
You know. Obviously, Tommy right now is probably getting the
you know, least amount of reps. But when he's out there,
he is taking advantage of his opportunities and it's looking
pretty good.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
And then the three defensive plays of this session. You
had Drew Phillips diving past deflected on the sideline right
in front of us yep, which Wow, I'm my eyes
and my jaw just totally dropped. The way he closed
on that ball and knocked it down was just something
to see.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah. No, it was an incredibly athletic play. I mean, honestly,
we saw bits of that last year. Yeah, in his
rookie season. I think we're gonna see a whole lot
more of it this year.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
Yeah, that was a throw from Wilson, so you know,
it was accurate.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
It was just a better, incredible defensive play.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Probably the defensive play of the day. I think I
was just so enamored with this athletic I thought that
the athleticism on that just blew my mind.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Now, I mean you in terms of just impressive ss,
I agree with you on that.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yes, now you're gonna like the next one. TJ Moore
the past deflected off of Jackson darr.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
That one was almost as good as Drew's. Honestly, that
was an incredible play as well. I thought it was
gonna be an easy touchdown and he somehow got his
arm up at the last second. In the corner of
the end zone, batted the ball away. It was a
great it's to me it was one A. I just thought.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
I just thought maybe because we were a little closer
to Phillips and it was right on the sideline, maybe
that's what made it because there wasn't a lot of
room there. There was a little more room in the
end zone, I thought on Moore's Moore's deflection, So I
don't think Phillips had much room to operate on his.
So that's why I'm giving him one A, but one
and then the other one one A.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
But you can well know my defensive player the day
would be the next play that I'm assuming then you
gotta go no, no, I mean for the pick. Yeah,
I go ahead and tell him, yeah. So, uh, trace
Ford bat it down a ball or batted a ball
at the line of scrimmage, and obviously when the ball
goes up after being deflected, everyone it's anyone's game. Everyone's

(11:22):
trying to catch it, and sure enough, whose arms is it?
Somehow fall into defensive linement. Corey Dirten, number sixty nine,
who catches it, and he probably would not have gotten
very far down the other way, but he did start
moving towards the other end zone and then there was is.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
That what we call that moving?

Speaker 2 (11:40):
I thought it was lumbering. Lumbering is a better word
for what was occurring on that play. But yeah, for me,
for the defensive play to day, I gotta go with
the one actual takeaway. Might not have been the most
actual impressive play, but if you turn the ball over,
if you put a ball into the turnover chest, you
get my okay, the title of defensive player that I understand.

(12:02):
I also just had a couple of other defensive plays
before that, Tommy DeVito to get very touchdown, just solid
defensive plays that you know, if it happened in a
regular season game, wouldn't make the highlight reel, but we're
very good plays that helps get the defense off of
the field. And the first one would be Darius Mussou
and Mike and McFadden combining for what would have been

(12:25):
a sack.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Right.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Keep in mind, whenever we use the word sack during OTAs,
it's not an actual sack. No one is actually touching
or bringing down a quarterback. But you know, if two
guys are in the quarterback's face and then let up
at the last second, because it's OTAs we're considering that
a sack. So the two linebackers combined for a sack,
and then it is either the next player. Two plays later,

(12:46):
Deontay Johnson just sniffed out a screen pass and stopped.
I forgot who's the running back. It might have been
Dante Miller. I think it was Miller. Caught the pass
like a yard or two behind the line of scrimmage,
and within a millisecond Deontay Johnson was in his face.
If this was a regular season game, he would have
blown him up yep, for like a ten yard loss.
And it was just a fantastic play by Deontay Johnson.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
All right, So we go to the next eleven on
eleven period and THEO Johnson catching a pass deflected by
your guy.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yes, that was the craziest player of the day. It
was Dan Belton leaps, you know, outstretches his arms in
the end zone, deflects the ball and you think, what
a great defensive play. Not so sure enough, but it
bounces backwards like three yards right into THEO Johnson's arms
for a touchdown. So what would have been an amazing
defensive play turned into a touchdown for the offensive for

(13:39):
THEO Johnson exactly. But it was a very strong play
by Dame Belton.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
On the ball off the throw by Wilson, So that's
like a check mark for the offense and the defense
on the same place. Yeah, okay too. Also during that
period we saw Felton with a stretching, reaching turn around
grab on a touchdown in the right corner of the
end zone from Dark.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yes you know I did that the short practice report videos.
You say that, well, I did it on on Tuesday
and I didn't mention Jackson Dart for the first time.
And since I've been doing Wow, I got a lot
of comments saying where's Dark We want updates on Dart. Well.
Today it was a great day for Dart and that play.
That throw is probably his best throw of the day. Again,

(14:23):
just place the ball perfectly where only his receiver would
have been able to make a play on it, right
over the defender's arms. Great throw, great catch, be able
to get both feed in by Felton. Just a great
all around play. And then what might have been my
favorite player of the day came right after, and that
was Brian Burns pretending like he were acting as if

(14:47):
he was you know, miss, I was gonna say, like
Misty may on the US Olympic volleyball team batting down,
I've never seen a ball get batted and just fiercely
go in the other direction like it did today. It went.
I don't even remember who was the quarterback, probably Russ
if Burns was out there, but.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
But I didn't jut that.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Burns got it both hands up and the ball hit
his arms and bounced so hard the other way. It
almost took Jameis Winston's head off, because James Winston was standing,
you know, ten yards behind the play right, and the
ball balanced or hit so hard and so fiercely off
of birds arms it went firing back the other way.
It was like a volleyball.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Spike see and I agree, And the sight of that
ball shooting the other way was amazing. But for me,
I remember, I asked you and Dan Solomon, we were
standing together in the corner of the end zone, so
we're about twenty five thirty yards away from the ball.
The impact you heard smack? Yeah, when when he hit

(15:48):
that ball, you heard it loud as could be. I mean,
it just smacked the other way. It was the sound
that like startled me.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
It almost sounded like, you know, a golfer hitting a
ball off a tip like it was that loud, really packful.
So Burns with an awesome pass defense at the line
a good practice overall, because that might have been his,
you know, his best play. But he had two, if
not three again of those would be sacked. Soor did
trace Ford. Yeah, trace Ford was great and honestly Abdul

