Big Blue Kickoff Live 9/15 | Cardinals Preview

Lance Medow and Paul Dottino preview the Giants vs Cardinals game on Sunday, discuss the Cardinals defensive scheme, and take calls from fans. SUBSCRIBE NOW **Apple** | **Spotify** | **Google** | **Pandora** | **iHeartRadio** :00 - Cardinals Preview 13:00 - Cardinals Personnel 22:30 - Calls 32:00 - NFC East 42:50 - Skill positions

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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.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Do it on giants dot com.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Do you know what I saw?

Speaker 4 (00:12):
You?

Speaker 5 (00:13):
York Giant Crack.

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

Speaker 5 (00:18):
One tuck down we are, We're all tapering.

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

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's go on.

Speaker 5 (00:25):
Dogs has Welcome to Friday's edition a Big Blue Kickoff
Live here on giants dot com as well as the
mobile app. He's pulled a Tino Amliance medal with you
for the next sixty minutes and multiple ways you'd interact
with us here on the program. You give us a
ring to zero one nine three nine four five one three.
You can also check us out on Twitter hashtag Giants Chat.
And as a reminder, you can find the archive of
this show in our entire podcast network, on the Giants

(00:47):
mobile app, podcast platforms everywhere and at giants dot com
slash podcast. And we are excited actually to announce a
sponsor for Big Blue Kickoff Live. How about that as
the program is now going to be ansored by Cadillac,
the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants.
So big things on the horizon see both on and
off the field. Paul's very excited because supposedly he may

(01:10):
be actually driving a Cadillac before it's all said and done.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, I don't know if I can work out that deal.

Speaker 5 (01:14):
But from my sources that you've been navigating a way
in to at least get a test drive on the initials, that'd.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Be pretty cool. Fair do you you know years ago
speaking of here were in store for a really good story. Oh,
you're in for a great story.

Speaker 5 (01:28):
I am now perking up years ago when the.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Old Giant Stadium was still here. And I don't date
yourself with this story, by the way, Well, this goes
back to the late eighties and I was the producer
for the Tailgate Show on the old W TWENTYW radio
and Bob Popa and Carl Nelson were the co host
and I used to produce the show and we got
a lot of games in with the fans and stuff.
We used to literally have huge crowds outside there just

(01:51):
for our program. And one of our sponsors happened to
be with Goodyear and they asked me if I wanted
to ride the blimp. I turned it down. This was
this was shortly after the Pizza Hut blimp had crashed
in the middle of Manhattan.

Speaker 5 (02:08):
And that clearly was on your mind.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
It was I decided I did not want to be
like a piece of cheese sliding off a slice and
just making a mess. And so, yes, the Pizza Hut
blimp had crashed in Manhattan. Nobody was injured. But that
made me decline the invitation to the to the sponsor,
good Year, the sponsor at the time. They they invited

(02:30):
me to come over to Teeterborough and to do a
ride in the blimp, and I passed it up and
I never got asked again. What could have been?

Speaker 5 (02:37):
What could have could have shaped some NFL history.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
So that's not a car, but it was an opportunity
to be in a vehicle a blimp.

Speaker 5 (02:44):
Okay, So meaning you've gone in your feet barely wet
is essentially what you're okay because you didn't even go
into the actual.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
I didn't take the guy up on it, and maybe
I should have. I mean, that's a once in a lifetime.

Speaker 5 (02:59):
No, I can't say I've been on the blimp. It's
on the to do list, is it? It's on the bucket? Look,
I don't know if it's as high as maybe on
your bucket list. But I'm working my way through.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Number one on my bucket list. Another another story, no, no,
another story for everybody. Number one on my bucket list.
Anybody out there who is a talent scout for a cartoon?
Number one on my bucket list is I want to
be the voice of a cartoon character, whether it be
a television show.

Speaker 5 (03:26):
Some would say you're a living.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Version that, which is why I think I'd be a
perfect fit. But I think, come on, what is it Simpsons?
They must have a character I could play just once.
Talent scouts, if you're out there, come on TV movies
listening in one time. I want to be the voice
of a cartoon character. That's at the top of my bucket.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
What was your favorite cartoon growing up to you?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Just out of curiosity? Oh, I was a big Batman
guy Batman? Okay, yeah, Batman used to be on TV
when I was little. As the cartoon.

Speaker 5 (03:56):
Batman TV had no clue, not just as the Adam
West Batman. Well that's what I was thinking. I thought
you grew up watching Adam West.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Oh, there was a cartoon, a Batman cartoon that I
watched when I was a kid growing up. That was
a real big deal. I'm a big Batman guy.

Speaker 5 (04:10):
Well, you know, keep the dream alive to get that
cape on one day.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
I'm pulling for you. I appreciate that.

Speaker 5 (04:14):
They may actually forget the cartoon voice. DC is now
blowing up. Okay, forget Marvel. D C is making new
and new movies. I think you may actually have a
real life You could play Paul Datino, the real life
character in one of the upcoming Batman movies.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
How about that. But if I were a villain, we
do all have to be slanted like this. Yes, right,
you remember the TV show My Villain's lairs were always slanted?
Absolutely know why because this was this is true because
the villains were always crooked, so they made sure that
their lair was crooked on the screen.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
The wealth of information that you were providing. Speaking of
wealth of information, let's return to the somewhat topic at hand.
I don't know if we've covered everything about every facet
of Paul Datino's life yet. We'll try to squeeze that
in on the remainder of the program. But probably the
biggest news today is Brian Dables speaking to the media
with respect to the injury report. He indicated that nobody

(05:09):
has been ruled out at this point and everybody will
be practicing in some capacity today. Now the injury report
is not going to come out until after this program,
and we know Andrew Thomas was upgraded to limited yesterday.
Azizo Jalai popped up on the injury report, he was limited.
Both are dealing with hamstring issues, and just to put
that pective, Darren Waller too. But while we knew had

(05:31):
already been dealing with a hamstring he said yesterday he
will play and it's a nerve issue. It's not necessarily
him reaggravating what he was dealing with less season, even
though it is the same leg.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Though scard tissue correct the build up ard tissue, the
build up of scarred tissue as pressed against the hammy
and sometime causes him a little tightness.

Speaker 5 (05:53):
So he said he's dealing with it. He's getting used
to it. He didn't indicate that he's concerned about it
perhaps getting to a point where it would sideline him.
But like anything else, the team will be monitoring it.
But you know, Paul, with hamstring issues, you just you
never know what these things. You can wake up one day,
you feel great, right, and then the next day, all
of a sudden, it tightens up on you. So you
do have to walk a fine line with respect to that.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
And you know, folks, let's make something clear. It's one
hundred and two at least the forecast in Arizona, which
is where the Giants will be heading tomorrow following a walkthrough. Now,
even though the game will be inside and it'll be
seventy two degrees inside the Cardinal Stity State Farm Stadium,
I don't go with the sponsor. It's Cardinal State.

