Big Blue Kickoff Live 9/30 | Giants vs Chargers Takeaways

Lance Medow and Howard Cross talk about last weekend’s game against the Chargers, discuss the receiver room, and take calls from fans.

0:00 - Chargers takeaways

24:10 - Calls

30:00 - Wide receivers

34:30 - Youtube questions

40:30 - Saints matchup

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a big blue kickoff love. Nobody can
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Do you know what I saw?

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Final one tuck down.

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We all we're all tavering what part of the Giants
podcast network.

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Let's go on?

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Hell Dogs has a hot and welcome to Tuesday's edition,
a big Blue Kickoff live here on Giants dot Com,
the mobile app as well as YouTube. He is Howard
Cross on Lance Metal with you for the next sixty minutes.
It is presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of
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(00:46):
could also follow and interact with us on Twitter hashtag
Giants Chat. I'm at Lance Metal one word, last name
m Edow. He is at Howard Cross eighty seven. Howard
is huge on social media, so don't shy away from
getting his feedback. He loves to weigh in on absolutely everything,
and we are broadcasting live from the Giants Podcast studio.
It is presented by Hack and Zack Berdy in health

(01:06):
keep getting Better, So a lot to tackle over the
course of the program. Well, obviously give our takeaways from
a big win for the Giants at home against the Chargers,
their first victory of the season, Jackson Dart's debut, and
then of course the news that Malik Neighbors unfortunately out
for the season with the torn acl But before we
delve into that, I just want to read a statement
issued by president, CEO and co owner John Marrow which

(01:27):
came out right after yesterday's edition A Big Blue Kickoff Live,
and it says the following quote. I have recently been
diagnosed with cancer and have been following the treatment plan
recommended by an outstanding team of doctors. I'm feeling strong
and optimistic, and I'm committed to seeing this through to
a positive outcome. I plan to remain active with the
team throughout my treatment, and I'm fortunate to be surrounded

(01:48):
by incredible support personally, professionally and medically. I asked that
you respect my privacy and my family's privacy at this time.
End quote, and we're not necessarily going to delve into
it in greater detail. I think it speaks as it is,
but certainly everyone involved in Big Blue Kickoff Live, as
well as the organization, wishing John Mara the best in

(02:10):
terms of his fight against cancer. As far as the
game is concerned, Howard, I want to tackle a few
different topics and I want to start with the Giants defense.
And you're on the sideline, so you certainly saw this firsthand.
Really an impressive overall showing in the pressure department. You
look at the numbers, they got a fifty percent pressure

(02:31):
rate on Justin Herbert in terms of his dropbacks. And
it's not even the sacks, you'll take that, but the
quarterback hits. And it was the three headed monster. It
was clearly Abdul Carter who had five of them. Then
you had Brian Burns and then of course Keavon Thibadeau.
And the Chargers did not score in the fourth quarter.

(02:51):
They forced them to punt. And remember that game was
within striking distance, so a big play here or there
could have been the difference. But the Giants defense made
by far its biggest statement to the season.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Know, the Chargers offensive line was a little beat up,
and you know, and then their left tackle went out,
all went out, and then all of a sudden. It
was a jail break. They just couldn't stand up to him.
And then that's what you want. You want to you
want to take advantage of guys when when you when
they're down, you got to kick them on the down.
I hate to say it, what you just do. And
they did a great job of getting around. Burns had
an incredible game. Thibodeaux was doing good, Carter was doing it,

(03:22):
even Big Decks was getting in the backfield and chasing
guys around. So it was fun to watch them all
get after like that.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Hey, Dex nearly had a touchdown. Now it was close.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
If Dex would have ran into the end zone that
had been ten more yards, then we may not assigned
for the rest of the game. I think he ran
as far as you go.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
He wouldn't need the oxygen, is what you said he
did have plugged it in. Well, I will say this hour,
I think Herbert made a wise decision. If he went
any higher, I don't think he would have had any luck.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Taken out texts, I just I don't know what he
was thinking. That he should have just like just walked
off the field and just left go ahead and run.
You won't be back in the game. The big guys
really and then far they're like, please tackle me, please
tackle me.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, it'll still make the highlight reel regardless. But those
turnovers were huge because it shortened the field for the
offense and they wound up scoring eleven points off of
the two interceptions because Andrew Phillips return was big two
and put them pretty much right in the red zone.
So I always say this hour, and we've had a
lot of conversations on and off theater. Takeaways are great,
but I think it's all about what you do with them,

