Big Blue Kickoff Live 9/17 | Turning the Page to Kansas City

Madelyn Burke and Shaun O’Hara turn the page to the Chiefs game, discuss the offensive line, and take calls from fans.

0:00 - Turning the page

21:45 - Calls

31:45 - Offensive line

37:35 - Youtube questions

40:00 - Being resilient

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff line. Nobody can
ever tell you that you couldn't do it because you're
on Giants dot Com. You know what I saw you
York Giant Prime and the Giants Mobile App sevent.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
What tuck down? We all We're all tap what mabell happen?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Part of the Giants Podcast Network. Let's go on. A
bunch of crazy dogs has.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
A Welcome to today's episode of Big Blue Kickoff Live,
presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New
York Football Giants. My name is Madeline Burg alongside the
Super Bowl champion Sean O'Hara. The phone number here to
A one nine three nine four five one three or
find us on social media at hashtag Giants Chat. Also

(00:46):
a reminder that an archive of this show and our
entire podcast network is available on the Giants Mobile App,
podcast Platforms Everywhere and Giants dot Com slash Podcasts. Thanks
for joining us from the Giants Podcast Studio presented Hackensack
Meridian Health. Keep getting better. It's Wednesday, my dude, It's
week three, Sean. Obviously, you know we've got a big

(01:07):
one on Sunday night football to look forward to with
the Chiefs coming into MetLife the home opener. But before
we get into that one, I mean, obviously Week two
was a shootout, was a blast of a game and
an unfortunate loss in the division.

Speaker 4 (01:22):
Yeah, it was a while while west type of game.
Anything goes and you know, look, today's Wednesday. Some people
call it hump Day, so it's you know, before we
get over that hump, we got to just kind of
look back on what happened and what transpired. What an
unbelievable game, and it's unfortunate that the Giants did not
come away with a win. But they had every right
to have won that game. And look, we could say

(01:45):
should have, could have, would have. They could have very
well won that game. Probably should have. When you get
the ball in overtime like that with the next score
wins scenario, you got to do it. You got to
get it done. And there were so many great things
that came from that week through performance against Dallas. You know,
Russell had a phenomenal game. I thought the receivers came

(02:07):
to play. And it wasn't just Malik. I mean, Wandelle
balled out. Slayton had some big plays, you know, offensively,
that was the type of football that we were expecting
in Week one, yeah, given the preseason. So the points
were you know, I mean, look, that's exactly the kind
of production that we've been talking about and that Babele's
been talking about that they needed from the offense, and

(02:28):
they just fell short.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well, and also talking about what you needed from the offense,
one of the things that has been harped on is
starting strong. The Giants started the game with the ball,
and credit to this Giants team for getting points on
that opening drive despite six penalties for sixty yards the
amount of yards that this Giants team had to travel
on that opening drive just to get into field goal
range and do that, but getting points on the board

(02:51):
in the opening drive, getting a lead early, and being
able to overcome those obstacles, overcome those things. Obviously, James
Hudson had his struggles for penalties up alone in that launch.
But you got to give credit to Marcus bow the
rookie who was tapped and said, hey, get in there.
And it's always a good thing when you don't hear
an offensive lineman's name on the broadcast, and you never

(03:12):
heard them mention bo after he subbed it.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
No I thought it was. It was painful to watch
the Hudson the consecutive penalties. I think he had four
penalties in five plays, and that just I had not
seen something like that in a very long time. So
that the fact that they were able to overcome that.
How about the opening kickoff, I mean, Gunner takes it
sixty seven yards and you're thinking, that's a great way
to start. That's how you start fast and then it

(03:36):
comes back. So yes, the fact that they were able
to get a field goal despite all of those penalties
and overcome all of that was it was really good,
you know, good to see them handle that adversity. But
to your point, I thought Marcus Bow stepped in and
did a phenomenal job. He did not look like a rookie.
He was swallowing up defenders, did a great job anchoring

(03:57):
and providing some depth and some within the pot for
Russ to step up in. I thought he played phenomenal.
Now keep in mind, Marcus Bow is not a left
tackle like he played right tackle in college. He played
right tackle in training camp. He filled in when the
lane luminar Jermaina Luminoor had a baby and had to
miss the second joint practice for the Jets. Got some

(04:17):
action against the ones right there. Thought he held up
really well there. So every single time he has been
asked to step in, he has delivered. It's phenomenal. How
good of a technician he is at such an early
stage of his career. Most young guys really struggle with
the footwork. His footwork is great. Look you look at
him and you don't think, oh my gosh, this guy
is super athletic. He doesn't have the same kind of

(04:39):
feet that James Hudson does, but he's just got this
ability to sit pass rushers down and nobody is knocking
him back. He's not gonna get bull rushed. He's done
a really good job with his inside hands, and as
the game went along, I thought he got even more
impressive with his technique. He got better, he got more
fishing with his hands. So kudos to him. You know,

(04:59):
look at the won that game. I think he would
have definitely gotten a game ball for stepping in. Think
about you're on the road, you're in the silent count.
You know that's not the ideal first opportunity to go
in as a left tackle. So I thought he handled
it well.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
And you're going in and you're going in as a
left tackle in a circumstances which you're not really expecting,
you know, to go in. You know, yes, you prepare
to be ready and available in any situation. But I
think you know that was that was as.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
He was the goal line package tight end. Yeah, and
he was kind of his first you know, reps in
the NFL in a real game. So once he went
in that left tackle, I think that changed probably their
package because now it's like, okay, we have him at
left tackle. We probably can't go to all that, but
he got to play football, and I think the hardest
thing to do is to go in for a play
as situationally one or two plays, and then come out

(05:52):
and then go back in. Going in and now it's
tough going into the game, all right, getting that first
drive in and then getting some reps underneath, now you
kind of get it into a zone and kind of
get into a rhythm. So I thought that was good
for him, and I thought, you know, the one thing
that we harped on last week about the Giants offensive
line was they did not handle the twists very well.
And I kind of mentioned, look, you put that on
tape that's a fire. You're gonna have to put that

(06:13):
out right. I thought they did a great job improving
in that. From week one to week two, they looked
like a totally different group with the way that they
passed off some twists. The protection was there. Anytime your
quarterback throws for four hundred fifty yards, you're doing something right.
You know. There was a couple of times where there
were some leaks, but for the most part, the pass
protection was solid. I thought they did it. They were
much more physical and they were much more cohesive, and

(06:35):
I think that allowed Russell to feel confident hanging in
there to make some of those big throws right.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
And Russell also too, kind of knew he was alluding
to in the week leading up to Hey, there's a
lot of noise out there. He understood the narrative that
had been painted after Week one, and he went out
there very calm, very cool, very collected, ready to establish
a different narrative. And he did that too. Four hundred
and fifty passing yards an incredible one.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
Now he as a player too, that comment. You know,
there's always noise, and every player hears the noise. The
key is you just can't listen to it, so you
hear it and everybody. You hear what people are saying,
You hear what people are writing, you hear what people
are you know on social media. You hear the noise
like it's impossible to not hear it, but you just

(07:19):
can't listen to it.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah, now we've got some injury updates for you. Head
coach Brian Dable is at the podium right now speaking
to the medium. Dimitri is flanning in folds. He's not
going to practice today day to day. Darius Mussau, the
Giants linebacker who is filled in for Michael McFadden who
went out with a foot injury. Musau is still in protocol.
Golston is dealing with an ankle no practice today as well.

(07:43):
Everyone else'll practice in some regard today Wednesday. But the
big one, Andrew Thomas practicing Wednesday today, and we'll have
more reps than he had last week seeing how he responds.
But Brian Dabele is encouraged by his progress. Thomas is
going to take most of the left tackles snaps today.
So as great as it was to see Marcus Bow

(08:03):
fill in in that spot, I'm sure James Hudson is
still a reliable entity in that position. But getting Andrew
Thomas back for this offensive line in the near future,
if not for Sunday Night football, how much is that
going to affect this group?

Speaker 4 (08:15):
Yeah? I think Look, they would welcome him back with
arms right open to quote Scott Staffen's creed. I think andrewmas.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Lodgest heard the news today.

