Big Blue Kickoff Live 9/12 | Giants vs Cowboys Preview

Paul Dottino and Matt Citak preview the matchup with the Dallas Cowboys, talk about stopping the run on defense, and take calls from fans.

0:00 - Cowboys preview

15:00 - Offensive line

20:00 - Calls

34:20 - Giants defense

49:00 - Pass protection

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 (00:09):
On Giants dot com.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
You what I saw to York Giant Crime and.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
The Giants Mobile at.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Seventeen the Rials one tun down.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
We are world Taffy.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Well, part of the Giants podcast network.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's going on on the Crazy Dogs.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
That's fun.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hell, I will get everybody and Welcome to Friday's edition
of Big Blue Kickoff Live, presented by Cadillac, the official
luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants. I'm Paul Tatino,
He's Matt Sidetech and we'll be here for the next
hour to talk New York Giants football with you, and
of course we will preview their game Sunday at one
o'clock against the Dallas Cowboys. We are coming to you

(00:47):
from the Giants Podcast Studio. It is presented by Hackensack
Meridian Health. Keep getting better. Our number is two oh
one nine three nine four five one three two oh
one nine three nine four five one three. You could
always hit us up on Twitter at hashtag Giants Chat,
although quite frankly, we seem to get a lot of
our comments not only on the phone, but on the

(01:09):
YouTube channel, because there's a live chat to the right
of that YouTube screen, and certainly you could always go
there and Pierson, our producer, will be able to pass
those things along to us if you don't catch the
show live. The entire Giants podcast network is available on
the archive at giants dot com, slash Podcasts, as well
as podcast platforms everywhere. We start today's program with news

(01:34):
that obviously Michael McFadden was placed on injured reserve because
of a foot injury after yesterday's show was already concluded,
so we don't know exactly what his status will be
down the line. I know there was some optimism from
his teammates that he may make it back toward the
end of the season, but we don't have any detailed

(01:55):
or concrete information about that. So in the meantime, they
are one linebacker short. They did pick up is it
Xavier Gibson from the Jets waiver wire. He is a
receiver and a return man. He will be out there today.
Brian Able telling us that that is a player they've

(02:16):
liked a lot. They are impressed with his talent. They
think he's a good player and They're going to see
what he can do during the course of practice and
figure out how they might try to use him. The
only other item is that Andrew Thomas, for the first
time since he began rehab from his list frank in
his foot, he is practicing in team drills on back

(02:38):
to back days for the first time, so they are
continuing to ramp him up, and Brian Dables said they
will talk about it after practice today. I'm going to
assume that since he continues to check these boxes slowly
as he comes back, I'm gonna say I'm rather pessimistic
about his chances against Dallas. Brian Dable would not rule

(03:01):
him out, so certainly I will not either. But I'm
feeling really good about him next week against Kansas City.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, just with everything they've been doing, you know, surrounding
his situation the last was it almost a month now
when he was activated off the physically unable to perform list,
has shown that they are going to be extremely cautious
with him because they would rather sit him for an
extra you know, game or two, and then as soon
as he comes back to the lineup, hopefully have him

(03:30):
then for the rest of the season. Then Rush him
back before he's fully ready, have him have a setback
once he's out there on the field in a game,
and then miss him for you know, a good chunk
of the season. So I think that is the right approach.
You know, I agree with you that I lean more
towards him not playing because of that. But again, coach

(03:50):
Dable said before he came on air here before practice
started that he was going to be on the practice
field for the second consecutive day. This is the first
time that he's practicing doing team drills for two consecutive days.
So if he emerges from this practice feels good, you know,
feels wakes up tomorrow it is still feeling good, I'd
say there's certainly a chance he could play.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
But I tend to.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Agree with you that I would think that they would
lean a little bit more towards the cautious side when
it comes to, you know, their star franchise left tackle.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, last week, they listed a as doubtful on Friday's
injury report, yet they not.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
He did they did, so I would assume he would
will be you know, maybe questionable, but again, we probably
won't know for sure. We definitely won't know for sure
until eleven thirty Sunday morning, when inactives actually come out.
Maybe we'll get a report before then, but nothing concrete
until then. Some of the other things you touched on

(04:46):
in terms of Mike and McFadden, there are only two
things that we do know. One hundred percent he will
miss the next four games.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
That we know for sure.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
And we know that he did not break his leg,
because Dabele told us that told the media that a
couple of days ago. You know, when he got carted
off the field. You know, the worst thing you see
is when they put the air cast on him, on
anyone on the field typically, you know, you think that
that means there's some sort of broken bone, which is

(05:17):
obviously a very serious injury. Brian Dabele told the media
the other day that they got Micah was fortunate in
that regard that there was no broken bone at least,
So that is why there is some, you know, level
of confidence that maybe he could return later in the
season at some point. Again, we don't really know for sure,

(05:37):
knowing coach Dable, we probably won't get many or any
updates until he's actually, you know, ready to rejoin the
team at practice.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
I think that's true.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
And the final thing Xavier Gibson. You know, I've seen
a lot of people since yesterday tweet like, oh, you know,
he just fumbled for the Jets and cost him that game.
Why are we picking up? I just want to remind
everyone two years ago, there was a very similar situation
with Gunner ol Chesky. He was with I believe the
Steelers at the time. He had a fumble, the Steelers

(06:10):
cut him, Giants signed him, and let's not forget he
ended up having a big impact in the special teams
get in the return game that year, he had the
punt return touchdown, which was the first punt return touchdown
and I don't even know how long for this team.
So just because Xavier Gibson had one fumble last week,
granted it was a costly one for the Jets, but

(06:31):
one play doesn't wipe out all of the success he's
had on special teams for the Jets the last couple
of years. He's a very good returner, punt return and
kick return. He's had a lot of success. He has
a little as a rookie. He had some experience playing
offense as well, not so much the last you know,
last year and Week one, but his rookie year, which
was only twenty twenty three, he saw a decent amount

(06:53):
of snaps on offense as well and made a little
bit of an impact there. But clearly, as we saw
this past week, kickoff returns are a big part of
special teams now. You know, for a year, the last
couple of years, the league has veered away really from
having many kickoff returns. Well, last week, and I'm sure
you guys spoke about this earlier in the week, but

(07:14):
last week, the I think it was more than double
the amount of kickoff returns in week one of the
twenty twenty five season compared to Week one of twenty
twenty four. So clearly kickoff returns are you know, teams
are emphasizing this part of the special teams unit. I mean,
we saw the Eagles just go out and trade for
Tank Bigsby, and the report is that they want to

