Big Blue Kickoff Live 8/29 | Giants Over Unders

John Schmeelk and Paul Dottino play a game of Giants over/unders for the season, discuss the latest NFC East news, and take calls from fans.

0:00 - NFC East news

8:30 - Offensive over/unders

27:30 - Defensive over/unders

42:00 - Calls

50:00 - Giants offense

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.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're on Giants dot com.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Do you know what I saw do your Giant track.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
And the Giants Mobile as.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Sevrial on Tuck Down, we are, We're all tavery.

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

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Let's go dog Hello, everybody, Happy Friday. Labor Day. Weekend
is on the horizon, and then we are into game week.
As we get ready for Week one of the twenty
twenty five NFL season, It's Big Bookickoff lives ed by Cadillac,
the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants.
I am John Schmolke. He is Paul Latino. You are

(00:44):
calling in on the phones right now at two o
one nine three nine four five one three. We'll take
your calls. We'll take plenty of them, but usually we
do our over unders Paul all the way back in
like June right, and I decided this year we're putting
ourselves at a disadvance this year. We haven't seen camp yet,
we haven't seen what the injuries are gonna look like.

(01:05):
We know what the team's gonna look like, so I
decided to push it. The problem is that you run
out of time pretty quickly when.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
You get to the end of the buggy.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yes, so we usually do like one show offense, one
show defense, we get different talent involved. Well, we're squeeze
at it into one show and that's gonna be today.
I narrowed the categories a lot. I just did one
for each player rather than like multiple categories each play.
I picked the one that I thought was kind of
most important for the player and defining the type of
season that they're going to have. Okay, and I did

(01:33):
a couple team stats. Okay, so we're gonna do that today.
We'll say, if we don't get a ton of calls,
we might even do some playoff predictions. We get have
fun with that too. But I think we'll get calls.
I think we went too But uh, I think we
have to lead off Paul with the news that's been
I mean, if you've walked by ESPN, there's only been
one thing they've been talking about for the past uh

(01:56):
sixteen hours or so, and late yesterday afternoon, the Dallas
Cowboys who the Giants selected and select who the Giants
play in Week number two this year? And obviously it
is a long time division arrival of the Giants, which
is why it's significant and why we're talking about it,
decided to cut off their contract negotiations with Michael Parsons

(02:17):
and trade them to the Green Bay Packers. I don't
think we need to kind of go through the cowboy
angle of this in terms of how they handled the
negotiation and what they did, other than I think both
of us are pretty surprised. The late word was that
Parsons in his camp basically went to Jerry Jones late
in the process and said, hey, let's start over here,

(02:40):
let's negotiate this, and if the reports are to be believed,
and I think Jerry Jones pretty much confirmed this to
this press conference yesterday which I still have not watched.
I'm gonna watch that later today if I have time.
That said, no, we want you to play in the
fifth year option, correct, And that was pretty much that. Yes,
it was. You know that Michael Arson's goes for the

(03:01):
second opinion on the back, which indicates he's not gonna
play this year due to injury, and that would have
been a whole nother can of worms, which you mentioned
the other day when we did the show together. So
they ended up trading him, and they trade him for
two first round picks and Kenny Clark Jerry Jones says, well,
this makes our team better because we're better stopping the run. Well,

(03:22):
I think if stopping the run was that big of
a priority, they probably could have used the draft pick
or signed somebody in free agency to find that player
instead of trading the best player for that guy. Fair enough,
and by trading Michael Parsons at this time of year,
you also limit the amount of suitors that can bring
him in because of salary cap reasons. You also don't
know where the draft picks are gonna be in the

(03:44):
draft that you're trading for. And I think we both
expect the Packers were pretty good this year, so those
pictures agree in the twenties, so maybe even in the
late twenties. So basically the Cowboys will be that Michael Parsons.
They do get better at defensive tackle, which was a
huge position of weakness for them with Kenny Clark, Yes
it was. They do have good depth on the edge

(04:04):
with Dante Fowler, rookie Donovan as Roku Pall and I
both really liked in the draft Marshaun Kneeland the year two.
And then you have Sam Williams, who I know has
a lot of potential, missed all last year with any injury,
but none of those guys. Dante Fowler is a pretty
good tracker, but obviously not nowhere near the player that
Michael Parsons is so a lot older too, yes, much older.

(04:27):
The other players in the room pretty young, Neil and
Williams and Ezrako on their rookie contracts, but clearly Parsons
is a top five three defensive player in the league,
depending on how you want to rank them, it really
doesn't matter. And the Cowboys defense, which is already I
think a weakness, is certainly worse now, which will help
the Giants in week number two.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Well, how about this, they already got rid of the
bane of the Giants existence that a certain defensive end,
Tombarcus hurts.

Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
I didn't even I want to mention his name, to
be honest, because I'm just so happy to get him
out of the Giant fans might not remember I want them,
but yes, de MICUs Lawrence and now Michael Parsons. So
as far as I'm concerned, the two biggest migraines on
that Dallas defense that have caused tremendous amount of pain
for the Giants are now removed from the equation. One

(05:22):
guy already during the off season and now one guy yesterday.
I'm not a believer in Dante Fowler. I know he
succeeded a bit with Dallas before went to Washington, resurrected
his career, had double digit sacks.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
I mean he pretty consistently, he gets between seven and
eight sacks. Yeah, he's okay, he's fine.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
You know, you don't game plan for him.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
You want him as your third pass rusher. Yeah, correct.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
He's not what I call a headache player.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
No, no, no, they don't have a headache player on
the edge. Now, the other two guys were giant headache players. Yeah,
correct for this team. So you know, Ezeraku has has
much upside.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
John and I both think he has much upside, and
obviously the Cowboys realize that when they took him in
the second round. One of the best pass rushers in
this draft. I don't think anybody would doubt that. But
you know, how raw is he. I don't know what
kind of camp he's had. I don't know what he
did in the preseason games.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
I didn't watch Dallas. I think they've been pretty happy
with him, but I haven't seen him take any steps.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
So here's what I will say. It's gonna be awfully difficult,
in my opinion for Dallas to be a scary team
in week one. Now, maybe they'll get better as the
year goes on.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Or week two, which is more important. Week two is
definitely more important.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, you know, they'll play the Giants in the finale
here at MetLife Stadium to close out the regular season.
I do think that Dallas may be a better team
then than they will be in September. But right now, oh, this,
this totally flips the pancake for me as to all right, well,
it's too confidence on me now the day. No, No,

(06:58):
it's Dallas's own the Giants now for the better part
of the last decade. I don't I don't have that
fear right now, not at all.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Well, not of their defense. Their offense is still gonna
be pretty darn good, especially they're passing it.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, but usually when the Giants have gone up against Dallas,
it's been Dallas's defense has done a significantly nasty job
on the Giants, especially the front. Yes, I mean there's
been some times where you know, the Giants defense was
respectable and then fell apart in the fourth quarter because
the offense couldn't keep the game close.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
No.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Absolutely, so yeah, I no, I'm not crying any tears
about this trade at all. I'm sorry to say.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Paul had a very good late afternoon yesterday. Well, I
never met one either, can I tell you the truth.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
I was doing my power walk and all of a sudden,
I got a text from somebody upstairs said to me
Packers Parsons, and I couldn't help myself. I'm like, they
didn't give me a sentence. They just said Packers and Parsons,
and I was thinking to myself, well, are they talking
or they actually make it a deal. I couldn't figure
it out, and I was like, you know what, I'm