Speaker 5 (06:36):
Okay, I'm sorry with my apologies.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
Ok.

Speaker 5 (06:38):
They're not sponsoring the show, by.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
The way, No they're not, but they want to.

Speaker 5 (06:42):
We could go there and then you'd be a huge
fan of Right now, it's when it benefits you, we'll
talk about it.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
In any event. The point is for the long flight,
which is about six hours, and then when they get
there and so forth and so on. In that climate,
hydration is going to be very very important because you
will get the cramping and the potential for these soft
tissue injuries, and so the Giants need to be very
much aware of They've already had the training staff school

(07:11):
them on. Start your hydration today. Don't even wait till tomorrow.
Start the day so that you've got enough fluids in
your body.

Speaker 5 (07:18):
See, I could see you as the individual on the
airplane walking up aisle to aisle, making sure and checking
in all the players that they have quality.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Well, hang on the wing.

Speaker 5 (07:29):
Well, I will hope you get to Arizona in one piece.
I wasn't going to go that far out. I was
just saying that I could see you making sure that
the players are taken care of in terms of hydration.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
That's fine because you.

Speaker 5 (07:38):
Don't want to all of a sudden have any surprises
on game day. Yet definitely, and make sure that you
hydrate yourself too. We're all so worried about your well being.
Want to make sure you could survive on the sideline,
even though it's an indoor facility, as you uss, but
we still want to make.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Sure that you're hundred percent yes.

Speaker 5 (07:53):
Now. The assistant coaches also spoke to the media earlier today,
and clearly the one of note was Bobby Johnson, the
offensive line coach, given the struggles that the Giants had
in that department, and he was asked several different questions.
He was asked about whether or not he thought the
guard rotation during training camp in the preseason contributed to
some of the miscues of the struggles. He didn't think
that was an issue. He made no excuses. He said, listen,

(08:15):
all five guys had something that went wrong, and they
had more than enough film to evaluate. But he pretty
much Also, Paul echoed the same sentiments as Brian Dabel,
the players and the coaches. And this is I think
one of the major takeaways whether fans wanted to hear
more of a reaction. It seemed as if they're all
of the mindset that once they reviewed the film, they

(08:35):
were ready to move on to Arizona. And I know
it's the cliched line with Bill Belichick using a few
years ago onto Cincinnati, but the truth is everything they're preaching,
they are all on the same page with respect to that.
You'd be hard pressed to get them to want to
talk any more about this Dallas game.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
He used the phrase that as Bobby Johnson used the
phrase closing the book. Yeah, close the book on Dallas.
That's it looked at it, saw what needed to be corrected,
figured out some techniques that they wanted them to use
against Arizona and close the book on Dallas done looking
forward to the Cardinals.

Speaker 5 (09:07):
But Thomas McGahee was the same way yesterday. Right they
were trying to ask him questions about the block field
going you want any part of it? It was like
we turned the page.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
We've moved on, you know. Just so people understand this,
On Thursdays, the coordinators have their press sessions or their
media briefings if you will. And what I always find
laughable about it is that these staffs will review a
game on Sunday night. Let's just say it's a Sunday game.

(09:35):
I don't want to get to into Thursday night and
all that other stuff. On Monday night, Sunday game, the
staff reviews the game as soon as it's over. They
get the immediate video on the chips. They'll review the
game as soon as it's over. They'll grade it overnight okay,
and then even early into the wee hours Monday morning.
By the time they get to Monday night, after they

(09:57):
do their corrections with the team in a walk through
on Monday morning or sometime around noon, they're already getting
the scouts information sure and processing what they want to
do with their game plan. So that Monday night, when
the staff sits down, they are one hundred and fifty
percent focused on the game plan because that's what they're constructing,

(10:21):
so that the team has a framework to work through
during the course of the week. To ask an assistant
coach on Thursday morning, do you remember that middle of
the third quarter play when so and so got beat
on a pass rush? Is it's almost laughable because these
coaches will tell you, well, it's been since Monday night

(10:44):
that we were all in on the upcoming opponent. You're
talking about all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday into Thursday morning.
Is it any wonder when some of these assistant coaches say, look,
I can barely remember that I've already moved on to
the next game. You flip the script. Their focus is
one hundred and fifty percent on how they're going to
win the upcoming game. Thinking about last week's game does

(11:07):
them no good by the time it gets to Thursday. So,
you know, my feeling has always been, you talk to
the players after the game about the game you just saw.
If you need to review something on Monday, we get
the opportunity to talk to the head coach on Monday,
and usually at least a couple of players. If it's

(11:27):
going to be a video chat, yep, okay, okay, by Tuesday,
that's it. Move on, move on to the next game.
But you know, it bibles my mind, how many questions
these assistants get on Thursday, about four days ago, when
you know that they're not even giving that stuff a

(11:49):
second thought. They're just not is it any wonder? You're
not going to get answers, or even if they give
you answers, there's not much the air. They've already forgotten
about it.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
That's why. Actually, and listen, every team chooses its own schedule.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
Game's buried, it's done. Why bother?

Speaker 5 (12:05):
Sure, But that's why you have some teams they have
their coordinators speak on Monday or Tuesday, right after the game,
so that to your point, it's fresh on their mind
they can address it and then move on the giants.
And this has been like this for multiple coaching staffs YSH.
It's not as if this is brand new. They tend
to have their coordinator speak more closer to the upcoming
game as opposed to the previous game and to each

(12:26):
their own You.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Know, I'm more interested in hearing about from Mike Kafka,
how are you dealing with Buddha Baker. He's been to
the Pro Bowl five times in his NFL career. He
is a disruptive force. He makes big plays. I'd rather
hear him talk about that. Then Oh, uh, you know
you didn't get this, You didn't get this. How can
you get Darius Slayton going after you know? How come

(12:49):
the wide receivers didn't make more plays the other night
against Dallas? Are you kidding me? Seriously?

Speaker 5 (12:55):
Well, right now, we're focused also more on Arizona, and
let's delve into this a little bit because I think
when you look at this team, and we talked about
them when we were previewing them each and every opponent
during the offseason. Clearly the Cardinals they parted ways with
some key personnel. Kyler Murray's heard and everybody expected this
is going to be a team that is going to
struggle and barely win football games. And I know, weird

(13:18):
things happen in Week one, but I was very impressed
with the defensive side of the ball out of the
Arizona Cardinals against Washington and the opener. I saw an
aggressive and athletic group of players that had a knack
for getting after the quarterback. They had six sacks. You
could say some of that with Sam Howell holding on
to the football, I get it, but I think a
lot of it also was a product of some of

(13:39):
these shifty pass rushers. And they got three takeaways too,
and one of which they turned that into a touchdown.
So the reason why I want to start off and
highlight the defense first from a talent perspective, is it
anywhere near the Cowboys defense? Paul? No, Do they have
a Michael Parsons they have a DeMarcus Lawrence with that
level of resume in that consistency. Absolutely not. But I
think this is a defense where the sum is greater

(14:03):
than the individual parts.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
What I mean is is a.

