Big Blue Kickoff Live 7/24 | Day Two of Practice

John Schmeelk and Paul Dottino react to everything they saw at Giants training camp day two, talk about the cornerback room, and take calls from fans.

:00 - Day two of practice

16:10 - Calls

23:00 - Cornerbacks

33:00 - Youtube questions

45:00 - Surprise starters?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't do it
because you're.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
On giants dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Do you know what I saw?

Speaker 1 (00:12):
To York Giant Track and the Giant.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
With one down. We are Tamper.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Part of the Giants podcast Network.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Let's go, Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Big Blue Kickoff
live on this Thursday afternoon, presented by Cadillact, the official
luxury vehicle the Giants. So I firstarted five minutes late.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
That's on me.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
I had to finish my written practice report, which I
was up against. It's been a manic day here. The
first couple of days of camp are always rough. But
that's in that.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'll get posted up soon enough.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
But we're with you, brought to you by Cadillact, the
official luxury vehicle the Giants.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Smeltdatino with you.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
We'll take in your calls at two on one nine
three nine four five one three two on one nine
three nine four five one three. Our buddy Pearson will
keep an eye on those YouTube comments. We'll get those
out and we will rock and roll with those as well.
What I was about to say while the open was
playing is that you know, there are reports out there
that NFL network might at some point soon be shifted

(01:10):
off to ESPN. That has been together, and it just
struck me that usually the first double days of camp
they have Pillar or Pillar inside training camp live programming,
and they're showing some random.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Chiefs Texans game from last year, and.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
It just struck me that they're not doing live training camp.
That's fair, But I think they're doing their back to
Football show on Saturday, if I'm not mistaken, so that'll
be fun.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Is there live training camp coverage on any of these channels?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Is this actually this is ESPN? I'm pretty sure that no,
this NFL that work. I'm sorry, Oh, they're showing a
game on it that was on ESPN, but absolutely confusus. No,
I don't think there's live training camp coverage everywhere anywhere.
So get it right here from giants dot Com and
our social media platforms, our video reports, our written reports,
Baby will kick Off Live and all that good stuff. Paul, Hi, John,

(01:58):
It was getting a little toasty today out there, Huh.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Not as bad as it's going to be tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
High in ninety seven. I saw, I inchecked the humidity.
Did you look at the hot Let's just say. Security
told me the heat index tomorrow is going to be
one oh five. Boy, ouch ouch ouch ouch. A good
thing for the players. They're not in full pads yet
until Monday shells. It'll be the first day of shells tomorrow.
They were only in pads and shorts and rather helmets,

(02:22):
shorts and T shirts yesterday and today. Practice will increase
to two hours tomorrow. The with that heat will see
if they do it. I was wondering if they might
move practice up to the morning, but I have not
heard any rumblings of that because of the heat.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
But I have not either. And I just saw Dave's
outside right before we started. He didn't indicate that.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
They're off Saturday anyway, so they'll they'll get day off
Saturday so they can work them hard tomorrow a little bit.
There was some cramping today that a couple of the
guys had, but they got you know, no serious injuries.
Everything it's trying to get, you know, worked out just fine.
But a productive day of practice. I think we saw
good and bad from the quarterbacks. Some touchdown pass This

(03:00):
is a couple interceptions as well. It was funny like
Russell Wilson and Jackson. Dart had back and forths with
two corners. It was Drew Phillips for Russell Wilson. He
throws a beautiful over the top, diving catch touchdown throw
to Wandell Robinson to beat you Phillips.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Right in front of me in the corner. It was sweet.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
And then on the very next play I believe one
that Robinson tried to run like a little out from
the flat and film got underneath it and picked the
pass off from Russell Wilson to Robinson. Then earlier in
practice Dart which I think was probably the prettiest touchdown
throw of the day, a nice back shoulder fade to
Jalen Hyatt down the right sideline the beauty Tray Hawkins.

(03:37):
And then later in practice he tried a similar throw.
I did not have written down who it was. I
think it might have been Zach Pascal. I think it
was eighty three, or am I wrong about that?

Speaker 2 (03:44):
You mean the pick?

Speaker 3 (03:45):
No who he was throwing it to on the ball,
I don't know the intention it was eighty three.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
I didn't have a written down it was seven.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Trey Hawkins got his head around on that one, made
a nice playing the ball.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
And picked it off.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
So it was kind of a back and forth there
between two quarterbacks and two corners. The quarterback got the
best of them, and then the defensive back got the
best of them.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
The next one, I'm glad you mentioned Dart's touchdown pass
to high it down the right side.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
That was such a Paul Datino touchdown. He knew, you see,
that's something like all that like that one.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yes, it was. It was so sweet. And the way
that his touch on that ball was so nice, And
that's like a Russell Wilson thrown.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
That's then that's a throw that was very much in
the ole misplay, Boff. He threw a lot of back
shoulders at ole mess. We saw a bunch of those
in the spring from him, So that is something that
he is certainly comfortable doing.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, I think you know, when when push comes to shove,
as we watch these practices, Wilson's getting the most reps
in quarterback, Winston's getting the second most, Dart's getting the third.
You think Winston I thought Dart was getting more than Winston.
I thought Dark got a few more today, but yesterday
it was clear Winston got more. He thought so well,
I thought I didn't have an official count, but I

(04:51):
did look.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
At usually it's it's pretty much four four four is
how they've been working at, depending how they do. And
then Dark got slipped in for a couple first team
reps here or there, so I thought that put him
over the top on Winston.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Now I didn't close.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Now I didn't count them, So if you were counting them,
I'm gonna trust your count.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
That was just my impression. Here's the problem. You know
what I've done on some of the running plays. On
some of the running plays, I just logged the runner
and I didn't log the quarterback, so I may might
counts inaccurate.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
So the throw there might be more throws for Wednesday,
but more snaps for Dark.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
There you go, I got you. That's that's how I
got tricked into that. It's possible.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
And by the way you get equal, you could very
well be right. I was not counting them one by one.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, I've deceived my own count because I didn't write
down the quarterback on the running plays.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
Just a big There is a huge. If there is
any difference between the two of them, it is infintensively small.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
It is, yes it is, but but clearly. You know,
DeVito is the fourth quarterback and he's taking the fused
amount of reps, and you know he's obviously with the
last members of the depth chart as well. So for
the most part to Divito, yes, yes, he is correct.
So it's kind of hard. And again I don't want
anybody out there to think we're slight him. But he

(06:01):
doesn't get as many reps, doesn't get as many he.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
Gets by and by the way, this is why we
were saying, and he's getting lesser guys with so hard
to carry four quarterbacks, they're just are not even in
training camp enough snaps around for four quarterbacks. I mean
he's gotten over the two practices. Has he thrown more
than eight passes.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Goods?