(08:05):
just gonna let it go and I'm just gonna keep walking.
I'm gonna do my laps and I'll figure it out
when I get home. And then a few minutes later,
somebody else called me and said Packers just made a
deal for Parsons, and I was like, okay, time to
pick up the pace.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
You picked them a couple of miles per hour. After
that news, I.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Did a full eight Yesterday I did a full eight miles.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
All right, you want to do some overrun theres here, Paul, Sure, sure, sure.
So as always, I try to put these numbers together
based on historical precedents, and I just try to put
them at thresholds that I think are significant for the
Giants and their success this year. Pierced, you can track
these for us in the dock. Paul and I will
both go over under on these as we go. So, Paul,

(08:48):
we're gonna start on the offensive side of the ball,
and we're gonna start with Giants quarterback Russell Wilson. So
I made these numbers pretty simple. I started with over
under three thousand passing yards. Now keep in mind this
total number will be dictated largely by how many games
he played, which is part of the conversation here, which
is why I pick that number. Russell Wilson has finished

(09:09):
with over three thousand yards every year of his career,
except last year when he only pitted eleven games at
twenty four hundred, and then the year prior with Denver,
in fifteen games, he finished just over three thousand at
three thousand and seventy over under Paul three thousand passing yard.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
I'm gonna say probably in the area of thirty three hundred,
so I will go over.

Speaker 3 (09:30):
I'm gonna go over here too. I expect him to
be I think if Russell Wilson gets to fourteen or
fifteen games this year, I think he should be able
to top three thousand. Very reasonable. Just keep keep this
in mind. I mean the mats eazy folks. If he
plays fifteen games, always to do his average charge of
passing yards a game. Yeah, that's a very doable number.
So I'm with you. I'm going over on that, and

(09:53):
I think the league nimhbors and we'll get to him
will be a big reason we go over. This is
the other one that I thought was interesting. Okay, twenty
four and a half total touchdowns In the last four years,
Russell Wilson's touchdown totals through the air have been twenty five, sixteen,
twenty six, and then last year again, in just eleven games,
he had sixteen passing touchdowns. On the ground, he has

(10:17):
pretty consistently had two or three rushing touchdowns a year.
In fact, since twenty nineteen three two two, three three, two,
So you're looking at two or three rushing touchdowns for
him and then whatever passing touchdowns. So will he have
twenty five or more touchdowns over under his twenty four
and a half? Wow, I pick to a number on

(10:41):
this one.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
No, this is a really good number. You know why
because I think he will throw for twenty three or
twenty four.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
And I'm not convinced he's going to run for any.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Giants. Scataboo is a touchdown gobbler, and I think if
they're gonna either go with Tracy or Scattaboo down inside
the five yard line, they'll get the touchdowns. They're not
gonna have Wilson run it in. Now, he could scramble
a one or two in.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
And I think that's I don't think it would be
quarterback sneaks. I think that's what it would be because
their priority is going to be given to those two balances.
Gabe will do some naked boots who like play action
and naked boot guys, or run a read option or
something like that. He does do that at the goal
on all right.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
I'm gonna say he's gonna throw for maybe twenty four,
and there's gonna be an Otter to scramble, So what
the heck, I'll say over.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
All right, I'm gonna go over here too. I'm right
on the number. I think this is about where he's
going to land Russell Wilson has been extremely consistent over
the course of his career, and these are numbers he
usually passes. So I think, again, a lot of this
does have to do with the Giants protection is gonna
be and I think it'll be good enough for Wilson
to top those numbers. But I do think the Giants

(11:47):
offense will try to be very balanced, which comes to
our next player. Yeah, and that's Tyrone Tracy. I had
trouble with this one. I think because we don't know
exactly how they're going to split carries and split playing time.
Stritch makes this challenge, so I went with totally. I
did rushing yards on this one. Okay, So last year
he finished with just under nine hundred rushing yards. This year,
I'm putting his over under at one thousand and fifty.

(12:11):
I thought about doing eleven hundred. I thought that was
maybe a little bit rich, depending on how much they
decide to give the ball to Singletary in Scataboo. So
I put it at one thousand and fifty rushing yards.
Tyrone Tracy over under.

Speaker 5 (12:22):
I can go first year.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
If you're thinking about it, yeah, go ahead, go go
first on this one.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
I'm going over here, and I'm going way over. I
think Tyrone Tracy rushes for twelve hundred yards. I think
he's an excellent running back. I think they're gonna bring
Scataboo along slowly because he missed so much time in
the summer with the leg, and I think against two
pretty poor rush defenses early in the year in Washington
and Dallas, I think he's gonna have two really big

(12:48):
game and I think he's gonna start rolling and at
that point they're not gonna want to take him off
the field. This he started the season really hot, running
the ball well against two pretty poor defenses. So I
think Tyrone Tracy is a monster year. I think he
has a chance to make a Pro Bowl, though. I'm
gonna go with Tyrone Tracy well over ten to fifty.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Monster year for me would be like fourteen or fifteen hundred.
That would be a monster year.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
I mean, when's the last I guess. I mean, don't
you think what would the I don't look at the
NFL rushing leader.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Hold on, well, because if you're gonna play seventeen games, right,
you don't have to rush for one hundred yards a
game to get to fourteen or fifteen hundred. So to
be a monster year, I think fourteen hundred is probably
a monster year.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
No, let me, let me look at yards here. If
he rushed for twelve hundred years, twelve hundred years, twelve
hundred yards three four, five, six seven, that'll make up
eighth in the league in rushing. If I told you
that Tyrone Tracy had the eighth most rushing yards this year, Pearson,
what did you consider that a monster year to have
the eighth most rushing yards? Yeah, say, okay, I think

(13:54):
that's fair. Top ten in rushing, Yeah, really good. Well,
it is really good, really good last year saying it's
not the only players that would have finished ahead of
him last year, Paul Saquon, Derrick, Henry Bjon Robinson, Jonathan Taylor,
Jamier Gibbs, Josh Jacobs, Kien.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Williams, and how many had fourteen hundred?

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Uh five? Gibbs, Taylor, Robinson, Henry Barkley.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
If you want to define top ten or top five
as monster. Maybe that's where the difference is. Maybe Yeah, Okay,
I'm gonna say over, but for a different reason.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
Okay, I have a different reason.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
My reason is this, I do think the Giants are
going to have plenty more snaps on offense. They'll have
the ball a lot more on offense and possess it.
I don't think we're gonna see as many three and outs.
I don't think we're gonna see the Giants constantly from
behind having to throw the ball thirty something times a game. Either,

(14:51):
Giants are gonna be involved, more competitive, more balanced, and
they're gonna have longer drives. So therefore, yeah, I think
Tracy will get over one thousand.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
Okay, let's go to my league neighbors here, Paul, thirteen
hundred and fifty receiving yards. If you want to take
a look at it, I will try to bring up
what that would have been for receiving last year. Last
year of my league neighbors, for the record, finished with
twelve hundred receiving yards. That was one, two, three four.