Speaker 5 (14:05):
Group they can fit into each and every equation and
perform admirably. But maybe from an individual standpoint, you don't
see one guy in particular taking over the game.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
The Cardinals' best attribute on defense is speed. Yeah, because
they don't have a superstar leaden roster. So what they've
done is they've got a lot of fast guys, so
they just want to be able to run around like
a bunch of mosquitoes and basically make sure that they

(14:38):
can track you down swarm to the ball. Right, that's it.
So what you want to do against the defense like
that is you want to get very very physical with them.
You want to pound it, you want to use your
strength and your size. The Giants have more three hundred
pound players on their team, and I know it's only
relevant because you only have certain guys on the field

(14:59):
at one time, so it's not necessarily a big stat.
But the Giants are a big team. I think it's
fair to say they're a bigger team than most. They have,
for the most part, above average strength on their roster.
And so you want to play bully ball against the
team that is somewhat challenged challenge wise and relies on speed.

(15:25):
They want you to try to outrun them so that
they can track you down or they can swarm to you.
So this is a team that you want to sock
it to them. You want to play bullyball. The Giants
should not have much trouble using that philosophy against them.
I don't think Washington played enough bully ball the other day,

(15:47):
and they allowed the Cardinals to do some things defensively
that they should not have been allowed to do well, and.

Speaker 5 (15:54):
They also did a really nice job contanning the Washington
run game. Sam Howell, for example, who's a great athlete.
He only ran twice. He did score a touchdown on
the second one. But even Antonio Robinson, Antonio Gibson excuse me,
and Brian Robinson were limited in terms of their effect.
Robinson actually had a receiving touchdown, he didn't run in.
It's interesting you said play bully ball, because I would
argue the Cardinals establish their physicality Paul early in that game,

(16:18):
Washington's first touchdown, they had three penalties Arizona for sixty
seven yards. I mean they were laying out gifts because
Arizona was going for the judgelar immediately, and the Cardinals
they settled down as the game progressed, but you could tell,
I mean, they were looking to cut off Washington immediately.
And the refs obviously came in and said, okay, guys,
we understand your energetic and so forth, but you got

(16:40):
to play at a certain level and a certain rhythm.
So I think maybe my point is there's a little
bit of an underrated physicality to this Arizona team.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
I was talking about the defense team. You want to
flip the page to offense. They would rather play bully
ball on offense because James Connor is a two hundred
and third plus pound back who's over six feet tall,
and from his days with the Steelers, he has shown
the ability to be durable, to be physical. He's not

(17:10):
afraid of anybody. I mean he will put his shoulder
down and he'll try to run through you, and he'll
try to drag tacklers an extra yard or two. He
is he is a bullyball type of running back. Not
a superstar, but a bullyball type of back. So I
do think offensively the Cardinals would like to rely on him,
especially since Dobs has only been there for a few weeks. Yeah,

(17:32):
the quarterback, I don't think there's any doubt about that
that they'd like to do that offensively. But defensively they're
based on speed, No they are.

Speaker 5 (17:41):
I just I saw some physicality out of them early on,
and then I think they got back at the speed
and it could be a product of that one not
tred percent as far as the offense is concerned, the Cardinals,
his average yards per passe attempt was four point four yards.
Now part of that is to your point, he only
had about five or six practices with the offense, be no,

(18:03):
they'd have even gone into the game now. Just like,
if you're gonna make the argument, well, Isaiah Simmons is
gonna get more and more comfortable with the Giants defense,
well then you have to say the same thing about
Joshua Dobbs and the offensive personnel. They have another week,
so they're gonna get a little bit more comfortable. Does
that mean that the Cardinals are gonna start going for
home runs? Is opposed to singles and bunts? I don't
know if I'd go that far, but this is the

(18:25):
best way I would sum it up. This is a
tackling game for the Giants, okay, because what they like
to do, Paul is they like to get their elusive
weapons out in open space and rely on yardage after
the catch. We saw reverses and screens with Connor, with
Ron del Moore. We'll see whether or not they get
Hollywood Brown a little bit more involved the tight ends
in the middle of the field. That means that if

(18:45):
the Giants want to do damage control, if Dobbs is
gonna make a five yard pass, then keep it to
five or six yards, No doubt, do not allow it
to get to ten or eleven, because the more and
more you allow that, that's when now Dobbs in company
don't have to put together in eight play ninety yard
drive where it's more likely they're going to back themselves

(19:05):
into a mistake.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
That to me is priority number two. Priority number one
is to stop Connor. Don't let them be multi dimensional,
because if Connor could consistently win the ball. He remember his
average yards per carry for his career, and he's been
around for Watch six or Steelers is over four yards
of pop. He's a legitimate productive guy who makes the
chains move. Stuff him. Be very very nasty upfront. Play

(19:33):
bully ball with your front seven and contain Connor, shut
him down. Don't just contain him, shut him down. Do
that put the game in Dobbs's hands. Then Priority number
two is don't allow yack yardage. You do that, you
suffocate the Cardinals.

Speaker 5 (19:48):
Yeah, because I mean Arizona did not put on an
offensive clinic. They had one touchdown due to a defensive score,
and you could argue they were in position to win
the game. Dobbs fumbled the ball on consecutive possessions and
Washington had an extremely shortened field where they got a
touchdown and then ultimately tacked on the field goal. So
it wasn't as if Arizona was moving the ball up

(20:10):
and down the field. But if you allow those elusive
weapons to get out and they could do damage, that's
when all of a sudden, you alleviate the quarterback. So
that to me is an extremely prevalent storyline. Yeah, before
we get to the calls, Dobbs has mobility. Oh absolutely, Okay, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
And you certainly need to make sure that you're aware
of that because you don't want him to accidentally extend
to play and burn you. Yeah, you know, because he'll
go off script a little bit. Talking to one of
the Giants defensive linemen yesterday, I specifically asked him about
the limited film that Dobbs has out there. He's only
started three games in the NFL, and he's been around
for like five years.

Speaker 5 (20:46):
It was with Pittsburgh for many years in Tennessee. Threw
his first touchdown pass last season, so this.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Will be his fourth pro start. And given that there
is so little film, I said, how much of that
film study is really relevant here? Because there isn't that much.
Do you have to kind of feel your way through
his tendencies as the game goes on, and he said,
there's no question you need to continue from the very

(21:13):
first part of the game. You can have to continue
to process the information to figure out what is he
trying to do as the game goes on. You can't
really scout it and base everything on a scouting report.
You have to get more of a firsthand feel for him.
And so the Giants defense needs to be very much aware,

(21:35):
especially early, that they could see surprising developments out of
this quarterback because they just don't have enough of a
file on him. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (21:44):
Especially Also, Drew Petsing, the offensive coordinator, was the Cleveland
Browns QB coach, so he was with Dobbs last season
in Cleveland. But Petsing didn't call plays. It wasn't his offense,
Paul we're talking about. It was Kevin Stefanski and Alex
van Pelt. So there's really I would say there's a newness,
not just with Dobbs, there's newness with respect to this offense,
no question, because Petsing is a first time offensive coordinator.