(07:34):
use them as their kick returner. So it doesn't surprise
me that the Giants saw this opportunity to bring in
a talented returner bring him into the fold. I mean,
Gunroe Cheski is still here. Doesn't hurt to have two
good kick returners back on the kick return coverage kick
just give.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Them seven receivers, though as we speak this morning, it does,
which is really an overload. Now that is true Robinsons Layton,
we're limited yesterday.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
So yes, and Wandell coach did say well, coach actually
said he thinks both should he did, be okay, he did.
That is far from you know, concrete saying they will
both be out there.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
So there may be a little bit of an insurance
factor here too, exactly.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Injury report out of Dallas, Let's just say this, there's
one very significant one which we've known about now for
about thirty six hours, and then one that's a little
less significant but nonetheless a big deal. Duran Bland still
has his foot in the boot. He's gonna miss potentially
three to four weeks is what I read.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
That's the report.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Four weeks. That's not good for him because you know,
this year they wanted him to be their star slot
guy who then could also move outside whenever they decided
that they wanted to go with a nickel or a
dime package. So that's a big deal. And then Malie Cooker,
one of their two starting safeties, is dealing with a
foot injury and he's been limited to practice the last

(09:01):
two days. That may or may not be significant. We
know ourselves that guys who are limited sometimes are actually counting.
They're counting on playing, so that may not be a
big deal.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, the fact that he was limited two days in
a row, I would think would put him on the
more optimistic side. Mollie Cooker, that is, you know, it's
not like he was limited Wednesday and then did not
practice Thursday. That would be a little bit more alarming. Agreed,
So I would assume Malie Cooker will be out there,
But it does not sound like Deron Bland has much
of a chance of being out there. And that's pretty

(09:33):
significant because last year, in the two games against the
Cowboys Week one, Malik Neighbors saw a ton of Trayvon
Diggs in coverage the first game, sorry, the second meeting,
Deron Blan was the primary defender covering him. I think
it was like sixty something percent of this over.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Sixty six percent.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, So that that is a big injury for a
Cowboys secondary that Doron Bland just got a big extension
from them right before the season started. He's obviously one
of their best defenders period, not even just defensive.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Backspecially the sixth highest paid corner in the league.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Something I saw which big time, kind of crazy, but
that's a player, and he has had.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
A propensity to get interceptions.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
No, for sure. It just you know, when they traded
Michael Parsons because they didn't want to give him a deal,
immediately turn around and give that huge contract to do Land.
That raised some eyebrows for me at least. But nonetheless,
he is a talented player. Be a big loss for
the Cowboys secondary if he is unable to play Sunday,
and potential that would be a potential boost for the
Giants wide receivers. She's a very talented defensive back.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
CJ. Goodwin, Ready, Stewart, try Bridges. These are their backup
corners on their depth chart. However they want to deploy them.
I'm not one hundred percent sure what they will do
if Bland. Uh, well, of course he's not able to go,
we know that, but if Bland is not there, and
then also Trevon Diggs who played less than half the

(11:06):
snaps last week. Remember now he's coming off of a
knee surgery. They didn't expect him to be available till
the third or fourth week of the season, and he's
surprised everybody in Dallas by playing forty percent of the
snaps last week.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Forty three.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Okay, that was a shock to most people in Dallas.
They didn't expect that he played zone. He didn't man
up on anybody. Everything was off coverage because obviously, you know,
coming back from a knee, mobility is a bit of
an issue. So wow, if he's gimpy or he's not
right and Bland's not there, that Dallas secondary is now

(11:46):
very susceptible.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Well, you just actually touched on something that I was
hoping we would bring up at some point in that
the Cowboys were the only team in the NFL last
week to not have a single snap on defense where
they used man coverage zone on every single passing play
of the Eagles they had to they had, and now
they're Downdron Bland who got hurt in practice Monday. He

(12:07):
played one hundred percent of the snaps against the Eagles,
and then this injury kind of came out of nowhere.
It because he apparently happened during Monday's practice and now
it's gonna silent sideline him for a few weeks. But
I would expect, especially given now Bland's absence and Digs
still being at least somewhat limited, I would expect to
see a ton of zone coverage again because I don't

(12:28):
think they want, you know, these backup corners playing you know,
one on one man coverage against the Giants pass catchers.
You know, say what you want about the Giants pass
catcher My Laigue neighbors obviously incredibly talented, but Daris Slayton
can you know, blow by most defenders in the NFL. So,
especially if you're going to back up defenders, and Blondelle
Robinson obviously we know how shifty he is working out

(12:51):
of the slot. I would expect the Cowboys defense to
deploy a ton of zone coverage again.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Now I'm sure Dallas had two reasons to do that
last week. One was exactly what you said. The other
one is that you know, Jalen Hurts runs RPOs, and
when the opposing quarterback is a threat to run, he's
gonna use a lot of the RPOs. He's gonna lose
a lot of ability to take the ball as a
ball carrier. Well, you're gonna play less man the man

(13:16):
because that allows that guy to take off.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yep, so Hurts gashed him. Hurts at a great game.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Rushing understood, understood, But the philosophy going in against the
running quarterback is to play more zone. That's the usual mo.
Russell Wilson, who I, by the way, thought, actually showed
a lot more mobility last week than I expected him to.
He had a run for us life. He didn't have
a choice. It was survival mode. But he did a
good job of only allowing I think eight quarterback hits

(13:46):
in two sacks on a day when he was under
constant duress. I thought Russell Russell did a really good
job in terms of being able to get away and
move around. So I don't know what Dallas thinks about
that tape, but you would go into a game against
him thinking he will not be quite as much of
a threat to run as Jalen Hurts would be.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Of course, Jalen Hurts, obviously, is you know, one of
the top dual threat quarterbacks in the entire league. Russell Wilson,
While I agree with you, he actually looked a lot
more mobile and you know, kind of athletic back there.
Then I think I was even expecting last week. He's
not on Jalen Hurts's level as an athlete. I don't
think anyone would, are you not? No, certainly not at
thirty six. But I will say again, Russell Wilson, I

(14:29):
think you know, obviously it was not a perfect game
from him overall, but as a runner, I thought he
looked good in that aspect, and not only that the
Giants were designing runs for him. He had one of
he was one of the court the leaders among quarterbacks
in designed runs last week. That's like what you said
is completely right about him scrambling, and I think he

(14:51):
did do a good job with that and turning some
runs from scrambling away from pressure. But they were also
designing some runs for him because they clearly he saw
the same athleticism that you know we saw on Sunday,
They've been seeing it in practice.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
And they also saw that he was just sitting duck
if he just sat back there too.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, So honestly, I would think, you know, the coaching
staff is obviously gonna look at the tape from the
Cowboys season opener last week see what the Eagles did
successfully on offense. I wouldn't be surprised if Russell Wilson
has at least a decent amount of design runs. Again,
if the Cowboys are gonna play his own coverage like
that and give him some like spots on the field
to run, think he's gonna do it again.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
Now. I'll just get this out of the way and
then we'll go to your phone. Calls A two h
one nine three nine four five one three for me.
A matchup that the Giants have to be very, very
concerned about is defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who's gonna probably
in all likelihood, play right on the nose opposite center