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Probably right around say maybe ten. He gets right in
that neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
It's a lot.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
And again that's just the nature of the beast that
I'm sure as we move forward there'll be a practice
where they slide him in more and they give him
more looks. He's getting some reps in that developmental period
at the end of practice tool with Dart, so he
is getting some extra work there. But overall, look, I
think Dart has got him more with the twos than
with the threes. So far it was rotating day one,
but today he was with the twos most of the time.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
From what I saw.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
Again, I'm not tracking every play, folks, I'm just telling
you what I see. But look, I think the offense
is slowly coming along at this time of the year.
And this is the most cliche thing you can ever say. Uh,
the defense is always further longer than the offense orly
and we've seen some nice plays on defense. We mentioned
the two interceptions. Nick Jones said another big day. He

(07:08):
had a sack and a pass breakup after a pick
six yesterday of that dark pass. So look, you had
He's had a couple of nice moments. And you know,
they're kind of looking for a backups if they want
to keep flat outside, and I think about you want
to you need a backup slot. So who's the backup slot.
It could be Kavon Wallace you just got brought in,
but it might But Nick Jones has made some plays
the first couple of days of practice, and he's been

(07:29):
working inside, so I think that's been interesting too.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
I don't remember Nick Jones doing anything that stood out
during the spring and That's why these last two days
for him, in my opinion, have been incredibly significant because
now he's put his name on the radar. I don't
know how high on the radar, but it's on the
radar now. You can't ignore the fact that he made
some plays.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Yep, No, absolutely, I think he's done a nice job.
You had potential tackles for loss for Demetrius flateg and
Foles got in the backfield on one play, Ty Summers
on another, Keevon Thibodeau would have had a sack on
one play, Elijah Garcia would have had a sack on
another play.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
They got into the mix.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
Deontay Banks continues to play very sticky, physical coverage.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Him and a Debo have been really good.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
A deebo has not been thrown at nearly as Banks
was complaining in the spring, how nobody ever threw his way.
They're throwing him in the summer. They are, and they're
having a lot of completed passes. They have not thrown
any flags. No, I think he's playing on a fine line.
But so far there's been no flags and he has
not allowed any catches us that word aggressive, Yes, yes,

(08:32):
they and they're and they are showing it.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Again.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
You can only take so much out of practice, but
they are practicing a decent amount of press coverage.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
They are and a debo and Banks are showing their
skill set and their toolbox as we've known all along
since both guys have been in the league. That's what
they do very very well, and that's not a surprise.
So again we told you before camp started, John and
I had this very conversation when the callers said to us,

(08:58):
do you think that Shane Bowen is going to play
more man to man and he's gonna blitz more? And
we said that we can't tell you for sure until
we get a look at practice during tranning camp, even
more than the preseason, which will be vanilla. But our
point was he certainly has more tools to do those
things if he wants to, and we're seeing some of

(09:21):
that right now. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
Absolutely, I think that's one hundred percent correct. And look,
we're seeing some good plays from the defense, good places
from the offense.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
It was a good day for the tight ends ball really.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Dulcach had a couple of touchdown passes him and Jamis Winston.
I think if connected on three touchdowns now over the
course of the first two days of practice, in one
on one drills, Thomas Fedoni had an excellent jumping one
handed wait, it was a tremendous plays. He's a really
good athlete. It's you know, I'm looking forward to seeing
how he develops. That was on a pass I believe
from Jackson dart So and then Danie Bellinger could have

(09:55):
touchdwn over him though from Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
So. I mentioned this with the Show.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
With Lance on Shuesday that I don't see any way
they're not keeping four tight ends. I don't see how
you can put this roster together without keeping four, So
it'll be a battle. I don't Can Greg Dolsich figure
out a way to force his way onto the roster.
That's kind of what I'm keeping an eye because I
think right now he would be tight end five for me.

(10:18):
But can he figure out a way to fight his
way on and knock somebody else off. I think it's
gonna be a tough go.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
You know, each of the tight ends has a different
area of expertise. We know that the thing that's making
it so difficult is that as we get through the
off season program and now we begin training camp, none
of these guys has I guess the word I'm gonna
use is fumbled away their opportunities, right John, every time

(10:46):
they get a ball thrown to them. These guys have
been making the plays they're supposed to make. Nobody is
out there making you shake your head and say, oh,
that's a demerit. He didn't make a play that's gonna
hurt him. It does not happen. Everyone of these tight
ends is doing exactly what they're supposed to do. Yeah,
they're doing a nice job. I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Anything else in practice you want to touch on before
we move on. By the way, it was a nondescript
play and I didn't even mention this in my practice report.
Just jumped in my head. There was a play where
they handed it to camp Scataboo and I don't know
what the fender was, but he got in the backfield and.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
He had this like really sudden cut. He is from
the left side of the offense. Was that the one? Yeah? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
He has such a low center of gravity and I
think that he has short little legs, and I think
that has to do with his a's contact balances, his
ability to break tackles, which you talked about really, but
he's a lot quicker than you think he is. He
can change directions and make people guys missing a phone
booth because of that quick change of direction ability. This

(11:45):
running back room is fascinating to me. You know, I
talked about, you know, keeping fewer than four tight ends.
I don't know how you do it. I really want
to see how they figure out how to split the
snaps and the carries between Tracy Scataboo, Singletary not to
Turbo Miller has looked extremely fast and has a lot
of his opportunities. But I think how they decide to

(12:06):
utilize this running back group and they all call touchdown
passes again today, by the way, and in one on
ones where it's been fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
You know, we didn't get a chance to see Scattaboo
do anything except with the trainers during the spring session.
But here in the first two days of practice, we
have already seen him run the ball some. But we've
seen him a lot in the past game and you know,
Matt mentioned it the other day. He's like, folks, don't
be surprised if you looked at his stats at Arizona State.

(12:35):
They were not afraid to use him in the past game.
But people just don't talk about it and think about
it as much because he's such a ferocious runner.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
Well, people always think of you receivers as running backs,
as the fast scatback types. Yeah, that's not what he is.
He's Scottaboo, but he's not a Yeah exactly, He's got
a boom is what he is. Correct, and yah jokes everywhere?

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah you do? Why not, you know, leave a dollar
on the way out, please? Yes, But seriously, your way.
His ability to produce in the past game I think
has been overlooked. It's very underrated. I think people are
going to be shocked when they see some of that
stuff during the regular season. I just talked to Charles
Way for the huddle. I don't know when that'll go up. Yeah,

(13:19):
that might be a couple of weeks, but it'll go
all right. But I talked to Charles Way about it today.
You remember Charles played fullback for this team back in
the in the mid to late nineties, and Charles specifically said,
that's the kind of stuff that's going to get him
on the field as a rookie. Well, that's ability his
ability to do that. Yeah, and he has to protect obviously.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
But I think that guyout saying to my utilization point,
all three of these guys can do everything, but their
styles are different. So I don't think there's like, all right,
this is our third down back. No, I don't think
that's what it's going to be. I think you almost
pick all right, for this series or this set of downs,

(13:58):
that's this guy, and he's gonna be on the field
for every down. Then the next series is all right,
maybe the next guy. Then he's gonna be on the
field for four straight plays and then we go to
the next guy. I don't think it's going to except
for maybe short yardage or I think Skataboo.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
And go on.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
Singletary's pretty good at short yarders though, to be honest
with you, but I think maybe Scataboo in short yardage
and goal line that makes one situational specific role.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Otherwise I'm not sure if that's what this is gonna
look like. Now, I think as long as Skataboo proves
that he can pick up the blitz, because you don't
want him susceptible to get your quarterback wow.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
And that's why I said, in order to use him
as a passer, he's got to be able to pas protect.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Correct. Now, that's the one question I still don't know
yet because they haven't been in pad yet and we
haven't seen him tested on picking up a blocker.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
I mean, look, I promise you he's going to be
willing fender. He's going to be willing and physical to
do it. The question, the telephon the question says whether
or not he can figure out the mental part of it.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
I think. I think if he's able to properly diagnose
the pickups and shows, he can do the beauty of
having him in on the goal line. John Again, let's
cite the fact that he ran for twenty one touchdowns
last season at Arizona State, which is an incredibly high number.
You put that guy in when you get down inside

(15:14):
the five yard line, everybody's gonna be thinking run, and
justifiably so. And you know what, Yes, I do want
him to power the ball. And you know that that's
a big thing for me. Is just ram that ball
down somebody's throat across the goal line for seven points
or six points, wait for the pad. Right, But here's
the beauty of him. You could do play action. You

(15:37):
run him down there in the backfield. You want play
action and flare him out. Who's gonna cover, who's gonna
stop him? No, I'm with you, I'm with you. It's interesting.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
Look, I think it's a fun group of running backs.
I think if you're a fantasy football owner of any
of those running backs, it's gonna be a very frustrating season.
It's gonna be a different guy every week, and you're
not gonna know who to play. I think that's gonna
be a big problem for people as they try to
set down. I know that's Paul's biggest concern well as
as he thinks about this.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Advice from the anti fantasy football guy, just draft Molakue
neighbors good advice.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
Runner Walk with Giants Legends. The Giants Foundation will host
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The Giants Foundation is a five to one C three

(16:34):
nonprofit corporation. All right, let's get to the calls. Two
one nine four five one three. Mac is in Maryland.
He's gonna be our first caller today.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Mac. What's going on?