(04:24):
and I think that was that complimentary aspect that was
in play on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, they did a good job. You know, they didn't
do as greater jobs they wanted to in the red zone,
but they did do a good job putting points on board.
No matter what. They weren't giving the ball back, they
weren't turning it over, and they had two more interceptions
that if there weren't for penalties, they would also have counted.
So it was a pretty good game by a defense
all around. They put on a pretty excellent display of
ability out there, and I was very happy to watch them.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, it was plus two in terms of turnover differential.
The Chargers also four of twelve on third down. That's
why we didn't see a lot of extensive drives. Now,
there were explosive plays. That Quentin Johnson touchdown. I thought
that was a heck of a throw by Justin Herbert
between two defenders.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
He did, man, just need he can he can put
some wind behind that thing. Boy. I was laughing because
he was flipping the ball side arms sometimes thirty yards
and crazy. I just couldn't believe he was doing off balance.
He was like, okay, throw it around Dexter slip thirty
yards right on the money.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Ball placement is just ridiculous and it's nothing new. I mean,
Herbert is at this point in his career a polished veteran,
and even under pressure, he was still able to make
some big throws. And then of course there was the
Omari and Hampton fifty plus yard touchdown run where the
hole opened up on the right side, and then basically
it was a foot race to the end zones.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
They lost contained once. Once you lose contained with the
back that that's that big and fast, you're gonna you're
gonna catch some grief. And he just hit it right
on right on the head there, because I was trying
to figure out, like which guy was supposed to be
on the outside. It just a defensive end kind of
try to dip inside a little bit, and when he did,
it was over and listen.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
That's what Hampton did all throughout his career. And you went, see,
there's only a matter of time, and they're going to
start to force feed him. Given Naji Harris is out
for the season with the torn achilles, I'm a bit surprised.
I mean, not to get off topic here. The Chargers, however,
they've always been a run heavy team. They've actually put
more on Herbert's plate because Hampton only had twelve runs. Now,
maybe that was get game flow in terms of what

(06:19):
the Giants did, but I was a little bit surprised
that the Chargers didn't emphasize against the run game a
little bit more, especially given the Giants issues in that department.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Well, in my mind, I would think they were trying
to throw the ball because they probably watched the Dallas game.
They saw all the big plays down in the field.
If you can get the ball down the field, you
can score a lot of points. And hardball, you know,
it's a history of bringing quarterbacks up and even though
they do he does like to run the ball, but
he does have a history of quarterbacks and getting the
ball down the field from Stanford out there. You got

(06:46):
him when he was coaching in San Francisco. Every time,
every spot he's in, he likes to get the ball
down the field. And it was just in college when
he had you know, when he was in Michigan where
he didn't really throw the ball a lot because it's
just what his team just was built for it. But
now that he's back in the league. What a quarterback
that can throw the ball down the field you see
in him, you know, push it, put into power and

(07:07):
putting a lot of the pressure and everything on the quarterback. Yes,
they got a fabulous running back. Yes, the kick and
hit a home run, but the quarterback can hit a
home run almost every time he touches the ball.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Well, speaking of quarterbacks, let's flip the script. Jackson Dart
making his first career start and to help the team
get a w in front of the home crowd certainly
was a really nice development. You saw the embrace with
Brian Dable after the game. As far as Dart is concerned,
We weren't surprised because we knew he had the athleticism
in the legs. But boy does he liked to run

(07:37):
when the opportunity presents itself. On the opening drive, the
rushing touchdown, and we know he was briefly taken out
of the game because of the long run. It was
ultimately called back due to a penalty. But you know,
that's what Dart brings to the table that I think
is a little bit different than Giants quarterbacks on the roster,
as well as other quarterbacks that we've seen across the league.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, I mean, has he likes to run the ball.
The thing is he's gonna have to learn how to
get down, how to slide a little bit more. Yeh.
He's a big physical kid. He wants to, you know,
have a little contact. But when guys run a long
way to hit you, they tend to hit you pretty
hard once they get there. So he's going to learn
to get down. I thought he did a good job.
You know, the runs weren't always designed runs. There were
there were sometimes there were RPOs where he would pull

(08:18):
the ball out reading the defensive end if the end,
if the end was coming down hard, he would just
you know, pull out of the running backs stomach can
run up the field that was designed. You could see
it happening every time that the scataboo or singletary was
running to the to the end. If the end came
to meet them, he would pull the ball out and run.

(08:38):
They they're going to develop that into the past also
once they can stop that end from coming, if it's
designed that way, they'll be able to have a quick
hit over the top and then they'll get some quick
yards out of it. But it looked good. He was smart.
I saw him throw the ball around, like you know,
we were just talking about how Herbert threw the ball
around somebody. How Dart throw the ball around people too,
So that that was good. He changed a lot of
arm angle that helped out. A lot guys caught the

(09:01):
ball for him, and that they went and made plays
for him. So that helps out. And when someone asked me,
how will Dart play in the game, that's as long
as the others play well, he'll play well.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Hey, it's all about the environment around the quarterback. We've
talked about that for ages and we saw a little
bit of a sidearm throw even in the preseason so
we know he has the ability with the different arm angles.
As you mentioned, as far as the playmakers, it was
a modest passing game, and that was because they had
success on the ground. They ran for a buck sixty
one one eleven through the air. But now the question becomes, Okay,