(15:20):
Let's see where that would have ranked him in the
NFL was on the receptions. He one hundred and nine
receptions last year, which by the way would have ranked
which did rank fifth in the league. Yeah, and I'm
trying to sort by yards here, but NFL dot Com
is not cooperating with my sorting attempts. There we go,
and in receiving yards he ranked let's see one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven with twelve hundred and four. If he gets to

(15:43):
thirteen fifty, that would have ranked him the third in
the league last year, behind only Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Okay, because they're going to be more balanced, and even
though they'll feed him the most of any of the receivers, uh,
you still have to figure in the other guys in
this passing game, Tyrone, THEO Johnson, Tyrone. I was gonna say,
Tyrone Tracy.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
I think he's gonna catch Tracy, He's gonna catch passes too.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
But I think Theo Johnson. I think you mentioned the
other day you thought that Johnson might be second on
the Giants and receiving this year. And I don't think
that's out of the question.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
I really don't.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
So between Theo and Tyrone Tracy, and then of course
the other receivers, I don't think that that neighbors will
better his marks he might catch ninety five passes for
twelve hundred yards, but he'll fall maybe a little bit
short of both of last year's numbers, I think. But
the Giants will be a much better, much more effective

(16:39):
offense because they will find other ways to get some
of those other guys some big time plays. So even
though he will still be the key to this offense
and the guy they feed the most, I'm gonna say.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
Under, I'm going over And I've said this before. If
that's I knew you would, because they are gonna feed
him incessant.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
I understand that.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
And if he's healthy enough, and again I think he
make one of these guys this year that every week
it's questionable with something, but he ends up playing. But
I think they're gonna feed him all day and then
twice on Sunday, so all week. So I just think
he's gonna get catches, and don't I don't think the
other receivers are gonna I think they'll be fine, but

(17:21):
I think it's gonna be kind of split pretty low
evenly among the other guys. Again, I just think neighbors
is Dable's gonna make sure that he's getting the ball
in his hands. And sol Is Russell Wilson. So I'm
going to go over on the receiving guar.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
I would only ask you this from a flip side perspective.
If Neighbors is still the guy and they're gonna do
everything they can to try to take him away because
they nobody believes that maybe the Giants wide receiving corps
is not dangerous, well, then it does seem, as we
just said a minute ago, that Deo Johnson and Tyrone
Tracy are gonna be big parts of this passing game.

(17:55):
And if the Giants are more balanced, okay, if they
are more bad, then that means the back seven, whatever
concentration they have, they're gonna shift it to Neighbors, and
they're gonna say, Okay, one guy's gonna have to come down.
And then let's say the safety strong safety has gotta
come down in the box or whatever it is that
they're gonna do. They're gonna have to start respecting to

(18:18):
run more, and then that means there's gonna be less
material in the back end to deal with the Giants
pass game. Well, they're gonna have to concentrate as much
as they can on Neighbors.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
I think Johnson and Tracy are gonna.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Have really big numbers in the pass game compared to
what they did last year.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
All right, well, we're gonna get to that in a second. Well,
I did two numbers for neighbors, because it's the Giant's
best offensive player. That's okay, ten and a half touchdowns
over or under ten and a half.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
I'm gonna say he catches like ninety five balls, and
for ninety five balls to catch over ten touchdowns is
a lot.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
I'll go under go under on touchdowns too, because I
think the Giants are gonna try to run in a
lot inside the tent.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
You know how I feel about about the run game
and scataboo.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
All right, so we agree with that. We'll both go
un there on the touchdown. All right, let's pick it
up here, theo Johnson. I just increased the number on
this because you're raving in rantings. I'll make it tough
on you. Sixty point five receptions, sixty and a half.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
I'm on record saying he should catch fifty five and
average about thirteen yards of catch.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
That's what I want out of him. I'm expected a lot,
well about a lot. My original over run there was
at forty five and a half.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
So yeah, but if you're going up to sixty, I
gotta go wonder for that. I think he's going to
be in the fifties. I think he will admit to
high fifty.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
I will go under on that as well. And just
remember Paul thirteen and a half would put him like
really no, no, really high yards per catch.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
I know that, okay, But I'm that I'm that confident
in his in his skill set and the fact that
I think teams are going to have a really tough
time trying to trying to get get a hold of
him because of what they're gonna have to deal with
the running game and with neighbors.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
All Right, this is an interesting winning go Darius Slayton, Paul,
it's seven hundred and fifty receiving yards. I'll just list
his receivers for his career. Oh boy, seven seven fifty one,
three thirty nine. He was hurt that year, seven twenty four,
seven seventy last year five seventy three. Over under seven
hundred and fifty for Darius Slaton.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
The second you said that that number, because I know
Slayton so well, I'm like, you just just the most
common number.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
You could possibly pick for him, that was the easiest one. Yes,
that's very cruel of you. That's what I do. I know, Uh,
I'm gonna go.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
A ted over seven hundred.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
I'll say under, all right, I'm gonna go over here,
just because Russell Wilson loves to throw the deep ball,
and that's what Darius Slayton I think excels at. I
think this is gonna be very close though.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
How many balls is he gonna catch? Though, John, because
he's average fifteen a.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
Catch, I think he'll be his career. I think he'll
be in the in the fifties.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
And I and I think fifties probably right around his
number by the time they spread it around.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
Right around seven, won't it exactly? So I'm gonna I'm
gonna say like seven to twenty, but i'll go under.
I'm gonna say like seven seventy five. I think he's
gonna be close, all right. Wandell Robinson Paul, I thought
about doing receptions here because he is such a high
volume guy. But I do something more interesting is uh.
We had Paul Schwartz. He was one of the guys
on a writer's round table. We said he was talking

(21:31):
to Wandell the other day and he was asking Wandell
about his yards per catch and Waldez said, should be ten. Easy. Well,
he hasn't gotten to ten yet his career. His heis
one was nine point eight. I so ten yards per
reception for Wandell Robinson over or under. I'm going to
go over this time. I think he does do it.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
And my biggest reason is because when he catches all
those little short slants and those short quickies, the defensive
alignment for the other team because they don't respect the
Giants run enough. There's been a lot of guys packed
up closer to the line of scrimm.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Or frankly respect the Giants deep ball in the passing game.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
And that too, so he doesn't have a lot of room.
He'll have more room this year to operate, so he's
gonna get He's gonna get more yardage.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
I think is over. I think his volume is going
to be significantly down. I totally agree with you, because
that's not the type of passes that Russell Wilson tends
to throw. I agree, but I think Wilson will do
a good job hitting him in stride. Where how many times,
Paul do we see him catch a short pass last
year because the pass was slightly off yet to fall down,

(22:42):
I'm gonna I'm gonna lose his feet.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
I'm gonna make a bold prediction. Robinson's gonna average over
eleven yards to kick.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Whoa, I like that. Okay, you can make a note
there for that, Pierce, and I'm gonna go over as well.
And Paul has over eleven and you put over put
over twelve hundred for me for for Tracy rushing yards too.
We can we can make that note as a bull predict.
All right. Now we're going to some team predictions. Paul.
We got through these pretty quick. I'm happy we have
a few offense loads will be no, no, no, no, that was
we were good. We spent like ten minutes on Parsons,

(23:09):
so I trying to tighten it up. Team sacks allowed, yeah,
team sacks allowed.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Oh boy, there's a big variable in this one, and
that's Russell's what likes to hold the ball.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
I have it at forty four and a half.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
I'm gonna go under. I'll make that a quick call
for you. I'm gonna go under.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Why.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
I think because of the balance and because of the
fact that the Giants will be much more competitive in games,
and they're not gonna have to constantly throw for three
quarters because they're behind in the first quarter so much
all the time, and then people can tee off. Even
with Russell having those sticky hands to kind of hold
the ball too long. I bet you the number is

(23:54):
going to be somewhere around thirty eight.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
All right, I'm going back to two thousand and nine.
I'll go back to twenty and eighteen starting from there
to hear here Russell Wilson's sack numbers fifty one, forty eight.
I know forty seven. Only thirty three is last year
in Seattle. I was only in fourteen games, fifty five
in Denver, forty five in Denver, and then thirty three
last year in about eleven games, so that if he

(24:16):
plays all seventeen games last year's probably around forty five again,
to be quick frank with you.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, So.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
I am also torn on this because I do think
the Giants offensive line a veteran group. Second year together,
we'll see about Andrew Thomas's health.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
Can we put an asterisk on this?