Speaker 5 (16:43):
Good afternoon, guys, I'm good. Thanks for taking a.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Call, Thanks for calling. Man. What do you got?

Speaker 5 (16:48):
I got two things I want to talk first about
the the snaps in the preseason. How do you think
is gonna go between particularly Start and Jamis Winston? Since
it came out yesterday, that is going to be you know,
QB one. You would expect to see as little as
him as possible in the preseason, as you normally do
every year with QB one. So when it comes to

(17:09):
evaluating the talent or just seeing how Jameis Winston would
operate with this offense, I want to hear you guys
talk about that versus the Dark versus Winston and the
snaps and how you think it is going to play out,
and even throwing Tommy in here as well. The second
one i'll take off air. I did have a question
when I was reading your report yesterday, Schmel. You wrote

(17:34):
a report and you gave all the highlights of what
Russell Wilson did.

Speaker 6 (17:38):
And when you.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
Talked about the interception, you talked about it as you
just told us who caught the interception. So I was
under the impression that it was actually Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
No, it was dark. It was dark yesterday.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
That was That was me not being clear enough in
my writing. That was my bad.

Speaker 5 (17:51):
Okay, cool, that's all I wanted to know. A good
first call off the air.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Thanks now, I appreciate it that thank you, you know.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Napps, Uh, that's an interesting it is.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
It's a very good call, Mac. I appreciate it. And
I wanted to ask Russell this and I haven't had
a chance yet. I've not had a chance to talk
to him. I just haven't run into him.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
In the hallway at all.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
But he's you know, some quarterbacks, even if their vets,
liked to play in the preseason. Yes, So Russell Wilson
in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two took Fox
good job Fox sports dot Com with preseason passing stats
by the way, So he did not play in the
preseason in twenty one or twenty two, his last year
in Seattle, his first year in Denver, but the last
two years he actually had ten passing attempts both years

(18:38):
in the preseason, so he got out there and he played.
So they have two games and two games starts. He
started two games, not just one, two in his last
two stops. And I'm sure Brian Dables talked about this
a lot, especially with his veteran players. He will trust
them to advise how they want to be using these situations.

(19:03):
So if Russell Wilson tells Davis, I want to be
in two games, He's gonna be in two games.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
That's how at least I thought would be my guess
of how that's going to go. They'll go back and forth,
they'll discuss it, I'm sure. So maybe we see Russ
for two games this year, just because that's what we've
seen the last two years, and in eighteen and nineteen
for Seattle. He played three games in eighteen for Seattle
two games, and twenty nineteen for Seattle, so he's played
in preseason. So I do think you are going to
have some Russell Wilson snaps and my guests, based on

(19:29):
what I'm looking at here with his passing numbers, he's
probably gonna play at least one full quarter in the preseason,
maybe more than that.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
I will say maximum two quarters in the preseason between
the three games. I agree with that.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
So once you take that out of the equation, my
bet is that Jackson Dart's going to have the most
overall snaps taken.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
In preseason games.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
Because they know that in the regular season he's not
gonna get a lot of work. They're gonna want to
get as much work for him as they can in
the preseason. So my guess is that he's probably gonna
play quarter and a half for two quarters each game.
Maybe over the course of the three games he'll play
five quarters.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, let's see, there's twelve quarters available.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
So we want to give two to Russ just to
be going to give two to.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Russ and bring it down to ten, okay, Okay, I'm
going to give three to Jameis Winston.

Speaker 3 (20:21):
Okay, so you're down to seven, down to seven, you
give five to Dart, You're down to two, and you
give two to Davido.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
I'm gonna say, down to seven, I'm gonna say the
Veto gets four and Dart gets three. Really, I disagree.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
I think Dart is going to get at least four,
maybe five, and he will lead all players in quarterback
preseason steps.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
I'll tell you why. I'm curious. I'll tell you why
because I think, especially in the third preseason game, when
you play most of the guys who will not be
on the team, I think subjecting Jackson Dart to those
circumstances and giving him the bulk of the work in
the third preseason game could be counterproductive. And I think

(21:05):
they also would like to give Tommy DeVito an opportunity.
At that point, he'll still be on the team, He'll
still be looking for work. I suspect there is a
great respect factor here. Brian Dable thinks an awful lot
of Tommy DeVito, and I think that given the situation
that you don't want to put Dart in, you can
also benefit Tommy by giving him more snaps in the

(21:28):
third preseason game.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
All right, So how about I'm gonna go two four, three, three,
two for Wilson, four for Dart, three for Winston. You
know what I give back. I'm gonna go two for Winston,
four for DeVito. So you're gonna have Dart and Devido
will both get four. Okay, it's to your point. I
think I see a world where de Vito could play
three quarters and just in one of these games's and

(21:51):
maybe get a d NP in another and then get
one quarter in another one, something like that. I didn't
think about that. They could just, you know, moffball everybody
and say all right, Tommy, you're going almost all the
snaps here. I could see that. So I'm gonna go two, two,
four four. I'm gonna go two for Wilson, two for Jamis,
four for Dark four Ford Vido.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
I don't think that's unreasonable. We should write this down
and see what one of us. But I think you know,
it's it's a premature guess right now. I'd rather do
the guests when we are closer to the first preseason yeah,
against Buffalo. But right now, if you ask me in
a preliminary sense, I feel the way I do about
Tommy DeVito, just because I'm thinking kind of out of

(22:33):
the box a little bit and trying to put my
head in coaches head. Yeah, that that may not be
a smart thing to do. As we get down to
the preseason. Maybe it's clearly defined how he's going to
do it, and maybe there won't be consideration.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Like I've just given Peter Peter Pearson. Are those YouTube
comments uh from today? Okay, perfect, We'll get to those
two as we move along. Great to have you guys
giving those comments on YouTube, by the way, really appreciate.
Let's go to adjacent and new Avan. He'll be our
can call her up to I think we had all
the max questions right though. Those are his two questions
made ones. Yeah, we got them right. Okay, let's go
to Jason. What's going on?

Speaker 6 (23:07):
Hey?

Speaker 4 (23:07):
Pulling?

Speaker 1 (23:07):
John?

Speaker 7 (23:07):
How you gotta do?

Speaker 8 (23:10):
Thanks for taking a call. I know a few things.
I had a question about one of the players I
haven't heard brought up. I know Paul you have mentioned
I think the other day on the other and use
with Matt you potentially was you would potentially look for
a veteran corner. Uh, depend how things shake out, specifically

(23:34):
a slot.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
I was curious about the backup slot, which, as John
had already discussed earlier in the program. In two days now,
Nick Jones is starting to make some waves. But that
would be the position that I'd be a little bit
leery off.

Speaker 8 (23:48):
Okay, one guy wanted the action, and I have a
follow up. One guy, you can make a quick guard
take it off the the Trey Hawkins. Uh uh, well,
how how has he been? He's been one of the
guys that I haven't really I don't really hear about.
I know when he came out of college two years ago,

(24:09):
he's really really wrong and he had some great tools
and traits. How has he been looking through camp? Just
in your opinion, I'm not you know, asking if he's
going to make the roster anything, just from a pure
coverage standpoint, you know, how has he been looking at?

Speaker 9 (24:24):
No?