(09:30):
Neighbors is no longer in the equation, and it goes
without saying he's your best receiver. He's going to draw
attention with opposing defenses. The Giants are not going to
present that Howard anymore in the receiving course, so you
know how defenses approached darting company is going to change.
They don't have one wide receiver that you have to
maybe roll coverage over to, so I could see it

(09:52):
being a spread the wealth mentality. Now moving forward, Darius Slaydon,
you have the veteran Wandel Robinson, but there's a golden
opportunity for another wide receiver now to at least get
additional reps and routes. And the question is can a
third option emerge who's not necessarily a tight end.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, you know Hyatts is still in the equation. Yeah,
we got bo Collins also still an equation. Two guys
that can really get down the field and spread the
field with their length bow, especially because he's a really
tall guy, can really cause some problems. We saw him
in the preseason catch a long pass and they were
going to him off and then Dart. You know, that's
when Dart was being the backup. We probably running scout team.

(10:33):
When he's in scout team, he's thrownning all the bow,
He's thrown all the Hyatts. But these guys are familiar
with him, and he's familiar with them, So it's gonna
be interesting to see how coach works them into their
works them into their offense in the passing game.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Well, Hyatt, we talked about all off season, right, a
huge opportunity in front of him. Unfortunately he was a
little bit banged up during the preseason and now his number,
to your point, is going to be called again, and
if they can get him on the field, then he
could build that rapport with Dart. You know, that's the
vertical threat that they're desperate to involve consistently in the offense.

(11:07):
Here's another guy that I'm intrigued by. What about Gunner
Ozchewsky who showed some flashes as a receiver. We saw
and he's a little bit more experienced. I wonder how
much more chances he'll get he is involved in special
teams Howard, But I wouldn't necessarily mind if perhaps they
opened up the offensive playbook because he showed even during

(11:28):
the preseason that he's capable of being a playmaker within
that facet.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
I like Gunner also as a receiver, but I think
that the they need a returner, you can't You can't
risk having him get banged up out there, especially when
he's when he's doing punt returns and the ballsman, you know,
I don't even explain how they're kicking the ball there.
It's wobbling through the air and stuff. It's bouncing short

(11:53):
and you got you need you need a guy out
there that's really confident and understands all the spins and
what could happen to where he needs to be to
catch the ball. If he goes out and just gets
nicked up as a receiver, that that really puts the
pressure on the return game and special teams well.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
And I think also it's a reminder without neighbors in
the mix, the importance and value of the run game.
In conjunction with dark Cam Scataboo now is the featured
back with Tyro Tracy sideline, and we know he runs
hard and he was productive and he could take on contact.
But they're gonna need him to set up extremely manageable downs,

(12:32):
especially without neighbors out of the equation, because I understand
this is maybe staying in the obvious hour, but you
don't want Dart facing third and eleven's in third and thirteen's.
I don't think they have the personnel to sustain that,
and I think that's a very precarious spot to put
a rookie quarterback in.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Well. It also puts a lot of pressure on your
offensive lines. But talking about Skataboo watching him run is
very entertaining that in the sense, if you're standing the
in zone and you're watching him, he is, you would
know this not that tall.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
Thanks to the I appreciate it. Yeah, but I haven't
looked at the mirror lately, but now you've opened up
the horizon.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
But he but when he's running the ball like he's
behind all he's behind the helpensive line, and he's jumping
over their legs and and under their arms at the
right moment and then't put his feet in it's it's
funny because you don't even usually see back where you're like,
most backs will be like, okay, there, there's nobody, there's
no hole there. He literally jumps between the guys like

(13:26):
the tweak and then starts to around him like that's
pretty funny. Uh And and sometimes when he does it,
it shocks the linebacker because the linebacker did not see
him coming. He's looking for him. He's okay because in theory,
there's no hole here. There's no hole here, and he's
running through that spot. So the linebacker's like, what wait
a minute, So how do you do that so that

(13:48):
I can see them? You know, you go into the sideline.
They're talking to each other trying to figure out like, okay,
we got to try to figure this out early. We
gotta we gotta slam or something to keep him from
jumping between the guys and running up field. And that's that.
Like I said, he's a He runs like he's a
really big big guy, but he's a small guy. That
that's kind of an advantage he has well.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
And he also punishes the opposition too. When you combine
the element of surprise with the fact that clearly he's
hard to bring down.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
You don't.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
You don't want to be on the secondary guy. Secondary
guys do not want to say him. Here's the thing
I'm worried about though, because he runs head forward, you know,
not shoulders, not behind his path something he runs. He
really runs head forward, and the Red Caps will these
are the guys who are the independent guys that are
checking for injuries and head injuries specifically. Eventually somebody's going