Speaker 4 (08:31):
So Andrew Thomas. I think he's the most valuable offensive
player on this team. Milink neighbors the most explosive and
probably the best player. But Andrew Thomas, when he is
playing at the Pro Bowl level that he has played
at when healthy the last couple of years, that's a
huge factor. You can just put him out there and
you don't have to worry about sliding to him, chipping
to him, giving him help. You know that on third

(08:51):
and eight thirty nine, like he's going to lock his
guy down. So that is a luxury to have. I think,
you know, with Marcus Bow we were just talking about
him his improvement. If Andrew Thomas comes back. Now, you know, look,
with Bo playing as well as he did, you could
easily kind of rotate Andrew Thomas in have a drive
and then take a drive off and then that way
you're not throwing him out there in the first game

(09:12):
and having seventy plays after not having played in a
preseason game or at all. So they could kind of
have him on a rotation.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
But to your point that you made earlier, it is
kind of challenging to go in and out and in
and out. So when you're coming back from injury, is
that something that maybe you would prefer. Is that the
situation that that makes it easier.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
I think this is all but in the long play,
and the reason one of the reasons why they have
not tried to accelerate Andrew Thomas is the list Frank
injury is a very tough injury. It's kind of like
an ACL injury. When you're coming back from it, you
don't want to rush it and you don't want to
have a setback, and it definitely takes time. And even
when you go back and play, you may feel good
and then there may be some swelling or maybe some

(09:51):
soreness afterwards that you weren't anticipating, so that it's not
ideal to be rotating in one hundred percent, But I
think that could definitely be a play as you go
into this game and say, look, instead of just throwing
him out there, and now he plays sixty five snaps
and then you know what, he can't practice for three
or four days because it blew up on him. You know.
The swelling in the foot is what happens after you know,

(10:13):
a big workout or after you play a game, so
that they may have to do that. But Andrew Thomas
is a difference maker and he is an elite left
tackle when he's healthy. He has proven that. I think
for him, he's got to make sure he's got the
rust off of it and you know he's using his hands.
But you know, he's also a damn good run blocker too,

(10:34):
So I know we focus with the left tackles about
the pass blocking, but he's very physical at the point
of attack as well. He's really good, you know in space,
you know, when you have to reach a defensive end
or climb up to a linebacker on a second level,
he does a good job of that. So that would
be a huge boost for the Giants who are looking
for their first win.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
Absolutely. And you know you know this list Frank injury
quite well. You experienced it yourself later in your career
and as an offensive lineman as a bigger guy who
puts a lot of weight on your lower body and
your lower extremities like that also contributes, I think to
a little bit of the recovery of just how much
goes into the lower body there.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
Yeah, and I think the good thing for Andrew is
that it's not as left foot, it's his right foot.
So as a left tackle, your left foot is you're
not really You're kind of up on your toes and
that's kind of your your push and as you change direction,
you're kind of pushing off your left foot. Your right
foot is usually more flat as you're kick sliding and
as you're in past protection. So that aspect of it

(11:29):
I think is beneficial. But yeah, look, all your power
is coming from your legs when you play off as
the line, so there's a lot of torque and there's
a lot of force that goes into your feet, you know.
I know he's been dabbling and sampling in different kinds
of cleats. Yeah, So the good news is playing at home,
he'll have a chance to make sure he's got the
right Cadillac song on his feet to make sure it

(11:51):
feels good. But those are those are good signs. For
the Giants.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
Well, and you mentioned too the fact that Andrew Thomas
is an effect not just on the pass and give
with the rushing game, that's something that the Giants have
really struggled. Despite the fact that in Week two they
had five hundred and six total yards of offense, only
eighty four of them were rushing yards. Eighty four rushing
yards is not you know, they had one long run
camp Scataboo had that twenty four yard run when Jackson

(12:14):
Dark came in for that first play, big chunk game.
But other than that, it was a lot of very
short yardage struggling to move the ball in the run
game situations. How do the Giants establish a run which
is going to be imperative on Sunday Night football against Yes,
the Chiefs team that, yes is zero to two, and yes,
maybe doesn't look like the Super Bowl champion Chiefs teams,

(12:35):
but still a team that has a history of knowing
how to win games.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
I think whenever I'm looking at run game as an
offensive line, you always want to get a couple bites
at the apple early on in the game, like okay,
and let's run similar style plays. So we can see
how this defense is handling, you know, trying to stop
this play. You know, because different week to week, different
defenses attack the run game differently. So you've got to

(12:59):
find out how are the linebackers playing it. Are they
scraping over the top and they're spiting, they're darting their
defensive end or slamming the defensive end and then they're
scraping the backers over the top or is that defensive
end the force defender and the linebacker is filling downhill.
That determines your blocking angles. So I think that always
that comes with Hey, we go into a game, here's
how we think they're going to play it, and then

(13:20):
you go back after the first drive and all right,
here's what we're seeing, here's what we saw this formation.
But really, you know, look for the Giants, they've got
just got to commit to it. And Mike Kafka is
calling plays and I think he's done a good job
layering some things. And obviously the Cowboys secondary is banged up,
so they were looking to attack that. You are playing
the Kansas City Chiefs. Forget about the record. There's a

(13:42):
guy over there that is a straight assassin in Patrick Mahomes.
The best way to stop him, Well, you're not going
to stop him. The best way to slow him down
is to keep him on the sideline. Don't give him
a possessions. So you have to run the ball in
this game just to play keep away, and you want
to shorten this game, like we don't want to get
another shootout like we just had with Dallas. I think

(14:03):
the run game it's something that gets better as the
season goes along. You get more comfortable. The running backs
see the same things. They're finding the holes, they're reading
the defense better. You know, I was, I was all
surprised to see Tyron Tracy not get as many carries
in that past game. I mean, look, Russell Wilson is
still the leading rusher through two weeks. That's got to change. Like,

(14:24):
you need to find a way to control line of
scrimmage and run the football. I think, you know, and
this is my personal belief on the run game. I
want to see more runs from the home position. What
does that mean? That means quarterback under center, running back
right behind him in the home position, running the ball.
Now you can press the whole front side and you

(14:45):
can stress the defense when you're running the ball out
a shotgun you're limiting the field. You're basically saying with
the running back. If I'm the quarterback and you're the
running back to my right and we're going to run
the ball to the left, by me handing the ball
to you next to me, we are shrinking at You
cannot press the ball front side because of your angle.
Your insertion angle right here is limiting you to this

(15:06):
front side a gap or maybe this a gap. There
is no way you can cut all the way back
there after coming this way to get the handoff. So
I feel like shotgun runs unless you're pulling a guard
and you're playing that gap skiing offense that we talked
about last week, it's hard to get them front side
when you're out of shotgun. So there is a place
for it, and it can work, but I'm not a

(15:27):
fan of the shotgun runs. I want to see my
running back in the home position. I want them to
be able to press the hole and to be able
to kind of create momentum and then increase the defense
and you get the ball rolling because now all of a sudden,
the running back has some momentum so he can run
through the arm tackles. So that's what I would like
to see a little bit more of and you could
do that out of two tight endformations and kind of

(15:50):
run behind that and stress the defense a little bit
more out of the home position.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
But don't you think two out of the shotgun position.
It does give a little bit more of an opportunity
for the lineman to do their working establish the gaps.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
No, because when you're running those shotgun runs, you don't
get to hang on the double teams as quickly because
the back is right here and he's getting the ball
and now he's already you know, because he's at five yards.
Now he's already hitting the hole. So the backers are
hitting it. So you don't get to hang on the
double team as much because boom, I take one step
and he's the running backs behind me. Now that backer

(16:22):
is knife it in the hole. If he's in the
home position, he's pressing it. So now we can combo
block and stay on this a little bit longer as
we drive to the linebacker and he's waiting to see
the running back keep in the front side. Oh no,
he's cutting it back. So now you have more time
to get movement on the point of attack. Yeah, So
that is definitely, you know, more Olne friendly. Yeah, if
you're running out of the home position, that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
You mentioned too, how Russell Wilson is the Giants leading rusher.
Not something you want to see. You don't want your
quarterback leading your team in rushing yards. But the Chiefs
are dealing with a similar circumstance, Patrick Mahomes, they're leading rusher.
He not only is he, they're leading rusher. He's got
one hundred and twenty three rushing yards for the first
two games. That's more than all other Chiefs combined ninety

(17:04):
six rushing yards. And you know, not only is he
running the ball more than anyone else combined on the roster,
he's also throwing a career low fifty eight point eight
completion percentage through the first two games. So when you
see a situation and a circumstance where your quarterback is
leading the team in rushing I mean, what does that
tell you when you look at.