Speaker 3 (24:25):
Appreciate the call Jason good stuff. I think we've seen
he's one of those guys that still have high highs
and lo los right from what I say. Yeah, And
sometimes he'll get beat or a committed defensive pass interference penalty.
Other times he'll make a really good play. So I
think you're looking for that consistency to even out. I
think he's has good of a chances any to earn
that fifth We talked about this lance nine Tuesday when

(24:46):
we nerded out on our training camp battles. We're like, well,
who's the fifth quarterback going to be? But it's a
real thing. You've got to have your need five quarterbacks?
Is is he gonna be able to fight his way
on as the fifth guy. I think he has a
chance to do that giving his physical tools.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
I don't think he has slot flexibility. No, I don't either.
So that's one thing that would work against him because
right now I see the Giants having guys who could
back up on the boundary, but there's no one established
behind Drew Phillips. If Drew Phillips goes down today, John,
I can't feel comfortable about that spot.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
Let's go to Bobby and freehold. He's up next on
Big Blue Kick Off LIVEE. Bobby, what's up? Can you
hear me loud and clear?

Speaker 4 (25:27):
Let me tell you this, Okay, this is on and
the pleasure to hit from you guys, because I'm always
listening to you guys. But today I was compelled three things.
A and this is diffcting to your partner. He showed
me some class today that I'm gonna do it. I'm
just gonna have I'm gonna He's gonna be on my

(25:47):
mind for a long time. He stopped and took a
picture with me. Do you remember that, brother.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Paul, Yes, sir, you're very welcome.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
You took a picture of me, and that was very
classed because if remind me of last year at the anniversary.
I like cornerbacks. See I've been the Giants thanking sixty one.
So me and you we know a thing or two,
especially with green Bay. And I did cry in sixty
three with ya ya.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
I didn't know, I didn't see why lies.

Speaker 4 (26:20):
Yeah, that was a great, That was a great. I
cried because of my man who had those two quarterback sneaks.
You remember that. I think he threw five interceptions. We're
getting back, getting back last year. And another class individual
because I like cornerbacks, Corey Webster. He was walking by

(26:42):
us and Gamelay to go to the building. I yell Corey.
He turned around and came back and took a photo
with me. That's number one, Corey Webster, number two. I
only wanted to ask Corey Webster one question.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Corey.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
I had the pleasure of me and and speaking to
a cornerback by the name of Spider law Card. I
know you know him, and he was a class person.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
And so.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
At the anniversary, I said, if we got those my
man Brandon London, who was a class person. You know.
I like him because when he interviews people, he is
always asking the right question and he's not afraid and
he's class too. So I had the present me in
three classes and when I was there the day I
was at a poor it was funny. I said, what

(27:37):
is that? And so you probably didn't get that one
and to move on. So that was so much fun.
But his might be another bad. I don't want to
ask you this question. Go ahead, Yes, okay, here's a question.
I'm gona let you go. You can answer me. Nineteen
sixty one to the president? Is there any similarities to

(27:59):
any those teams? Now this may be an app that
question or critical, but is there any teams that you
know that are similar I'm not going to say they are,
like you know, they have a certain connection, but any
team that you know that looks similar to this president team?
Now I know it's not a it's on paper, but

(28:21):
do you think that there are kind of similarities? Like
I said, maybe an apptat question, but I think it's
probably critical for a lot of us that would like
to know. And God bless you guys. You just got
on a fabulous job.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Continue, Thank you, thank you for calling it in saying hi,
and come visit camp again.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
Paul loves teak. By the way, you see Paul.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
He loves taking pictures all day, kissing baby, shaking hands.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Oh boy.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
Uh, it's always good to meet the fans. But to
answer the question, the nineteen eighty one Giants, okay, with
Ray Perkins had a terrific defense. Harry Carson was on
that team. Lawrence Taylor had just been drafted as a rookie. Now,
why am I going to make the eighty one comparison?
Because they had so many talented players on that team. Okay,

(29:13):
George Martin, you guys will remember very well, I'm sure,
The point being that defense had a lot of impact
players and guys who could really bring it. Beasley Reese
was was it safety? Okay? Mark Haynes was playing cornerback.
He was a Pro Bowl player. They relied on their defense.

(29:34):
The offense was somewhat muted. John Scott Bruner was the
quarterback who wound up leading the Giants into the playoffs
that year. They were not a dynamic offense. They were not.
They made the midseason trade for Rob Carpenter from the
Houston Oilers, and he gave them the semblance of a
running game. And it was not a great offensive line.

(29:58):
So if you want to give me a question about
a comparison. I'll say, we all knew that defense was good.
We think this defense is really good, and they're gonna
have to drag the offense if they're going to make
the playoffs. That's that's what I'm gonna give you.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
Okay, I'm gonna go a different angle. I'm gonna go
the two thousand and four Giants. You're coming off a
very bad season. You sign a veteran, former Super Bowl
champion quarterback in the offseason. Then it was Kurt Warner,
now it's Russell Wilson. You draft a quarterback in the
first round. Now, I am not comparing Jackson to Art

(30:35):
The Eli Manning one was picked to the back end
of the first year. The one was picked in the
top five. Very different.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
I get that. And you trade, well, you did trade
for both of them, though ironically very true you did.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
But again, I'm not making that comparison per se. I
think that's unfair to Jackson. But you're coming off a
bad year. The difference is that was a new coach
that year. The Giants do not have a new coach
this year, so that makes it a little bit different.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yep. So that is a key difference. You're never gonna
be perfect with comparisons like this. That defense in two
thousand and four was not as talented as this. No,
that's true too.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
I'm looking at more from the quarterback situation and trying
to figure that out.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
So that's so.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
That's and again I don't remember the Giants like from
the you know, I was born in eighty one, so
like you know, anything pre ninety five, I don't, you know,
have like a huge, great, you know, detailed memory of
that sort of thing. The other year I would look
at and let me see if I.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
Can bring this up. Where is the franchise index here?
And for football reference here? You want to bring up
the ninety seventeen I won the NFC East when nobody
expected them to and they came out of nowhere and
won the division with Danny Kannell at quarterback. No, no,
you don't want to bring that one up. Okay, I
was not going to go there, all right, Well, I
was thinking maybe the nineteen ninety four team vis you

(31:51):
ad Dave Brown come in as a sentimental first round pick.
You're bringing him in.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
Dan Reeves was back for another year, so it wasn't
a new coach there wasn't really a veteran quarterback on
that team though, right that that Brownton.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
But here's here's the thing. In ninety three they made
the playoffs. That's why it's different. Correct, ninety four they're
coming off a playoff team, and we thought that things
were going to be better and than they were.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
Ninety seven is not bad. Was Canel wasn't a rookie
that year though, right? Uh, Danny second year Danny was.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
I want to say, I think he was. Well, it
was Danny Kenel drafted. You know what, My memory's a
little fuzzy right now. Danny Canell wasn't fourth round in
ninety six, he was. That was a second apologized, No,
that's fine, but Danny, Danny got them that NFC East
Division title when nobody in their right mind thought the
Giants were going to be very good and yet and
yet they they wound up going right up to the

(32:42):
top of the division. I still like my two thousand
and four, I'll stick with that. That's okay. And I
like your eighty one two. That's also pretty good. There
were some different cilimilarities when you go through these. It's
a very interesting question. I appreciate the call what was
Parcel's first year eighty three? Eighty three? My first year?
Got it? Okay, Bill doesn't like to admit that though, Well,
no one wants to be put together with you. No,

(33:05):
he doesn't want that.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
A couple of you two comments real quick, Rose Tap
eighty seven has the kicking game. Looking, they have not
kicked field those yet, zippo, so not one So Rose
Tap don't know. Can't tell you no clue, and in
fact they even yet they haven't caught monchs yet. Right, No,
so I think they're probably working the specialists and slowly.
My guess is that will have some of that tomorrow's practice,

(33:27):
But we have not seen anything from the I.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Will offer this a little bit unsolicited. During the off season,
Macatamney has been working his butt off.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
Hey, look he's got all the tools. He just has
to be more consistent kicking can of a leg. That's
all he has to be able to do. I mean,
just absolutely booms and I say that's all he has
to do. That's also the most difficult and most important
part of the position. Yes, so it's kind of important
and it's not easy. But look, he has all the
other tools.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
I'm anxious to see how much more accuracy he will
have developed through all the work that he has done.
Because much like Jeff Eagels used to tell us about
Aldrich Rosas, you hear the ball pop off foot.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
Absolutely Rosas he had that guy cannon Man, Well he
was like six or five, like two thirty two.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Well he was a linebacker, you know, linebacker physique. Make
Tammany does not have that physique, but he pops the ball. Nonetheless.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
By the way, guys, go check out the Johnson the
podcast brought to you by Citizens Is Connor up there?