(14:35):
to like blow a whistle and soa like, hey, can
we get him out for a few minutes and talk
and talk to him and everything. So I that's the
thing that I worry about more than anything else, and
not that he's going to get hurt, not that he's
going to get a concussion, just in an inopportune time,
like what they did with Dart. They'll say like, hey,
we need to see you on the silent and Dart
obviously didn't hit his head. He was just tired, crush

(15:00):
bring him out of the game. He's like what, So
now he knows he's gotta pop up and get back
to the after seventy yards.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Well, he reflected on that after the game hour and
he said, listen to anybody that runs that distance is
going to be tired. But as you well know, the
individual's up top, it's all interpreted. He's based on optics
because they're not next to you, so they don't know
whether or not you hit your head on the turf.
They're going based on he looks hurt. He just took
a hard hit. So therefore we're going to be careful.

(15:31):
And I don't blame them under the circumstances. It's a
different game. Well, you played during a time you have
a perspective, but.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
In this day and age, if you're if you're literally
watching through binoculars because you're upstairs or watching or watching
the screen or whatever they're looking at, you could tell
he didn't hit his head. And you could tell that
the guy didn't contact his head, He didn't have a
violent jerk. He was just he was just winded and
those not. You know, I'm all for player safety, but

(15:59):
you have to know what's going on and when you're
making that call. And I guess better safe than sorry.
But man, can you imagine if that if that was
like the drive that we had to have at that moment.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
And there's a minute left to the fourth quarter, is
what you're saying.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
I get it. It could be crazy.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
No, And I'm with you. I just I understand. I
guess why they're being extra cautious. And in the big picture,
he barely missed any time. It was a very small
sample size here.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Just don't like it.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
No, And well, you love the attitude, the fact that
he doesn't want to come out of the game, and
we saw that even during the preseason, and even the
plays are two that he came in in previous regular
season games when they used him as a runner. So
you don't question his drive. I mean, if you didn't
want to come back in the game, I think there's
more to question. But I just I guess I understand
where the league is coming from. But I think he

(16:48):
learned a lesson about you got to be careful in
terms of what you demonstrate after a play like that,
because it's possible you got to pop up exactly.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
Got back to the huddle. Let's go guys. No crazy.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
And on a related note to that, one of the
things you mentioned I want to piggyback off of is
red zone inefficiency, which is what it's been because they
only scored a touchdown on one of the two interceptions,
and previously in the first three games that had been
their achilles heel. You just wonder does darts threat as
a member of the ground attack create additional opportunities creativity

(17:27):
wise for them to be howard more efficient in punching
it in That I think is the million dollar looming question.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well, I would say this, he played in a game,
he was in the red zone. They still had their
their issues in the red zone. So that's your answer.
I think that you know, if I'm trying to coast
the red zone, if I'm trying to figure out ways,
I get man hurts, I get balanser in, and I
start putting pressure on the defense where you've got two

(17:55):
guys that can handle themselves blocking so they can block
on the A and if they decide to release and
go into a route, you got two big targets on
the field. So I think the tight ends are going
to have to find a way, and they're just going
to find a way to get involved with the red
zone area because they're the biggest threats, the biggest people

(18:15):
on the field, and it could cause you know, these
you know, these dvs, these linebackers, these edge guys a
little problem. If they're worried about this guy releasing down
to a pattern, and when you're worried about somebody releasing
down into a pattern, you don't really come off the
ball to hit him that hard because you don't want
to miss. And if you're afraid to come off the
ball and hit him that hard, that you run the

(18:36):
back right behind him and you got a first down.
So that's how I look at.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
It, and it's fairness. The Chargers had the number one
red zone defense coming in. Teams are only scoring touchdowns
forty seven percent of the time, so I mean they
had been pretty stingy in that department they had.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
The Giants had an issue with the offensive line. They
were only bringing four guys right and we had like
five sacks or four sacks or whatever it was. For
whatever reason, the one if it'sive end, they were they
almost like refused to block him, and I'm like wise relief.
I'm like, if there's only that means there's five guys
blocking three guys. So I couldn't figure that part out.

(19:12):
I didn't. It just didn't make I said, maybe it's
an RPO and I'm just not seeing it correctly or something.
But almost every time he came he got he got
there and because no one put her hand on him.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah, le tuy Puloto had five quarterback hits, five tackles
for lost, four sacks, and ten total tackles, and I'd
say that's quite a game. Yeah, I had a field day.
And he's the big guy filling in for, you know,
some of the injuries that they've had up front. But
he put his stamp all over and was huge in
the red zone, a big reason why the Chargers were

(19:45):
able to rally and remained in the game. But I guess,
getting back to my point, I'm looking back at the
red zone plays and they got Theo Johnson in one
of the touchdowns for that, but prior to that, Skataboo
wasn't getting much pushed, no gain, and then the previous one,
the Killer Woul the Greg Van rodin full start. I mean, eventually,
all of a sudden comes to the realization, right now