Speaker 5 (24:34):
No?

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Absolutely not, No, we cannot put an asterisk on this.
It just is kind of in his nature. I know,
if they can go under on this and they get
somehow get under forty sacks a lot, I think that's
a great sign for this Giants offense. I agree, a
great sign for this Giants offense. You know what, I'm
gonna go under as well. I will say this, and

(24:59):
I'm not sure if this matters because he's such a
veteran quarterback. In practice, Russell Wilson has not held the
ball a long time. He's gotten the ball out quick,
and I would bet that's been a focus for Brian Dable.
If your first read's not there deep, just check it down.
And I think that's gonna be a focus, and I
think Dable's gonna get rusted buy into it a little bit.

(25:21):
So I'm gonna go under here. It's not gonna be
a strength, but I'm gonna go under all right. Now,
here's where rubber meets the road. Paul points per game.
Ooh boy, last couple of years they are around fifteen
or sixteen and thirtieth and thirty first in the league.
To get to the middle of the league, Paul almost

(25:41):
exactly around sixteen or seventeen, Yeah, you have to get
to around three touchdown a little more than that. Yeah,
I know. So I'm putting the over under at twenty
one point nine. Will the Giants get to twenty two
points per game this year, which will again put them
right near the middle of the league.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
That's what they did in twenty two when they went
to the PLA or right around that number. That's what
that's the number you have to do. If you're gonna
be functional, you've got to get to that number.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
Wow, that's a big, big jump. That's a huge jump.
All right, I'll let you think. Since it's such a
big jump, I'm gonna go under, but barely. I think
they'll probably be around twenty one, whether it's twenty point
eight or twenty one points, twenty one point nine. They
have to get to twenty two in order for it
to be over, so I think they'll be just below that,
but it'll be significantly better and it'll be enough to

(26:30):
win more football game. So I'm gonna go slightly under.
I'm gonna be around twenty one point two, twenty one
point three.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
I will I will join you there because I think
even if the Giants are competitive and have a good record,
a lot of it's gonna be because they'll be in
tuggle war kind of games. They're not gonna get involved
into shootouts. John, I agree that the Giants are gonna
upset some of these better teams that are coming in
as favorites. Those games are gonna be like twenty three

(26:57):
to seventeen, twenty three to twenty Yes, so I will
agree with you. I could see them getting up to
about twenty one. I'll go under also appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
Yeah, I think it's gonna be close, though, and I
think that's the number you're gonna have to be a
be around if you want to be competitive, and I
think the Giants will be near there. And look the
bottom line, I just wrote this for cover three. The
Giants want to be successful this year, You're gonna have
to win a lot of close games. Have a big
part of that is getting to that type of point.
All right, let's do defense. This is much shorter because

(27:29):
I hate tackle numbers. I don't like doing tackles wordlessly.
I just have a bunch of sacks here and we'll go. Well.
Dexter Lawrence finished with nine last year, and just what
eleven games played, I think it was over under nine
and a half. Will he get the double digits over under.
You know, the only variable for me here has nothing
to do with him, has to do with the other

(27:49):
guy steal the sacks from him. He'll usually get there
first because he's closest to the quarterback at the step.
Have you seen how duke carters get off that pretty good? That?
That's the question.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
How many sacks gets stolen from Dexter because his teammates
are just so ferocious that they wind up closing the
pocket and getting the guy first, or for that matter,
nine and a half you say.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
Nine and a half, Yes, I got the double digits.
He has never I don't think he's gotten the double JITs.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
No, he's never done No, he's never done it. Oh,
I'll give I'll give hi, miss ten go ahead.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
Why not my concern here?

Speaker 5 (28:29):
Can you think he would have gotten it last year?

Speaker 2 (28:31):
If he was, here's no question, But they didn't have
guys stealing sacks from him.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Last year like this year. To start slowly this year
because of the slow offseason. I know that's the only
thing that has me nervous here. If you tell me
I'm getting one hundred percent of Dexter lawrence for his
regular snaps and he's his dominant self in week one.
I'm going over here, and I'm not even blinking. I'm
not blanking. It's an easy one. It's an easy one.
Or is last year an outlier where just nose tackles

(28:58):
don't get that many sacks very often?

Speaker 2 (29:01):
See, I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a little something
you want to chew on. If the Giants are not
constantly playing from behind, beginning in the second quarter all
the time.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
No, he could add fifteen last year. There'll be more
pass attempts one hundred percent. Agree with you, all right,
I'm going over so over too. I'll go over to
all faith that him not doing a lot this offseason
has more to do with them just being careful with
the injury.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
That's kind of how I'm leaning too, so, and with
more pass attempts, he'll have more chances.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
I agree. Brian Burns nine and a half over or under.
A lot of these numbers are gonna be very similar. Yeah,
I know, he's been only in double digits once in
his career.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, he had eleven one time, right, twelve it was
at twelve, okay, twelve, and Fiberdeau had eleven and a
half one time. Man, that's hard.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
He had eight and a half last year. He had
twelve and a half in twenty twenty two. Okay, to
other seasons he's had nine. Yeah, and your number is
what nine and a half? He has to get the double.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Digits, I say, does it?

Speaker 3 (30:05):
Let's go over I'm going over to I think you're
looking at the twelve sack year for him, I really do.
I think he's gonna have a nice, nice year. I've
liked what I've seen from him. I think he's gonna
have a big year. I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
He and voted captain as we talked to him yesterday.
Not that he needed any more focus, but this guy's primed.
He he looks like he wants to have a career season.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
All right, here we go, Keeveon Thibodau, Paul, I just
made a little adjustment here. Okay, I'm gonna go eight
sacks flat. So he has to get above eight to
go over here. Seven and a half would be under
eight would be obviously on the nose. Over under eight sacks,
keve On Tibodaux, I'm gonna go under here. I just

(30:46):
think his pass rush stats might get limited a little
bit just because of the adual Carter presence. Yeah, and
I think he's a really good pocket pusher. He's gonna
help the team pass rush, so the overall sack numbers
might not be indicative of how he helps the defense
in general. So I'm gonna go just on there. I
think he gets seven or seven and a half. I

(31:07):
believe that he's going to have a career year. I'll say,
go over.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Okay, you gotta go over. Then here here's the funny part.
I put your money where your math as you cant no.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
I think he's going to have a career year, and
he probably will have a career high in tackles, but
he will not increase his sack number. Oooh okay, okay.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
And and that's I You know, you heard him talk
about the wrestling coach he went to. I talked to
him about it the other day after he got done
with the media. He he truly believes that the wrestling
moves that he has learned are going to be a
significant help to him in terms of taking on not
only the bigger tackles and the power rushers, but also

(31:49):
some double teams and chips and stuff.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
He believes this is a big deal for him, and
holding the point of.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
Attack at the edge, which he's already good at.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
I think he's going to have his best.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Year, but it won't be shown in the stats. He'll
show up in the tackles, not in the sacks. I
will go under on Thibodeau, Thibideaux sacks. But I think
he's gonna play great, and a lot of people out
there won't recognize it because they won't see it in
the sack.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
So as you dip into the moves, what do you
think is the pile driver that will help him? The
suplex body slam? Maybe I was thinking the the the
atomic lake drop, the atomic late drop.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Okay, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
The sleeper hole, maybe figure four leg lock. Notice all
these wrestling as I mentioned her from like nineteen ninety two.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
But I'm impressed that you know them.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
I'm very good. When I was ten, I did watch
them wrestling, okay, and then good for you? Yes, very cool.
Yeah those are all from the you know, early nineties era.
All right, Paul, this is not ah. We got one
more abdul Carter? Yeah, not and a half sacks? Does
he get the double digits? I'm gonna go under here.
Rookies just don't tend to get the double digits. For

(32:57):
whatever reason. It's very difficult for them. It doesn't happen
all that often. So I'm gonna go just under here.
For Abdul Potter, I was gonna say, I'll give him
eight in a half.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
I think he may have more sacks than Thibideaux, but
Kavon is going to have a much better year.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
I'll be honest with you. I really want to go
over here because I think he is the talent to
go over be great. I'm just going on history where
rookies don't tend to get the double digits.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
No, I mean, look, we know, we know LT didn't
get the double digits as a rookie, not in half.
I mean, are we going to presume that Abdul Carter
is gonna have more than LT? Now, of course he's
got seventeen games, correct, so you know in.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
Theory right the math, oh he could do it. Pierson,
go over. I'm changing my mind. I'm the quart as
a monster, the freak chip. Okay me, if you've watched
him in one on.