Speaker 2 (34:24):
So Connor Orr.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
We mentioned this on last week's show. We did a
great cover piece for Sports Illustrated on Russell Wilson, and
he about that done one with Russ a few years ago.
It's just kind of like a follow up to it.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
Oh, I didn't know that.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
And I did like a twenty five minute interview with
him about the interview with Ross where he is, where
he's at off the field stuff. The interview was really
good interview. And Connor used to cover the Giants back
in the day. In fact, he came on I believe
he told me in twenty twelve when everything started twenty
twel wasn't okay year they went over five hundred, so
he didn't quite bring the mayhem with him.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
But clost enough.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
He just missed the Super Bowl, so we did run
minus a little bit on that sort of stuff. Yeah,
and he was there for for some of the fun
Beckham stuff. But we had a great conversation about Russell Wilson.
We did at NFL season preview with him too. So
check out on the Johnson podcast, Giants dot com, giants app,
search for it on your favorite podcast platform.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
All right, let's go to Marcus and Arizona. He's up
next day. Marcus, Hey, guys, how you doing. We're good man.
What do you got?

Speaker 6 (35:19):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Nothing?

Speaker 8 (35:19):
Man?

Speaker 9 (35:19):
I guys told my question about the snaps for Dart
in the preseason. So since I'm out here and travel
nursing in Oxnard, California, actually by the Dallas training camp,
which game should I go to at the beginning of
the season. I'm trying to torn between the Cowboys Week
two and Saints'.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Week five, so you don't go to road last time
you want to go to a road game. Do you
live in California or is this justifacation here?

Speaker 9 (35:49):
The Thursday Night Football to matt Life. It was my
first time to New York. So I want to do
a quick turnaround trip, probably go to Jerry's World.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
You live an Arizona, you live in California.

Speaker 9 (36:02):
Well, I what I called. I was from Arizona, but
I'm recently in transitioning moving to California right now.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
So so look, they played the Raiders.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
Now they played Vegas, Marcus as I'll say, they play
Dallas every year. So I would say, go.

Speaker 9 (36:16):
Into that game already for my bachelor party. I told
I was told you guys that last time. That's my
bachelor party weekend.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Perfect. So if you go to that, you go to.

Speaker 9 (36:23):
A game before where if everything goes bad and we're
like two and ten, I don't want to go to
a game.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
No, I got you.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
So I would say, I would say, since you can
go to Jerry's World every year because the Giants are
there every year, I would skip that this year. Since
you're on the West coast, Marcus, you know the Giants
do play the AFC West, so you're gonna I would say,
Denver or Vegas. The Giants do not go out there
very often. It'll probably be your only chance to see
those two stadiums, and they're very different experiences. The Las

(36:53):
Vegas Stadium is honestly, wow, really cool, and it's very and.

Speaker 9 (36:58):
I'm already going to that though, Like I'm already going
to that game. So I want to go to another.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Team, go to Denver, So yeah, I would. I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
I finish said you were doing the last game of
the year against Dallas as your bachelor party.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
I'm sorry. So you're going to Vegas.

Speaker 9 (37:09):
Thinking about going to Jerry's World week two?

Speaker 3 (37:12):
Yeah, honestly, since you can go to Dallas any year,
I would go to Denver. It's a outdoor stadium. The
weather's still going to be good in October nineteenth. You're
not gonna get frozen out of that place. The fans
are electric, it is, and I don't think they're going
to be like mean and make your experience miserable.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
And you know, dead Brontos giants.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
I don't think people thinking about the eighty six Super
Bowl much like, there's no animosity there.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
So I would. And Denver.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
And but if you've never been Denver, and like Colorado
Springs and stuff like that, which is right near there,
it's lovely to visit. It's beautiful. It's a fun city.
I would Chintz since they're going out west this year
multiple times, and you can go to Dallas any other year.
I would go to Denver this year. I think that
would be your best bet.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
I might also add the site lines in that stadium
are really good. They are. It's a nice stadium.

Speaker 9 (38:00):
Okay, sounds good. I'll talk to the wife about it.
And uh, I could see us winning eight games this
year and hopefully sneak in one or two more. So
I have faith. Let's go Giants.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Awesome, Thank you Marcus. Yeah, I would to Denver. Denver's
and that's the one. I think that's the one road
game I'm gonna travel to this year too.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
I have a friend out there. I'm gonna visit. Oh,
I've been along with working the game. Yeah, Denver's a
fun town, and look, going to New Orleans is never
a bad idea either. Fun city. It's not Paul's favorite city,
but it's a fun city.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
You've heard the story about the vampire.

Speaker 4 (38:34):
You met a vampire down there?

Speaker 2 (38:35):
You never heard the story about the vampire. How could
you not know this not a real vampire? You told
it like two weeks ago? Right? Yeah, I don't think
I was on the show. I was with Was I
with Matt Or I was with Matt? Yeah the Empire story, No,
I was, I was. We were down there. I forget
what year it was. It was Halloween weekend and I
did my power walk down Beal Street, right, that's the

(38:57):
main street. No, not Beal Stourban, Bourbon Street. I did
the main walk down Bourbon That you first mistake? What
was a terrible mistakes able mistake because it was absolutely
jammed beyond belief. And a guy who was extremely pale
and dressed in a long black trench coat came up
to me and he said, oh, I'm a vampire. Could
you like to feel my pulse? And he came up

(39:20):
to me and I was like, no, I'm sorry. Obviously
you must be dead. And I tried to walk away
from him, and he of course tried to track me
down if that was his first mistake, very bad mistake,
and he asked me again and I just said, hey, man,
I'm sorry for you, and.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
I just kept going, well, here's here's my question.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
And I got away from him. Was it the evening
or was it the daytime? No, actually it was in
the early evening. Where it still was like around dinner time.
Could you see the sun barely? It was still a
little light, A little light.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
Saved now light enough, there wasn't pitch black dark. And
here's my point though, are you familiar with vam.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Well, you're telling me I should have set to him
to go back on your coffin.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
No, yeah, you should say if you were a vampire,
you would be bursting into flames right now because the
sun is still out right.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Well, I can't. I can't say this. It was sunlight,
but there was enough of a little bit of light
at at the dusk.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
I understand. I feel like the vampires can't be out
of dusk time, right.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
I feel like, if it is, just carry garlic around
with you next time. Yeah, and you have plenty of it.
As an Italian, I understand. I you know, I wasn't
prepared for a vampire. I didn't expect to see one.
I mean, holy smokes, you know what, I've never heard
that story. We're not talking about a slee stack from
the land to the loss stack, Okay, we're talking about
a vampire. Growing up, he had a friend that we

(40:40):
dictates slee stack. Okay, it was not I mean you know,
as you might imagine, it was not a couple of
that jury. And by the way, vampire or not, this
dude was weird. I mean, well, yeah, I would imagine.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Really for Paul to call somebody weird is certainly okay
saying something. All right, h next YouTube comment, I wish
I had as back and forth her peercent Sorry, Frank,
are you're okay? Frank Mattos, which tight end has looked
the best the past two days as a receiver? I mean,
all we have to judge on is as a receiver.
I mean the Dony probably made the best individual catch, right,

(41:15):
I agree, But I think Dulcich probably overall, has probably
been the most dynamic as a receiver.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
I would concur with that as well. But they've all
done everything they've been asked to do. Every guy has
made plays. They've all been good. I agree with that
one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (41:28):
All right, back to the calls, Andrew and Virginia wants
to talk about Joe Shane Andrew, what's up?