(15:50):
John Michael Schmidz. Kenny Clark is a three time Pro
Bowl player. He has a motor, He is extremely powerful
and quite frank is a major league run stuffer now
Throughout his career. He has had periodic success rushing the
quarterback as well, but he's more known for his ability

(16:13):
to be extremely stout and physical and a guy who
really sets the tempo in the trenches. I'm going to
get this out of the way right now, folks. The Giants'
plans for Kenny Clark are going to be paramount because
if they cannot find a way to prevent him from

(16:36):
dominating the line of scrimmage, and controlling the line of scrimmage.
It's going to be another long, long day. It's just
that simple.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
Man.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
If they can't run the ball, which means containing him,
and they can't keep him out of the face of
Russell Wilson, I don't know how the Giants expect actively
score points. I simply don't. And that's twofold. It's it's
because they didn't do a good job at the two

(17:08):
things they had to do last weekend, and because Kenny Clark,
while he flies under the radar to most people, anybody
in the National Football League knows he is one of
the best nose tackles in the game.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yeah, when you know, when the news of the Micah
Parsons trade came out, if everyone obviously just focused on
the Mica go in the Green Bay part, but it
was completely overlooked that the Cowboys, like obviously, Kenny Clark
is not Michah Parsons. They're completely different type of defenders.
But Kenny Clark is a really really good defensive alignment.
I mean to three time Pro bowler, He's a veteran

(17:43):
that's been doing this at a high level for a
long time, and I feel like that part of the
trade just got completely overlooked, obviously not in the Cowboys eyes.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Did you watch the game last week?

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (17:55):
How do you do?

Speaker 3 (17:56):
He looked very good.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, he did.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
It's exactly what I was expecting because again I we
know that he is a very good defensive tackle. Again,
he's not Michael Parsons, but he does. You know, Jerry
Jones said after the trade, our run defense got better
something along those lines, which, again, taking Micah Parsons out
of any defense is you know, that's a hit to

(18:18):
the unit overall. But sure Jerry Jones was not completely wrong.
Where Kenny Clark is very good against the run and
he's sneaky good against as a pass rusher as well.
So I agree with you, especially because last week the Giants,
the interior offensive line is where the Commander's got a
lot of the pressure last week against Russell Wilson, and

(18:39):
as we know, if you can blow up the interior
part of the line, that is the most you know,
detrimental to an opposing offense. That's why Dexter Lawrence reeks
havoc on so many teams opposing offenses is because of that.
So I'm with you. Manning that or containing him. Not
letting him, you know, force Russell Wilson to scramble outside

(19:00):
every other passing play has got to be one of
the top priorities for the offensive line, if not the
number one.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
That's it. Kenny Clark can damage you both ways. He
can ruin your quarterback and he can also prevent you
from getting a running game going. And those are two
things the Giants cannot afford. It's just that simple, folks.
I'd put a big exclamation point in a period right
there at the end of that comment, because if that

(19:26):
does not happen, the domino's start to fall off the table,
everything else starts to go bad. They've got to make
that happen. And if it means help from Greg van Rotin,
if it means help from John Runyon, if it means
Bellinger's got to play more fullback, whatever it means, seep

(19:46):
the running back into block, just make sure that Kenny
Clark does not wreck the game. Two one, nine three,
Kevin in Philadelphia, you are online one on Big Kick
Off Live.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
Hello.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
Hey, it's so good to talk to you guys.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Hi.

Speaker 5 (20:06):
So, Paul, You've been been around Giants football a long time,
and I gotta tell you. I'm just having just these
recurring thoughts, which are not good ones, about the way
life was in the nineteen seventies, where every year was rebuilding,
attempting to do things to improve the team. And I'm

(20:32):
seeing this sort of same recycling now going on and on.
And the point you were just making about Kenny Clark
right spot on. But in my mind, I'm saying to myself,
why is it, year after year afty year that we,
unlike some other teams, in fact the one that plays
locally here in Philadelphia, can't seem to put an offensive

(20:54):
line together. I'm not sure why that's become such a
daunting ask over the years to assemble that. It seems
like we're always backpedaling and talking about the weaknesses in
our offensive line as opposed to, hey, we have a
very strong offensive line, we can dominate a running game,

(21:15):
et cetera. I mean, truthfully, we haven't seen the likes
of that since the you know, George Young Ernie A
CORSEI type era as well.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Coughlin's teams won two Super Bowls, and certainly the first,
but the conflin Super Bowl was a dominant line.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
Right right.

Speaker 5 (21:33):
I know, no argument with that but I view that
as sort of a carryover from a GM standpoint anyway,
from the course of years. But be that me, Why
don't you think we're able to accomplish things like that?
And now we just find ourselves I think looking uphill
again this season like we have the past two, Kevin, the.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Only thing I can say to you this, it's not
for lack of trying, because if you look for the
last let's just say decade, let's be fair, last decade,
there have been dozens of offensive linemen who have come
through these doors. They have spent some high draft choices
on guys and you could cite them and call them
up if you like Matt. They've done that. They've signed

(22:18):
a bunch of free agents. They've had guys get hurt,
They've had guys retire on them. They've had guys not
play nearly up to the level that they were supposed
to play when they came here. They've had other guys
who wound up getting sour with their attitude and it
was like, Okay, you don't want to be here, you
don't want to play here, you don't want to do
what you're supposed to do, then get out. You've had

(22:40):
that too. And then the other thing is, quite frankly,
they've also had quite a few offensive line coaches since
Pat Flaherty, and that's also part of it too. I mean,
there are a myriad of reasons, but the one thing
that I always insisted people who get on the franchise
for their lack of finding those guys is that it's

(23:03):
not for lack of trying, because they have paraded in
a slew of linemen in here for the last decade.
They've tried, and unfortunately, in most cases they've come up short.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah, the only thing I want to add and just
say overall about the offensive line is, look, I know
last week it was not a great performance by the
offensive line. As we said before, Russell Wilson scrambling almost
every drop back. You know, the run game could not
get going at all. I just want to point towards

(23:39):
last year Week one last year, where it was a
similar performance by the whole entire team, not just the
offense line. The whole team really really struggled against that.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
The Vikings.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
The Vikings in the season opener, and it was a
you know, bad overall performance, especially with the guys up front.
The Vikings had even more pressure against the Giants in
that game than the Commanders and its twelve quarterback hits.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
I think right, I believe. So.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
Now fast forward to the next week and then weeks
two through six with the same five guys that were
in there a week one, the line got a lot better,
and that was what gave the front office and the
coaching staff this confidence in the unit going into this
year that if we bring everyone back and everyone gets healthy,
we'll have a solid offensive line. So I know last
week was bad. I'm not trying to sugarcoat that by