(20:05):
we don't even benefit from being at the three. We'll
push back to the eight. And then they did run
Dart once for a yard, but then they gave it
to Scataboo. So that's why I was just wondering, does
the element of surprise now in fairness opponents are gonna
eventually catch on. Dart has design runs and he has
the tendency to run, so it's gonna be that game
of chess here moving forward. Remember this was the first

(20:26):
legitimate NFL film that teams are going to have, So
the Saints are going to have a much different perspective
compared to what the Chargers were looking at coming in,
which was more college film and a very limited group
of preseason snaps.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah, but that's why I said, that's why your tight
ends are gonna be very effective in the red zone
going forward. They can post guys up, put them on
their hip. He very I guess you would call the
specific where he throws the ball. He can put it
in the right spot every time. So it's gonna be
interesting to see if they can figure out.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
How to do that. Last thing I want to touch
on before we open up the far lines and appreciate
everybody tuning in here. Lance metto Howard Cross with you
on Tuesday's this year a Big Blue Kickoff Live. When
Dabel spoke to the media yesterday, he was asked about
just Dark taking command to the team and the interaction
with players, and one of the things that was brought
up in the postgame press conference, is the play that

(21:19):
sealed it when Dark connected with THEO Johnson and that
pretty much helped the Giants run out the clock. That
that was a play in the playbook Howard that it
wasn't designed for what THEO ran. But during the week
Jackson told him, listen, if they give us this look,
I want you to make that adjustment. And it wound
up actually coming to Fruition during the course of the game.

(21:41):
And it just seems as if Dabel has a great
deal of confidence and flexibility in Dart, even though he's
only one start into his career. And I think that
at least is something that stands out in terms of
a his knowledge, his comfort level, and his command of
the offense thus far.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Well, you know, he spends a lot of time with Dart.
He's uh when he came in, just trying to get
him up to speed as quickly as possible. He also
has has known him for a long time. So those two,
those two qualities just by themselves make them, you know,
a good pair of pairing. It's gonna be interesting to
see if his offensive line can hold up. Can they
can they continue to keep him up right, Is he
going to be able to continue to run at the

(22:20):
pace that he's running. Can we keep the backs going
the way they're going like you? And that's another thing.
We happened to have to have another back. You know,
we had Singletary and Scataboo and nobody, so there's gonna
have to.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Be well, they got Turbo on the practice squad.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
We'll call him, I don't know, I mean games he
gets to play before he has they have a problem
with it, but they're going to need another back. They
just they just have to have one because anything can happen.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
No, without a doubt, over the course of a game,
or in the event that something happens in the next
game or two. I mean, once again, you could still
call up a player for the practice squad. I think
maybe the way they're looking at it though, is and
this goes back to my initial point about Dart. Dart
is all almost your third running back. Not to say
that you want that, I understand how I'm not campaigning,
but with the way that this offense is operating right now,

(23:07):
it's Dart, Scataboo and Singletary, I guess is the component
of the run game. Even though he's your signal caller.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
Okay, well again I think you need think you need
a third back?

Speaker 1 (23:18):
No, and your point is well taken. I just think
that probably at least what influence going into this game
with some injuries elsewhere coming in, but moving forward, when
they have the numbers game cooperate, Turbo can easily be
called up and he could be the third running back
and could be also a potential candidate in the return
game too, if you want to move Gunner Roschevskime more

(23:40):
into what we were talking about earlier as a receiver
that I think can help. Yes, absolutely, all right, let's
open up the phone lines as we move forward here
on Big Blue Kickoff Live. It's presented by Cadillac, the
official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants, and
we're in the Giants Podcast studio presented by Hackensack Meridian
Health Keep getting Better, and we start off the festivities

(24:01):
with Carl in Syracuse. Carl, welcome aboard. What do you
got for us?

Speaker 5 (24:06):
How you doing, guys?

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Great?

Speaker 1 (24:07):
Doing well? What's on your mind?

Speaker 4 (24:09):
Almost forgot what it felt like to win? Okay, I
want to start with a comment about Dark How you
said he was very commanding and definitely wanted to point
out how poised he was on that backed up against
the goal line on the offscript play, running to his
right and just directing wide receivers to come back. I mean,

(24:32):
great decision making.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
That was he did a good job right there.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yeah, I believe that was what Darius Slayton, who he
was calling back for that play, yep. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
And I was thinking about the wide receivers like you
guys were talking about Collins and Hyatt and their chance
to step up, and then you were just talking about
running backs and how we could use another turbo. He
definitely showed a lot of speed and explosiveness, especially in
the screen game, and seem to have a good connection