(16:17):
Carter as well. You know a lot of these times
day for these would be sacks where we're standing. It's
sometimes it's very easy to see. Okay, that was Brian
Burns right in front of the quarterback space for the sack.
Other times there's you know, two guys that are right there.
There were at least two plays that would have been
sacks for sure. But whether you want to give him

(16:38):
to Burns or Abdul Carter dealer's choice because they were
both right there and they in an actual game both
easily would have gotten to the quarterback before he was
able to get rid of the ball.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
All right. So then also in eleven on elevens you
had Chauncey Golston with a pass defense at the line
as well. And by the way, he's been much more
noticeable the last few practices.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
I guess was it the last practice he had the
interception where he batted it and inside. Yeah, I think
it was Tuesday. He batted the ball down at the
line of scrimmage and caught it himself for an interception
and took it the other way.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
I've said since the Giants signed him, I like him
more as a defensive end. I like him with his
hand in the dirt. I don't want him playing stand
up edge rusher. That's just my opinion of what I
know about him as a player. It'll be interesting to
see how they deploy him.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, he's gonna be used, I think, all over the line.
Same with a lot of these guys. I mean, Shane
Bone was talking about it last week. Some of the
guys themselves have been talking about it. The Giants just
have a very versatile group of guys now up front
that could play line up in multiple positions.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
So it's a lot deeper than it was.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yes, it wouldn't surprise me if Gholston gets some snaps
on the edge. He's gonna definitely get some snaps on
the inside. But he's coming off his best season last
year with the Cowboys, where he had a career high
five pass breakups. Prior to that, in his first three seasons,
I think he only had two total, and then he
had five last year. He's had two in the last
two practices alone. The guy has learned how to get

(18:01):
his arms up when the quarterbacks throwing the ball, and
that could be, you know, have a big impact on
the defense this season.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Other highlights toward the end of practice Collins catching a
nice floida from Dart over the middle, Cambray with a
catch off of Winston Hyatt diving catch. That one was
from that I I scribbled here that was a Wilson throw.
And then Collins also catching a threading the needle pass

(18:28):
from Winston. Those were some of the last late practice
highlights I had. Did you have somebody else?

Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah? No, That last one was for a touchdown. It
was like right on, yes, or near the goal line. Yes.
That was one of the last plays of practice. Cambrey
actually had two great catches towards the end of practice.
The first one was that deep pass we were talking
about from Jamis Winston, and then he also had a
nice catch from Tommy DeVito on a cross route like
fifteen to twenty yards down the field would have been

(18:54):
a big first down. He's made a couple of plays
in practice, I mean the spring. It was a good day.
This good day.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
That's the bottom line. I think both sets of coaches
on each side of the ball are gonna be happy.
And by the way, I don't want to leave that
coach goalbri All either because some special teams Mcatamney missed
one field goal today during practice and he booted what
was it, three from fifty or more?

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Is that what you counted? I think so yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
I mean, you know, one of what we won he
was wide on. But I think he booted a half
a dozen field goals today and all but one was.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Pretty deep, including at least one of the field goals
he made was again. Coach Table said, they're working on
these different circumstances and situations. One of them was the
offense had no timeouts left right, and it was whether
it was you know, fourth down or just the last play,
last play before the half, and the special teams Union
had to quickly run on, quickly, get set, hike the

(19:51):
ball and kick the field goal. And he drilled the
field goal on that you know circumstances, which you love
to see that because those situations are going to her
eyes at some point during the season.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
Folks, what I what I tell you all the time
is that these OTAs, these spring practices, you know, don't
take a lot from them. When they're good, it doesn't
always translate. What you really are looking for is you
don't want to see bad practices. Bad practices do translate

(20:22):
into bad things. That's true, because now things have to
be fixed, you have to do something about it. That's
what you that's bigger, it's more important. There's more impact
if you see bad spring practices than good spring practices,
and that's that's just the way to grade these things out. Again,
a good spring practice is better than a bad one,

(20:45):
there's no doubt about that.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
For sure.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
We've all seen good spring practices and then things that
go so well during the season. Again, but it's easy
to be excited.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
Now, as we say every day, there are no pads
on right now, there's no contact right now, so guys
can look great. But again, you got to take everything
with a little bit of grain of salt. But I
think just one important thing that's we've seen for the
last two plus weeks now, nine practices is the quarterbacks
are developing some very strong chemistry with all of the

(21:15):
pass catchers, whether it's the receivers who you know, we've
spoken about how Jalen Hyatt's having a great spring, Slayton's
having a great spring, Multie Neighbors hasn't even been practicing
in team drills. All these other guys are getting an
opportunity to grow that you know, connection with these quarterbacks,
and they're taking an advantage of it. We've seen tight
en all the tight ends make plays. Yes, we've can

(21:36):
seen the running backs catch a good amount of passes
on like these you know, the wheel routes or what
screens screen passes. You'd expect that any quarterback should be
able to throw it right, Yeah, The wheel routes are
obviously more about timing and more important to be on
the same page as your quarterback. And it's just very
clear that all of these playmakers on offense are all

(21:56):
granted it's June twelfth, but they are getting on the
same page with all four core on the team.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
All right, folks, So you know what's going on here.
Tomorrow there's another OTA practice, and then next week on Tuesday,
and Wednesday, the Giants will actually have their mandatory veteran
mini camp, which is the final session with the players
before they send them home for the summer recess and
spring them free until late in July when training camp

(22:22):
will open up. So that's where it stands right now.
As always, we're coming to you from the Giants Podcast
Studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting Better. Our
number is two one nine three nine four five one three.
We'll go over some of the comments from the players
to the media and just a bit, but we've got
some people on the phone already and I really don't
want to keep those guys waiting, so let's see what

(22:44):
we can do about getting some of these calls out
of the way. Loo from Pennsylvania. You're next on the show,
or first actually on the program.

Speaker 5 (22:51):
Hello, good afternoon, gentlemen. Hey, first time caller, and thank
you to get on for a while.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Well, thank you for continuing to try. You finally here.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
If you have to be patient, sometimes.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
Very patient.

Speaker 5 (23:08):
I have one I have one question about this year.
I wanted to talk about when you were doing your
list from list on yesterday.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
Oh yes, okay, Yeahine.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
What by the way before you go anywhere, Pearson, what
do we call that? What is what is that list
game called?