Speaker 7 (41:33):
Hey, Joe? High up? Angel And I think kind of fast,
so I guess they got it.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
I'm sorry, and and your line's kind of popping in
out a little bit so go ahead.

Speaker 7 (41:45):
I'm a first time caller, so I appreciate you guys
taking the call. I just kind of wanted to talk
about the safety position in Kevon Wallace. That addition, I think,
to me is one of the smartest additions, like at
this time of the year when everything is all pretty
much that as far as bringing people in and then
getting these guys on the field to get you know,

(42:06):
some good practice time. But I just kind of wanted
to like break that down a little bit. Was it
because they don't really trust in damee Belton or I mean,
is it purely depth behind Dame Belton or is it
like kind of like a favorite thing for for for bowling,

(42:27):
just the familiarity with the Eagles and and and you know,
the time in Tennessee that they spent together and all
that good stuff. Or was there somebody that was like
hurt or they're they're not really sure because there's a
lot of like, you know, stuff that you know, I
agreed on the internet as far as oh, somebody got
injured or they're bringing in Kyvon Wallace's question. Man, I

(42:47):
saw this guy play and he's a monster. He's a ballhawk.
I love his play he's fantastic, But I mean, I
really think it's a great pickup. But I just kind
of wanted to get your guys's opinion on that and
whether or not it was like an injury thing or
was just fairly strictly de Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
Absolutely, Angel, Look, they aren't gonna ask answer that question publicly,
but we can surmise as best we can and an
Angel appreciate the call, thanks for being a first time
or we appreciate that. I would say they have faith
in Belton as their third safety. He had a pretty
good spring, but they really again, much like the fifth
cornerback spot, the fourth safety spot.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Is wide open.

Speaker 3 (43:23):
And you also talked about having a backup slot. Well,
what if Kavon Wallace is your fourth safety and also.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
Your backup slot player. That would be very help and
he checks both boxes.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
Then you can keep Hawkins as your fifth corner, you
cover your backup slot, you get another outside corner to
boot flats, now your emergency third slot guy. That's not
a bad place to be in.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Yeah. I would also add that last year with Seattle,
Wallace played nine games and had five special teams tackles
in only nine games, which tells you something about his
coverage ability on special teams. Now, not going to automatically
grant him a roster spot on the fifty three, but
if he makes it, chances are he's going to place

(44:00):
special teams.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
And I'll throw in I don't think his experience in
Philadelphia and then he knows Philly. I don't think that
has anything to do with it. They've had a new coordinator,
I don't think, so he wasn't there with Vic Fangio.
He was there before Fangio got there, So I'll throw
that out. But look, his familiarity and Shane Bowen understanding
the type of player in person that he is, that
he thinks he's a fit for what they do here.
That's always a good thing. And coaches like to find

(44:21):
players that they know what they're getting with that player,
and the Giants certainly know what they're getting with Wallace
because of what he did, and he started the double
diggit games with Shane Bowen and Tennessee if I remember correctly.
So yeah, obviously that doesn't hurt.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, I mean, I think he's got like two career
interceptions over like six years in the league or five
years in the league, so it's not like he's a
great ballhawk or he's made a lot of splash plays.
But I'm with john on this. I'm going to go
with the Bowen familiarity and then I'm also going to
go with the special teams production. I think those are
the two reasons. And I believe Anthony Johnson who was
waved injured. I believe he had a bruce shoulder. There

(44:53):
was an injury involved there, and so you know that's
always going to be a very costly thing to a
player at this time of the year.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
All right, let's go back to the phones at two
o one nine three four five one three, and then
we'll get to a couple more YouTube comments as well.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
Run in New Jersey, he's up next.

Speaker 4 (45:09):
Hey Ron, Hey, guys, thanks for the Denver idea, and
I follow up on that now.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Dude, I'm telling you, Denver is a fun, fun place
to watch a football game.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
That same he gets loud.

Speaker 3 (45:19):
The fans are into it, the weather is lovely, It's
a fun city.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Denver's great.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
It's October, October nineteenth, so it should still be nice.

Speaker 8 (45:25):
Right.

Speaker 6 (45:26):
All right, I'm a season ticket holding so I'm gonna
go home.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
But what what piece of warning there, and that is
the Broncos fans. Uh, you're not gonna see many empty seats.
That is ok good, they will be out there and
fill it up.

Speaker 6 (45:39):
Okay, good to know, all right. I just have a
fun question, following up sort of on on show the
other day with Lance, what surprise player offense, defense side
of the ball can actually make the starting rotation for
each team? I'll take that.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
Yeah, surprise starter for the Giants this year. That's interest sting.

Speaker 3 (46:01):
I guess my first question would be, what do you
consider a surprise? Because there are guys that maybe wouldn't
surprise you, but you would be you know, they're not
expected to be the starter. So would any non expected
starter be considered a surprise?

Speaker 2 (46:18):
I mean, can I just throw out I don't think again,
I may have this perception wrong, but I think the
public perception, the fan perception for months has been given
up on Evan Neil. So if Evan Neil wins a
starting guard job, I think a lot of people would
be surprised by definition because they had given up on them.

Speaker 3 (46:38):
All right now, Okay, if you want to count that
as a surprise, I think that is probably one of
the more likely ones. I agree with that. I mean,
I'd be shocked if Theo Johnson's not the starting tight end.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
I mean, I guess, you know, what do you consider starter?
Would it shock me if Jalen Hyatt's on the field
for the first snap of the first game, you know,
but while the Robins still him and like split the
snaps evenly? Like?

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Would that shock me? No, it wouldn't shock me. I
could go four white, maybe e go four wide that
that's possible. I'll give you I'll give you another name
on defense? Would Roy Robertson Harris Being that's my name
on def that's not a surprise to me. You and
I understand when they signed him, they have some expectation
for him, but a lot of folks who probably don't

(47:23):
know him very well. I think that Notcho is an
incumbent and they think of him as a starter. So
I think you could qualify Robertson Harris as a surprise
to some people.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
I agree, and I think that would be my second one.
I guess my third one would be Quardo Flott, just
because that's an open competition and people expect Banks to
win that job. But when it's a competition, you never know.
I think right now Banks has the upper hand. But
I guess those would be the three guys that I
would list.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
I mean, I don't see anyone eking out over all. Kara,
Can McFadden, Paul No. We talked about the edge guys.
The safety starters aren't changing, and Debo's going to be
a starter. I mean, yeah, maybe there's no way running back. Maybe,
but I mean i'd be very surprised if Tracy doesn't,
you know, play Snap one week one.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
I'll give you one other one out of the box
if you really want another desperate name. I have no
idea who the punt return is going to be right now.
I think Smith Moore said will be the kickoff returner.
He doesn't need to be a punt returner too. I
don't know that I think he is. I think if
you're keeping him, I think he's got to do both. Well,
you know what, I hope so, because I like him,
I think.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
It's really good if you're keeping him to be a returner.
I think you need to get the most out of him.
I think he needs to be both for you, right
you know, I.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Would agree that that's the perfect way to go because
you save a roster spot by having him do both.
But right now, from watching practice when they were using
the jugs machine to just throw up punts, they have
not solidified that yet.