Speaker 4 (17:23):
That, Well, it tells me that you're abandoning the run
game number one and number two, that guys aren't getting
open because those rushing yards are really scramble yards, their
life yards. Yeah, they're Oh my gosh, nobody's open, I'm
gonna take I can't take a sack. I just got
to go. So you know, look, we saw Mahomes do
that last week against Philly. He actually scored on a
scramble play a touchdown run. You know, and when you

(17:45):
see the defense has their back to you, if they're
playing man, all of a sudden, you know, they rush
four guys and it just opens up like the red Sea,
and you see all that green in front of you.
It's easy to just take off and run. Russ has
done in a couple of times. You know. Look, we
have had a couple of quarterback design runs, so those
are true rushing yards. But Mahomes is athletic. You know.
I don't think anybody thinks of him as a running quarterback.

(18:07):
But given the attrition that they have had at their
wide receiver position along with the suspensions, you know, I
think there's time where he draws back and he sees man,
you know what, he's got nobody's open, or we've got
the wrong route concepts against this coverage against his defense.
I just got to try to find a way to
get positive yards. I also, I don't think the Chiefs

(18:27):
offensive line has been playing as well as they have
in the past, and they have kind of struggled with
some quarterback hits. I think they have eighteen quarterback hits
through the first two games and they've given up four sacks.
So that right there is very atypical for the Chiefs.
You know, when they last time they won the Super Bowl,
their offensive line was one of the best groups in

(18:48):
the league. So that's kind of something that we have
seen be a little sloppy for them as well.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
Yeah, and you mentioned too the amount of pressure that
Patrick Mahomes has been undergoing up against this Giants defense
that has blitzed the second most time in the league.
For the first two weeks, They've sent the blitz thirty
three times in the first two games. You have Brian
Burns with three sacks already on the season two in
week one. One week two, Caveon Thibodeau has one and
a half of dual carter as a half a sack.
The Giants defense has getting a lot of quarterback pressures.

(19:16):
Twenty one quarterback pressures in week two was tied for
the second or tied for the most in the league.
And so being able to put pressure on the quarterback
with what we've seen from this Giants defense of late,
combined with what Patrick Mahomes has been dealing with, Like
you mentioned, his lack of receivers available, whether it's health
or suspension, and the receiving game, the passing game hasn't

(19:39):
been working, the pressure he's been under. How does that
bode for a game plan, let's say, for this Giants team.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
Well, I think that that's exactly what you want as
you're playing the Chiefs and you're playing Patrick Mahomes. You
want guys that can win one on one and get
to the quarterback. Look that the Giants defensive line has
played as advertised through the first two weeks of the season,
and they look very very much like, if not better
than they did last year when they led the league
in sacks through the first seven weeks. So they're also

(20:06):
a great start. They should have more sacks. I mean,
I think that they had a couple that they could
have had on Jayden Daniels in Week one, and then
even against Dak there was a couple of times where
he squirted through and was able to avoid the sack.
But they're doing a great job of getting pressure from
the outside, which is what you like. And now that
kind of that keeps the quarterback in the pocket. I

(20:27):
think this game, this is the game for you know,
Robertson Harris, who we've seen. I mean, look, he had
a couple of big time quarterback hits. I think one
of them was a personal foul, you know, and I
think those are things that you can clean up. But
he's been he's been a force, he's been tough to block,
and obviously Dexter Lawrence, you know, he doesn't have the
sack production yet this season, but this is the type

(20:48):
of game that I think Dexter Lawrence can really take over.
I think the struggles really have been with the Chiefs
left guard and he's been one of kind of one
of the guys that people have been trying to attack.
So I'll be curious to see how the Giants try
to attack that aspect of the lawn.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Absolutely, and it'll be fun to watch on primetime as well.
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(21:25):
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you think we're doing two A one nine through nine
four five one three is the phone number. Let's head
to the phone lines. We've got the phone line. Blighten up.
First caller the day, Jacob from Binghamton. Jacob, what's up?
Happy Wednesday? You're on Big Blue Kickoff Live with Sean
O'Hara and Madeline Burke.

Speaker 5 (21:46):
Hey, guys, how you're doing good?

Speaker 1 (21:47):
How are you good?

Speaker 5 (21:49):
Just a few things. I was really excited to watch
the game. I haven't felt that feeling in a while
watching out Giants, and I was so up and down,
just with the game being back and.

Speaker 4 (22:01):
Forth like that.

Speaker 5 (22:04):
I was really exciting to watch. And then it's just
the other thing. I'm going to my first game ever
this weekend to see the Chiefs, and I'm just hoping
we have a good fight and a good game.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
First game ever. I'm so excited for you, and what
a great one to go to. Sunday night football is
always a good environment.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
Sean, Yeah, it looks Sunday night football is kind of
the gold standard right now when you look at the
primetime games, you know, Collinsworth and Tariico and Melissa Starks
on the sideline. You know, as a player, when you
kind of get that opportunity, like you get a little
geeked up, you know, like you just know, like everybody's watching.
You know, it's Sunday night, You're the only game on.

(22:42):
It just definitely feels like there's a little extra juice
to it. I don't think anybody anticipated both teams be
going to you know, I mean if people when the
schedule came out, everybody was like, oh my gosh, the Giants,
you know, the toughest schedule ever, Like, you know, they
very realistically the Giants could be owing to going to
this game. Nobody thought the Chiefs would be owing to
coming in this game. So you know, it's the crazy

(23:02):
thing is one of these teams is walking out of
MetLife zero to three, and you know you don't want
to be that team. So this is definitely going to
be It's gonna be a big time game. And I
think you know, both teams have quarterbacks that can unleash
hell with one throw. You know, Russ just proved that
down in Dallas. You know, we know what Mahomes is

(23:23):
capable of. But I don't think anybody anticipated the Giants
having the better receiving core going into this game as well.
So when you look at offensive weapons, look, the Giants
have a leg up right now with Wandale Robinson what
he did in that game. You know, Slayton had a
couple of catches. I think when you look at what
Scataboo and Tracy can do as a one to two combo,

(23:44):
you know, I think you have to really like the
way we match up offensively with our skill people against
what the Chiefs have right now. I think Kelsey has
kind of been his his go to guy and a
security blanket, and I know he's probably getting hammered this
whole week about you know, the drop that turned into
an interception. You know, I've watched that play a number

(24:06):
of times. I still can't figure out if that ball
got tipped in the line because there was a defender
with his hand up and the ball. I don't know
if it got tipped or nicked or whatever, but it
definitely looked like an odd play. That's one of those
plays that you think is a routine play. You know,
it's a throw, it's a catch by Kelsey, touchdown going
in or whatever. But that was kind of a rare circumstance.
And look if they if he catches that ball and scores,

(24:30):
they're up seventeen thirteen.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
It's a very different game.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
Everything is different for them. So that's the one guy
that you really have to account for for the Giants. Like,
tight ends have kind of been an enigma for the
Giants for years. It's it's kind of been one of
those weird things, like, you know, everybody has a career
day against the Giants if you're a tight end. And
Jake Ferguson, you know, he had a bunch of catches.