Speaker 6 (23:24):
It's blind blind rankings.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Blind rankings.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
Okay, all right, go ahead, lou don't hold us responsible
for anything of those blind rankings, because that's exactly what
they are.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Blind. Go ahead.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
Okay, First, my question last year, I don't know if
I read it somewhere or I saw it on TV
or on YouTube something like that, but there was a
report that one of the things that made Russell Wilson
very effective in the beginning of last year was his
ability to audible where he see, where he seed, where

(24:03):
he see it was needed. Right when he got hurt
and then came back, Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator, thought
to him and demanded that he played, he run, whatever
play was called. And because of that, that's when he
started slipping and not showing as much progress last year
towards the end of last year. So my question is,

(24:25):
do you believe do you think that Brian Dable is
quote unquote gonna let Russ Cook as everybody you know
likes to say.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Okay, there's a lot of levels to this. So part
of Russell Wilson's decline last year was for several reasons.
Apparently him and Arthur Smith did not get along very well.
That's been reported in Pittsburgh many times over, so I
don't doubt the validity of the story as you have
described it. Part of the reason was, quite frankly, the

(24:58):
weather got tougher and it was harder for him. You know,
he doesn't have even though he can let the long
ball go, you know, he doesn't have a quote cannon
of an arm. He's got that drop in the bucket
rainbow bomb. That's a lot different than throwing the ball
forty yards downfield on a zip, and at this stage

(25:18):
of his career, it's a little harder for him to
do that. So he did lose a little bit of
evelocity toward the end of the year as it got
really nasty in Pittsburgh. I'm told by people out there
who cover the Steelers that was part of it.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
The other part of it.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Was their schedule got incredibly difficult down the stretch. It
was a rough, rough, defensive front that they had to
face each and every time during the final part of
the season, and that also made things more difficult for him,
and part of the reason why they did go on
a losing streak and they were disappointed with their final results.

(25:55):
So I give you that first. Having said all of that,
whether it's it's Stable or Kafka calling the plays, I
don't think there's any doubt that they are going to
more heavily rely on Wilson's veteran guile to get them
through these games. We've already heard this now from the receivers.
In fact, we just heard some of that today. Slayton

(26:15):
was talking about that when he said, you know, we
know what the play is supposed to be, but even
if you're not the primary receiver, you want to stay
engaged on the play because you know that Russ sees
everything and he's not afraid to come off the play
and throw it to you. So even if you're not
the primary guy, he said, sometimes you know, when you're

(26:37):
a receiver and you're not the primary guy, you kind
of feel a little less enthusiastic about the play. He said,
you can't do that with Wilson because he will see
what you saw and he might get the ball to
you anyway.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
Not only that, but you know this is year four
of Brian Davile as the head coach, and as we've
seen from year one up until now. He caters, you know,
the offense towards his players strengths. I mean three years ago,
three seasons ago, when the Giants made that playoff run
in twenty twenty two, he pretty much catered the offense
around Daniel Jones's rushing abilities. And that's why, you know,

(27:12):
I'm not gonna say the offense was amazing that year,
but had its best season of the last couple of years.
He is going to, you know, cater him and Mike
Kafka are going to cater this offense around Russell Wilson strains,
the pass catcher, straints, the running back strains. He's not
going to try to force, you know, a square peg
into a round hole. So I do think that is
going to allow and provide Russell Wilson with a little

(27:35):
more freedom than he might have had last year in Pittsburgh.
We weren't there in Pittsburgh, so I don't want to,
you know, speak for his relationship with Arthur Smith or
what might or might not have happened there. But what
I do know is that it seems like he is
going to have a decent amount of freedom here to
guide the offense.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
Well I'll say this, the circumstances surrounding Wilson. I think
the run game's gonna be there. Remember he's a play
action guy.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
Okay, the run game should be there for him. We
believe that the weapons at the skill positions will be
there for him. Okay, what are we not sure about? Well,
what we're not sure about is the interior of the
offensive line, in particular, because Russell Wilson does need a
clean wind shield. He's always needed a clean wind shield

(28:22):
now for most of his career in Seattle. They worked
around that by moving the pocket a bunch. But as
a player gets older and loses a little bit of
that quickness and maybe a quarter of a step, that
becomes a little more challenging. So my biggest question in
terms of Russell Wilson's ability to do what he can

(28:43):
do to make the Giants good again, is more about
the front of the pocket. It's the interior line more
than anything else. I think the rest of the things
are going to take care of themselves.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, and I'll say this, we obviously know one of
Russell Wilson's strengths at this point of his career is
his ability to accurately throw the ball down field. Well,
I think you can. You'll agree with me on this.
We have seen more downfield throwing the last couple of
weeks and ots than we've seen in years this time
of year, and it's not even remotely close. So clearly
to what I was just saying, Brian n Abel, Mike Kafka,

(29:14):
they're trying to, you know, create this offense into what
Russell Wilson does best, because that's obviously what will be
best for the offense as a whole.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
Well, to be frank, you could be the quarterback and
da Will still would have tried to get more explosive
plays because the Giants needed them to be.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
True, but they did bring in a quarterback that is
good at those downfield throat.

Speaker 5 (29:34):
I'm seeing on X You know one play where Thibodeau,
Burns and Carter all all got to Wilson at the
same time.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
Well again, Lou, this this is OTAs you know.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
It's spring drove.

Speaker 5 (29:48):
Yeah, I understand that, you know.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
This is part of the problem.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
I mean, we can tell you what we're seeing and
those are eyewitness accounts, but how will it translate in September?

Speaker 2 (29:58):
We can't PROMI and to Lou, Lou.

Speaker 5 (30:01):
The clip that I don't know if I'm excited for
the defense or afraid of the offense on that on
a play like that, Lou.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
The clip that you're talking about, you gotta keep in
mind again, there's no contact, so the offensive linemen are
not able to actually, you know, engage with the pass
rushers like they would even in training. Cam right, So yeah,
the clip. I saw the clip. It looks great, you know,
great for the defense, but it's not like the offense.
The line is going one hundred percent there, So just

(30:28):
take it with a great salt.

Speaker 4 (30:30):
All right.

Speaker 5 (30:30):
Let me let me get to my two thousand team
quote comments. Yeah, okay, Well you talked about the championship game,
the forty one nothing against the.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Viking, Yes, landslide, yes.