(25:03):
with Dart. So I like the idea of him coming up.
But then when Tracy does come back, what do you
think about getting him more incorporated into the into the
intermediate routes because he was a wide receiver in college.
I mean he almost reminds me of like a young,
little bit bigger stroling Shepherd.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
I mean, he would be good getting into some intermediate routes,
but they're going to need him to run the ball,
so he'll be catching the ball out of the backfield.
He'll probably be catching ball on the outside the wide
some of the wide plays what it looks like they're
throwing the ball to him, but it's almost a pitch
because he's so wide to the outside, trying to get
him outside of the defense. He's also a guy who's

(25:44):
fleet of foot, so they want to get him out
in space as much as possible and keep him from
running between the tackles if they can. And you know,
I know you're thinking of him kind of being like
a one Dell Robson guy out there on the edge,
kind of in a slot. He can do that, probably
has been practicing a lot lately, but he was doing
it in college, so there's always a possibility.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
I remember Scataboo can also catch the ball in the
backfield too, and we even saw that yesterday, right.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
It was definitely add another element just to surprise and
be able to move guys around when he does come back.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
They're gonna be They're gonna be a lot of guys
moving around, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
Motion is gonna be crazy, especially with you have to
having to account for Dart and his mobility. So that's
the new flavor to this offense. But I think at
the end of the day, they still need a legitimate
conventional wide receiver to command the tension and assume a
role in this offense, no matter how much you move
the running backs.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Around to be a threat in offense.

Speaker 4 (26:40):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And then one question on that play
that broke down with with Deontay Banks on Quintin Johnson,
What do you know what happened there? Was it was
he expecting more help from Was it Belton that was
the safety there?

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Belton was the safety on that you're talking about the
Johnson touchdown?

Speaker 2 (26:58):
Right? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah, I just thought it was a hell of a
throw by Herbert. I mean, if you go back and
you watch that Carl, he threaded the needle where he
put it the only place where those two defenders were
not going to get it, and let him write to
the end zone.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
And basically what happens is Bank's been on this double move.
He definitely been on a double move. When he makes
the outmove, Banks comes up a little bit and then
he just runs by him, and Belton didn't have the
same kind of doesn't have the same kind of top
speed as the safety, as the start in safety, so
he didn't get there in time, so that that's kind

(27:32):
of what happened on the play. It was It was
very interesting to watch the DB's play so far off there, guys,
because I'm like, why are they so far off? And
then you see why because they can get behind them.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
And a lot of those chargers wide receivers are great
route runners and man Keenan Allen is one of the
best in NFL history who's still going strong in his
second stint. Lad McConkie was quiet yesterday, but he also
is polished in his second year in the league. And
Johnston's come a long way. He remember, right, he was
injured previously and there was questions about whether or not
he could fulfill the role of the vertical thread and

(28:04):
he just seems to be a completely different player this season.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
All those guys are good when you think about it,
and you got a quarterback and get him the ball
that it makes them more confident and they're competing with
each other trying to see who's gonna catch the most
passes in the game always, So it's kind of funny
to watch that.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
And getting back to the play, as you mentioned, Banks
by default is trailing on the play because of the
move that Johnston put on him. But even by the
time that Banks recovered somewhat, you know, Belton needed enough
time to go all the way over to the opposite
hash and once again Herbert's ball placement. Even if Belton
was a little bit over Howard, I still don't know

(28:41):
if you would have had a legitimate shot on that.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
If he was over the top, he wouldn't have thrown it.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
So you think Herbert would have been hesitated. He loves
to take those chances, he.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Puts it on them, he'll definitely, but if a guy's
coming over the top, he knows better than to throw
it to him, because it's not Nothing good happens in
that point.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Let's head back to the lines and we check in
with Jay in Phoenix. Jay, what's happening some Jay?

Speaker 3 (29:06):
Hey?

Speaker 5 (29:06):
Good, Hey guys, how are you good?

Speaker 1 (29:10):
Good?

Speaker 5 (29:11):
I just have a question about the wide receiver situation,
And I was just kind of thinking and wanting to
see if you guys knew when we've put now a
Malik onto the ir or rosters down to fifty two people,
can we go down Can we go into a game
with fifty two players? Or do you have to have

(29:31):
fifty three on a Sunday, because my thought is is
that you can elevate guys to the practice squad, try
them out each week and see which one fits Little
jor Humphrey, or Marsette or Smith Marsett or there's another
oh h Dayleen Cambery. So I'm just curious of how
that works. And then I just have a couple of
suggestions on who we might be able to look at
it might fit in the system.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
Well, to get to your question, you remember you're calling
players up from the practice squad each week, that is
in addition to to the fifty three man roster, and
then that impacts how many inactives you have, so you
don't really have to worry about fifty two versus fifty three.
That doesn't prevent you from calling players up the day
before from the practice squad, so you could still implement

(30:14):
your philosophy where every week you bring up a new player,
because remember there's a limit on how many times you
could call up a player before you have to put
them on the fifty three. So you can still do
what you're saying. But I don't think you need to
get caught up in do you leave a spot open,
you could still call up a guy even if you
have fifty three on the roster. And I find it
very hard to believe that they're going to operate with

(30:35):
just fifty two because of other needs on the roster.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yeah right, okay, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (30:40):
And then the two guys I was thinking about, was
they know the offense. They're both on practice squads. Isaiah
Hodgens is with the Steelers, and they gave Davis up
in Buffalo, both of them. No, you know, dable systems,
so they might be able to fit and Apple make
quicker than you know, some other free agent out there
who's got to learn it everything when those two guys are.