(24:53):
He had. He had I wouldn't say a monster game,
but he had a good game he had, you know,
he he I don't think he had a hund yards,
but he definitely had some production. And then when you
look at a week one as well, zach Ertz had
a couple of big catches down in the middle of
the field. So that's going to be something that they're
going to look to exploit.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah, and you mentioned too, nobody thought the Chiefs would
be owing to. Well, this is the first time in
the Patrick Mahomes era that the Chiefs have started owing too.
They haven't been owed to to start a season since
twenty fourteen, and that's you know, that was the last
time the Chiefs missed the playoffs. This is a team
that was in the Super Bowl last season, runner up
in the Super Bowl, and as you mentioned, you know,

(25:32):
a couple of plays away from But that's how this
league goes, right, you know, you're you're so many games
are on a knife's edge of just one or two
plays go a different direction and the win in the
lost count goes a different way.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
The stat that really jumped out of me with all
that when we're kind of reading over some stuff was
the fact that Andy Reid has not started out oh
and three since ninety nine. I mean, that's twenty five years.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
Ago that I think about it, nineteen hundreds.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
That that is so impressive. Before the iPhone, there was
no smartphone. That was all flip phone.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
That was when you downloaded an AOL through a CD rum.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
Yeah, there was there was a dial up. Modems were
still in play. Yeah, that box machines that just goes
to show like Andy Reid. So back when Andy was
in Philly and back when I was playing for the
Giants playing the Eagles, when Andy Reid was there, it
was like almost like a guaranteed they were scoring a

(26:31):
touchdown in the first drive of the game. Yeah, he
is one of the best coaches I think in NFL
history had opening drive touchdowns, scoring points on the first drive.
There were times where I would look up halfway through
the first quarter and we're down fourteen to nothing, and
I'm like, how the hell did that happen? And boom
they went down on the first drive, score touchdown. Next drive,
boom scored another touchdown. And if you flop, if you

(26:52):
flop around in the first quarter, you will be down
two scores. Like that is how good he is as
a play caller and figuring out how to attack your
d defenses. And then of course you know Steve Spagnol
on the defensive side, he's one of the best in
the business. We know him very well. You know, he's
responsible for a couple of the banners that are up
in MetLife and the Lombardi trophies as well. So those

(27:13):
two guys do a great job and that's what you
have to do at home. Like Giants fans are begging
for another start like they had in Dallas. First drive,
go down and get some points, even if it's a
field goal. You've got to start fast against Andy Reid
and this chief offense.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Okay, speaking of starting fast, this has long been something
that I have wondered, and I want to pick your
brain on this because I know that with a trend lately,
you win the coin toss, you defer to start the
second half because in theory, you want to have, you know,
like a two for one, right, you want to score
to end the first half and then score to start
the second half or whatnot. But that is ensure, that

(27:51):
is assuming that you are in a good offensive position
in that first half to do that. When you see
a team start with the ball like the Giants did
in Week one and not only put points on the
board yes it was three, you'd wanted seven, but also
eat up a huge chunk of clock in getting down
the field and to start a game that really establishes

(28:13):
dominance in a way that perhaps a two for one
in the middle of the game doesn't quite affect the
game flow. So why do so many teams just say,
you know what, no, we want to go for that
mid game two for one, rather than let's establish offensive
dominance and put some point and get a lead early.

Speaker 4 (28:31):
Yeah, you're playing the odds. Yeah, And that's the whole
reason to do it is. So look, if we can
get a field goal at the end of the first half, boom,
and we get the ball to start a second half,
that could be a ten point swing, right, And we
could have scored twice and they never even had a
chance to touch the ball. So that overlies any other
reasoning for Hey, you know what, we want to start,
We want the ball first. I also think, look, when

(28:52):
it's Sunday night football, people are geeked up, like I
was saying, like, so, you know what, let them start
with the ball, let them have a misfire, let them
overthrow a receiver on second down, let them have a drop.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Really, defensive players are geeked up to let them miss
a tackle, let them But it's easier.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
To be geeked up on defense because they're already running wild,
like they're just go just get after it.

Speaker 1 (29:11):
You know.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
It's kind of like, you know, it's like that first drive,
you know, and you go up to the tea box
and what You've got to nail this first, your first swing. Yeah,
you have not warmed up on the range. No, you
got to nail this fairway because you got bunkers on
the right and water on the left. You know what,
Like most people would say, all right, I'm gonna downship
and just hit my three wood here because I don't

(29:33):
trust the driver. But that's you know, I think that's
a little bit of that whole like starting the game thing,
But it's one hundred percent just the fact that you
know what, if you know it could be a tie game,
we kick a field goal at the ind a half,
and we go down and score a touchdown to start
the third quarter. Now all of a sudden, we're up
ten points and they don't even know what happened, Like
they didn't even get to touch the ball.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
But I think too that that's assuming that you're in
a flow and in a rhythm, which again you want
to be, you want to believe in that you're thinking positive, Yeah,
you're thinking positive, good vibes. It's all we like Giants
fans runner Walk with Giants Legends. The Giants Foundation will
host a five k race and Kids Run presented by
Quest on Sunday, October twenty sixth at nine am at
MetLife Stadium. Net Proceeds will benefit the Giants Foundation, and

(30:12):
all participants will receive a commemorative T shirt After the race.
Stay for post race festival with appearances by Giants Legends
and a live DJ. Register now at giants dot com.
Slash five k. The Giants Foundation is a five oh
one C three nonprofit corporation. You can run that five
k and see if you're faster than Sean O'Hara, who's
going to be out there too.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
I guarantee you're faster. I'll be there. I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna put my Forest.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
Gump hat on and I just started running.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
I figured I've run this farm as well. Just keep
on going. Yeah, it's gonna be a fun day. I've
run it before. It's a great day. It's there's kids
out there, you know. It's there are some serious runners.
There are some people that are like jocking for position
right out of the gate, you know, and they're trying
to they want to qualify for something or post you know,
a PR. But there's also you know, families that are

(31:01):
doing it. And it can be a run walk. You know,
my goal is always to just don't ever stop running.
Like you don't want to walk, I don't want to walk.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna start it, run it, and
uh yeah, I'm looking to shave a little time off
of last year. Last year it rained, so you know,
hopefully mother nature will cooperate this year and we'll get
a nice dry.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
Day, dry, nice running weather. We're manifesting that for us.
All to a one nine three is a phone number.
Let's head back to the phone lines. Rudder and Glenn
and Clove, Glenn Cove. Excuse me, Rudder and Glen Cove.
You're on Big Blue Kickoff Live with Sean and Madeline.
How's it going?

Speaker 6 (31:38):
Hi?

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Gans?

Speaker 6 (31:39):
You hear me?

Speaker 7 (31:39):
Got you?

Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (31:41):
All right, thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (31:45):
I've been a giants Sand for a long time now,
I want to say over thirteen years. And you know,
yesterday I really saw something that kind of stood out
to me. And obviously we're all talking about how well
my league neighbors Russell Wilson, want Bill Robinson and Darius
Slayton did, and then we also started talking about how

(32:05):
well Marcus bow did, and I was wondering, what are
your thoughts on if Andrew Thomas does come back in
this week, would he he would obviously play left tackle,
but with Marcus and Bow make the shift to right
tackle because we know that's the position he played in college.
So would he make that shift?

Speaker 4 (32:24):
I don't think so. I mean, I think Marcus Bow
has been dressing to be the swing tackle, and he's basically, hey,
you're the first guy in if one of our tackles
goes down, you're in a right tackle or you're in
a left tackle. You know, obviously Hudson, you know, having
the issues, you know where he lost his mind and
just had back to back to back to back penalties,

(32:45):
and one of them, I will say this in his defense,
the play where James Hudson kind of like swatted the
guy in the helmet. Yeah, that was by mistake. That
was not the defender slipped when that happened. So that
was a draw play. And I don't know if I
but he's broken this down or whatever, but on draw plays,
tackles will try to and screens as well, you'll try

(33:05):
to like swipe the guy upfield so that he can't
retrace and make the tackle and he was trying to
club him up and hit him in the back. The
defender slipped right as he did that, so he dipped down.
So he was trying to club him in the back.
The guy slips and so he hits him in the head.
So that was unintentional, you know, But regardless, it was
a big penalty. But that bo going in there was

(33:28):
because of that. So I don't think he I don't
think you're gonna put him in for Jermaina Luna on
the right side if Andrew Thomas comes in. But I
think what it did was it gave him some great reps,
gave him some confidence, and it gave the Giants confidence that, hey,
this guy can play, and you know what, if we're
in a pinch again, somebody gets dinged, somebody gets hurt,
we know we could throw Bow in there and he's
gonna hold up. He's gonna do a really good job.