(24:25):
any means. All I'm saying is it was one game
against a very talented defensive play caller in Dan Quinn
and a I think underrated defensive front of the Commanders.
Give Let's just give the line a little bit of
time to get going before you know, we fully start
ringing the alarm bells. I'm not guaranteeing it's you know,

(24:48):
gonna get significantly better, but it did last year. From
weeks two through six, before Andrew Thomas got hurt, the
line got significantly better. They were a you know, We've
spoken about this so many times. They were a middle
of the pack line, which that's great. That's all we
need them to be. We don't need a top five
offensive line for this team this year to have success.
We need them to be just a solid offensive line, functional,

(25:09):
as we always say. So let's just before we completely
give up, let's just give the group a little bit
more time, especially wait until Andrew Thomas comes back, because
obviously that will also be just a big boost to
that unit.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
I think, just remember this one thing. If they can't,
if they can't contain to Kenny Clark, what do you
think Chris Jones is going to be looking at when
he watches the tape the following week, so you know
it's time it. I mean, I know it's weak two
and you don't want to You're right, you don't want
to panic. But my goodness, if that line can't feel
a sense of urgency this week and get angry about

(25:45):
what they put on tape, then I'm I'm gonna be
really puzzled because there's no time like the present. If
you're going to give Russell Wilson a chance to survive, oh,
one hundred percent of the urgency definitely needs to be up.
We need to see an improvement starting this week. My
point was just one game, don't like completely. You know,
we always say the Monday after Week one is the

(26:07):
biggest overreactions around the NFL, except this schedule won't let
you breathe.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
That's that's why they need to get going. That's why
they need to get going immediately, starting this week because,
as you said, next week against Chris Jones and the
Chiefs and Spags, that's not going to get any easy anyway, Kevin,
anything else, No, And I.

Speaker 5 (26:24):
Was gonna know just well said, and I'm not bringing
any alarm pills, believe me, but I just couldn't help
but look over over time, and I think, you know, Paul,
you hit, you know a lot of the reasons why,
and I do agree that they've been trying. I guess
I'm still perplexed as to why all the trying hasn't

(26:47):
maybe produced a little bit more fruit. But be that
as it may, my final comment is I couldn't help.
I'm assuming you guys may have checked in on the
Washington Green Bay game last night. Isn't it funny when
Washington played a true team that has some salt about
them that all of a sudden, all the bravado that

(27:09):
you were hearing out of the Redskin Country tended to
die down a little bit. I'll just leave it at that.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Thank you, Kevin, Thank you, Kevin. Appreciate the phone call.
Remember what the old mantra is, you're never as good
as you've looked, and you're never as bad as you've looked.
All Right, I think the Commanders are somewhere in the middle.
They're certainly not as confident or should not be as
the twelve win team that they put on the field
last year. But I'm sure that they also will tell

(27:38):
you that they probably don't feel like last night's game,
when they pretty much got handled by Green Bay, isn't
necessarily what they are.

Speaker 5 (27:44):
This year either.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah, all I'll say is green Bay looks like an
absolute juggernaut this year. I mean, I think that trade
did a lot for them, for sure. I mean, they
had a very, very talented and up and coming team
even before that trade. But then you add Micah Parsons
to that defense. I Mean, if I had to choose
one team out of the NFC to make the Super
Bowl right now, even before last night, I would have said,

(28:07):
this is the green Bay Packers. And I think the
Commanders just, you know, faced a Junker, not last night
and one of the true contenders in the NFL, so
obviously it's gonna make him look a little worse.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
We go to line too, and Big Ed in Maryland
joins us once again on the program.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
Good morning, Good morning, mister big Paulie.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
How you doing, Big Ed?

Speaker 4 (28:29):
I have a big guys man. Please tell me your
name again.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Well, my last name is Sittac. I feel like you
were gear enough to try to say it and no
one pronounces it correctly.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Just call it Matt.

Speaker 4 (28:45):
That's what I mean. A big mat all right, Paulie.
What do we got, man? What do we have? Who's hurt?
It's Thomas playing.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
We're a ted pessimistic on that. But I don't think
that they are going to make any declarations about him today.
I suspect he'll probably be a game time decision.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Okay, did he practice yesterday?

Speaker 2 (29:06):
He did practice some yesterday with team drills and team snaps,
and was expected to do that again today. In fact,
they're out there right now while we're doing the show,
and coach.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Did say Coach did say that.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Now.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Coach did say that Andrew will do more today than
he did yesterday. And this is the first time he's
practicing in team drills in back to back days. So
whether or not he plays Sunday, this is certainly a
step in the right direction.

Speaker 4 (29:32):
Yeah, that's good. Now let's get to the real brass
tax of this situation, PAULI. We need to have an understanding.
What is it going to take for us to win
this game? Where are we at with that program? What's
been a strategy this week?

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Look big ed. This is not a secret. It's football
one oh one, but it's never been more apparent after
what the Giants put on tape in Washington. They must,
absolutely must must do a better job on both sides
of the trenches. We've talked about Kenny Clark here now
for the last how many minutes that goes without saying,

(30:10):
that is the top priority. They must not let him
wreck this game. They need to get the run going,
get the play action going, and give Russell Wilson a
chance to survey the field. That has to be the first, second,
and third priority for this team if they're going to
have a chance on the other side of the ball.
Dexter Lawrence was not himself last week. Okay, he didn't

(30:32):
play during the preseason, obviously, they were trying to ramp
him up. They understood coming off the elbow injury. He
wasn't just gonna walk on the field to miraculously beat
dex De Lawrence again. But if you listen to the
show at all in the last two weeks, I tried
to tell everybody, it's gonna take him time to get
into the rhythm, and it's gonna take time for the

(30:53):
rest of the defense to mesh with him. I told
everybody that screamed it at the top of my lung.
Anybody who's in a paddic over this was not listening
because I warned you of this. But they've got to
still do a better job of clogging holes and at

(31:14):
least slowing down the run game, because you don't want
Dak Prescott. Much like you want Wilson to have a
balanced attack, You don't want Prescott to have a balanced attack.
What is the mo The Giants have lost eight games
in a row to the Dallas Cowboys. They have lost
fifteen of the last sixteen meetings against this team. And
you know how it usually happens. It usually happens because

(31:37):
Dallas gets out to a lead and then they basically
bludgeon the Giants to death with their run game over
the course of the second halfs that's the way it happens.
We've seen this movie a thousand times. You can't let
that happen.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
That's why for me, the biggest script, right, the biggest thing.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
Hold out, old mister Matt, I'm gonna get this right here.
We're gonna have this all you. Dallas has been beating
us with that passing game because we have not been
able to defend the pass game. Well, that's their biggest start.
Okay for us, we got to do what Eli did
when he got Victor Cruz and they we started on

(32:20):
a Sunday night game. So the bomb we did not
throw no bombs last week. I was.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
Didn't have time that Yeah, we ain't had no time.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Threw one passive over twenty yards and it was incomplete.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
Right exactly. We have to threaten them. If we don't
threaten Dallas to make them back up, they're gonna beat
the crap out of us like they've been doing now.
Defensive side of the ball. That rookie we got, he
got to show up, baby, he got to show up.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Had a good game.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
I would argue that he did show up last week.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
They gad Adu Carter played well in limited action. They
were not going to just throw him into the deep
end of the pool. In Week one they kind of
ramped him up too, and he played well in the
snaps he had.