(22:07):
So to your point, could Arizona have some tricks up
its leave that it didn't tap into and utilize last
week one hundred percent. Remember the Giants were very much
in a similar position to Arizona last season, where the
Giants were the land of the unknown because you had
the infusion of Dable and Kafka, And yet Wink operating
with the Giants is opposed to Baltimore. So now Arizona

(22:27):
is in that area where they're operating in the gray
as opposed to black and white, and you gotta be on.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
High alert, I think is a good way to put it.

Speaker 5 (22:36):
And I don't think the Giants are taking this opponent
for granted. But one last thing I want to point
out in terms of individual defenders, and this is why
I wouldn't overlook this facet of the team. Dennis Gardek,
who's mainly been a special team throughout his career. He
had two sacks against Washington. You know, he's developed into
a notable pass rusher. Kayzer White was in the Philadelphia
scheme with Jonathan Gannon. They brought him over to play

(22:57):
in the middle. He's a very active linebacker. And Zaven
Collins is a player who was scratching the surface onto
the old regime and he seems to be a little
bit more comfortable and he had an interception. So I
know you brought a Buddha Baker and Jalen Thompson. They
have two really good seculary players, but I'm looking more
of the guys at the front seven. Those are three
to keep close tabs on because they're active athletes, as

(23:19):
we started the conversation with. So that's an idea of
what to expect from the Arizona Cardinals as the Giants
gear up for their matchup coming your way on Sunday
at four h five pm Easter. Few reminders before we
open up the phone lines in terms of various different
elements in play. Here the Giant Tuttle podcast. You could
check that out. You could head to your favorite podcast platform.

(23:40):
You could go to Giants dot com slash podcasts. Giants fans,
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(24:02):
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(24:25):
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(24:47):
It's on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon, fireTV, as well as
the Giants Mobile app. All right, let's open up the lines.
Two zero one nine three nine four five one three.
First up is Noel in New Jersey. He gets us
going here on Big Blue kick offline. What's happening to Noel? Hey?

Speaker 3 (25:02):
Guys, Hey, you guys doing what's on your mind?

Speaker 5 (25:05):
Good?

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Well, first of all, we're not going to talk about
last week. Obviously, we want to move by. But I
want to see what John Michael Schmidt does and how
he gels with the offensive line and maybe he becomes
that leader, maybe he takes our offensive line to the
next step. But I'm really excited to see what we're
doing with that. I also want to see obviously, Cardinals,
we got Isaiah Simmons, Like, let's get him involved in

(25:29):
our defense. He could play so many different positions. I
want to see if his role steps up. And then lastly,
we still need a wide receiver. I love everybody that
we have and nobody's gonna like this except for Sterling Shepherd.
But can we go out there and get a Chase Claypool,
somebody who could really separate and become a number one
target for Daniel Jones. I'm excited to see what we

(25:50):
do over the next few weeks with that. But yeah,
no doubt we bounce back. The only thing I could
tell from us losing last week is that we're not
going to go undefeated. So that's that's my only going out.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
On a limb on that one there, Noel, Yeah, well,
we appreciate the phone call. We'll let you go on
that note. Thanks for Wayne in mathematical major.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Right there.

Speaker 5 (26:07):
I mean, once again, he's putting A and B together
to get to see it's truly amazing. That is an
eye opening statement right there. We were still at the
point where the jury was out as to whether or
not the Giants would go undefeated. But anyway, as far
as the wide receiver, a little bit surprising that already
we're receiving phone calls about somebody wanting to go out
and grab a wide receiver. Wandel Robinson's coming back. And
let's face it, you didn't really see much of anything

(26:30):
in terms of the operation of this offense because they
lost in the trenches and Dallas completely dominated in that area.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
I'll go to the Simmons comment. I talked to Isaiah
yesterday and asked him specifically about how much of the
playbook does he feel he's gotten down? And he said
all of it? And I said all of it? He
said yeah, And I said, you feel comfortable running everything?
He said, I do. I said, that's pretty quick. He said,
I'm telling you, I've got the whole thing down, and

(26:57):
he said, what I love about it is that I
can run any of these plays from virtually anywhere on
the field. It doesn't matter where they're starting me out.
I can run it, he said. If they want me
to cover, I can be in one spot, two spots,
three spots on the field, and I can still run
that coverage. He's extremely excited about playing for Winke Martindale.

(27:20):
He can't say enough about this coordinator now. Whether or
not he has a great game against the Cardinals, he
did say there's no emotion involved. And the reason there
can't be any emotion involved because he believes that would
be detrimental. That if he lets emotions get involved in
the game, that it will impact his ability to be efficient,
which would then hurt the Giants' chances of winning. So

(27:44):
he's going into this as a business trip, as just
another opponent. Whether or not he can keep those feelings
in check, that remains to be seen. But his intention
is just to go out there and do what Wenk
wants him to do.

Speaker 5 (27:58):
It's going to be interesting with respect to the emotion part,
and I understand it's easy to say that, but you know,
unlike the rest of the Giants players, he's the only
one that has ties to everybody on the opposing sideline
because he was just there because Buddha. Baker was also
asked about seeing Isaiah Simmons for the first time since
he was traded, because they are very close. Baker was
a mentor for Isaiah Simmons when he was in Arizona,

(28:18):
and Baker said, listen, well, shake hands, will greet before
the game, and then once the game starts. I couldn't
care less about right right. So, but once again, everyone
knows Isaiah Simmons on the Arizona roster. Isaiah is the
only one on the Giants roster that could relate to
all the Arizona guys. So that'll be interesting to see
once they have their initial interaction. But the other thing
that Isaiah pointed out in that meeting with the media

(28:41):
that you talked about and this is something that he
really is going to have to adapt to where one
week he may play a boatload of snaps because Wink says, Isaiah.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
You're a great matchup.

Speaker 5 (28:52):
The following week, Paul, he may not have that big
of a role. So the one thing for any player
to adjust to I think Wink system is you who
could go from being a prominent guy that's highlighted to
all of a sudden becoming an afterthow. We've seen this
last season, right with the Giants personnel. There's a defensive back,
a corner plays unbelievable one week, and then the following

(29:13):
week you don't see much of him. So I think
that's gonna be maybe the biggest adjustment for a player
like Isaiah Simmons.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
The one thing that will help him and probably keep
his head in the game. The Giants have already put
him on special teams. And you know, I can say
it now. I wasn't going to tell people this before
the Dallas game because it was kind of classified information,
but they absolutely planned to use him on specials when
he was at Clemson. In his three years with the Tigers,

(29:39):
he had twenty three solo special teams tackles. He is
an absolute monster on special teams.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
He's athletic guy, yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
They're aware of that. Because of his speed and his
size and his length, he can be a big special
teams force. And so now that he's played a game
on specials, which we saw in Dallas, I feel free
enough to at least mention that to you It's something
I had to keep under wraps. But between him, Nick
McLeod Taiwan Jones, I felt like the Giants Special teams

(30:12):
were going to get a very late infusion of some
quality players who could wind up being the core of
this unit and obviously special teams because of the field
goal units. Yeah, had tremendous problems the other day, but
the coverage units, they didn't have a lot of work.
But I think the coverage units actually did their job

(30:35):
against Dallas.