(31:01):
Hodgens has proven successful his best frankly, his best cluster
of games was with us in twenty twenty two, and
gave Davis. Is he's healthy, I think might be a
good fit too.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
No, both names that certainly have ties to Giants personnel
and appreciate the phone call. Keep in mind, Gabe Davis,
according to reports, had conversations with the Giants and it
never came to fruition. Okay, so I think that may
mean either he didn't want to come here or vice versa.
Once again, you can read it too that as much
as you wish, and they went with other options, And

(31:34):
how would I say this. There's a reason why Jalen
Hyatt is on the roster, There's a reason why both
Collins is on the roster. I would think that the
Giants are going to give these two guys every opportunity,
and I'll throw in Gunner Roschevsky as well, who I'm
campaigning for to run with the opportunity and the job,
as opposed to bringing in somebody, because hey, even if
you bring in Gabe Davis and Isaiah Hodgins, remember the

(31:55):
offense has changed. It's Hodgens was here last Okay, he
has no chemistry with Jackson and Dart and the same
things with Gave Davis. So the two guys that were
in camp and at least here, like you said, with
the scout team and the second team, I think I
have a better chance of success in the short term
than any of those other two names, even if they
may have some familiarity with the scheme.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Well, I think I think the guys we're mentioning would
Hide and and bo Is. I think they're gonna get
the opportunity. And the reason why I think that is
because they've been active every week. It's not like they've
been inactive and standing on the sideline and Okay, we
don't need you this week, we're gonna bring somebody else in,
or that they've been active all the time. So by

(32:37):
being active means they're actually running plays in practice, means
they're actually getting reps and getting getting opportunities in practice,
and they're doing the scout team stuff as much as
possible as if coach will let them. I don't know
how the rules work anymore, but doing some scout team
stuff as well. So those two guys have had some
interactions with Dart then Deep for the first three games,

(32:59):
and then this game here, they've probably also had interaction
with them during practice as well. So I think they're
gonna get an opportunity. They're just going to be ready to,
you know, take that next step.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
I'm completely with you. Another name that we haven't brought
up who is in the mix on the practice squad,
Little Jordan Humphrey. Yeah, so there's another guy, and he's
a little bit of a bigger frame, much better that
maybe offers the receiving course something different that they haven't
necessarily showcase.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Yeah, you know the receivers are are good. They've been
they've been catching the ball, they've they've done a lot better,
did a much better and not cutting down on the
drops and stuff, which has been exciting. Now they got
to like, without my leak there, we're going to figure
out some more interesting ways to use the receivers. I
bet they're going to get more involved in the run game.
They'll be blocking a little bit more than that caused

(33:46):
them to be open quicker when they want when they
want to run the little short routes. Because if you're
blocking the guys looking for you to block, then he's
not coming and crashing down the whole time. He's trying
to make sure he's not gonna get knocked in the
head by it. And I should say knocked in the
head and knocked down from a guy coming from the
coming from the outside end.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
I want to get to some questions also up on YouTube.
Appreciate the audience weighing in in addition to the phone line.
So Scott says, any news on Jackson Dart's hamstring? Was
it a pull? When Brian Debble was asked about Dart
and how he's feeling, he said he was fine. He
didn't necessarily elaborate, and even Dart after the game mentioned
that he was just tired from the run end was

(34:25):
stretching himself out more so than it being a lingering issue.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
I was wondering, like, where did the hamstring thing come from?