Speaker 4 (33:09):
Okay, I'm not gonna say you didn't, but I'm gonna
tell you this. He gonna act like he's gonna have
to act like Michael Parsons. Boy, I'm trying to tell
you he has to be an absolute animal, a record
machine to Dack's ways of doing things. You've got to
get them off the ball, man, And that's the other
biggest thing too. We got to beat them off the
ball offensively particularly. We have got to get an edge

(33:29):
on them. And the only way I see that being
is you got to give them some type of misdirection.
Let them know, PAULI, they need some type of misdirection
with the running games, because we got the running backs.
But what could we do with them if we can't
let them get out, if we gotta throw out routes,
short routes just for them to go. Because the game
speed is so fast this season, for whatever reason, the season,

(33:53):
this speed, this things, the game speed is amazing. You
have to little listen to this, PAULI, I know you
can appreciate this, and I'm gonna go after this. I
say this right, your running game has to be just
as fast, as not faster than your passing game. Ain't
that crazy? Never thought that we would see football this way.

(34:14):
Thanks guys. I hope we big win on Sunday because
we definitely need it.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Talk to you next week, big Ye, thank you, thank you,
big Ed. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
I mean, defensively, I think the most important thing, and
this is tough, going up against Dak proskt Dak Prescott,
you gotta at least try to make him feel uncomfortable
back there. I mean, Dak Prescott is one of the
best quick decision making quarterbacks in the entire NFL. In
fifteen career games against the Giants, do you know how

(34:42):
many times he's been sacked?

Speaker 2 (34:45):
I don't know the shack number. I just know he's
thirteen and two is a starter against the Giants.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
In in those fifteen games, he has been sacked a
total of fifteen times. That is just it's not good enough.
And that's why A big reason why that record that
you just said, it's because he gets time back there
to do whatever he wants, and you know he does
get the ball out quickly. So the pass rush, you know,
we spoke a good amount leading into the season about

(35:11):
you know, Brian Burns and the quick pressures under two
point five seconds. Well, Burns, Cavon, Abdul, They're gonna need
those quick pressures because Dak Prescott gets the ball out
so quickly. And when you have the playmakers that the
Cowboys have like that is a tough matchup for any
opposing defense. When you have to go up against Ceedee Lamb,

(35:31):
George Pickens, Jake Ferguson, Cavante Turpin being used as a
gadget player slash third receiver. Those are all very very
tough guys to match up against, all in their own
respective ways. So this pass rush that we talked about
for so long leading into the season and who looked
okay last week. It wasn't, you know, the best pass

(35:52):
rushing game. It wasn't awful, But that also a big
part of it was going up against Jane Daniels. That
dual threat threat right there makes it tough for any
defense to really apply a ton of pressure against a
quarterback like that, and that will easily just tuck the
ball and run immediately as soon as he feels even
the slightest sense of pressure. So you know, Big Ed

(36:15):
spoke about Abdul again. Abduall played pretty well last week.
He led the team in pressures. I know, you know,
you may not like that stat, but he did lead
the group despite playing this well, despite playing fewer snaps
than Brian Burns and Caveon Thibodeau. I think we might
see him a little bit more this week. I would
hope he also made an impact in the special teams.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
I mean big time.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
He blocked a punt or deflected it at least and
led to a thirty yard pot, nearly got two others exactly.
So the Giants are gonna have to do the best
that they can to get pressure quickly on Dak Prescott.
This isn't the same Cowboys offensive line of a few
years ago. It's good, but it's not that you know,
top three in the NFL unit that it once was.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
You have three number one picks on that line, though
they do. I mean, but it's not exactly tissue paper,
No it's not.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
But it's also not the same. No, it's night of
a few years ago that was one of the most
elite units in the league, so the passers will have
an opportunity to get after Dak. They gotta make him
feel uncomfortable back there, because if they give him time,
he's gonna just pick apart the defense.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
I still think you have to make sure that you
stop that Cowboys running game, because if they're balanced, it
makes that job that you just talked about ten times eas.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
Year one hundred per I mean every single week. You know,
given how the Giants run defense has played the last
couple of years, every single week, no matter who they're playing,
stopping the run has got to be a priority.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
I'd be fine if Prescott had to throw the ball
forty five times. It's just good.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
Javonte Williams doesn't quite scare me like Dak Prescott having
time to throw to Ceedee Lamb, George Pickens at Jake.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
Ferbut I understand that. But if they have holes, then
Gervante Williams should scare you, because if they're blowing holes.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
Through that line.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
The Giants gave up what I know I I'll get
with garbage time yards and there was a big forty
nine yard run in there, but it was.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Still two twenty no, the run defense was was not
nearly good enough last week for sure, but again Jade
and Daniels being under center played a big part in that.
When you have a quarterback that I understood easily run
like he does successfully, that you know that throws a
wrench into your run defense, it makes it even tougher.
Dak is I think more athletic than he gets credit for,

(38:25):
but he's certainly nowhere near the level of Jayden Daniels
in terms of running the ball.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Pearson, what do we have on the Giants huddle.

Speaker 6 (38:32):
Today? We had the paulson A debo interview go up.
John also spoke with Darius Mussou for a little bit.
Got Brian brought us on that as well, and Bob
Papa sits down with Brian Dable like he does every week.
So that all that in one huddle, and.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
We also have the This week's Coach Table show is
now up on Giants dot Com and the Giants YouTube channel.
And while this is in a game preview, we also
have the new episode of the Eli Manning Show where
Eli and Sean met with celebrity chef Alex Corna Shelley.
There you go, because I was mispronounced that last name.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
What did you cook, Pearson? Well, what did you guys cook?

Speaker 3 (39:11):
They cooked pizzas? Did you try any?

Speaker 1 (39:13):
I did?

Speaker 6 (39:14):
It was pretty good?

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Nice.