Speaker 5 (30:35):
And that's what happens, Paul, when you have a lot
of movable parts, right. Thomas mcgahey talks about this.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Every week.

Speaker 5 (30:41):
You have certain players at you dispose of one week, injuries,
they take guys away, you have new guys. So it's
not surprising that there were some ups and downs in
terms of the opener. Funny side story to your point
about Simmons being on special teams being classified information. I
like to go back and listen to the press conferences
of the Giants want it to get their perspective of

(31:01):
how things played out. So I was listening to John Fossil,
the Cowboys special teams coach, and he had mentioned that,
you know, they were in this feel it out process
with the giants because they didn't know who was going
to be utilized on special teams. So John Fossil was saying,
you know, they go out and they see Isaiah Simmons
cavon tivideo be utilized on special teams. I was like, Okay,
you know, now we got to account for some different people.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
So I think a lot wasn't getting any help from
me that I.

Speaker 5 (31:25):
Wasn't expecting you to. Even though the Fossil name is
tied to the help, you still want to go there?

Speaker 2 (31:31):
No, hell, I won't go there.

Speaker 5 (31:32):
Okay, we know where your alliance is and your allegiance
or at least glad that we got some clarity on
that front. All right, let's head back to the phone
lines here as we move forward on BBKL, we got
Dan in Michigan joining us here. What's happening, Dan, welcome aboard?

Speaker 2 (31:47):
Hey, Dave in Michigan.

Speaker 5 (31:49):
Okay, Dan became Dave. We're not sure, but we'll take
your word for it. So what's happening?

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yes, that's right. How are you, Dave?

Speaker 6 (31:59):
I'm good man, I'm good. Hey. Uh. I want to
say about Sunday's game. I haven't called a week on it.
The reason why we were all on the ledge after,
you know, by halftime, is that true Giant fans hate,
and I mean hate the Cowboys, the Eagles, and the

(32:20):
and the Washington Commanders on a cellular level, and we
were looking forward to this game for nine months. Sure,
I just want to put it in perspective that said,
by Monday morning, I looked at that game. Uh, did

(32:40):
do you guys play golf?

Speaker 2 (32:43):
No?

Speaker 5 (32:43):
No, not regularly. I used to play, but not now.

Speaker 6 (32:46):
All right, So sometimes when you go to the golf
course and you've you've you've cracked, you know, you've been
at the range, you've you've gotten there early, you've done
the putting, and you get to the first and you
hit a worm burner for fifty yards and it just

(33:08):
keeps getting worse to the point when you're at the
twelfth or thirteenth hole you just want to walk off.
And that was at that that was what that game was.
But you go out a couple of days later to
another golf course and you play great, and you know,

(33:34):
it's one of those things. Anyway, I just wanted to
say that why are we trying out new players at
wide receiver? I don't. I don't get that, Dave.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
They bring in a handful of players every single week
throughout the course of the season to run them through
quick interviews and quick workouts to compile what's known as
the short list. Every personnel department or general manager in
this league has a short list, and by bringing in

(34:06):
all these different guys, they keep adjusting the short list
based on who's available and who performs better in these visits.
That short list is at every single position on the team,
every position, and it's basically meant for an emergency situation
that if you get into a bad spot injury wise,

(34:28):
you can get someone from the short list in here
on a moment's notice without having to do any research
on them and say, Okay, we need somebody come in
and give us give us a hand. That's what it's about.
So many times, it's about the availability of when that
player can come in. So by the Giants having a
couple of receivers in the other day, they happen to

(34:49):
be available, they were willing to come in, You put
them on the you put them through the process, and
if they did well, they get put on the short list.
It doesn't mean they were looking to sign a receiver
this week.

Speaker 5 (35:00):
Yeah, it's basically doing your due diligence, if memory serves
me correctly. Actually, before the Giants signed Land and Collins,
they had brought him in previously about two or three years,
and then they ultimately signed him. So that's a perfect
example of what we're talking about.

Speaker 6 (35:14):
So, and I do want to speak about the O line.
So Evan Neil. Everybody's talking about Evan Neil. I was
willing to say, you know, I know it's gonna be frustrating,
but this line, with a rookie center and still evolving

(35:35):
from last year, is going to need eighty or nine
games for us to really and that is if they
all stand the field, for us to really see where
we're at. And then the other day, and I love
Jonathan Casillas on the show. I think he's a wonderful analyst.

(35:58):
He basically is our already talking about shifting a a
Neil to guard next year, but acknowledging that he's our
plan A for this year as long as he stays
in the field, and that has to be the you know,
that just is the way it is. So what do
you guys think about uh Kopkiz and Johnson's ability to

(36:24):
scheme blocking, you know, to come up with blocking schemes
where we get help, where there's help on the right side.

Speaker 5 (36:35):
Look all right, Kab, We'll let you go on that point, Dan,
I appreciate the phone call.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
I think this is part of the reason why I've
always advocated for a full back. You see, a full
back can help in many ways. He can help in
your short passing game because he can flare out. He
can help by picking up the leaky guy who's coming
in from that defensive front. He can just stay inside

(37:00):
and become or in the backside to help with pass protection.
Just because he has an assignment to pick up some guy.
He could also help be the lead blocker for your
tailback or your your halfback, whatever you want to call him.
I've always advocated a fullback. The Giants, like most teams
in the NFL today, don't necessarily advocate for that. The

(37:21):
Niners with Juzek, who's been to the Pro Bowl, at
us Jacobs, he we will see him on Thursday. That's
just the way it is. I would have preferred that
the Giants decided to have a fullback on this team,
not just to help out Barkley to give him a
nice lane to go through, like Joe Morris used to
go behind Maurice Carthon and Tiki Barbera used to go

(37:42):
behind Jim Finn. You know, I'm a big advocate of that.
And I also think that the fullback is as a
component in pass pro because it gives you an additional
option instead of just saying we're gonna, you know, double
team somebody on the line, or we're gonna throw the
tight end over there. You know, we're go double tight end.

(38:05):
I'll be honest with you, I'm playing bully ball this week.
I'm not only using a lot of double tight ends.
I'm gonna go with some triple tight ends against the
Cardinals because I'm gonna bludget them to death with Saquon Barkley.
That's what I'm going to do. That's one potential solution
which I don't think the Giants will use. They don't
seem to be inclined to have a fallback on this team.