(33:50):
So I think that was really good for Bow. Look,
they've been pleased with him ever since they drafted him
in the fifth round. They couldn't believe he was still there.
There are a lot of guys that had a third
round great on him. Yeahdehm Hire too, yeah, and a
lot of people that I talked to, you know, they
were like, look, this guy's he's the real deal. Like
he's stout, he's strong, he's got all the qualities you like,
Like you mentioned it, like you put him out there,

(34:11):
and it's like you just don't, like, all right, we
don't have to worry about it, Like you don't hear
his name. That is the ultimate sign of a good
lineman if they never call your name except for the
starting lineups. So I think Bo, you know, that's a luxury.
Right now, Andrew Thomas comes back and plays left, Now
you've got Bo that can fill in at either left
or right tackle. But I don't see him breaking the

(34:31):
starting lineup, you know, regardless, unless there's a health issue
or an injury or another blow up like we had
with Hudson.

Speaker 8 (34:40):
All right, thank you. Just one more quick question. I
know we're preparing for the Chiefs Sunday night, and I
know we obviously talked about how they're lacking a lot
of offensive weapons. Do you think that this would be
kind of a good indication for Shane bow And to
really dial up the pressure and try to get to
Patrick my Holmes, because, like we know, that his main

(35:02):
weapon in Kelsey is still going to be there. And
obviously we were talking about how tight ends really can
tear up our defense. But I feel like this is
a really good opportunity to kind of channel what Wink
Martindale used to be doing and really get to the
quarterback and get those sacks that we been saying that
we really need.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
Yeah, I think it's it's a great point, and I
think that's, you know, obviously one of those Dan if
you do, Dan, if you don't kind of things. You know, look,
if you blitz Patrick Mahomes, you better get home, yeah,
because when you typically when you blitz, now you're really
stressing your coverage and now you're pretty much in man coverage.
So Patrick Mahomes loves man coverage, and any big time
quarterback loves man coverage because now they know, look I

(35:40):
can put the ball, you know, out in front and
I got run under it, or I could back shoulder him.
So man coverage, every quarterback looks to attack in that scenario.
But you also don't want to sit back rush for
you know, we did that against Jade Daniels and we
did that against Dak and you give that quarterback too
much time, he will find an open and he will

(36:00):
pick you apart, you know. So it's always kind of
one of those, you know, to choose your own adventures.
Do I want to blitz back Mahomes and possibly give
up the big play? Or do I want to play
zone coverage and just die from a thousand cuts. I
think the best way is if you can get pressure
from the front four. You go back to the Super
Bowl last year. Philly did not blitz one time in
that Super Bowl, but yet they were harassing him and

(36:22):
they got pressure from the front four. So that's the
ideal situation because now you have seven guys in coverage.
The field just kind of shrinks and it looks a
little bit, you know, a little bit congested. When you
can do that, the challenge with that is, you know,
if you're not getting pressure and he can sit back there,
he's going to find a way to get some glations
and get some chunk yards. So I think you bring

(36:45):
a blitzer. I think you have to try to challenge
that because that's how you you want to speed up
his throat, his throwing process, and that's when good things
happen defensively, when you put pressure on the quarterback and
the ball comes out quicker than they're expecting. You know,
we saw that in that Kelsey throw. That ball kind
of got on a little bit quicker than he was anticipating.
That's when turnovers happened. So you definitely want to pressure him.

(37:06):
You want to put pressure on him, but you want
to do it and you want to kind of lit
try to limit the big plays as well.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
Thanks for the call, Rudder. Uh yeah, that's good stuff.
And I you know, I think to Rudder's point to
a lot of conversation in the YouTube comments that we're
seeing about Marcus bo bringing it back to his first question,
you know, Brownie saying, I want to know what we
do with Bo when at returns. I want my five
best on the field. Ubs cal Zone says, how about

(37:35):
moving a Luminor to guard and playing Bow to right tackle?
Luminor has played guard in the past, Well Bo never
has veto, also saying Bo to guard, Jermaine staying at
right tackle.

Speaker 4 (37:46):
We got a lot of there is no chill, no chill.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Everyone loves Marcus Bow.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
I love it. I love what he did and you
know what he did everything that they asked him to do,
and he was phenomenal. And I think you look at
that and you say, man, okay, we got ourselves a player. Now,
are you looking for ways to get him on the field. Absolutely,
but you're not going to do that and shuffle two
other guys around just for the sake of doing it.
So I look, I think he did a good job.

(38:14):
I think you know, if I'm Marcus Bow, you know
I'm saying, look, i'll play guard too, whatever it gets
me on the field. I'm sure he's chomping at the bit.
Once you get game action and you realize, look I
can hang, I belong Now, you just can't wait to
get another opportunity. So I think it's that's a really
nice luxury that the Giants have right now. The fact
that he filled in, he played well, and now you've
got a guy that can that can, like I said,

(38:35):
fill in in a pinch down the road.

Speaker 3 (38:37):
Absolutely, Giants fans with another impactful draft, including Marcus Bow
and free agency class in the books. That means it's
a full steam ahead twenty twenty five. Take your fandom
to the next level with a Giants season ticket membership
and catch all the action at MetLife Stadium with an
exciting home schedule on the horizon. With the membership, you'll
also stay connected to the club all year round, not

(38:57):
just on game bays, with exclusive member access and benefits.
To learn more about a New York Giants season ticket membership,
visit Giants dot com slash tickets to a one nine
three nine four five one three is the phone number.
Heading back to the phone lines, we've got Cliff in
New York. Cliff, thanks for holding your own Big Blue
Kickoff Live with Jean and Madeline.

Speaker 7 (39:17):
Hey, guys, great great show. Really appreciate all the great stuff.
I want to go back to something that I think
blew me away more than anything else, which feeling really
good about what's going on, which is when you started
off talking about the resilience in the face of adversity
on the first drive, when when our friend mister Hudson

(39:38):
was having trouble and they still scored. You know, nobody
had to say, oh, we didn't get a touchdown, we
got a field goal. It was extraordinary to go on
that drive. But really got to me though, was in
the fourth quarter and I was sitting there thinking, when
did I ever see this before? And I couldn't remember,
And that was we scored it. I forget how much

(39:59):
time was left in the fourth quarter, but we scored
a touchdown to go ahead in the fourth quarter. And
I'm sitting there thinking, when did we do that last? Well?

Speaker 3 (40:08):
Are you talking about that that last one with fifty
two seconds left? Neighbors, No, the first.

Speaker 7 (40:16):
I'm not sure which one. Because the thing that really
got to me was they did it again. They did
it again, And I said, what is anybody noticing this?
Because there's supposed to be a culture project going on,
you know, and it actually it actually started under Gettlement
and when and when Brian and Joe came around and
they really ramped it up. And I mean, was that

(40:39):
as impressive as I thought? I mean two times in
a row. I mean it didn't go so well after that,
but two times in a row a touchdown in the
fourth quarter. We let don't care how you got it.

Speaker 3 (40:51):
Yeah, technically, Cliff, it was three times in a row.
When you think about the fact that forty one total
points were scored between both teams, you had Cam Scattabooth
scoring a one yard run with twelve minutes left in
the game. Then you got one Dale Robinson a thirty
two yard touchdown reception with two forty four left, and
then of course Malik Neighbors with twenty seven seconds left
or twenty five seconds left in the game gets a

(41:13):
forty eight yard passing touchdown from Russ.