Speaker 5 (30:42):
And how how much of a romp it was and
domination and all that. Also you got to remember that
the game was fourteen nothing before the Vikings even got
the ball, correct, Yeah, because you know, they they got
the kickoff, went down, the fields, go to touchdown, kicked
it off, Viking fumbled, yep, Giants recovered, and then very

(31:03):
first play you saw Kamela fall in his ass. They
catch the touchdown.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yes, he did great, Camela right, and.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
Then it was by taf time it was thirty four nothing.
That game was pretty much no doubt.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
It was a complete avalanche. And this was against by
the way, again, remember the important thing about that is
not just that the Giants scored forty one points, which
was awesome, but the fact that that was a very
high powered offense. The Vikings had. Nobody outside of me,
I think, thought that the Vikings would score less than
thirty points in that game.

Speaker 5 (31:35):
No, that's true. Yeah, and I was just as much
afraid as you were, and not much as most people were. Anyway.
Do you remember the movie Friday Night Light?

Speaker 3 (31:45):
Sure?

Speaker 2 (31:46):
Yeah, of course you remember the.

Speaker 5 (31:48):
Last team that they played, that team from Dallas that
was like so big and tough and mean and nasty
and all that. Okay, do you know who was on
that team? No, Jesse Armsteed?

Speaker 2 (32:03):
Oh was he really?

Speaker 4 (32:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (32:05):
I was watching like ESPN, I don't know if it
was a thirty for thirty or some other documentaries, and
you were talking about the team and how you know,
they got a bad rap for the way they were
portrayed in the movie. So they were interviewing different players
in that team and one of the players was Jesse Armstead.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
That'll be cool.

Speaker 5 (32:21):
Interesting.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
I've known Jesse a long time and did not know
that his team was the subject of one of the
opponents in that movie. I did not know that, but
you know, Jesse is from Dallas, so that makes a
lot of sense.

Speaker 5 (32:36):
Yeah, all right, guys, thank you to go, Please.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
Call it again, be well. Thanks Loue twour one nine
three nine four five one three line to Timmith. Charleston
is next on the program.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
Hello, Hey, Paul, Hey man, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 (32:49):
Hi? How are you Tim?

Speaker 4 (32:52):
So first I got a little update, you know when
I usually call you guys, I was I've been outside
this little Irish pub in j Island that's a part
of Charleston, and they closed down. And so come the
new season and dis will tie in. Paul. You might
be interested. Come to the new season. There's one bar

(33:14):
downtown Charleston that's a Giants Bar, and I looked it
up the other day because I haven't been there yet.
I always come here because all my friends were here,
and only a couple of the Giant fans here. Occasionally
I'm pretty much solo here. But there's this one bar
that's known as the Giants Bar, and it's called Big John's.
And when I looked it up, I discovered that it

(33:36):
was opened by a next Giants player by the name
of John Cannedy.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
Have you ever heard of him, Paul No.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
He played for the Giants from forty seven to fifty four.
He was outside line back, a.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
Little bit before my time.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Okay, yeah, no, I understand. I mean me too. I'm
a little older than you. And they had him as
first couple of years listed as position center. But I
don't know that they used to call like the nose
tackle of the center or the middle linebackers center on
the defense, because I don't think he was ever an
offensive right to my knowledge.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Even though the semantics have changed over the years, I
don't think that's ever been the specific case.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
No, I don't think it's weird.

Speaker 4 (34:17):
But anyway, because he even had interceptions. He finished his career,
he had fourteen interceptions, He had ten bubble recoveries. He
went to two Pro Bowls at fifty and fifty two. Okay,
so he was a pretty good player. So that was
just an item of interest. And apparently there's a lot
of Giants fans there so that'll be fun, Tim.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
But anyway, Tim, I feel like you just I feel
like you just stumped the schwab over here bringing up
a Giant that Paul's never heard of.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
Tim, I do want to add, while you're talking about
a Giants alum, and I did not know about this,
but apparently about two and a half weeks ago, Ralph
Heck passed away, and I do want to send condolences
to his family and his friends and former teammates. Ralph Heck,
as you know, Tim, I'm sure, was a line backer
for the Giants in the early seventies, was here for

(35:03):
probably like three years, was one of the really great
guys on that team. Was very, very well liked by
his teammates, by the fans. He was known as a
real gentleman and a really great guy. And apparently eighty
four years old, Ralph Hack passed away about two or
three weeks ago. I was just informed of it by

(35:23):
someone on Twitter this morning, and then I researched it
and I found the obituary, so I was I was sorry.
I was sorry to hear that because Ralph was one
of the linebackers there during the louter days of Yankee
Stadium right before the Giants went to the Yield Bowl.

Speaker 4 (35:40):
Wow. Yeah, I only vaguely remember the name. I can't
say that I specifically have a memory of him, but
Condolence is his family. But anyway, and to this season,
just two simple things. One I want to say, and
I know we say this every year, but this year
I think it's so important with our end trusters and

(36:00):
the pressure we can put on a passer, but the
first element of that stop the run so that they're
not in second and four, third and two's let's let
these guys go to work, put pressure on the quarterback,
help our secondary. I just think the Giants that they
can just stop the run too, even the middle of
the league level. This year they will have a top
ten defense overall, hands down. So you know, i'man barring

(36:24):
you know, rash injuries or something which we never want
to see. So that being said, my second thing is
be the Dallas Cowboys. I want to ambush them in
Week two and then put the fear of our defense
into them when they have to come back to the
Giant Stadium later in the year. I would give my
left pinky toe to see us beat the Giant. The

(36:47):
Cowboys twice this year. And you know, maybe if we
could do that, we could end up with a five
hundred record in the NFCS and maybe put up seven.
We're dreaming a little, maybe eight wins to beat the Cowboys.
I want to beat them in Week two, set the
tone for the whole season, because every Giants fan will
be that'll raise a or a collective spirits and thank

(37:09):
you guys for all your great work. And I'll take
you yourself there, thank you, Thank you to him.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Thanks Tom. I agree, I would love to I'd love
to beat the cat Dallas Cowboys twice. I'd like to
be him three times next year. Added a postseason win
while we're at it. Why not fantastic, Let's go for it.