Speaker 3 (48:47):
All right, see if you can still one more YouTube
comment off there, Pierson, if you can David Thomas not
the creator of Wendy's with a legitimate quarterback play, do
you think maybe it is who knows? Do you think
Maliku Nahbers, I don't think guys alive anymore? Well, legitimate
quarterback play? Do you think the league neighbors can't be
one of the best receivers in the league this year?
He was one of the best receivers in the league
last year. To Paul's point, He's made this many times,

(49:10):
and I think he makes a good one. That Chris
Jones is not happy on TV right now. That's number ninety.
I don't think that's Chris Jones.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
It's an old game anyway. John, I just like to
accept that. But that he was. He he was very unhappy.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
I mean, you want to get his yards per catch higher,
and I think what Russell Wilson, it certainly will be.
But no, like if you told me if at the
end of the year, Russell. The League Neighbors is top
five in the NFL and receptions and receiving yards are
that surprised me? No, absolutely not, because Brian Dable, if
there's one thing he's good at, paul getting the ball
to the players. He wants to get the ball so
they will get the League Neighbors to football.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
And again, I know we talk about the ward of
down value of Pro Bowl, but he was a Pro
Bowl alternate and then got elevated and made the Pro
Bowl Skills Game. So doesn't that automatically qualify you as
well the top receivers of the league.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
I agree, all right, let's go do James mcnight could
cave On Thibodeau play defensive tackle in a NASCAR package?

Speaker 2 (50:11):
It's a good question. I don't.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
Given his power, I would put him inside before I
would put Burns inside myself. But I think you're three
technique defensive tackle on a NASCAR package?

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Is Jauncey Golston or Armstrong? Could be Darius Somstrong if
they feel he's developed.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
Alexander Alexander I said, I was like, I'm figuring. I'm like,
am I saying know what I'm saying? I'm like, did
I like Dorian soarmstrong. What are you thinking about it?

Speaker 2 (50:42):
I think I've done that at least two or three
times two weeks.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
It's funny, I have not heard you do that, and
I'm sitting here, I'm like, did I forget somebody on
the roster. I'm like panicking. I'm like, I know I
was a long vacation for like three weeks, but I
don't think I forgot it.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
It's definitely Darius that much. I always get that you got.
I think I do confuse him with with the Cowboys lineman.
But I think Alexander's Lemon. Yes, that's correct. I think
Alexander certainly, if he develops quickly enough, he could wind
up being the three technique defensive tackle. But Golston certainly
has that capability as well. Honestly, Thibodeau just told us

(51:13):
today at his very brief presser, he didn't have a
lot to say that he worked on wrestling moves and
worked on losing a little bit of weight to enhance
his speed, which was quite interesting after he told you
a month ago he had worked on his power. He's
also apparently done some speed stuff.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
He said that it all starts at the speed though
in the India, like you eat to work the power off.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
The speed, so no, I would look, I don't like
him with his hand in the dirt anyway, So to me,
that's absolutely a no no, I'm not putting him down inside.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
To me, my ideal pass rush package this year would
probably be five men and it would be Dexter and
goalst that inside burns into bit off the edge, and
Abdul Carter as your stand up joker that's going to
do all the looping and slashing and that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
That would be one of my formations. I'd have a few,
but that'd be one of them. If you want to
go well this way format front, Paul, what's your ideal set?
Four guy down, cancer four down?

Speaker 3 (52:20):
Or if you have four guys rushing the passer? Who
are your best for in a four you're only rushing
four guys. I don't care how you line them up.
You're only rushing four guys. How are you and you
want to get to the quarterback? But play coverage on
a third and ten? What four guys are you putting
out that are rush to quarterback?

Speaker 2 (52:35):
If I can only put four, I'm going to put
Dexter Lawrence with his hand down and I'm gonna stand up. Carter,
Thibodeaux and burn stand up. All three, All three you
standing up. Dexter is my only guy down. I like it.
That's one of my many permutations that I would I

(52:56):
would throw out.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
There if I could only do or, I would probably
put Carter and Burns outside and have Thibodeau and Decks
run like a twist. Have decks come around, try to
set the pick like have the T T twist, Have
decks go first, try to screen off the guard and

(53:18):
have Thibodeau loop around, and then have Burns and Thibodeau
win with speed on the outside. Have those two guys
run a game inside. And that would probably be my
ideal for me.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Well, if you're gonna run a stunt, you absolutely want
Dexter to be the lead guy in the stunt because
you're not gonna expect him to come around and loop.
That's asking too much of him. He's a big man
and very athletic, but come on, that's asking a lot.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
All right, We got another good question here. You guys
are great on YouTube. We really appreciate it. I'm so
happy we decided to stream there. It was really an
excellent idea by the folks upstairs. Greg Haller over under
fifty sacks this year. Last year the Giants, just so
everyone has forty four six, Yeah that it was forty

(53:59):
five forty five Giants three seven eight, ninth in the
league with forty five sacks. Only three NFL teams finished
with more than fifty sacks last year, the Cowboys, Ravens,
and Broncos, and two teams finished with forty nine, the
Texans and the Vikings. So over under fifty sacks. I'm

(54:21):
gonna go just under only because I don't know what
the game flow is gonna be like in a lot
of these games. If this offense is better than what
we think it's gonna be and what the general I
shouldn't say that whatever the general perception thinks it's going
to be, and they play with some more leads in
closer games, I think it'll be over. But you know,
I'll say they'll finish in that forty nine area, just

(54:44):
where the Texans and Vikings did last year.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
Yeah, it really comes down to, you know, last year,
these teams were able to play with leads basically non stop,
and that really hurt the Giants' chances and consider how
many sacks they got for the amount of time they
behind on the scoreboard.

Speaker 3 (55:01):
Now here's the thing that was pretty crazy. It was,
but I remember a lot of those sacks, though, came
in the first half of the year when they wore
closer in games they did, they got much fewer sacks.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
When they played poor. They started dropping in the in
the sack rankings. They were first of almost through mid season. Yes,
so you know, do I think they could they could
touch fifty, Yeah, they can do. I think they could,
but again, they're gonna have to be in many more
competitive games.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
The other problem with the fifty sack number. You like
the pinpoints and games where you can rack up the
sacks against the bad lines.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
And the quarterbacks. Yeah, the teams they're playing are really good.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
Jaden Daniels, good luck chasing him down. I don't think
he's great versus pressure, but he's just so elusive.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
Whatever.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
You know, Dak Prescott gets rid of the ball quick.
He's a savvy veteran.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
You're not getting Mahomes a lot.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
You're not getting Justin Herbert a lot either. So you're
looking at the Saints in Week five. You know they
have an open competition a quarterback. Who knows who's it
going to be.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
It could be down for you want to get the fifty,
you better be in that six to eight area. I'm serious.

Speaker 3 (55:58):
If you better be in that area, then you get
the Eagles. Jalen Hurts will hold the ball.

Speaker 9 (56:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
The problem is that their offensive line is literally the
best in the league.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
Yeah, run with Barkley Bo Knicks.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Is I mean the Broncos. I think a lot of
the fewer sacks in football last year. They have a
really good offensive line and Bo Nixon is an athlete too,
So we can move around a little bit.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
And while you go there, go right to the Lions,
who also have a really good line. A few weeks
later they lost their center though Frank right now so
and still pretty good. Yeah, I agree, And you got
the Niners.