Speaker 4 (41:16):
Yeah. I mean those were and and the fact that
it was three different players I scored too, I think
is great. You know, Cam Skadboo punched it in from
the one, like you know, we needed that week one,
you know, and that was huge that they did on
the ground. And then for Wandale to have that explosive play,
you know, that was awesome, great job. And that was
fourth down too. You know, I his fourth and four
and they were going for it, and I was getting

(41:36):
nervous on fourth and four when you decide to, you know,
take that deep ball because everybody was sitting on the sticks.
You know, the whole defense thought, all right, they're going
to run a five yard route. And that's why he
was able to run by everybody. So he saw the
same thing Russ saw it. You know, if you don't
have a veteran quarterback back there, he might not make
that throw. He might not see that coverage. So that

(41:57):
was that was phenomenal. And then yeah, of course the
neighbors there at the end that I mean, that was sick.
So yeah, I'm with you. I think everybody was like, wow,
this is new territory for us. We haven't felt like that.
The fact that we were we were going toe to toe,
blow for blow with Dallas, and even when when we
scored that touchdown with thirty three seconds to go in
the game and they get the ball back with twenty
eight seconds, you know, you felt like, all right, hey,

(42:19):
this is this is it? Like all we have to
do is make a couple of tackles and that's ballgame,
you know. And then Thunderfoot over there, you know, bangs
a sixty four yard that would have been good from seventy.
You know, that's tough. You know, it's tough to see,
and I think, you know, in hindsight, you look back
on that, and you know, they were talking about it.

(42:40):
Greg Olsen mentioned it. He was like, look, I don't
know why they're letting them throw in the middle of
the field, Like they're not trying to attack the silent around.
They have three timeouts, and when you have three timeouts,
you can throw in the middle of the field and
you boom, all a sudden. You're just you know, get
ten yards, get ten yards. They didn't have a lot,
They didn't really have to go very far to get
Aubrey in distance. So you know, looking back on that,

(43:01):
there should have been you know, a different kind of
coverage and a little more coverage in the middle of
the field. You know, I think Bobby okaake, you know,
I think he probably wishes he drifted over a little
bit because that tight end. You know, he just ran
right down the scene and we make one deflection there,
one stop there, and that's ball game. You win the
game on the road, and we have a whole totally

(43:22):
different vibe going this week.

Speaker 7 (43:26):
Yeah, well, I think that's what makes me give mister
Prescott a little credit also. I mean, you know, I
don't know if he's ever really gotten the credit he deserves.
He got the money he deserves us, but uh, look
a look into Mahomes. The Chiefs can afford another loss
that you know that I remember it was another era.

(43:47):
But the Steelers when they when they won those four
Super Bowls, one of those seasons started zero to four.

Speaker 4 (43:53):
So so you know, there's no there is zero sympathy
here for the Chiefs like we we you know, we
will be fine if they feel charitable. But yeah, I
don't think anybody is going to be worried about them.
You know, after we win on Sunday night, nobody's saying no,
nobody's worried about the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
Yeah, they've had their sins.

Speaker 4 (44:11):
They'll find a way to figure it out.

Speaker 7 (44:12):
Yeah, they'll figure it out. They'll be fine that it's
not going to be a get right game for them.
Thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (44:21):
Amen.

Speaker 7 (44:22):
Yeah, so let's go Big Blue man. It's it's extremely exciting.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
I love it, very exciting. Indeed, thanks so much for
the call, Cliff. I like to Cliff's point too, not
just the fact that the Giants were able to score
in the fourth quarter, but one of the things that
was the most, that stood out the most to me
was with fifty two seconds left in the game. You know,
you just see Pickens has his first touchdown as a
Dallas Cowboy, Dallas goes up. There's less than a minute

(44:48):
left in the game. And yes, Russell Wilson, you know,
the stat comes up on the broadcast. He's had forty
four game winning drives, all that kind of stuff. But
you see why by the way that he walked onto
the field shown because he walked onto the field with
such calm, steady presence. There was no you know, urgency,
or there wasn't any like, okay, let's get this done.

(45:10):
It was like steady hand, like almost of a surgeon.
And that to me, the calmness and the certainty of
all right, let's just go get this done in that
moment was why he has been a quarterback that you know,
when his time has comes, will be in the Hall

(45:30):
of Fame because he's able to kind of maintain that.

Speaker 4 (45:33):
Yeah, And I think that's when you know you have
the right guy, like you have a quarterback that he
relishes those moments. And you know what, I got the
world looking at me. We got a chance to go
down and play hero ball and win this game. I
think every quarterback worth of darn wants to be in
that position. I want the ball in my hands. I

(45:53):
want to be able to make a throw and make
a play. And to his credit, like the second play,
he actually ran so he used his legs and out
of first down, did a good job seeing that the
middle of the field was wide open. Hey, I'm gonna
get positive yards. And I think it was a fifteen
yard run. So you know, he wasn't, you know, trying
to force things in that moment, and I think he
just it just goes to show, you know, the type

(46:15):
of player he is, even with the game on the line,
Like he was cool and cool as a cucumber, and
he still has it, like he could still make that
amazing throw, you know, I mean he had a couple
of throws. It almost it's just like his ability to
drop the ball in the basket, like while the receivers
are running. It's a gift, it really is. It's it's
a talent and he's shown it time and time again.

(46:39):
We hadn't seen it in a while. Yeah, but it
was good to see that element of his game still there,
still present. We've seen it in practice, yeah, but it's
different when you can do it in a game and
with the game on the line. So I think, you know,
when you saw the offense start to click and start
to score points, I felt like it energized the defense.
Now they all of a sudden were like, hey man,

(47:00):
were offenses clicking. They're doing their part. Let's go, let's
get after the quarterback. And that's when football is fun
to watch. So you know, look, it was it was
a fun game. It's a shame how it ended, and
it sucks that it was Dallas. I hate losing a Dallas,
especially that close. But I think, you know, this is
a different kind of on to The Giants have been
on too before, far too many times in the last

(47:22):
ten years. This has a little bit of a different
feel to it because we very well could and should
be one on one, we could be two and zero.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
But well, and talking though about that last touchdown though,
I was talking to Malik Neighbors recently and I said,
you know, what do I feel like catching one of
those deep balls from Russell Wilson? You know, I mean,
I hear guys, I've talked. I've asked a lot of
love receivers and the pass catchers about this and about
how you know it just it just comes in so
perfectly he goes. It's just so perfectly placed. It's almost

(47:51):
it's almost frustrating because he places it so well. I
can't make any of my acrobatic you know, wild catches.
And you know, obviously tongue in cheek comment right there,
and you know we laughed. But watching Sunday, he still
did you know that first touchdown, he high pointed that
one and that second one he had his eyes covered
by the defender. But because he trusts he knows exactly

(48:14):
it's going to be played so perfectly, He's like, I
don't need to see it. I know exactly where it's
going to be. That is an incredible element too, to
add to that passing game when you know you can
trust the ball is going to be placed so perfectly
that if some defender's got his hands over your eyes,
you're you're still good.

Speaker 4 (48:29):
Yeah, there's definitely some some opportunity right here to throw
some shade Eli. You know, one of the things I
used to teach him about is like, look, if you
were if you threw the ball better, Odell wouldn't have
to make all these acrobatic catches, Like stop making him
have these one handers where he's got to climb the
ladder and you know, got guys draped all of him.
But that catch by Neighbors was kind of similar to

(48:50):
I mean, it wasn't the one hander that Odell had,
but Odell was getting held on that play, and then
you mentioned it, like nobody even talked about the fact
that the guy was irate eye gouging him. Yeah, you know,
as that was going through. One of the things that
is interesting if you watch Russell Wills to throw, if
you're in the stadium early, if you get to see
the quarterbacks go out and throw, just watch how his
ball turns over. And I'm going to describe what that

(49:11):
means when you when quarterbacks throw a pass, and a
lot of times you'll see the ball kind of go
up and then it just comes down flat. Russ when
he throws deep ball, his ball goes up and then
comes down like that's called that's called turning the ball over.
So it's almost like a punt when it goes up
and then when it comes down point first. That makes
it easier to catch. Softer it's coming down kind of

(49:32):
like you know, you're catching an oblong option or object.
You know, that makes it a little bit tougher. And
when he can drop it in like that and the
ball turns over, I think that's one of the reasons
why he's so good at that deep ball. Not everybody
can do it the way he does it. But yeah,
it's a gift and I'm sure the receivers are happy.
It's happy to have that.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
Absolutelys a loft he gets on it Giants Fans Giants
official connected TV streaming app. Giants TV brings original video
content and game highlights on demand and direct to Big
Blue fans. Giants TV is free on Apple TV, Roku,
and Amazon Fire TV and on the Giants mobile app.
Two A one nine four five one three is the
phone number as we head back to the phone lines.