Speaker 7 (39:16):
I like Sean might have won.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
Sean on.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
It.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
That makes more sense.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Yeah, But nonetheless, the whole Eli Manning Show is kind
of like the WWE. They I mean, Sean's not allowed
to win. It's the Eli Manning Show. He's not o'harak
cannot win. He's not allowed.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
We have to watch to find out.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
I guess all right, check it out, folks. All those
goodies are on giants dot com, and don't forget you
can go to all of your favorite podcast platforms to
get many of the Giants programs that we throw up
on the internet. Finally, the Giants Foundation will host a
five K ration The Kids Run, presented by Quest on Sunday,
October twenty sixth, at nine am Stadium Net. Proceeds will

(40:01):
benefit the Giants Foundation. All participants will receive a commemorative
T shirt. After the race, stay for a post race
festival with appearances by Giants legends and a live DJ.
Registered now at giants dot com Slash five k. The
Giants Foundation is a five oh one C three nonprofit corporation.
And finally, let's see here, Giants season ticket memberships are

(40:25):
available still for the twenty twenty five season. We haven't
had a home game yet, so you could still get
your season tickets. The Kansas City Chiefs are coming in
a week from this week from this weekend, and remember
you can get exclusive member access and benefits all year round.
Go to Giants dot com slash tickets. The Giants TV

(40:45):
streaming app is free. You can get it on Apple TV, WROCO,
Amazon fireTV, and the Giants Mobile app. See all kinds
of goodies and fun stuff that the players and the
coaches do during the course of the week. And also
finally one other item here Join us at the Ultimate
New York Giants Women's Tailgate, presented by Joe Malone. The
ticket and event will take place on Sunday, September twenty eighth,

(41:07):
from ten am to twelve pm and lot g ahead
of the Giants week for home game against the LA
Chargers that would be Justin Herbert and Company. Attendees will
have the opportunity to connect with the Giants team reporter
as well as one of our tailgate hosts Madeleine Burke
and Giants Legends and enjoy custom merchandise as well as

(41:29):
exclusive Kendris Scott activations, tailgate games, giveaways, photo ops, and
a live DJ with entertainment. Tailgate food and one drink
ticket are included with the purchase, and the tailgate is
for people twenty one and older. That takes care of
our business. So now we can go back to the phones.
As you guys discuss the Giants and the Cowboys, we

(41:52):
will go to Nate in Pennsylvania. You're next on the show.

Speaker 8 (41:55):
Hello, Hi Paul, Hi Matt. What's going on both this afternoon? Yes, sure, man,
I'm glad you're on because I just told you wrote
the article on the snapcounts on Giants dot com.

Speaker 9 (42:06):
So I have two questions relative to that article for you.
The first, I know we've talked a lot about Dexter
not necessarily being himself, you know, not a lot of
reps this offseason, and had obviously had a down game
in Week one. But I'm curious if in the course
of your snapcount research you found out how many times
of those forty nine stats that Dexter was double teamed.

(42:27):
So that's question number one. Question Number two. Also, relative
to the snap counts, we had Carter down for thirty
eight snaps on defense and five on specials. Of those
thirty eight on defense, do you happen to know how
many of them were at off ball linebacker or on
the defensive line in some configurations. That's question two and

(42:49):
my final question. I'll take it off the air given
the lack of production from the defensive line in week one,
and I know Paul you said not to get upset
or overly excited about it. Two twenty yards is a
tough one for any Giants fan to swallow on the ground.
But even when he looked at individual statistics and I
added up decks, Roy Robertson, Harris, Nacho, Garcia, DJ and

(43:12):
Golston combined, they got credited for one solo tackle, six
assists in only one hurry. Not good enough question to
you is is there a chance that Darius Alexander potentially
gets a jersey this week?

Speaker 2 (43:25):
All right, I'll let Matt go through the numbers you
asked about in reference to your other questions. Number one,
Darius Alexander did not play and may not play this week.
We don't know Andre Patterson, the defensive line coach addressed
that today with the media because they were all over
the fact that Alexander was not in the game last week,
and he said, hey, you got to remember something. He

(43:48):
is still raw and when Danielle Hunter, who Dre coached
with the Minnesota Vikings, came into the league, he did
not play in his first five games, and look what
he turned into. Coach Patterson said, everybody in the building
knows that Alexander has a high level of talent and
is going to be a terrific player, but he is

(44:11):
not quite there yet. They are getting him there. He said,
he's getting closer, and he would not put a timetable
on when we will actually see him in a game,
but he's making the jump from Toledo. Please no disrespect
to the Mid American Conference, but that's not exactly the
Big Ten. So he's making a jump. Okay, it's a big,

(44:32):
big jump. The other item about Dexter, Lawrence Dre also
said they already over extended Dexter in the first game.
They didn't expect to play him as many snaps as
he played. He was already over extended, and he said
we had to get him out of there because we
didn't want to make it even worse because they got
to ramp him up. He said, what people don't understand

(44:54):
about these players is that they've got to find their
rhythm again, and especially for d defensive tackles. Coach Patterson said,
you have to understand the tempo of the play and
when you're making your move, and you get rusty if
you haven't been in games. And so he's like, just
be patient.

Speaker 4 (45:14):
They go.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
They gotta ramp up Dexter too. This is something I
again I didn't get into those details of it, but
I warned you guys about this, so I'm not surprised.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
Now, Okay, here are the numbers. I did find all
these numbers that he asked for while doing my research.
So well, since we're talking about Dexter, we'll start with him.
He was double teamed on sixty nine point two percent
of his pass rushes, which that number might sound high,
and that's because it very much is. Last year, throughout

(45:46):
the whole season, he was double teamed sixty three point
eight percent, which was by far the most in the league.
And so this is, you know, just over five percent
more than his league leading number last year. So he
was getting double teamed almost every single play he was
out there rushing the passer. You know, I would expect
that to continue until the edge rushers start, you know,

(46:08):
start dominating there. You know, they were not bad by
any means. Obviously, the top three guys combined for the
three sacks, Burns at two of them, Abdul and Kvon
split the other. All three of those guys had multiple pressures,
so they were not bad. But when those guys, those
guys need to start truly dominating their one on one matchups,

(46:30):
and that's gonna lead to opposing offensive lines, you know,
second guessing whether or not they're gonna double team double
Dexter Lawrence every play.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
I go the other way. You got to stop the
run first, and then those guys on the edge will
pick it up.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
I go, I go. I'm just saying, in terms of
lowering Dexter Lawrence's double.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Team, I got you, fine, I understand. Go ahead.

Speaker 3 (46:50):
So so that's the Dexter Lawrence part uh in terms
of Abdul. So this is according to Pro Football Focus,
they keep track of where players line up for all
of their snaps. Thirty eight snaps. Thirty three were on
the defensive line, five were in the box, and it
says twenty eight of those snaps were lined up outside
of the commander's offensive tackle. Four of them had him

(47:15):
lined up right over the offense tackle, only one of
them one snap on defense, he was lined up quote
unquote as a defensive tackle on the interior.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
All right, thank you so much for your phone call.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
Thank you, Nate.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Anything else?