Speaker 5 (38:25):
One thing to keep in mind, I think if Tommy
Sweeney was healthy, that may have been a full back
esque option. I know he's a tight end, but based
on his usage in Buffalo and his familiarity that may
have created and.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Then myrak got hurt too, correct.

Speaker 5 (38:40):
So you have to take that into consideration, Paul, in
terms of what you're talking about. They maybe the intention
of using some of those players, Unfortunately they aren't available.
Evan Neil fourteen starts, Okay, he has not even finished
his rookie year, so I think we have to I
would agree with one of the sentiments the last caller mentioned,
you need to see a complete set at least can

(39:00):
he get through a rookie year before we rush the judgment, right?
I mean fourteen games thirteen last year, he missed four
and he's got one start this year, so you know,
let him get beyond the hurdle of a rookie year,
a full rookie year being under his belt. I actually
I spoke with Mark Schlereth, the three time Super Bowl
champ Fox NFL analyst who's going to be on the
call this weekend, and here's where you gotta walk the

(39:21):
fine line. He was mentioning in terms of help because
he felt from what he saw against the Cowboys, and
I suggest you go and listen to the conversation. I
don't want to summarize the whole thing, but to take
a big story and make it the key point here.
He indicated that guys like Evan Neil were overthinking where
the assignments were being sacrificed because they.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Were going to the right when they should have stayed
on the left. So my point is, you gotta be
careful when you.

Speaker 5 (39:47):
Expect help, because then guys get so overwhelmed, Paul, that
they get lost within a game. So I know this
is the simplification, but the overall improvement of the individuals
and handling their one on one assignments needs to be
the priority before we start talking about you take player A,
you take player B, you take player C's what I'm
going to say with respect to that.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
The paralysis by analysis is a very very interesting phrase
that can come into play. And when people say, oh,
you know, Neil looks slow, blah blah blah blah, part
of that is probably because maybe he's thinking too much.
You know, they always tell you if you got the
rapid fire instincts going upstairs, the physicality is going to
be a hell of a lot quicker below the neck,

(40:31):
and I think that's part of the issue for him.
But that's you know, it's again it's one game. It's
one game. And as far as the other comment about
where does he need to go, there's no question that
with the thin roster at tackle, there's no way in
the world he's going to move to guard this year. Now,
if you want to have that conversation after the season,

(40:54):
maybe you can dabble in the conversation, but there's no
way he's moving into guard this season because the Giants
have plenty of guards that they can throw into the lineup,
including Lemieux who did not play last week. McKeithen who
had a jersey but did not get into the game. Yep,
they've got guards they can plug in if they want to.

(41:15):
Two Well, Zudu already did. Yeah. The point is tackles, No,
no tackles. It's tissue paper thin at tackle. What what
options do you have?

Speaker 5 (41:26):
Well, is Zudu and McKeithen, for example, could kick out
the tackle Mcki. Yeah, that's not him As a situation,
it's the two starters and Matt Paarirtt and Matt Paarirtt
also is dealing.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
With an injury. Part's got a elbow, but he's fine
practicing this week. He's he's good to go.

Speaker 5 (41:43):
But what I'm just saying is that you had two
of your three tackles right that already banged up, and.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Denail's not moving this year. And again, if you want
to dabble in that conversation for a few seconds, maybe
you could do it at the end of the season.
I still don't think that's going to happen, because you'll
play well enough that you won't want to move.

Speaker 5 (42:00):
It just seems impractical, and I do think Dallas's personnel
wreaked havoc two. I would not overlook Arizona. But when
Michael Parsons is moving right to left and he's all
of a sudden creeping up on you, you can understand
offensive linemen are thinking.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
I don't have to play the Cowboys.

Speaker 5 (42:14):
That's what I'm saying. Okay, Is Dennis gard At doing
that to Andrew Thomas and Evan Neil this week? Probably not.
But I will say this, Paul, if those guys get
some early success in the game, that's when it can
change from a mental stand.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Oh, that's why you don't want to let the Cardinals
establish any momentum.

Speaker 5 (42:31):
Yeah, because that's exactly what the Cardinals managed to do
against Washington. Josh is in Arizona, joining us here on BBKL.
What's happening, Josh? What you got for us?

Speaker 7 (42:41):
Hey Lanson?

Speaker 3 (42:41):
Paul, Hi, how are you doing good?

Speaker 7 (42:45):
First time caller, longtime listening.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
Welcome.

Speaker 5 (42:47):
We're glad that you branched out and are now taking
the ultimate risk in phoning.

Speaker 7 (42:53):
Well listen, you guys are come in Arizona. I had
to call up sure, but yeah, I'm going to be
at this game on Sunday, and I almost kind of
feel like this is like a debut game for the Giants,
just because last week was so floppy and ugly, and
I'm kind of just looking forward to seeing the Giants

(43:17):
turned loose all of their weapons.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
You want to see the real Giants on Sunday. And
I could not agree with you more because what I
saw the other day was not the fifty three man
roster that I've watched for six weeks. The real Giants
will show up in Arizona, I think.

Speaker 4 (43:32):
So to Paul.

Speaker 7 (43:33):
And I think the two spots that I'm really going
to be focusing on is the receivers. I'd love to see,
you know, Paris Campbell get going Waller of course, and
then I want to see the two rookie cornerbacks. You know,
Cardinals don't have the greatest receivers, but Marque's Hollywood Brown
is no chunk. Yeah threat, Yeah, he is a deep threats.

(43:57):
I'd like to see if these rookie corners can hang
at them. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to the game.
Paul John, are you guys going to be around?

Speaker 5 (44:06):
John's not here? So, but I've been called worse throughout
my life, so it's okay. I'll let that one sep.

Speaker 7 (44:10):
No John travels to the game.

Speaker 5 (44:12):
He does, he'll be there. I'll be there also.

Speaker 7 (44:16):
Okay, Well, I'll try to see if I can find
you guys.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
I'll be on the sideline. It won't be hard to
find me.

Speaker 5 (44:21):
Ahi draft to appreciate the phone call. With respect to
the Cardinals personnel, he mentioned Hollywood Brown, I brought up
ron Dell Moore. You got speedsters on this Arizona team.
That to me is the best way. They got a
lot of athleticism at speed on both sides of the ball.
Do they have, you know, the possession receiver that is
going to kill you with a thousand different cuts. I

(44:42):
don't know if I'd go that far, but if you
lose sight of a guy, he'll absolutely beat you. That's
why tackling, once again, is the biggest priority in this game.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
I'm gonna ask you to put the brakes on that
for a second, because zach Ertz has done that to
the jibt. But he's not a wide receiver though he's
a part of a passing game. That's fine. Ertz has
caught a touchdown pass in five straight games against the Giants,
all with Philly before he joined Arizona a couple of
years back. But that's a guy who has been a

(45:13):
many times thorn in the Giants foot. I mean, oh man,
I don't even want to I don't want to think
about looking at that guy. I was so glad to
get him out of the division.