(50:12):
Line one, Scott in New Mexico. Scott, thanks so much
for holding You're on Big Blue Kickoff Lives shown and Madeline.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Hi, guys, what are you doing today?

Speaker 3 (50:21):
Doing well?

Speaker 2 (50:21):
How are you good? I haven't called in in a
while doing some medical issues. But to me, the Skuy's
not falling. Even though the Giants have lost the two games,
and I'm really not interested in how many points they score.
It's all about w's for me. If they win on
Sunday two to nineteen, I'll be very very happy. So

(50:43):
that's what makes the difference. But I had a question
for Sean, and I wanted to ask you. Going to
Pro Football focuses metrics John Michael Schmidt ranks forty third
out of forty four centers and his test blocking grade,
according to them, is forty two point one in his

(51:03):
test blocking grade is for fifty Proximately, I'm not instead
in assessing blame to him or where he is in
the process, but because you played the position, what can
he do to improve? Because strangely enough, he's the one
guy that controls the offense other than the quarterback because

(51:24):
he's the one who handles the ball first before anyone
else does. And since you played the position that we're
excellent in that year Giantswim's Super Bowl, what can he
do to improve what he's doing right now? Because obviously
these statistics are not good and the offensive line is

(51:45):
of concern because obviously if you don't have a good one,
you're not going anywhere. And I think they have some
personnel that can help. But he's kind of a central
card in the wheel. So I just want to ask
you what you think he can do better that would
make him the better center, because I think the Giants
need that, especially if they station teams that have big guys,

(52:07):
you know, a lot that are going up the middle.
I want to get your assessment in the process.

Speaker 4 (52:13):
Yeah, appreciate the question, and we hope that we hope
you're feeling better. I think when you look at at JMS, Like,
the one grade that I care about is what did
Carmon Brisillo great amount? Is like, I don't give a
damn about PFF. They don't know the plays, they don't know,
so you have to kind of like, I look, I
know the guys at PFF. I use some of their stuff.

(52:35):
I like some of the alignment stuff, some of the
play snap stuff. I like watching you know, some of
the some of the the data that they have calculated.
But when it comes to grades, those things are always subjective.
Now that being said, if i'm JMS, I'm mad as
hell that I'm the four third center ranked on that.
So whatever, there's reason for whatever they're grading him on.
But I think the one thing JMS that that he

(52:57):
needs to do he's got to stay off the ground.
Like he's on the ground way too much, and you know,
this being his fourth year in the league, that shouldn't
be happening. So I think that's something that he needs
to work on. And you know, he has gotten better
with his hands. I also think that you know, some
of those things are from week one where they did
not play well up front, So you can't look at

(53:19):
somebody's grades two weeks through the season and say, oh
my gosh, this guy is rated really high. This guy's
graded really low. Look, it's a small sample size, and
you know what, if there's one game where somebody's not
doing well, like I'm sure Patrick Mahomes is probably you know,
he's probably in the lower third of the top thirty
two quarterbacks in the league right now based on their grades.
I don't think anybody's saying that Patrick Mahomes sucks. So

(53:42):
you kind of got to look at that through a
different kind of lens. But you know, look, JMS, there's
still room for improvement. He needs to get better. The
one thing that I've always said about JMS is when
they drafted him, like he's a stout, thick, powerful dude,
like run the ball. That's his forte. His forte is
I'm gonna knock people back and let's run the football.

(54:04):
He's not a you know, an athletic. Let's get him
out and lead the parade, let's get him on the polls.
He's not like Jason Kelce was down in Philly, where
he's you know, super athletic, getting up to the second
level and you know we're gonna have him out in
screens out in space, you know, really quick like a cat,
you know, a pass pro and good change direction like that.
That's not his forte. So don't ask somebody to do

(54:26):
something that there is not their strength, is kind of
my point. So we were talking about the run game,
the lack of there the run game. So you know
you want to let you want jams downhill, you want
him knocking people back, running the football, pounding the rock,
control line of scrimmage. But I do think there's room
for improvement, and I think he will get better as
the season goes along, because this is the best I've

(54:47):
seen him all throughout training camp. I was watching him
one on ones in practice. This is the best he's
using his hands. He could still get better, and I
think his footwork can get better and will get better.
But the one thing that he to do is he's
got to stay off the ground. He's on the ground
way too much. You know, as I watch film and
I just kind of see things. That's the one knock
that I would have on him right now. You can't

(55:09):
block anybody if you're.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
Yeah, thanks so much for the call, Scott, and get
well soon. Hope your health is improving. Yeah, it is tough. Because,
like you said, you see people grading players on what
they perceive based on you don't know what somebody is
being asked to do or told to do, or what
their assignment is, and you're assuming that and that kind of.

Speaker 4 (55:28):
That actually showed up in the game. And there was
a play where the defensive lineman kind of knife through
and I'm trying, I'm trying to think of his name
was ninety five. It was Clark, the guy they got
in the Michael Parker Street. He split Greg van Rodin
and JMS, and that was everybody was like, well, you know,
look it was the guard's fault. Oh no, it was

(55:50):
the center's fault. Well, it was both their faults. Like
JMS was sliding, you know, he basically had two d tackles,
so he backed up, he looked left and then he
first he looked right and then he looked left. And
as this defender Kenny Clark was coming in or Frank Clark,
Kenny Clark was coming in this gap, Greg van Roden thought, okay,

(56:10):
the center's got him and he never even touched him.
So in that play, Greg van Rodan should punch him.
And then if you want to pass him, the center
that's fine, but you have to hand him to the center.
You can't just let him go. And JMS was backing up,
checking left, make sure my left guard is not getting
a dart, and then by the time he looked back
to the right, Clark was already in his lap. And
now he's like, oh my gosh. I wasn't expecting him
to be a free runner. So that's where the offensive

(56:31):
line chemistry and we talk about you've got to have,
you know, this trust that we're going to be on
the same page. They ran that same play five other
times in the game and Greg Van Roten punched him
and handed him off the JMS and there was no
issue whatsoever. So in that specific play, I don't know
what somebody else is grading.

Speaker 6 (56:49):
You know.

Speaker 4 (56:50):
Are they saying that was the center's fault. Are they
saying that was the guard's fall. Are they knocking them both?
You don't know unless you're in the room and you know,
like what they're being coached to do. Here's how we're
going to handle that civic front absolutely.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
Two A one three is the phone number. We've got
time for one more call. Paul in Queens is on
the line. Paul, thanks for holding on Paulie.

Speaker 4 (57:10):
You're in Queen's. It's got to be Paulie.

Speaker 6 (57:13):
Now my grandmother hates that. Okay, yeah, I'm named after
my father, so it's paul It's really PJ. That's what
everybody but.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
Coming in.

Speaker 6 (57:26):
Yeah, thanks for taking my call. So, you know, completely
different offenses week one and week two. I expected to,
you know, go back to like a median, you know
what I mean, like a functional offense. Maybe not thirty
seven points and four hundred plus yards from Russell Wilson,

(57:46):
but Shane Bowen in my opinion, I mean, like, I
know this is this is going to sound like an
overreaction to you guys, but I thought he should have
been left in Washington.

Speaker 7 (57:59):
I I eight the.

Speaker 6 (58:02):
Play ten yards off of the wide receiver defense that
we've been seeing for since he's been here. But all
in all, overall, I just wanted to mention that, bro.
All in all, I really do think we have a
chance to beat the Chiefs, just because their offense isn't
that great. Our offense looks to kids going up and

(58:23):
we have to be aggressive on defense as opposed to
let's play not to lose, you know, I mean, I
think we have the offensive, score points. Let's score points,
and let's play aggressive on defense with the defensive line
that we've been talking about all off season.