Speaker 3 (56:27):
Kyle Shannan knows that to protect his quarterback, Packers Jordan
Love doesn't take any sacks. He gets rid of the
ball or he scrambles. The Bears with Caleb Williams will
take some sacks. Can you rack up some sacks that week?
So to kind of give you five plus in that game?
I don't know where Caleb Williams is going to be
in Ben Johnson's offense at that point. You know, Drake
May is extremely elusive with the Patriots. He's tough to

(56:49):
bring down. And then the end of the year again
you got James Daniels again, the Vikings with JJ McCarthy.
They have a good line. I don't know what McCarthy's
gonna be, so it's hard to say. Was that your
picture with the fan that called in right now? This
was a different fans, different fancy you're just stopping to
catch ball.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Takes many pictures the Raiders, Gino Smith, But look, this
is not a schedule with a bunch of bad quarterbacks
that are gonna take a bunch of sacks, Paul, So
that could depress that number a little bit too, which
is why I'll go under the fifty. Yeah, I do
concur with you there, John, so many factors that are
going to play into that number. In all likelihood, they

(57:24):
could have forty eight. Right, just have a couple more
than what they just had last year, and they may
still be grading out as an outstanding defense and have
a really nice record. They don't need fifty sacks to
be good.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
All right, We got three final questions. Here, we'll go
three more minutes. As we started at five, we'll go
to five so we get the full hour in. We'll
rop the rapid fire through these. Jason C from YouTube,
what kind of power running game could they have with
Cam Scattabo, Paul, I'll let you take that.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Well, look, I've already talked about the short yardage and
the goal line stuff. Provided they can get some type
of symmetry with the five guys they want up front,
and we that they'll have an extra lineman as a
blocker or for that matter, man hurts maybe makes the
team and he winds up helping out up front. Two
you'll give Scataboo any kind of crease at all. He's

(58:10):
got the power to push the pilot. He's got the
power to make cuts. I can't tell you how, you
guys know, if you've listened to this show, how desperate
I was to get a power back in the draft.
They got one. I think they got the right guy.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
Not your traditional like two hundred and thirty five pound
power back, though, it's like it's a power back in
a little bit of different package, which is fun. It
is a different package like Bradshaw was a bit of
a He kind of played like a power back, but
he wasn't big.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Yes, he had he had some of that in him.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
Scatibo has some of my Bradshaw in him with the
way he plays.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
He's got some of Bradshaw on him. And he's got
some Brandon Jacobs in him, even though he's not the
same frame correct, not close to the same frame.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
No, All right, Blaine Toby is next. Can't wait to
see a package with Scatibo and Tracy. How often could
you see that happening? The Giants did use some of
that what they call pony personnel, which is two running
backs last year with Singletary en Racy little before as
well that you have Barkley on the field with who's
the running back they put him on the field with
on some of those plays where they fake like the

(59:09):
the and like the oh sweeping, they fake it to
him and then they do the Oh gosh, who was
here before Singletary?

Speaker 2 (59:17):
He was another veteran back. Oh, I can't place it
wasn't Penny, Elijah Penny. Oh he was a full back. Right,
that would have been the twenty twenty three Giants, right, yeah,
look it up, John, just look it up. My mind
is fried right now.

Speaker 3 (59:32):
And they use it in the twenty twenty two playoff
here too, they had that as well. So let me
see if I can bring this up real quick in
the meantime, let me look that up. But yeah, I
do think they will find we used to do that,
especially Breda with their Matt Brada thank you. That's who
it was, Matt Brada. That's exactly what was Pearson.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
Thank you. Oh good job YouTube, Thank you very much.
He fell right off the face of the earth.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
Yeah, they speedbacks declined fast.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Good guy too, by the way, awesome guy. Love Matt.
But yeah, that that that's that what that was the guy.
What I will say fo is that I don't think
you're going to see much of the old split back
pro set that you used to see back in the seventies.
I don't think you're gonna see that. I don't think
that's what he was asking for.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
No, just I don't even clarify for the old pro set.
I don't think that's what he was looking for.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Geezy, well, I don't know. I know you're still funny.
I grew up listening to Marti Glickman talking about the
pro set on the radio.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
You also that when when Moses came down with the tablet,
So that doesn't mean that you know.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Okay, well, when I think two backs though, that's the
first thing that comes to mind.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
All right, let's go scow lead once, you know, thinking optimistically,
if Russ has a revitalizing season like two thousand and
eight Kurt Warner, do we resign him? I'm talking like
thirty five hundred yards and thirty plus touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
We had this conversation with Matt the other day, and
really it comes down to if Wilson has a really
spectacular season, Right, He's only on a one year contract.
He's gonna want to get paid. John, It's gonna be
very hard to reward him with a second year at
the kind of he probably would command if he has

(01:01:02):
that kind of season. Well, here's the question. So it's
unlikely if he hits free agency.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
Let let's let let's game theory this out here, much
to Pearson's chagrin, if he hits free agency as a
free agency remember, in order to man a lot of money,
you have to be willing. You have to be getting
another offer for big money from the other team. Right,
is there another team that would pay him big money
in his age thirty eight year.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
If he throws for thirty five hundred yards and thirty touchdowns,
there'll be somebody out there who'll cut him a check
and it'll be a pretty sizeable How big to get
more than twenty I think so for those conds of numbers, Yeah,
because if he doesn't think he's I don't think he's
going over twenty five, though it might wind up being

(01:01:47):
twenty four to twenty five. But if he does that,
and the Giants are a winning team because if he.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
Does, Giants like make the playoffs. Moleague Neighbors has like
leads the league in receiving yards, and the Giants offense
is the best offense that they've had since like twenty thirteen.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
I mean, can you let him walk?

Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
Look, I understand they set this whole thing up to
have a rookie quarterback, so you don't spend a lot
of money on him. I get all that. I guess
you still have to. But tell you what, that is
a tough decision to make.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
My theory was before the draft, right when they signed
Russell Wilson. I had said all along, don't necessarily think
it's a one year deal. It is a one year deal.
But if they don't get the first round quarterback. I
said this, by the way, he would like to be
here long term. Correct like to not have Correct one year.
So my thought before the draft was Wilson could prove
himself that he's got the gas left in his tank,

(01:02:39):
does well and does get resigned to stay for at
least one more mile. I think I've always thought that
was possible. But then they went and they made the
trade to go get Dart in the first round. Now
I say to myself, how high are they going to
be willing to go if Dart shows them anything in
the developmental process, Well, that's the question. How much money
would you spend to keep Wilson.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
We're not going to know what they've seen from Dark, No,
we won't. Like do they think he's ready to play
or not? Is theoretically, if Russell Wilson's throwing for thirty
five hundred yards and thirty touchdowns, Jackson Dart might not take.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
A snap this year. Oh, We've talked about that too.
It could be a red shirt year for Dark, which
I favor anywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
I think given the schedule and we talked about this,
I mentioned this Earlier in the week, the Giants played
the second hardest pass defense schedule in the league, third
toughest defense overall. So I think if he can come
up with those numbers, it would be extremely impressive.

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
It would be very impressive. Is so.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
Look, I hesitate to look ahead and make a comment
on that now, But for me, I would say I would.
I mean, I'd be surprised if he was here next year,
But if he has those numbers, I would not rule
anything yet.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
No, I would not rule it out either, But I
do believe if Wilson has a spectacular season, there will
be somebody out there. Much like when Warner had played
fairly well for the Giants and then executed his opt
out and then signed with the Card Carls didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Pay a lot of money though, well, Allen I was
a pretty cheap contract I remember it was at the time.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
You're correct, it was not a huge, huge deal, but
he would playing with the Cards for like four years
and eventually led him to the Super Bowl. That would
have been in two thousand and five offseason, right, Yeah,
I don't know where his contract at that time ranked
among quarterbacks at that time, which is the key number
He signed a one year, four million dollars deal. I
don't know what at the time where that was.

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
It was not top top twenty, top ten, top fifteen, but.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
Water also did not have a thirty thirty touchdown thirty
five hundred season.

Speaker 3 (01:04:41):
And then after and after that one year where he
played really well, he signed a three year, eighteen million
dollar contract.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
And again I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
I don't have the quarterback salary rankings in front of
me for that year, but I doubt that was even
top ten.

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
The point is Russ signed the one year deal here
to resuscitate his career with the hope at the very
minimum that he finds a starting job in twenty twenty
six and continues his career whether it's here or somewhere else.
I think money is going to dictate that. I just
suspect that there's a chance that someone would flirt with

(01:05:13):
him if he has a superstar season. That's all I'm saying. No,
and I don't necessarily disagree with that. Paul, good stuff,
my friend. Yeah, another fun day.

Speaker 3 (01:05:22):
Yep, we're in our podcast vidio presented by Hackensack and
maridin health Keep getting better. That's all we have on
Big Book kick Off Live presented by Cadillac, the official
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on the archive podcast platforms everywhere for Paul Latino, I'm

(01:05:42):
John Schmelk. You like what you hear, You're excited about
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