Speaker 7 (37:28):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
You know it's funny.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
Somebody just mentioned to me early this morning. They said, well,
what I wouldn't give for the Giants to be two
and two after four games. Well, we've talked about this
on the show a thousand times. Right, you break it
into quarters and you'd like to be no worse than
two and two out of the box. Well my response
immediately was okay, as great as it would be to
upset the Chiefs and the Chargers. I want one of

(37:51):
those wins to be against the NFC East in weeks
one or two for sure. Don't don't be zero to
two and then two and two. The two AFC wins
are not worth this much.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
No, I mean, look, a win is a win, but
for sure wins in your division hold a little more
value come the end of the season when you're fighting
for you know, seeding and that sort of thing. And
also just you want to beat your opponent, your division opponents,
you're playing twice a year every single year. The Giants
play the Chargers and the Chiefs once every four years.

(38:21):
Maybe an extra game in there if it's like the
seventeenth game of the season. But you're gonna face these
same guys two times next year, two times the following year,
and at least in terms of the Dallas Cowboys, there's
no denying the Dallas Cowboys has not been a rivalry
the last call a decade. It's been very, very lopsided.

(38:41):
When it's that lopsided, it's hard to call it too
much of a rivalry. So I agree, go out beat
your division opponents, and especially the Cowboys. Yeah, nothing would
make me happier.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
All wins are not created equal in the National Football
League because you always seem to have come the end
of the season some kind of tie breaker coming into
play while you're scoreboard watching. It's just that simple. So no,
all wins are not created equal in the National Football League.
They're just not. So we'll see what happens. Llowyrence in Florida,

(39:12):
you're next on the show.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Hello, behind Hi, thanks for having me, sure.

Speaker 7 (39:17):
And thanks for having me. And I remember yesterday you
were talking about like great games of the past, but
it was both the ALD championship games and playoffs and
stuff like that. But the one game that really stands
out to me is the Giants had a bad season.
They the next year they drafted Layman's Taylor second.

Speaker 4 (39:37):
Overall, just shows how their record was.

Speaker 7 (39:40):
And then Friday before the game, one of Wolf came
on and said, if you believe the Giants are gonna
beat the Cowboys this Sunday, you believe in.

Speaker 4 (39:47):
The tooth fairy.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Yeah, the eighty one regular season finale, Yes, sir, they
beat them.

Speaker 7 (39:53):
Thirty eight thirty five. And that's just a great game
that Mike Mike freedieves was all over the play. Larryas
I just just trying to mention that that's all I'll
take anything off the year.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
Thank you, Thank you so much, Lawrence.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
Thanks Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
Now to understand what he's talking about. For some of
you younger folks out there who may not remember the
eighty one finale against Dallas, which was a year at
Meadowlands and Giants Stadium, the thing that you need to
understand about why that victory was so huge. And look,
you've done enough of historical stories to know this. The

(40:30):
Giants had not been back to the postseason since the
nineteen sixty three championship game, and that team got old
in hurry, and in sixty four, it just really the
bottom fell out. Okay, that's the famous picture and we
talked about this yesterday with Lance on the show, when
Tittle is in Pittsburgh on the ground bleeding from his head,
you know, one of the iconic NFL photos. It was

(40:52):
the end of this incredible Giants team that had had
been a perennial championship game player in the late fifties
and early sixties, so from nineteen sixty four all the
way up till nineteen eighty one, when they made the
wild card by defeating Dallas in that last regular season game.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Remember that was a Saturday game. They needed the Jets
to then beat Green Bay at Shay Stadium on Sunday
to win the wildcard.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
And you know it was it was an absolute destruction.
They crushed him, They absolutely crushed him. So it worked.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
Out Stadium Shay great stadium for some people, I guess.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
But the Jets crushed Green Bay the next day, and
so the Giants got into the playoffs, but they had
to beat Dallas first on Saturday to put themselves in position.
Otherwise Sunday's Jets green Bay game would have meant nothing. Okay,
So to understand this, all those years go by, from
the sixty three NFL Championship game till this Dallas season

(41:58):
finale in eighty one, and the Giants had two winning
seasons nine and five in nineteen seventy and eight and
six in nineteen seventy two. That's it, and the seventy
two team had no chance at making the playoffs. The
seventy team until they lost the season finale to the Rams.
They were nine and four. That they won that game,

(42:18):
they would have gotten in, but they didn't, and they
wound up nine to five and missed by a game.
That's how barren the farmland was for the Giants. So
believe me when I tell you this. When Danello kicks
the field goal in overtime to beat Dallas in that
season finale in eighty one, it was almost as if

(42:42):
I had seen a ghost, because it was like the
impossible dream has come true. The Giants have made the playoffs.
At least that's how we thought of it. If you've
ever seen the video of it or the pictures of it,
there's a lot of pictures. I think giants dot com
has some photos of Dannello being carried off by the team.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
That was you couldn't even think about in your head
because this was such a monumental.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Experience for Giants fans that the drought was over. You
refuse to believe that Green Bay was going to beat
the Jets the next day.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
That was like, no, that can't happen. The Giants won.
They beat Dallas, you know, Tony Dorris said, fumbled in
that game. Okay, at the end of the fourth quarter.
There were a couple of turnovers Byron Hunt was involved
in one, and somehow the Giants won the game. After
Danello had missed an earlier field goal and squandered what

(43:36):
we thought was going to be their best chance to win.
So every Giants fan who was alive at that time
is thinking.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
They're in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
They're in the playoffs, realizing that well, really they needed
the Jets to win the next day, but we didn't
care about that.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
It was like, no, no, they're going. The Giants are
back first times. It's nineteen sixty three, They're in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
I grew up as a young kid thinking that, like,
they weren't allowed to go.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
That's how bad it was. No, that's how bad it was. Matt.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
You if you were here in this area and you
grew up a Giants fan, you thought the Giants were
not allowed to make the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
They didn't know. They're just not allowed to They can't go.
And then that's only one. That's how I felt growing
up as a Mets fan. So, okay, so you get it.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
Yeah, so that's why that's such an important game.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
And I appreciate him for bringing that up. Going for sure,
I was not alive then. That was about eleven years
before I was born, so I don't I can't say
I remember that game.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
There's been a lot of good times since you've been born,
for sure.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
One hundred percent. But if we're just talking about sort
of underrated games of Giants history, I always say that
this is probably my favorite Giants game of all time,
and it was the game in the I believe it
was the two thousand and five season Giants Broncos Oh,
when Eli had his first game winning drive. I have

(45:00):
to you know, comeback win, game winning drive. He hits
a Monti tumor in the back of the end zone.
Then forty forty seconds left and the Giants win the game.
That was the first of what we would later find
out to be many comeback wins led by Eli Manning
and game winning drives led by Eli Manning.