Speaker 3 (47:31):
Uh, that was okay, very good. Yeah, just answering his questions.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
I forgot if there was another level to his question.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
I think it was. I think those are the two
it snap no specific questions. Would it surprise you this
weekend given the injury to Mike and McFadden. I'm not
saying every player even a lot of plays, but would
it surprise you if some plays Abdul's lined up at
off ball linebacker, where he played to begin his Penn
State career.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
He will get more snaps than he got last week.
I'm very confident of that. But I don't necessarily think
there'll be in a traditional spot where Michael McFadden would be.
I think he will be in different locations.

Speaker 3 (48:11):
Oh, I think he's going to kind of line up
in a variety of spots. But I do expect more
action for him, I do I think obviously, I don't know.
I think he might get at least some snaps playing
off ball linebacker. I think just because again, and Shane
Bowen kind of said this when he was asked about
that exact question yesterday. You want to get your best

(48:32):
players out there as much as possible. And obviously Abuel
Carter has a very special skill set and he's very versatile.
So if putting him out, you know, at linebacker, even
if it's just for a handful of snaps, it gives
you a more another, you know, additional handful of snaps
of having all your best defensive players on the field
out there together. So I wouldn't be surprised even if

(48:53):
it's just a couple of plays. I wouldn't be shocked
to see it.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
We might even see him, as we saw a little
bit during a training camp. It's not entirely out of
the question. We might seem as the three technique too
on some snaps. Yeah, we go to line three DJ
in Virginia, you're next on BBKL. Hello, Hey Matt, Hey Paul,
how are you?

Speaker 3 (49:14):
How's it going? All right?

Speaker 7 (49:16):
So I kind of have to disagree with you. Mag Well,
not disagree with you, but I've kind of giving up
on this whole line. And let me kind of explain
to you why that is. In my opinion, of course,
I feel like the team is kind of being built
the wrong way. And I know, I guess kind of
being a negative Nancy because a lot of stuff I

(49:37):
have to say is negative. But uh, and I don't
want to beat a dead horse. But in order to
like be competitive, doesn't it start within your division? Like
you have to be able to compete inside your division.
And most of the teams in our division, they play tough,
you know what I mean. They have big defensive tackles.
They you know, it's all about defense, and it seems

(49:59):
like we'd building it in that mold.

Speaker 4 (50:02):
It's like we bring in guys.

Speaker 7 (50:04):
Who are, you know, a little bit on the salt
side and are like pass blockers, and it seems like
we want to spread people out and you know, throw
the ball downfield. But the problem is we can't block
anybody to hold up long enough to throw the ball,
you know what I mean. And part of the thing
is like when you get down to the goal line,
it's harder because the field gets condensed. It's harder for

(50:25):
you to move anybody if you don't have that power,
you know what I mean. And I know Paul talks
about how you know you don't have to have all
box cards and understand that, but you're going to have
to move somebody off the line of scrimmage, you know
what I mean, in order for you to get that
one yard you might.

Speaker 4 (50:39):
Need, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
The Giants have two of their more powerful, larger framed
offensive lineman out of the lineup right now. Joshua Zudu
is one of those guys, and he's on injury reserve
with expectation to return after the first four games. He
is one such guy you could look to as an option.

(51:03):
And obviously Evan Neil, who was scratched last week. He
is another stronger, bigger framed, more powerful offensive lineman who
is potentially a guy that you might want to insert
into the lineup if you're the coaching staff. I suppose
I don't think of Aaron Stinney in that mold, to

(51:25):
be frank with you, but that's another guy who's had
some success in this league. If you wanted to change
things up, you certainly have him at your disposal. I
don't know exactly what the coaching staff is thinking right now,
other than Carmen Brisillo telling us this morning that you
don't panic after one game, and Matt was correct. Last year,

(51:47):
horrific performance by the entire team against the Vikings, and
then the following week we saw tremendous improvement and a
great turnaround by everybody on the team, and they started
to play like a very competitive club and they were
two and three. They beat one Arizona in Seattle, right, Cleveland, Cleveland, Cleveland, Seattle,
Cleveland and Cleveland and Seattle in Seattle, yep, two road games.

(52:12):
So let's not let's not think about juggling in the
line up yet, but there are some people in the
building that you could potentially turn to if you wanted
to make a change.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
Look, DJ get, I get where you were coming from. Obviously,
you know, the offensive line, at least in terms of
the offense, has got to be the unit going into
week two. That's the most you know, show me, show
me what you can do unit going into this game,
no doubt about it. Yep. But again, and I mentioned
this earlier, I feel like people are just completely you know,

(52:46):
underestimating or overlooking how good of a defensive front the
Commanders have last night. The Giants last week gave up
twenty four pressures to the Commanders last night against the Packers,
who I think most people would say have a pretty
good offensive line, the Commander's got twenty one pressures, only
three fewer, same amount of sacks more hurries than the

(53:09):
Giants gave up. So it's not like it was just
the Giants offensive line that gave up a lot of
pressure to this Commander's defensive front. It was the Packers,
who obviously have Super Bowl aspirations, having you know, giving
up almost just as much pressure as the Giants did
last week.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
Dan Quinn has always been a very good defensive oriented
coach who knows how to stunt run gains, you know,
get guys off balance if you will, to get pressure
on the quarterback. I still don't think Washington has a
very strong front. I'm sorry, I don't. I think it's

(53:45):
more dan Quinn.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
Yeah, I mean, he's just one of the best defensive
play callers I think in the entire NFL. I mean,
I he played a big reason, a big role in
the Cowboys having so much successive defense for the years
that he was the coordinator there.

Speaker 6 (53:58):
Yep, right there.

Speaker 7 (54:00):
And my last point, even though you know it's kind
of like understand Daboll is an offensive guy and Kafka,
but part of being a good play caller is knowing
when to call the place. If I'm not mistaken. It
seems like and I'm looking at the Green Bay game
with Washington and I'm looking at Lafloor set him up

(54:21):
when he gets on the goal line. He put heavy
personnel and looked like a run. And I know they
have to respect the running back because of Josh Jacobs,
but it's like he set it up so that they could,
you know, have it where they could just set him
up and then they hit him inside for the slam.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
Well, here's what I will say about that. The failures
for the Giants inside the ten yard line last week
were inexcusable. Okay, the execution was horrific all around, but
in terms of you're asking them to get more creative, well,
they tried to get creative when they put Marcus bow
in as the extra tight end and on first down

(55:01):
they tried to throw a pass to them in the
end zone. I personally myself, you know me, I'll punch
it I'll punch you in the nose. I would much
rather just absolutely smash mout the ball across the goal
line and not go into any trickery. But you're asking
them to be more creative. They tried to get creative
on that play and it didn't work, and it didn't

(55:22):
help that. Pretty much the entire game, the Giants failed
to just establish the run at all. I mean, the
running backs combined for thirty yards on fifteen carries. Two
point zero yards per carry is not going to get
it done against any opponent, especially one as good as
the Commander is coming off a trip to the NFC Championship.
So when you can't establish the run, it makes the