Speaker 5 (45:24):
Well, then you wind up playing games outside of the division.
I hate to break it to you. There's only six
within the division. Him and Trey McBride, by the way,
because McBride is now in year two. Yes, so they
have two tight ends. Yet those are the possession guys
if you want to go there where, if Dobbs wants
to convert a shorter third down. Yet, those are the
two guys that you want to look out for. But

(45:44):
as far as the corners that the last caller was
referring to, meaning having the two rookies being tested, it's
more of Ron del Moore and Hollywood Browns, especially since
both of those guys can be out on the boundary.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
Banks did a nice job the other night, by the way,
in his snaps, and I thought Hawkins was okay, held
his zone too. But I'm telling you right now, if
by some stretch of the imagination, the Cardinals upset the
Giants and pull off this win, it's practically a lock.
Zach Ertz is gonna make a key play.

Speaker 5 (46:13):
Okay, I thought you were going in a different direction
with he.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
He is the thorn. He is the thorn. Forget about
the other guys. Zach Ertz sees blue and he knows
it's time to make a play.

Speaker 5 (46:27):
Because what you could be laying out here is, let's
say they get an explosive play with Hollywood Brown or
Ron del Moore.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
Ertz is the finisher.

Speaker 5 (46:35):
You know what I'm saying, they get into the red zone,
Dobbs is gonna look for earth.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
What he does. He's been He's been doing this for
the years against the Giants.

Speaker 5 (46:44):
Well, and also, which was interesting, and part of this
I think was a product of I don't think Arizona
wanted Dobbs to take.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
A lot of chances.

Speaker 5 (46:52):
They wanted to emphasize protecting the football. But if you
just look at the targets, so.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
The targets for Ertz, it was by far the most.

Speaker 5 (47:00):
But I was gonna take it a step further if
you include McBride twelve targets for tight ends.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Let's just look at it through that stand. Every young
quarterback's best friend is the tight end. That's the way
this game works. That's because there's usually a shorter route
to throw to. Okay, and because of the tight end's physicality,
usually he can help box out and give the quarterback

(47:26):
a better box to throw into to get the completion.
That's just the nature of the game.

Speaker 5 (47:32):
No, I agree with you, but I would say also,
if you're Dobbs, you could dump it off to James Connor.
You could also use Ron Delcore, and he didn't utilize
those guys.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
A lot in terms of volume. I'm telling you, zach
Ertz has gone to Dobbs and said to him, I
got these guys, look for me. Look for me. Whenever
you see you established that was exactly but against the Giants,
Oh yeah, Ertz wants that. Ertz wants fifteen targets this.

Speaker 5 (47:56):
Week, thirty pass attempts for Dobbs that he was set
three times, so he dropped back thirty three times, twelve
to tight ends. Let me do the math. You're talking
about one position that absolutely dominated things. Now once again,
it'll be interested to see whether or not they open
things up a little bit more once again because of
the fact that this is now another week with Dobbs

(48:17):
and the personnel getting on the same page. But as
far as the Giants are concerned, if to some of
the last callers point, if you want to see the
real Giants, I think you use that phrase, it's got
to start with Daniel Jones having time to survey the
field and get the football into those options. That's why
for anybody right now who wants to talk about bringing

(48:39):
in another wide receiver this and that, it's extremely premature.
Can we see a game or two where there's actually
functionability where Daniel Jones has an opportunity to target his
wide receivers as well as his Titans. He didn't get
a lot of that based on game flow against the Cowboy.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
This is one of those games, and I don't always
advocate putting a defense on the field first, but I
would like to see the Giants defense on the field first, okay,
so that they can get foming at the mouth and
Wink can be aggressive, and Wink can play some bully
ball and set the tempo on the Cardinals offense right

(49:16):
out of the gate. Show them whose boss and who
was going to control this game from the get go.
I would like the Giants' physicality on d to be
able to get that spark going right away. I would
not want the Giants offense on the field first. After
what they showed the other day, I'm a little more

(49:37):
fearful that they would not be able to deliver that
first right cross. I feel the defense would be better
suited to do it. Well.

Speaker 5 (49:45):
You know how you selve that riddally you win the
coin toss. So if you can work your magic, Paul,
I suggest you maybe consult with some higher powers or
shine up the coin or whatever it may, because that's
your best option to get your wish. But as far
as once again valuating the passing attack, Daniel Jones twenty
eight pass attempts, seven though were sacked, so thirty five

(50:07):
dropbacks in total, just there wasn't enough at bats to
truly get a feel for what potentially this passing game
can do. Willer did get five targets, but you know,
once again, based on how the game played out, I
don't even think they tapped into him, and then Jones
spread the wealth for pretty much everybody else. But if
you expected Daniel Jones to have an opportunity to go

(50:29):
for a home run in that game, then I think
you just were not watching the game close enough because
he had no time to even consider that. So anything
with respect to guys like Paris Campbell, with respect to
Darius Slayden, you just you had nothing, no opportunities to
truly say, Okay, this is what they can do with
them within the confines of this offense.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
In some ways, that's the best thing that could happen
to them, though, because they.

Speaker 5 (50:52):
Didn't put a lot of film out. That's you're saying
in terms of how they could.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
Offer cardinals, we don't know what the giants are, especially
off They just don't know because they saw this avalanche
that in my opinion, was an aberration. I mean, do
they know anything about Jalen Hyatt they don't know, they
don't me.

Speaker 5 (51:11):
Once again, he barely had an opportunity to truly show up.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
So you know, I think that's the one silver lining here.
If you want to look at the big picture, if
the Giants had lost this game twenty four to twenty
three on a last second field goal, there'd be a
terrible gut punch there because you will have played hard,
you will have lost a heartbreaking game. You'd be thinking

(51:34):
about it all year about how that's a game you
should have won, you could have won, you can't get
it back, and you'll be also saying, man, we delivered
a really good, strong blow to the Cowboys and they
still beat you. No. For me, I think big picture
philosophically wise, it's a heck of a lot easier to
wash away of forty to nothing, wipeout and say that

(51:57):
wasn't the real Giants. Dallas did not get their best shot.
It's done, it's finished. Nothing about that game is relevant
in week two, move on. I think that's easier to.

Speaker 5 (52:08):
Do the other thing with respect to matching up in personnel,
which we didn't bring up earlier. Jonathan Gannon's been in
the division each of the last two years with defensive coordinator. Now,
Arizona's not running identical to what Philadelphia did, but there's
some similar concepts. As far as in edge there, I
would say I think Gannon has the edge. And this

(52:29):
is why, even though some of the Giants personnel changed,
not all of it changed. Gannon is now operating with
a completely new group of personnel on the defensive side
of the ball, So the Giants don't have as much
of a grass even though they've seen the Eagles defense
in terms of how he utilizes Arizona's personnel, with the
exception of as I mentioned, Kayzier White in the middle linebacker,

(52:50):
whereas Gannon has a better read on seeing the majority
of the Giants offensive personnel, the offensive lineman and so forth.
So if you're asking me who has an edge there
at least going into the I would say I think
Gannon has the edge. That could obviously balance out based
on how the game goes, but Gannon seen more of
the Giants versus what the Giants have seen in terms
of the Cardinals defense.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
I concur with that.