Speaker 5 (33:45):
One, quickly just like, oh what am I doing?

Speaker 3 (33:49):
I'm overthinking this, dude. I know what I saw in
training camp. I know what I saw. I know what
I saw.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
Well, I'll help you out with that too.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
I'll give you a little more confidence in your changing
of the pick because he's so. Ja Lowry had a yeah, right,
I do cardism.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
So I mean, I think we've seen the difference in
those physical tools, correct.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
All right, Paul, this is not a over under or
factor fiction. It's just a simple question for you. Who
will lead the giants and sacks this year? Ryan Burns?
I agree, but Burns in for both of us. Pearson
team sacks over under forty nine and a half. They're
gonna hit fifty. I think they will hit fifty as well.
They were at forty five last year with all that

(34:30):
working against them. I agree that will should put them
in the top three or four in the NFL. By
the way, if they get the fifty.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Again, more competitive games means the other teams will throw
the ball more than they have in the past.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
I agree, Boy, we're having way too many overseer Pearson.
I should have been more aggressive on these over on theres.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
The team is better, John understanding all said, that should
be really good.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Setting ourselves up for South. Paul and I don't like
doing that. Bobby Ocaraka is the one tackle number I used.
I think it's significant for him, one hundred and twenty
five tackles. He broke that for three straight years, yeah,
until last season when obviously he got hurt and not
play particularly well or as well as he would have liked.
And he was well under that. Will he get to
one twenty five. I'm gonna go under, just because I

(35:17):
haven't seen it in this defense yet, and I don't
know if he's gonna be, you know, the same way
wink Adam just kind of flying around as being protected.
I think Mike mcfatten will eat up some of those
tackles because he's been improved as a player. I'm not
gonna just don't. I think it'll be around one seventeen
or one twenty.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Well, I told you what I think about Kavon, and
I also think Burgen's gonna have a career year. I
think Dexter's gonna play the whole season. That'll add to
his tackle total. Abdul Carter's gonna get a bunch of
tackles too, So it's gotta be under.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Paul Hooley the Giants in interceptions this year. It's quite
the sound. I think we should save that as a
as a drop that.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
That may be the hardest question to ask me all day.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
Seriously, Okay, I got two guys, and I'm kind of
well debating between that.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
That's fine, but you got to pick one.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
I understand that, all right, So I'm gonna go, on,
My God, I'm gonna go Javon Holland here. I think
he's gonna play a lot of will deep safety. I
think he's got silent desidline speed. I think he's got
a great instincts. I think he'll read the quarterback. I'm
gonna go with Javon Holland, and I know that the
NFL numbers do not indicate that, no, but I remember

(36:30):
the way he played in college, and I think he
will be a ballhawk this year. I'm going Javon Holland. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Part of me badly wants to take Nuban because he's
hurt enough.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
That was my other guy. He's heard enough about how
he didn't get and he knows. And by the way,
he's not happy about it either. He wants to be
on the ball more. He's fed up with hearing that. Well,
I think he just sat up because he didn't get
his hand on the Ballmoll last year too well. He
hold himself to a high standard, no doubt, and he
did it at the University of Minnesota on a regular basis,
So I.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Think he really was. He's determined to get that ball.
But at the same time, the way the Giants are
going to play this defensively, I think Colin will have
more chances than he will.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
How about a debo. He has more interceptions than either
one of those safeties.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
I know, and I and I I just talked to
him yesterday. I love the way watching that guy play.
He is really something special. But if I'm the other team,
I don't want to be thrown at him very much.
I'll go Nuban put Nuben down for me.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
That was that. That was my choice. B So those
are the two guys I was going.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
I mean, Chris, let's face it, and I.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
Thought about a debo, but I don't. I always like
picking safeties for these answers, not corners.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
So yeah, But besides, with the Deebos track record compared
to the track record of Banks and Flatt, who are
you going to throw the ball at?

Speaker 3 (37:46):
In honor of Matt Sytak, I will put Dane Belton
in there as the residence Dane Belton fan club guy.
All Right, team interceptions, Paul, The Giants had five last year.
Only one team had fewer. That was the Cleveland Rover.
That is not the number, Ah, it's not the number.

Speaker 6 (38:04):
No.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
I tried to jump the gun to force you, much
like before I gave you a number here that would
put the Giants right smack in the middle of the league. Okay,
over under interceptions twelve and a half over again.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
Teams will throw the ball more, and I believe the
Giants pass rush is going to cause a lot of chaos,
and I do believe this secondary is more talented than.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
It was before. I'm gonna go under. It's a big jump,
it is. I think the Giants have the ability and
talent to do it, but I'm in the believe it
when I see it mode. With that, they just have
not produced that many interceptions over the past few years.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
So well, if you have confidence in Holland being able
to grab the ball, we know Newban's got good hands
from his college days, and we know that a Debo
is very good at getting to the ball. So right there,
those are three guys who you probably believe are going
to get some picks.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
I understand, So I'm going I'm gonna go over. That's fine,
and I would not be surprised if this is over.
I just I'm almost freaked out. I'm picking over too much.
So this is more of me trying to cover myself
and kick under turnover ratio. Last year the Giants were
minus eight. With this schedule, you cannot afford to be
on the minus side of the turnover ratio. They cannot,
So I'm gonna put them right in. Even Paul Giants

(39:20):
turnover ratio even over would be in the plus column,
and there would be in the minus column.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Okay, Russell Wilson is so careful with the ball Tyrone.
Tracy did have some ball security issues last year, Yes
he did, although they have worked on that with him.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
Though he did get a ball knocked out of his
hands in Week one, though his knee was down.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Oh yeah, of the preseason Week one of the Yeah,
I'm I'm gonna say over, they'll be in the plus side.
It may only be plus four or five, but I'll
say plush.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
Plus four or five will be big. I'm gonna go.
I'll go under here, I think they're gonna be negative.
When they I think they'll be right around even and
we'll see how that breaks out.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Okay, fair enough, all right?

Speaker 3 (40:05):
Final one rush defense? Again, I found the number that
will put the Giants right around the middle of the league. Okay,
yards allowed per game one hundred and nineteen. Will they
stay under one twenty and rushing yards allowed per game
over or under? I believe fifth wars in the league
last year, if I remember right when I when I

(40:25):
looked at the rankings earlier.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Today, again, teams, I think the competitive nature of the
game flow is going to force teams to be throwing
the ball a lot more than they have in years past,
where they've been just able to run the ball in
the second half.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
So, by the way, under in the Giants and under
in this case would be a good thing. Under one
nineteen would be a good thing.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Yes, And so I'm gonna stick with the fact that
I believe everything I've said in general about this club,
which means they'll probably hold teams to about one hundred
and fifteen yards.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
I agree with you. I'm gonna go under. I think
they'll be right around that number, and I think they're
going to miss fewer tackles. I think they'll be more disciplined,
and I just think the volume of rushes will be
down from what we've seen in years past.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
So well, and by the way, should should we throw
in the fact that both of us are very high
on the giants potential to grab sacks?