Speaker 3 (45:19):
Two thousand and four, Were you old enough to remember
the season finale against Dallas when he hands.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Off the tiki.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
Yeah, I'm the goal line with the final seconds taking
off yep, I mean that that was the first time.
John Mara has always said that that was the game
that told him Eli was the right guy.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Yeah, these those early career moments, we should have known.
It was a little foreshadowing and what was what was
to come for the next you know, fifteen years. But yeah,
that Broncos game is just it's one of my favorite
I say early I was I think it was thirteen
years old then, but which is one of my favorite
early Giants memories. It was just a random regular season

(45:56):
game in October, but had a lot of meaning because
again get it. Eli then went on to have a
whole bunch more of game winning drives and plenty that
were way more important than that one. But that was
the first or one of the first pig.

Speaker 3 (46:09):
So you're seeing he was pretty good.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
He was pretty good. He was pretty good at throwing
the football, folks.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
As a reminder of the Giants, Total Podcast has long
form interviews with all kinds of NFL and Giants and
even college personnel who are related to the Giants prospects.
Do we know who's going up today?

Speaker 2 (46:27):
That would be a question for oh Pierson gets it
got in just a minute, I apologize, folks. In the meantime,
remember Giant season tickets for the twenty twenty five season
are available and you can take your fandom to the
next level catch all the action in met Live Stadium.
With a membership, you stay connected to the team all
year round, not just on game days, you get exclusive

(46:48):
member access and benefits. To learn more about a New
York Giants season ticket membership, visit Giants dot com, slash
tickets and Giants TV is the official TV streaming app.
It is free.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
It's on all of your mobile devices, and you can
catch all the highlights and news updates and a lot
of fun and games and stuff like that. All on
Giants TV. You see the players answering goofy questions and
all kinds of funny stuff that'll give you some good chuckles.
So that's Giants TV on your favorite mobile app. Go ahead,
mister Pearson. What do we have on the huddle?

Speaker 2 (47:19):
Yep?

Speaker 6 (47:20):
On Tuesday, we had the Toledo Rockets head coach Jason
Kandall talking about Darius Alexander and tomorrow we're gonna have
Sean Iguana go up and he was the running backs
coach for Camp Scattaboo at Arizona State. And that's a
really good interview, so stay tuned.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
Not the least bit surprised about that. Camp Scattaboo is
a guy who has caught a lot of attention since
he was drafted by the Giants in the fourth round.
And you know, even Tyrone Tracy today. In fact, that's
probably before we get to our next call. That's probably
an interesting thing to tell the folks about. Tracy's a
very big Scataboo fan.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
Yeah, so after Pratt, well, first of all, just a
quick recap of Oi said to the media today ran
Dable before practice. The big thing which we knew, but
he confirmed the Giants and the Jets will have joint
practices during training camp, with one practice being here at
the Quest Dynastics Training Center and the other practice being

(48:14):
in Florham Park where the Jets facility is. So we
don't know the dates yet. We don't know the dates,
but there will be one practice at each team's facility.
That will be it for the joint practices this season.
So that was the big takeaway from from dables press conference.
Following practice. We heard from Darius Lade and Tyrone, Tracy,
and Paulson adebo I. We'll start with Tracy since you

(48:37):
just brought him up. He did mention how him and
Camp Gatibou really, you know, compliment each other well and
mesh very well. You know he's Tyrone mentioned that you know,
his strengths are more speed and elusiveness while scataboo. His
words were, he's kind of a little good at everything exactly.

(48:58):
He said that he he just has that strength and
power and that he runs angry, which anyone that's seen
any highlight of camps know that that man runs angry.
What I thought was the funniest thing from the press
conference today was a little bit of Tyrone Tracy talking
about the group dinner that Russell Wilson took you know,

(49:20):
all the quarterbacks, running backs, and offensive linemen to a
couple of weeks ago. Found out today that Tyrone Tracy
had never tried calamari before he tried calabar the first
time during his dinner. Was a fan. He did not
seem like as much of a fan of what was
it the clams and oysters?

Speaker 3 (49:41):
He said they were he too slimy.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
For him, So hey, I guess he's not a big
shellfish fan. Where he grew up totally fair. Darius Slaydon
had a couple of things that I thought were interesting.
He first mentioned which you and I have spoken about
this Since Jalen Hyatt came back for spring practice, he
has looked noticeably bigger, yes, noticeably more jacked. And Darius

(50:05):
Layton today. I don't think, you know, this is a
precise number, but he did say that he thinks Hyde
put on somewhere between fifteen to twenty pounds of muscle.
And again, I don't know if it's quite that much,
because that's that's a twenty pounds of muscle from especially
from where you know Jalen was last year. He'd be
looking like Iron Man out there, which he is looking bigger,

(50:25):
But that's just the number that Darius threw out there. Yeah,
But point being, he definitely is stronger, and he definitely
put on muscle, and it's, you know, somewhat led to
this very good start to the season that he's had
throughout the spring practices.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
We should add it doesn't look like he's giving up
any speed either, because he's finding ways to get deep.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
Yeah, his game is the same, It's just he looks
like he's put on muscle, which is good to see.
And then the other funny thing that was said was
Darius Slayton talking about the quarterback room and the way
that he to put it is he called them in.
And this is a interesting collection of individuals because we
obviously all know, you know, what Russell Wilson's sort of

(51:06):
you know, his attitude and personalities. Like we've seen it
in the NFL for over a decade now, and we
obviously know what Jamis is as well. Him Darius talking
about Jamis was very, very funny. He said. Then they'd
be talking about a play, and Darius was like, yeah,
one second, we'd be talking about a slant, and then
all of a sudden, we're talking about Kentucky Fried Chicken,

(51:29):
and I don't know how he got there, He's like,
and then we go back to this, and then we
go back to the slim. He's like, Yeah, Jamis is
like the king of just taking those hard lefts in
the middle of a conversation but then eventually getting back
to the point of the conversation to start with. But
it is very clear, as we said at the start
of the show, there's just a different energy around the
whole team, but especially the offense. And it starts with

(51:51):
this whole completely revamped quarterback room. It's not just Russell Wilson,
which him his leadership, his football IQ, everyone on the
offense going to talk about that, but it's also Jamis
and his you know, big energetic personality. Jackson Dart as
you know the future quarterback. And Tommy DeVito, who again
this is his third year here. He knows everyone on

(52:14):
the team, He's won some football games. He's obviously got
a pretty big personality of his own. That's why you
know Darius calling it an interesting collection of individuals, like
this's gotta be the most entertaining and interesting quarterback room
in the NFL. I challenge someone to find me a
more interesting group. I'm not saying it's the number one

(52:35):
quarterback room in the NFL, but find me a group
that's got bigger personalities than these four well, and.