Speaker 4 (58:42):
Yeah, I'm with you, PJ. Look, I don't think anybody
in this building is playing to lose. So look, this
is a great opportunity, you know. I mean, the Chiefs
have been the gold standard in the NFL for the
last you know, five to seven years. So you get
a chance to go up against the best on Sunnight football,
you're going to get everybody's a game. With regards to
Shane and the Giants defense, Look when they hired Shambow
and they brought them here, the number one reason that

(59:05):
they brought him here is they need to stop the run.
So I understand it's a passing league right now, and
everybody wants to knock you know. I look the big
the passing yards that they've given up and all stuff,
But number one, we're not stopping the run well enough.
So granted, you've got some mobile quarterbacks that have added
to some of that, but they've got to do a
better job stop in the run. And they've got the

(59:26):
guys to do it. They've got the talent to do it. Now,
they just have to go out and execute. So you
know you mentioned right out of the gate, look look
like a totally different offense in week one to week two.
It's funny, it's the same offense, just better execution. So
I still call it sloppy September the first two weeks
of the season, like, you're not as bad as you
think you are, and you're not as good as people

(59:47):
say you are, so you always kind of have to
just look these you want to improve, which we saw
from week one to week two, we saw a lot
of improvement on both sides of the ball. That same
kind of that same kind of trend trajectory is what
you need to see from week two to week three
on both sides of the ball. Look this defense right now,
the Krypton kite right now is second and long. How

(01:00:09):
many times have the Giants been out there at second
and thirteen, second and seventeen and all of a sudden,
you know what, they've missed a couple of tackles. It's
a run. Javonte Williams runs for a first down, or
you know, George Pickens gets a first down. Jane Daniels
did it in week one. For some reason, Second and
long has kind of been the kryptonite, and that's one
of those things that just, you know, it makes you
want to pull your hair out as a fan and

(01:00:31):
as a coach, because you could have the right defensive call,
somebody misses a tackle and now they're out the gate.
So those are frustrating things, but they're also growing pains
that come with the first two weeks of the season.

Speaker 6 (01:00:44):
Yeah. Absolutely, And if I could just say one more thing,
that's another thing that's been a theme for that Giants
defense for years, missed tackles. I mean, it's it's got
a I mean, they got to clean that up. I
don't know how we can be missing so many tackles
on a weekly base.

Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
Yeah, I mean, you can't do it. You know, I
think the league. You know, I don't have statistics to
back this up, but I would guarantee that the weeks
one and two of the season, those are the most mistackles.
And then in a two week period in the entire season,
and it's just because all of these guys did not
play a whole lot in the preseason, so this is
the first time that they're playing a full game and

(01:01:22):
you're seeing the live tackling that you are.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
So you're not live tackling in practice. You've got to
retrain that muscle memory.

Speaker 4 (01:01:28):
Yeah, so it's slopping September, but we got to clean
it up.

Speaker 3 (01:01:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:01:32):
Yeah, I'm hoping. I'm hoping improvement from BOBBYO. And that's
that's that's the main one.

Speaker 4 (01:01:38):
What's funny. It's funny that you call out Boh because
Bo is a terrible nickname.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
We can't call him that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:47):
Yeah. Bos different things for different people, but Bobby Okay
leads the NFL and tackles right now, so you can
throw the shade whatever you want that. There's been a
couple of plays where I think he would like to
have done better, but that guy's leading the league in
tackles right now, so you know, let's let's hold that
out for another week.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
Thanks so much for the call, pej. That is the
interesting thing too, though, it doesn't matter how well you're doing,
Like you mentioned, Bobby ocaaka leading the league in tackles,
but people will remember the one or two moments that
they wanted more out of him. It's like when you're
reading the comment section and people say, oh, great job,
great job, and then somebody says something bad. It's like,
why does that one stick with me? And all the
other great ones.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
Don't Like always a PhD out there, there's.

Speaker 3 (01:02:30):
Always a PhD. But like when you're watching you know
Bobby play, you know he has been an imperative and
impactful part of this defense. Yes, there's a couple of
plays that I think a lot of these guys would
want back. But that is not enough to say, oh
he's yeah, now he's far from bo.

Speaker 4 (01:02:45):
The one thing I will say, and this is how
like stats can always be looked at.

Speaker 3 (01:02:50):
Yeah, you can use the numbers to make any story.

Speaker 4 (01:02:52):
Double edged sword. Yeah, you can also say that he's
leading the OPhone tackles because they can't get off the
damn field. So if they got off the field on
third down, then he wouldn't have had those Please story,
he made six more tackles, So you know, I think
at the end of the year it is a badge
of honor if you lead the league in tackles, But
you don't want it to be I lead the league

(01:03:12):
tackles because we can't get off the field on third
down or second and long.

Speaker 3 (01:03:16):
All right, Oh sorry, I was just reading. We had
some there we go. We had a couple of things.
JW says that they want to see you get out
of retirement, get some more snaps. We talked about this
a little bit last week too, Greg, and I.

Speaker 4 (01:03:30):
Want to ruin that, like why would I want to
come back? And then they're like, oh, hero sucks right again?

Speaker 3 (01:03:37):
Cool while you're ahead, Greg Dunham, I love when Madeline
and Shawn are on BBK.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
Thanks so much for the love, Greg, And then yeah,
the Giants need more guys like Sean so badly, so
you know what, Listen, We're getting a lot of love
for Sean O'Hara in the comment section on YouTube. Thank
you so much for watching, listening, tuning in and letting
us know what you think on this one. As we
were up our show though, before we do, I got
to remind you all join us at the Ultimate Giants

(01:04:03):
Women's Tailgate, presented by Jill Malone. The ticketed event will
take place Sunday, September twenty eighth, from ten am to
noon in Lot G ahead of the Giants Week four
home game against the Chargers. Attendees will have the opportunity
to connect with Giants team reporter and tailgate host me.
Sorry I'm reading this and Giants Legends, and plus you
can enjoy a curated custom merchandise shop, exclusive Kendra Scott activation,

(01:04:27):
tailgate games, giveaways, photo opportunities, live DJ entertainment and more,
plus appearances from Giants Legends. All that, we got tailgate
food and a drink ticket, so it gets your barbecue,
your beer, your burger, whatever you want before the game.
Tailgate is twenty one and up over. But you know what,
go to giants dot com slash Women's Tailgate. Come join us.

Speaker 4 (01:04:46):
Yeah, Week four sounds like a potty.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
It's a potty.

Speaker 4 (01:04:49):
Don't be toddy for the partty.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
Don't be tidy for the potty.

Speaker 4 (01:04:51):
I think I should do that. Read next time, you
don't have to plug yourself.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
That is true.

Speaker 4 (01:04:55):
They got to get this is going to be a
fun day. It's in lot g G for girls. Men
are invited as well. But you're hosting this whole thing,
so come to my party. What are you more excited
about the drink ticket or the Kendra Scott Joe Malone swag?

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
Do you want my honest answer, it could be all
all of it, all of the above, obvious for the food.

Speaker 1 (01:05:18):
You know, it's funny.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
I was talking to Tina Servassio. I had the pleasure
of joining Tina Servasio and Fox five recently to promote
this as well. Tina's great and she's such a legend
and a ray of sunshine. And she was like, you know, obviously,
with men you think about beer and burgers and food,
and with women you think about jewelry and clothes. I
was like, Tina, hold up, Rose, Mama needs a cocktail too.

(01:05:39):
We could have a beer and a burger before a
game as well, and we got all of that available.
You got you know, food, drinks, jewelry, clothes before the
Chargers game. Of course, come out to the tailgate, come
to the game afterwards, make some new friends, and come
support your New York Football Giants. But that's a wrap
for our Wednesday Big Blue Kickoff live show today. Thanks
for joining us from the Giants Podcast Studio presented by

(01:06:00):
Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting better. For Sean O'Hara, I'm
Madeline Burke. We'll see you Sunday night football. Here we go,
great Googlely Mooglie, who are the chefs? That's who we're
playing this week. I hope you see you out at
MetLife Stadium Sunday night and we'll see you next week
on Big Luka cuf Li. But we got shows every day.
Just be here, Okay, I'm gonna stop talk at the end.