Speaker 7 (41:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (41:18):
Well, what do you think those sacks do? Sacks thru
the rushing numbers?

Speaker 3 (41:22):
Yeah, they're putting teams in non rushing situations.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
So I'm going under.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
Okay, two to one nine three, nine four or five
one three those are over unders for twenty twenty five.
And of course, folks will remind you if you guys
want to call in with your bold predictions over the
next few days, we will take them. We have no
show on Monday, no shows on the weekend, but Bob
Pop and I will be doing the show next Tuesday.
You get a Man and O'Hara on Wednesday, then a
three way show met Paul and can see us on Friday,

(41:48):
and then the Tino and Sidetak will be our normal
Friday after noon and crewe throughout the season. Thursday, you
forgot to mention Thursday, I said, Thursday be me you
and you can see us.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
No way, said Friday, and then you said Friday again.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Oh sorry, Thursday meet Paul and can see us three
way show and then Friday will be Paul n Sietach
our game preview. Giants Foundation five K rac and Run
Kids Run presented by Quest Sunday, October twenty six, non
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You got a free T shirt after the race. You
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(42:20):
five oh one C three nonprofit corporation. Our callers have
been very patient. We appreciate that.

Speaker 5 (42:26):
NFL News.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
What do we got, Pierson?

Speaker 5 (42:28):
The Patriots release former Giant Jabrill Peppers really was projected
to be a starter. I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
Is there a reason why they did it around?

Speaker 5 (42:36):
No reason?

Speaker 3 (42:37):
Well, he had some off the field stuff too going on.
So that's interesting, by the way, good player too, Yeah
for sure, that's surprising. Wow.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Okay, oh he'll get another chance with somebody.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
Thank you for that, Pearson. That's that's a good nugget.
All right, Let's go to David and Charleston the Nick
and White planes. You'll be up after that. David, what's happening?
We're good man, thanks for calling. What do you got.

Speaker 6 (43:00):
So before I got, I got a bolt prediction before
I go there, If you want to say, I sup
sill you guys for everything you do. I kind of
feel like call in the off season when you guys
don't have a show. You know, I just getting a
little like big.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
You know, there's two weeks in early July or rough
for me too, just so you know, I know that bad.

Speaker 6 (43:27):
So let me get my bold prediction. So I do
have the Giants winning ten games this season. I know
that's like, oh the session, you know, you know the
hype is up to the Giants. But I believe in
us this year, so timing, and I think the offensive

(43:48):
line will sort of top fifteen at least. I'm thinking
maybe top ten fifteen in that area. And then I
have my last one. I have Neighbors will be the
number one, the number two in the NFL this season.

(44:09):
You know you did. We'll see but exactly where we
wanted to, all.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
Right, David, good stuff, my friend. Look, I think that's
I think I think that's very possible. I do worry
about this. Justin Jefferson hamstring and knocked him out last year.
It's been dogging him in the summer hamstrings for wide receivers.
He's very, very careful with that stuff. Man, Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
I mean, you know, I haven't. I haven't been reading
closely exactly what they've been doing in terms of his
load management and so forth.

Speaker 3 (44:41):
But you know, I don't know what Jefferson's done much.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
I don't think he has either, But I don't. I
don't is he is even running zigzags or anything right now,
I don't.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
I don't know the end. I don't know, So I don't.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
I don't even kind of want to comment, to be
honest with you.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
Yeah, but look, I think Neighbors has the potential to
be in that top three ish area. I do. I
know you think because of the volume. Probably not, But
I don't know. I just think he's gonna get fed
an awful lot.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
If he catches. If he catches ninety five passes for
twelve hundred yards, that's a spectacular season.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
I don't think. I don't think I consider that a
monster year.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
I didn't say monster, I suspected.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
I think that I think those are sitatyms, aren't they.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Let's put it this way, both of those numbers would
be a tad a ted under where he was last year.
And I don't think that's too crazy considering the way
they can spread the ball around.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
I would get on to Mike Pierson, I would be
shocked if neighbors did not catch a hundred balls this year. Okay,
what say you?

Speaker 5 (45:39):
I don't know if I'd be shocked, but I don't
think it's gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
I think you You think he's going over again?

Speaker 2 (45:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (45:45):
I think so.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
Well, you know what if he gets ninety five, how
many of those are going to be called back for
offensive holding or some CREDI powerful?

Speaker 3 (45:52):
Might I understand that? No?

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Oh wait, I understand, And I don't think. I don't
think what you're saying is crazy. I'm not.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
I'm not like fighting you on this. I I just
happened to think he's going to be a little under
because of the the DVA and not the DEVA should
the distribution of the ball. No, that's all that makes sense.
All right, Let's go to Nick and White Planes. He's
up next. Hey Nick, Hey, guys.

Speaker 8 (46:18):
How you doing. We're good for taking my call.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
Love the show, thanks for calling.

Speaker 8 (46:22):
Well, So I fobed this out actually a couple of
days ago, and the line is so great with your
over under conversation. But so, we had forty five sacks
last year in twenty twenty four, and I went back
and I looked at all the game logs because I
wanted to know exactly what you were talking about, Paul.
How many of those sacks came when we were leading
or tied versus trailing. And I know that thirty one

(46:44):
of our forty five sacks last year came when we
either had the lead or were tied.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
Wow.

Speaker 9 (46:49):
So I'm thinkodsearch with improved quarterback play, hopefully we're in
some better positions in the you know, the score lives
and then obviously Carter and goals in coming after the team.

Speaker 8 (47:02):
I mean, I think that if we can rush the
pass like we did last year when we're leading, we're tied,
you know, that's sixty eight percent of our sacks came
in that situation. So what are your guys' thoughts on that?

Speaker 3 (47:12):
No, you make a great point and how this defense
performance in terms of a pass rush is gonna have
a lot to do with how the offense scores points
and gives this team leads. You went and counter the
Giants up last year. I think that's a great job
out of you. That's great and just seeing I kind
of figured all this out watching other teams play the Giants,
where a lot of times to a half or two

(47:34):
and a half quarters the team had two three sacks,
But then when the Giants were down fourteen or seventeen
in the third quarter and fourth quarter, teams would like
rack up three or four sacks when the game was
already basically over because they know the Giants are gonna
pass them and they could just eat. So it really
does make a difference. If the other team can control

(47:57):
what they're doing offensively with runs and play action and
max protection, because they don't feel the pressure of having
to move the ball and score points, it becomes very
difficult to get sacks. And it's mentally for the quarterbacks too. Right,
if the quarterback feels like, all right, I can check
this down if I see a rusher coming because I
have a lead, and I'll take my four or five yards,

(48:17):
that's great. But if the quarterback sees himself down seven
or even down three late in the game, and they
feel the pressure of having to make a play. That's
when they hold the ball second longer. That's when you
can get your sacks. So, Nick, I think you are
one thousand percent correct.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
I think most people ignored the term game flow until
recent years, when you know, a lot of analytics people
started to talk about different things.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
And we've been talking about that a ton. But yeah,
but I think.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
For the most part, for years and years and years,
people didn't talk about game flow very much, and then
in recent years it has become a popular topic of conversation,
and I think in a lot of ways it's still
underrated in terms of how games are going to play out.
That's why it's so important not to have a terrible

(49:08):
first quarter. And this team, in particular, this offense has
been horrific in the first quarter for how many years
you have?