Speaker 3 (52:42):
It bleeds into the rest of the team because Winston
and Wilson and Dart and yeah, Tommy two. They all
go out of their way to make sure that they
associate with everybody in the locker room. They associate with
all the units. I mean, you'll see it very Sometimes
you have to practice, you know, offense would be coming
off first or whatever, and here's Russell Wilson talking up

(53:04):
the defensive backs having a conversation with them. This is
not a rare thing that we see. These quarterbacks have
gone out of their way to be team leaders, not
just offensive leaders, but team leaders.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
I'm glad you brought that up because I forgot something
else that Tyrone Tracy said. He said he will walk
that Russell Wilson will walk into a meeting room and
he will greet everyone in the meeting room. Yep. And
that's just not something, you know. I mean again, there's not.
I don't think there are many quarterbacks in the NFL
that would do that. He is one of few. That's
why he's a unique person. Off of the field. He

(53:39):
obviously has and that leads into the veteran leadership he
also brings on the field as well. Because Tyron Tracy
went out of his way to point that little little
thing out, and it might not seem like much, but
clearly it means something to the guys. You know, if
you're a guy fighting for a roster spot in Russell Wilson,
who's a Super Bowl champion ten times, I'm pro bowler

(54:01):
is going out of his way just to greet you
every time he, you know, steps into a meeting room
with you. That means something to these guys. Look, I
don't I don't want to. I don't want to speculate
how far the relationship between Arthur Smith and Wilson had
had had been rocky or deteriorated in Pittsburgh. The reports

(54:21):
out of Pittsburgh are that that was not a great relationship.
That's the reports out of Pittsburgh. I've heard the same
thing from my connections out there too. But here's what
I've got to say. With everything we've seen from Russell
Wilson on a daily basis here today, it's hard to
believe that a team would not want.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
This guy around. He's an asset. He is a positive
influence on your on your club, no matter how you
slice it, whatever angle you want to look at, whether
it's on the field, in the locker room, away.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
From the field, this guy is.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
A positive asset for any football team. I think that's very,
very obvious. And you know, if he and the offensive
coordinator did not see I that's probably the only reason why,
you know, the folks in Pittsburgh were not aggressive and
trying to resign them, because if they're believing in their staff,
they're gonna try to do whatever their staff wants them

(55:15):
to do, and they're not necessarily going to allow a
walkie relationship to continue. I get that.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
And look, Russell Wilson, like his numbers last year, might
not you know, completely jump off the paper, jump off
the page. But he was still pretty good. And that
was and that was in again a situation where, at
least if you believe the reports, there wasn't the greatest
connection or relationship between him and his offensive play calls.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
The early part of the season. He missed the first.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
Five games of the season, and he was on a
team that made it no secret that they wanted to
run the ball early and often that was a run
first offense, and Russell Wilson still put up I say,
decent numbers. They weren't amazing, but decent, solid numbers. Solid
numbers where if you're in a pass first offense, not
even a pass verst just like a normal balanced offense,

(56:04):
those numbers, and he played a full season, those numbers
would have looked so much better and we wouldn't be
hearing this narrative of oh, he's, you know, thirty six
years old, he doesn't throw it like he used to it.
He's still more than capable of throwing it all over
the field, and we've seen it this spring.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
Anybody who says that Russell Wilson is too old and
can't throw the ball effectively anymore.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Has not been here. No, they have not seen him.
They have not seen it, which again, we know it
won't matter until he does it in the game. I
knowd that, But right now, this is all we have
to go off of, and what we have to go
off so far has looked good.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
Anthony and Connecticut, you probably will be the last caller
on the show.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Hello, Hey, how's it going. Fellow's good to talk to you.
How are you?

Speaker 8 (56:45):
I'm good. So I wanted to talk about the wide receivers.

Speaker 4 (56:48):
And the running backs.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
Okay, let's do it.

Speaker 8 (56:52):
So the Giants got a good amount of starting wide receivers,
soldiers wondering, who do you think is going to be
a long shot for to make did fifty three roster?
And also same thing with the running backs.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
Well, I think I think the problem here is that
we're not even sure one hundred percent how many they're
going to keep in each spot because injuries may impact
the back end of the depth chart. Look you if
you want dark horses for me, I'm a Dante Miller guy,
and I'd love to see Dante Miller stick around. If

(57:26):
he's not going to be on the fifty three, I
hope he's back on the practice squad again that that yeah,
Turbo Turbo is without question for me that that's that's
the guy. I don't want to see him out of
the building.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
Okay, Wide receiver wise, look, we know we know the
top who the top four wide receivers are going to be.
You know, Molieue Neighbors is making the team, Darius Layton,
Wandall Robinson, Jalen Hyatt.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
And Ford Wheaton's going to be on this team too,
receiver if he makes it.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
That Cass Okay, he'll be on the wide receiver down
that's you think is guaranteed to make the team like
the other four. I don't know if I quite I
think I don't.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
I don't think it's a guarantee, but I think he's
got pretty good footage.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
I was just saying those four are basically locks barring
something completely unforeseen.