Speaker 5 (53:12):
Let's head back to the phone lines. Shelley is in
the Bronx joining us here on BBKL. What's happened to
Shelley what he got for us?

Speaker 4 (53:19):
Hey, first time a long time. I'll be eighty years
old in March. So I go back, and you know
I started Chuck Carnally balling, Sari Road, Shoftner, little mow
et cetera.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
We can go down those well, thanks for calling today.

Speaker 5 (53:37):
You got it.

Speaker 4 (53:38):
Jim Lee Howe you know?

Speaker 1 (53:39):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (53:40):
And in fact, I'll make this one quick. Remember Ali Sherman.
He loved this guy, Joe bis Saha in training camp.
So he got rid of Buddy Dill, who Pittsburgh picked up.
And it was like an old pro Having said that,
I was at the pat from Rural Snow game when
they beat the Browns. They didn't go to the following
week when they beat them. Nothing to go against the paths. Okay,

(54:02):
let's let's go up last week before the game, when
Shane Lemieux was announced and not starting. I must have
my pressure must have gone out because I do not
like most of the offensive line unfortunately, which was unfortunately proven.

Speaker 6 (54:19):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (54:20):
I think Lewinsky is kind of over the hill. Evan
Neale is a question mark even though he hasn't played
many games. Perhaps he's gonna wind up as a card.

Speaker 3 (54:28):
We don't know.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
Our left tackle, unfortunately, is trying to run down an
interceptor and now he's got the handy, and you know
what Hammy's do. And I think Easzudu and McKeithen and
Lemieux have to get in the game. And that's basically
right now or today where I'm at. And I love
you guys, and of course Schmelk and I hear you

(54:49):
most of the days, and I'm glad the first time calling.
So yeah, so you know, I don't want to gloss
over anything, but I'm very concerned with the offensive life
and I love Shane and Dave what we all do.
But I don't know when I thought Lewinsky was going
to be a the guy, and Neil has been a

(55:11):
question mark. I'm going over the same thing I just said,
but I'm really hoping that we can solidify that line
to give a few second and a half more for
our great quarterback. And we got a tough schedule, so
there's no easy pads in this game. Pass.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (55:27):
Well, I mean that goes without saying Shelley and listen,
We'll let you go on that note. Appreciate the phone
call and the offensive line has to improve. The play
in the trenches overall has to improve, because if it doesn't,
then it doesn't matter who the matchup is, the opposing
team is going to be able to dictate the tone.
So I think they realize that internally. I think everybody
who obviously pulls to the team realizes that. From an

(55:47):
external standpoint, you go back to Glowinsky and Brettison being
the first man up with respect to guards, I think.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
Part of it was experience.

Speaker 5 (55:56):
Yeah, I think that goes without saying, especially once again,
when you're playing next to a rookie center in John
Michael Schmidt. If you start putting in a Zudu and McKeithen,
who didn't play at all last season, you're now taking
one guy who doesn't have much experience, and you're making
it now a trio of that. I think that was
a big part of the influence. How do we help
John Michael schmidz you do that because you have the

(56:18):
two most experienced guards on the right and the left
of it.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Like I always say, it's easy to have hindsight and
it's easy to second guess, but going in you advocated
that plan for several weeks. You're gonna play Dallas dan
Quinn has a very quick, aggressive, strong defense. He's gonna
stunt and twist a lot in the front to do
everything he can to confuse John Michael Schmidz. Don't you

(56:41):
want to give him at least a sporting chance to
be able to deal with this from a mental perspective,
because the physical always comes after the mental. If you
don't have the mental stuff down, you have no chance
to physically match up against anybody. So you advocated it
because it made sense. There was a lot of logic
behind it. Okay, so it did not work. That doesn't

(57:01):
mean you just scrap the whole thing after one game. Now,
they may make changes this week, Let's make that clear.
They may. Certainly, it looks like they may be forced
to at left tackle if Andrew Thomas isn't able to
really go. That's a possibility, So that could be a change.
Could they change out one of the guards? Certainly they could.

(57:23):
They could, But this has got to be something that
they need to feel comfortable with understanding where John Michael
Schmidz is only his second week into his rookie campaign.

Speaker 5 (57:37):
And you don't want to then have this center take
a step back. The corrective issues around him. Remember, be
careful is all I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
Be careful. You could do it, but be careful. You
better be pretty sure that that young rookie is going
to be able to handle it.

Speaker 5 (57:52):
See, you can make one change and think you're helping
one cause and wind up hurting three other things.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
Exactly.

Speaker 5 (57:57):
That's why you gotta be careful.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
You don't go ahead. I will add this, If you're
going to do a change like this, at least you're
not doing it against a superstar defensive front. The Cardinals
defensive line is the kind of defensive line that you
might be able to experimental, experiment a little bit. You're
certainly not going to experiment against San Francis.

Speaker 5 (58:20):
Yeah, but the problem is, but Paul, you dance around
and experiment, then before you know it, you're gonna play
the same You gotta be careful. It can then hurt
you on the back end of that. But yeah, I
don't think the Giants are necessarily hitting the panic button
after one game. So I could see some changes, but
a complete revamp that may be a stretch, especially going

(58:42):
into just the second game of the season. So with
that being said, that is going to wrap up Friday's
edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live. Appreciate everybody for tuning
in as the Giants are going to go up against
the Cardinals at four h five pm Eastern, and then
we will have full reaction starting with a new week
of Big Blue Kickoff Live on Monday at twelve thirty

(59:02):
pm Easter. A reminder today's episode of BBKL as part
of the Giants Platforms Everywhere and Giants dot Com Slash podcast.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
I love we had two first time callers, by the way,
absolutely folks. If you've been listening to the program for years,
believe me, it's a lot of fun to hear from
new voices. We don't always want to hear the same
people every single week. I just want to throw that
out there again. Let's emphasize we love hearing from all
the fans, especially the ones who have not gotten a

(59:30):
chance to dial us up. So applause for those guys
for calling us.

Speaker 5 (59:34):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
Let's get some more new ones. And for you guys
who did call one time, make sure you do it
again one hundred percent.

Speaker 5 (59:43):
Yes, do not be shy. And perhaps somewhat of a
subliminal message to those that do call in all the
time to let the others get a taste of the party.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
How about that.

Speaker 5 (59:53):
All right, that's all the bookkeeping that is necessary here
on the program. We appreciate everybody for tuning in. Enjoy
the weekend, Enjoy the game. Will speak to you on
Monday right here on BBK. Have a go on