Speaker 3 (49:15):
Even the Giants have scored fewer points in the first
quarter in the first half than any other team in
the league last two or three years. It cherishes everything.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
So game flow has to change, and what's the easiest
way to do it? Great defense and special teams helped
hilt the field.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
No, you change it by scoring points? Well, yeah, you
changeing you change it by scoring some freaking points. I get.
How about scoring on your first drive? Well, yes, absolutely,
how about that. I'd like to see them only have
to go sixty yards though, instead of eighty. Fine, Well,
I mean it's hard to go eighty yards. Now you
can touch your touchback. It looks back to the thirty five, Nick,
you got anything else for us?

Speaker 8 (49:54):
I was just gonna say all that being said, if
we didn't get our guys to stay healthy, which I
know last year Ted's decks all of them had injuries
to different degrees, which Carter, I think that forty nine
and a half what you had, we gotta smash that.
I'm thinking we're closer to sixty.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
Oh well, Nick, appreciate the call.

Speaker 5 (50:12):
Man.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
If you get the sixty year leading the league, Yeah, yeah,
that's a big number. That's a big number. I'd be
happy with fifty three. Let's go to David in North Carolina.
EA's I'm next.

Speaker 10 (50:23):
Hey David, Hey, guys, I know preseason the football is
kind of frowned upon now, but I used to really
enjoy watching it and kind of see him. I feel
like back in you know, years past, and this is
going back a while. But you know, see fifteen years

(50:44):
ago you could maybe catch a glimpse of somebody that
stood out. And I remember in two thousand when Ron
Dayne was drafted, like, to me, Teky Barber just looked
like a different animal that preseason, and I'll never that
year thinking, you know, this guy just looks different. And

(51:05):
and he of course he you know, had a great
year that year, and I was kind of his coming
out party that that season. But my long story short is,
I know there's no guarantees with this, but it was
just refreshing to watch this preseason. And I mean, gosh,
how many years, even going back to the later years

(51:26):
of ELI, where you had watched a preseason game and
it's just like, why is it so hard on off
to look confident like and and this is the first
preseason in a long time that I felt like I
was able to watch the Giants then it just be like, Okay,
there's some layups here, There's there's some easy completions, like
it doesn't look like pulling teeth to get a first.

Speaker 4 (51:49):
Down even with the first stream. So you know, I'm
not expecting them to come out more than thirty points
a game, but gosh, it.

Speaker 10 (51:56):
Was nice to see the offense.

Speaker 4 (52:00):
It's looked like a confident offense against base it looks
and I know the defense is running basic stuff, but
in the offense, you know, everybody makes that argument, well
then why isn't it easier than it has been in
years past? So just it was I enjoyed seeing that,
and also coming off last year where me I personally
was a little bit down on day of all and

(52:21):
his staff and being an offensive guy and offense just
struggling so much the last few years. And I know
there's a thousand excuses for that, you know, O line
and YadA, YadA, YadA, but still it's just been so
hard to watch this offense the last few years in
a day and time when you feel like it shouldn't
be that hard to score points with everything the NFL

(52:44):
does to try to make it easier for the offense.
So I'm hoping this preseason it preludes to some good
things and you know, win winter loss, you will see
how that pans out. But I'm hoping for some more
entertaining football on that side of the ball.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
Hey, look they need it. Appreciate the call man. The
Giants need to score more points. They need to make
more explosive plays, and you hope that that again, preseason
can off preseasons a liar man. Preseasons a liar like
it can fool you, It can show you things that
aren't real. But maybe this time it's not. And well,

(53:20):
have to wait and see. I am not basing my
predictions on what the Giants will look like and do
this year based on what I saw in the preseason.
I'm going based on the town or the roster and
what I know how the NFL works. But if that
helps you be confident and all the more power to you,
good for you.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
The word that I've been using about this preseason, you
use the word refreshing. I just said it's fun. Yeah,
it was fun to watch these three games.

Speaker 10 (53:45):
All right.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
We got a couple of roster moves to the Giants. Yes,
it just came down. The Giants re signed Gunner Olszewsky.
They slide over Rico Peyton to the injured list. That
was one of the guys they claimed when they released
Gunner Alswsky yesterday. They add Zyre Barnes, a linebacker, and
McLendon Curtis, an offensive lineman, to the practice squad, and
then they let trace Ford go from the practice squad,

(54:09):
which is surprise to me. I thought he had a
really good summer. I imagine he's a guy that I
wouldn't be surprised of seeing back on the practice squad
at some point, because again, I think he had a
really good summer. But those are the roster moves the
Giants just made.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
Yeah, I think you and I were kind of looking
at Ford and Tom on Fox kind of fighting in
a similar slot, and they wound up keeping both of
them initially.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Yeah, on the practice squad. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
Yeah, And now Ford finds himself on the outside looking
in that could because I think it was really close
between those two, whether or not they felt they had
to make a decision between them. I don't know prior
how things may have changed, But one thing we know
about Fox, he's been here for a couple of years,
and so he's much more familiar with what's going on.

Speaker 3 (54:52):
Yeah, absolutely, I'm with you. All right, let's take one
more call before we say goodbye. Here as we get
close to one point thirty, as we go back the
phone line to say how to Robin Connecticut? Rob, what's
going on? Then?

Speaker 11 (55:03):
Oh my god, how you guys doing it? Actually this
is the second time I've called this week. Hey, so
Paul John, real quick, you're talking about, like, you know,
statistically being in the middle of the league. Yeah, you
know on defense and offense. Well, I mean defensively. If
defense truly wins championships and we're like in the tent,

(55:24):
it's almost statistically impossible, based on a standard Bell curve,
for us to have less than nine wins. So we
if we finish somewhere in the middle, we're not gonna
I don't know, these perilous predictions we're gonna have five
wins are bunk. And these people who come up with these,
you know, if they say one thing, but on the

(55:45):
other hand, our victory totals are on the opposite end,
it's moronic. So I just I think we're gonna based
on what I just said, I think we're gonna have
you know, nine wins if we're anywhere near the middle,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (56:00):
Oh, Rob, Look I'll put it Rob. I think, given
given Rob what we've seen, I'm gonna give the better
that that's some people here, given what we've seen from
the Giants since twenty seventeen, spare the twenty twenty two season.
I understand why there are some people that are in
believe it if I see it mode, I get that. Yeah,

(56:20):
well show me, yeah right, exactly, show me right, you
know what I mean?

Speaker 11 (56:26):
Well yeah right, yeah, yeah, absolutely. But sometimes I'm taking
a leap of faith and that's just positive.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
Oh no, that's great.

Speaker 8 (56:32):
I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
You're a fan, you should have faith.

Speaker 10 (56:35):
Rob.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
One of the things that I've said consistently for the
last month or so is that the national people who
continue to kick the giants and the stomach have not
come here to the facility to watch practice and to
watch this team through training camp and to closely watch
the preseason games. Those people who have come from the outside,

(56:56):
the Albert Breers, the Brian Boldingers, those types of guys,
have come in here and said they look much better.
We're impressed. Now, none of those people are going to
put a win total to it, because the schedule's hard, right.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
Look it right. And people also work off the numbers
that get can produce out of Vegas, and they look
at those over on there's two. Luckily, hey, look those
people down there know how to put those numbers in
the right spot.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
There's but there's an outside perception that I think people
would be doing themselves a much better service. And I
know they can't all come, right, they can't all be
here to see, but if they're, if they're here and
they see what's going on, every single one of the
national people who's been here has come away saying the
Giants are a lot better and you, guys, wow, you

(57:39):
know you've done something well.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
But they also say, yes, they're a lot better. But boy,
this is a tough schedule. I'm not sure now reflected
in the wind, total, no doubt. That's why none of
them come away with a number for.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
Wins, none of them.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
But they all say the Giants are a better team.