Speaker 6 (58:15):
He asked, what about Bo Collins.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
I mean, look, I think he's probably for the undrafted guys.
You never know, and you really won't be able to
tell until training camp starts and they really you know,
have the pads on and the wide receivers and cornerbacks
can really go at it like they you know, like
you would in the game and even getting into the
preseason games. That is when you really get to see
some of these undrafted guys show what they can do

(58:39):
a little bit. More so in terms of him, it's
it's too early. He's looked good to spring. But I again,
someone like that, I got to see it once the
pads come on. Contexts allowed receivers are dealing with the
corners actually, you know, pressing them at the line of scrimmage.
Until that happens again. I keep saying this phrase that
I gotta take it his strong performance somewhat as with

(59:01):
a grain of salt. You know.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Let's go by what Matt said. The four guys are
probably in cement. It's hard for me to sit here now,
knowing what I know about what Smith Marsett's done on
special teams in the return game, and what Ford Wheaton
has done on coverage. It's hard for me to believe
that either one of those guys is gonna get caught.

(59:23):
It's hard for me to believe.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
That Amir for sure, just because I think he is
the number one candidate to be the team's kick return
So so all right, so make him and you're right
that four when is right now is the best coverage guy,
the best gunner that the Giants now now board is
gonna have something to say about that, but still you
want as many good guys as you can on that unit.

(59:45):
So to me, if nobody gets hurt, I think those
are your six receivers now.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
Whether or not they count Ford Wheaton or Smith Marsett
as a special teams guy and not as a receiver
wherever they Jimmy the Ross, that's semantics. I don't see
them cutting either one of those two guys, and they
both happen to be receivers by trade.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
And I feel like between Zach Pascal and litl Jordan Humphrey,
like those are veteran receivers that were clearly brought here
for a reason. I feel like there's a good chance
at least one of those two makes it. I mean,
especially because Russell Wilson has gone out of his way
to talk about Little Jordan Humphrey. They obviously played together
in Denver, and I think it was either Tuesday, Monday

(01:00:31):
or Tuesday, Little Jordan Humphrey had his best practice of spring.
He had like three big catches. If I had to guess,
I would think that one of them would probably make
the team. And I would say it's a little harder,
at least right now, to talk about which wide receivers
are gonna make the team. I think the running back

(01:00:51):
room not quite as complex because no Tyrone, Tracy and
camp Scataboo one A and one B and single Time
and Singletary especially just given a how much that you
know Brian able to trusts him and be given his
contract situation, I don't think he would get cut. So
I think that's three likely running backs. And you go

(01:01:14):
a lot of times, right, a lot of time. I
mean it's gonna be either three or four, right, three
guaranteed you can't have less than three. No, I think
there could There could be a fourth. So then it's
a matter of which guy is gonna fight for that
fourth spot. And honestly, if you're gonna fight for that
fourth running back spot, you got.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
To contribute on special teams and just just to finish
off the receiving point. And I'm not gonna be labor
this because it's only spring, but Felton, Wells, Bly Collins, Cambrey,
each one of these receivers has been noticeable in more
than one practice during the spring drills, they've all done something,

(01:01:54):
so however it goes from this point forward, I just
think the Giants practice squad is going to have some
pretty talented players on it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Oh, I agree completely. I mean I feel like when
the UDFA list came out or was announced and we
saw five wide receivers on it, obviously not all five
of those guys are gonna end up making the fifty
three man roster. Yes, that's impossible, but you know, you
have some strong practice squad candidates there, and maybe one
of those guys or even two, who knows, because as

(01:02:24):
you said, injuries are gonna happen during training camp and
the preseason, so you know, maybe one of those guys
that we said is locked in to make it, maybe
they're hurt to start the year, and that gives one
of an extra, one of these udfas a chance to
make the team, show show the coaching staff in the
front office what they have. And once you give a
guy a chance, you never know what could happen. As
we saw. You know, obviously this is an extreme example,

(01:02:47):
but once Victor Cruz got an opportunity, he took it
and ran and never looked back, and obviously he turned
out to have a pretty great career with the Giants.

Speaker 3 (01:02:55):
The stakes get higher and higher as we get closer
and closer the opening day. This is only the spring.
The stakes get higher in late July when training camp starts, Danny,
get higher in August when the preseason games start, you know,
I mean, not just the way it is. So it's
great that a bunch of guys have flashed. Really is

(01:03:18):
great they have flashed in June. But there's a lot
more to this race.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
Yeah, that's why it's so early for us to be
making sort of you know, roster predictions. Really ask us
in a few months, and we'll probably have a somewhat
better I hope you have. That's right.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
I don't give by fifty three till right before Winny Day,
because right before the final cuts, because.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
You just can't do it. There's no point things are
gonna change so much. They're gonna be There probably will
be guys that are not currently on the team that
end up being here at some point during training camp,
because we see it every single year.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
Although I think the talent level on the roster is
certainly better than it has been, so there's probably less
of a chance that they'll bring in a bunch of
guys who are cut by other teams.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Yeah, I'm not saying not saying a bunch, but yeah,
one or two. I'm sure it will. I still think
they're going to.

Speaker 3 (01:04:06):
Ad a veteran corner at some point. I really do,
right before training camp.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
I agree there. So we've seen it the last couple
of years, with the day before training camp, a veteran
or two brought in at whatever positions.

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
All right, I think that's a wrap. It's you and
John omar Me and John Yep. Okay, do you know
what the you know what the question of the day is.
Yet I'll give you a chance to work that up,
and in the meantime, I'll tell everybody that this is
Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury
vehicle of the New York Football Giants, And as always,
we are coming to you from the Giants Podcast Studio
presented by Hackensack Melridine Health Keep getting better.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
If we are to believe the schedule that John sent
out a couple of weeks ago, it sounds like him
and I are going to do a head to head
Giants draft. I'm assuming of the current roster we're gonna
go back, got ninety guys to choose fromm that's a
lot of guys. I don't know if we're doing forty
five and forty five or if it's just the you know,
eleven eleven starting. I'm I'm sure it is. He hasn't

(01:05:02):
given me clearly any details.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
Okay, see, we're gonna we're gonna try to give you
some teases now on the program to get you get
you a little bit excited about what's going to be
coming up in the next twenty four hours here on
Big Blue Kickoff Live. That will do it for today's edition,
and we invite you, as always to check out the
archive Giants podcast platforms everywhere, as well as the Giants
Mobile app. This is a Big Blue Kickoff Live two

(01:05:26):
O one nine three nine four five one three. Right
down the number and give us a call whenever you
get the opportunity from out Side Tech on Paul Ta Tino.
We will see you next time. So long, everybody,