(55:43):
opposing team not respect the run. Yeah, it's brutal.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
That's why they were brutal. Somewhat prepared for that trick
play because they had a feeling, obviously that the Giants
weren't going to try to just punch it in.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
I think if you want to, if you want them
to try to be more creative, thank you for the call.
If you want to be to be more creative, well
maybe maybe one of the ways to do that would
be take one of those offensive linemen. You know, one
of the jumbo linemen, one of the guys who's not
starting as the first five. Maybe line up one of
those guys as a full back. I mean, it's been

(56:16):
done before in this league. You want to get creative,
That would be my suggestion. To be creative when you're
not blocking it very well for anything, especially on the
interior of the line, and you get down into close
quarters like that, we'll get the biggest, beefiest box car
frames that you've got. And if it means sticking an
extra offensive lineman in as a full back, maybe that's

(56:39):
the way. You literally have to take a bulldozer and
just shove inch by inch until you get across the
goal line. Maybe that's the only way to do it.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
Yeah, I do not disagree.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
I mean, it's you want me to be creative. I'm
trying to be creative for you.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
All I know is they obviously can't run plays like
that all the time when they're trying to run. I
know you're talking about just buy the goal line, but
it's not going to make a difference unless they can
find success running the ball outside of just the goal
line opportunities. Because the Cowboys and any team they're playing again,
They're just not going to respect the run if the

(57:17):
Giants can't establish the run whatsoever. And that means the
play action game is basically taken out of the playbook
because they're not going to respect the play action because
they know that you're just going to throw it. So
it all starts with establishing the run, getting pushed. The
guys up front need to just get more of a push.
They just they need to improve.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Get angry, get angry, and play angry.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
Now, there is one thing I just want to quickly
touch on because I've been thinking about it all week
waiting to come on the show to talk about it today.
Last week, on this last Friday, when we spoke, we
had a little bit of a conversation about cam Skataboo
and I said, rookie Week one, I wouldn't want to
just throw them out there, you know, in key situations.

(58:03):
I think he showed me enough. I know the final
box score might not have looked like the prettiest, but
I think he showed me enough in one game where
I'm already backtracking on that statement. I mean, the biggest thing,
as I said last week, the biggest thing with the
rookie running backs is you get a little worried about
them in pass protection, And he made it abundantly clear
on his very first NFL snap. Pass protection is not

(58:25):
something he's gonna have to worry about. When it comes
to Camp Scataboo. He not only like looks forward to it,
but he willingly takes on these blockers. I mean he
threw that massive hit on the Commander's safety. Obviously, there
was then the very next play where he ran over
to Commanders defenders, including All Pro linebacker Frankie Lulu. I

(58:45):
feel like that part is not getting talked about enough.
It's not like you know, the first one, Trey almos Amos.
He is like a small, kind of tiny rookie corner.
Doesn't surprise me at all that Camp Scataboy ran him over,
But the fact that he then has bounced completely off
Frankie Lubu, an All Pro linebacker last year, that is
what made me the most impressed with him. He got

(59:07):
awarded I'm sure you saw this the Good Morning Football
Angry Runs award for running those two guys over on
that play. Basically, I'm just trying to say, he showed
me enough where if the Giants get close to the
goal line this Sunday. I'm good with putting him out there.
I know it didn't work. It didn't work on this
past weekend. They did try.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
The defenders were.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
Percent That's what I just wanted to say. It wasn't
his fault. The literally defenders were in his face as
soon as he touched the ball. But I made that
comment last week. He showed me enough I wanted. I
hope we see him play more this coming week. I
think I have a feeling we will. Obviously some of
it will depend on game script, but I hope he
gets an expanded opportunity and I would like to see

(59:53):
him get a goal line.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
Care young Skywalker, I am glad you have come around,
Young Skywalker.

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
Is the pass protection that just worried me a little bit.
That goes for all rookie. It wasn't him in particular.
It was any rookie running back not a problem. But
he showed very quickly that that's not something you gotta
worry about with him.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
All right, final thought before we go, and I do
want to squeak this in because it's the X factor.
Cavante Turpin averaged over thirty yards a kick return last year.

Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
He was all NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
He is like a mosquito. The man is impossible, impossible
to catch when he gets that football. He is so quick,
he is so fast, he is a blur. He is pesky.
That guy, that guy in special teams can tilt the
field in a heartbeat. And oh, by the way, yeah,

(01:00:45):
he can also score on a return. So don't no
matter what you do on offense and defense, Giants, don't
let Cavante Turpin wind up turning the game. Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:00:56):
Brian Dable spoke at length about the special team's unit
for the Cowboys, and he was praising them, you know,
significantly because with these new kickoff rules, if you kick
a touch back, the opposing team gets the ball in
the thirty five yard line. Well, he can't really do
that with the Cowboys because with Brandon Aubrey as the kicker,
one first down and all of a sudden they're in

(01:01:17):
field goal range. Oh I know, so you need to
kick the ball to them, and that that's when Kevante
Turpin comes into play. Brian Dable made it very very
clear that he agrees with exactly what you just said.
Kamanti Turpin is one of the biggest I think impact
players or could be one of the biggest impact players
for the Cowboys this weekend all season. I agree with you,

(01:01:38):
I don't know exactly the best way to go about
trying to contain him, because once he has the ball
in his hands on those kickoff returns, you're like, who
the heck knows what's gonna happen? Like he is so
quick and slippery that you could prepare all week for it.
He makes one move and all of a sudden he's
gone for a ninety five yard touchdown. So they're gonna
have to Again, don't even know exactly what the best

(01:02:01):
way to try to remedy his abilities in kickoff game is,
But I don't know. Maybe try to kick the ball
as far away as away from him as possible. Maybe
that's the best I can come up with.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
That'll do it. For this initiative, Big Blue Kickoff Live,
we are here every single weekday live from twelve thirty
pm Eastern Time for a one hour to talk Giants football.
Don't forget Sunday's kickoff is in Dallas, a one o'clock kick.
In fact, the first time the Giants have kicked it
off at one o'clock in Dallas in two thousand.

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
And five, first time at AT and T Stadium.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
That's unbelievable, but somehow, someway, that's what the schedule makers
decided to do. You can catch the pregame on Wfan
at eleven am. Kickoff is at one. Postgame also on
Wfan as well as MSG Networks, and again go over
to Giants dot com. You can get all the details
about all the different ways that we will cover the game,

(01:02:56):
including photos and videos and stuff during the course of
the action. It's all right here on your favorite place
for New York Giants football Giants dot Com. This has
been Big Blue Kickoff Live, presented by Cadillac, the official
luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants, coming to
you from the Giants Podcast Studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health.
Keep getting better for Matt On Paul. Enjoy the weekend, everybody,