Speaker 7 (57:53):
Go ahead, Rob, Yeah, hey, look, oh real quick, what
is your first loss? Would it be the San Francisco
game in two thousand and two or would it be
with the Flipper Anderson.

Speaker 11 (58:07):
Game in nineteen eighty nine?

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Oh my goodness, Rob, Why do you want to depress
Paul like this going into labor day weekends?

Speaker 5 (58:15):
Why would you depress?

Speaker 11 (58:17):
Because I depressed myself?

Speaker 7 (58:18):
So hey, Misery loves.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
You just told me howtimistic you are, the hope of
all this hope and you're excited, and then you bring
up those two games.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
They're they're big.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
Let me just say this to you.

Speaker 7 (58:30):
In cranky.

Speaker 5 (58:33):
A week so.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
I've probably had about about ten games that like really
goll me to know when thank you for the call,
and you certainly picked two of them. You know, when
when you're in so much pain that gallons of blood
are gushing all over the kitchen floor.

Speaker 3 (58:48):
Allens, does it blood? Does it really matter? Scott Dark?

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Does it really matter if one loss was a cup
of blood more than the other, Does it really matter?

Speaker 3 (58:57):
At that point, I guess you're If you're nothing gallons
of blood, you're pretty much dead either way.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
There you go, And so you know they've been like unfortunately,
when you know, when you've been around franchise as long
as I have, there's not gonna be one or two
gut wrenching losses. There's gonna be more than that.

Speaker 3 (59:14):
So he might actually be the count. He might be
a vampire. If he's had all that bleeding happening, that
could be bad.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
I can't be a vampire.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
And my tan is too good, you know, just good disguise.

Speaker 5 (59:24):
You met a vampire once though?

Speaker 3 (59:27):
In New Orleans we think get Wesley Snipeseiner to do
like the vampire test dot him to see if he's
actually a vampire or not. Can you name the Wesley
Snipe's character that dealt with vampire's Paul, I do know
there was a movie, I know, but can you name
the character? Can you name the superhero?

Speaker 2 (59:45):
I don't think I can.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Pearson Blade, Hey you go, oh, very good. Yeah, I
have heard of him. I have heard of him. Yeah, yes, excellent,
excellent job. Three Blade movies. All we're pretty good too,
All right, folks, Paul mentioned abb By the way, is
that up yet?

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Pearson?

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
Do we know it is? That is up? On the
Johnsontle podcast right now, we did three great minutes on
Michael Parsons that Pearson had to edit out because well
that happened yesterday. Excellent editing job by Pierson on that,
by a way, So check that out. We do a
lot more than that. We talk about the Giants, the
type of stuff. Paul talked about his takeaways from being
a camp. We preview the season Giants, NFL, all that stuff.

(01:00:23):
Make sure you go check it out on the Johnsontle podcast.
And then, folks, even though we don't have any live
program in the next three days. Again, there's no Big
Blue Kickoff live on Monday. We do have a lot
of tape programming coming out tomorrow. Is her playbook? Correct?
Pearson Cunningham's daughter, Who's cunning Who's an Olympian? Check that
out with Madelin Burke. Sunday my interview with Mark Melusis

(01:00:45):
who will be my co host on Big Blue Kickoff Saturday.
Over the course of the year seven am on Wfan.
You guys check that show out weekly. We're live, we
take calls on the fan. You can stream that live
as well in the Audissey app And then on Monday
we have our writer's round table whichever cour this morning
with Paul Schwartz, Art Stapleton and uh Chris Chris Basic
Nano from Giants inside over.

Speaker 5 (01:01:07):
An hour, so that should feed your b.

Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
Yes, I made sure we gave you extra time forever
to edit. Yes, well, it's not the editing export, Yeah,
it's more the exporting. Paul what heartbroke and he wanted
to come in here on Monday and the worst way
to do a show, but Pearson said no, under no
circumstances of that happening. So Pearson vetoed.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
Him look, I get it right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
You are not You're gonna not be in the building
for two straight days Monday and Tuesday, Paul or how
you can handle that? Well, there there is a practice
on Monday, is there not? That Zoom? I believe it, Zoom.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
I think if coach is going to do an in
person chat or whatever, if he's going to do a
media vail, I'll be here.

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
He's definitely not doing it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
Pers I don't mean to break news here if any
media members are watching, but I believe that will be
a Zoom call on Monday.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Well, then I will not be here until Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
You're like lurk in the back of the room as
Dave's does the zoom and be treepy about it that
this is terrible. This is just terrible. I'm gonna go
through withdrawal.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
Now, Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
In fact, this will be four straight days that you
will yes with the season starting. He might not make
it back on Wednesday, Pearson, I'm going to be in withdrawal.
Someone might have to commit him. You might have he
might like do something during one of his power walks.
This is like like any vacation. This is horrible.

Speaker 5 (01:02:25):
That's great.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
In my opinion, Pierson will enjoy us three days off.
I will try to do the same. It'll be a
fun weekend and then we'll be back energized again. We'll
be back on Tuesday for another big we'll kickoff live.
If you're excited for the season, Folks you look for
a Giant in season ticket membership or even individual tickets,
you go Giants dot com slash tickets. Go check it out.
If you're a season ticket member, you get great member benefits,
you get your free gift at the start of the year,

(01:02:47):
a lot of awesome stuff. Giants dot Com slash tickets
are good. Folks upstairs will take carery and make sure
you get taken care of. Individual tickets are there as well.
Make sure you go check that out. And all of
our content that we just plugged incessantly can be found
the Giants TV on all your smartphones, the apps, smart TVs.
Go check that out. And I should mention Draft Season well.

(01:03:07):
Our first two Draft season episodes are up. It's on
the main podcast feed channel. Also on the Draft Season feed.
We do Bruce Feldman on the Freaks List, and we
have Drew Fabianicic the new executive director of the Panini
Senior Bowl. So make sure you check those two things
out on the feed as well. Enjoy your weekend, everybody,
you get one more breather. Some great college football this weekend.

(01:03:29):
It's a great appetizer. You got some awesome games. You
get LSU, Clemson, Ohio State, Texas. Dan Salomon, I believe
is somewhere already in his cave getting ready for that
game at noon on Saturday. And I believe there's a
good game tonight too, and then Sunday night. I think
it's Notre Dame Miami. Does that sound right? I think
it's Notre Da on Sunday night. There's a Sunday night game.

(01:03:50):
It's Miami against somebody. This is Carson Becks in that game.
I think it's no. But we'll recap all those games
on Draft season next week too, by the way, so
make sure great stuff coming next week. By the way,
we're going to Kevin Burkhardt on a lot of good
stuff coming your way. Getting ready for Giants and Commanders.
That was a lot. I'm sorry for Paul Patino, Appearce
and Butler. I'm John Schmulk. Thanks you for joining us
on Big Blue kick Off. A I presented by Cadillac,

(01:04:11):
the official luxury vehicle The Giants. Coming to you from
The Giants Podcast Studio presented by Hackensack Maritney Health. Keep
getting Better. Paul stopped, pointing, We'll see you on Tuesday
on another Big Blue kickoff, live at twelve thirty. Until then,