Speaker 1 (34:31):
Like I heard that.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
I heard that, like, oh man, I hope his hamstring's okay.
I'm like, what what is what? What's wrong with his hamstring?
They're like, oh man, he was grabbing his hamstring with it. No,
he wasn't. He just ran a long way. He's just
like he's trying to bend over and make it look pactful.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
With the script.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Hamstring.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
I buy myself some more time.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
Oh my goodness, that was just so funny to hear that.
I'm like, the man, okay, I guess guys think he's hurt.
I said, I have to watch when he takes off running.
They're like, they're gonna make I guess his hamstring's okay.
I started laughing. It was awesome.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, Well, because the TV broadcast was catching him, you know,
stretching out his leg and they were emphasizing it. But
once again, then you saw him run and he didn't
show any signs of being uncomfortable or discomfort the camera.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
The camera follows the quarterback all the time, and it's
like they've got they have somebody out there just you know,
zooming it up. I think he's I think he's stretching something.
Check him out, check him out, Tell guys, tell guys.
Here here comes here comes the click. Oh yeah, he
he may have something there, like they're speculating that the
speculation was wrong.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
So they have a camera spy on the quarter.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Trying to find something, you know, or whoever they want
to follow on the sideline. They do it all the time. Yeah,
and I laugh about it.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
His pinky finger not extending fully on his throwing hand.
They want to look into that and watch whether or
not there's enough spiral on his release here moving forward,
or he.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Just missed it. He missed the can with the cup
after the gatorwad. He should have been able to hit
that from that distance. He maybe something was rest I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Here's more of a schematic question, Howard. This comes from
Joe on YouTube, assuming we will see eight in the
Box next Sunday. Because of the emphasis being on taking
away the Giants run game and accounting for dart how
can we take advantage of it in the passing game?
How can you run successfully against eight in the box?

Speaker 2 (36:33):
Run successfully? Well, the first thing that happens is that
I send Hiatt like blazing down the field and throw
the ball up to see if they're if they're willing
to put up with that. And I might even put
bowl on the other side, and then and put Slayton
in the slot and just like, okay, let's see what
you guys got and just let them go. And they're
like okay, if and if they hit one of them

(36:54):
or they get a passing appearance, they will back up.
That's that's what I would do. I would I just
throw the ball to the receivers. I throw the ball
deep to the receivers. In order to do that, the
offense line is gonna be able to hold up and
give give Dart a little time. But that would be
the exact thing that would do right off the bat.
If like try to hit them deep early. I know
that push you behind the sticks if you don't get it,
but it does draw the attention of the entire defense

(37:16):
when they're like, okay, they're going to try hit They're
gonna try to hit us with bombs. So that's what
that would be doing.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
And that's why it goes back to we were talking
about the vertical threat and the necessity of that, because
if it's crowded up front, go for the home run,
and if the home run works, now all of a sudden,
it gives them some second thoughts, absolutely, because they need
to account for some of those players deep down the field.
That's why when you talk about them elite neighbors injury,
it's more of how defenses are going to respond to

(37:42):
the giants personnel because and you know this, Howard from
your playing days, when defensive coordinators get in the room
and they look at the opposition, at least we've heard
this from even present day DC's, they say, Okay, who
cannot damage this game that we're going up against? Right
at least that's a common phrase, got a common element.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
They're like, well, we don't want this guy to beat us.
I guess that's what you're trying to say. And they
double that guy. They they make sure you know where
he is, you know the number of the guy, which
guys are going to be, and they're going to have
to find a guy. And right now, I would say
the guy are probably looking at his Robinson, you know,
they're looking at one day and they're like, Okay, somebody
should be able to put a hand on him. Don't

(38:20):
let him have free releases. So they're going to be
spend a little extra time trying to get to him.
That means he'll be emotional lot where he already is
off the Balkans in the slot. That's going to be
the thing that they're going to be trying to keep
him from getting started, and that'll give the opportunity to
the other guys. The other guys will will have like
plenty of opportunities. Now Slayton's going to be He's a
secure receiver. He'll be ready to get the ball. He's

(38:41):
been quiet this year, but he runs good routes, he
has good hands. Yep, he'll be catching the Well, the
big thing is going to be can you get guys
down the field deep? And that's where Hiatt and bowl
We are going to come in.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
Well, there was an example I'm glad you brought up
Darius Slayton. Remember he drew a penalty later in the
game when Art was taking a shot into the end
zone because all of a sudden, they didn't account for
Slayton's got some speed, yep, and he's got that vertical
element to his game. So you know, those are the
types of plays, even if it's not for a big completion,
but it gets you a flag down the field. It's

(39:14):
the same thing.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Great, great play, you take a flag on the one
every time?

Speaker 1 (39:19):
Exactly. All right, let's head back to the phone lines
here and we check in with Randy in California. Randy,
welcome aboard. What do you got for us?

Speaker 6 (39:28):
Hey, good morning guys. Hey, I'd like to send my
heart felt out to the Merrack family. And I heard
that he has cancer and that's you know, I hope
he's okay.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Absolutely, And we read John Merri's statement off the top
of the show in case you're just tuning in, and
we certainly echo your sentiments.

Speaker 6 (39:45):
Yeah. I mean, you know, we can all sit there
looking at him and blame him for a lot of things,
but you know what, not right now, you know, let's
give the guy a break. As far as without the
neighbors in there, what do you think the offense is
going to look like? Because someone's gonna have to step up,
and this is a good way to find out who's
going to step up and stay on the team for

(40:06):
next year and forward and what we got because you've
got a lot of guys fighting for contracts, so it's
time to step up, don't you think.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Yes, we've been talking about for the last few minutes.
Is that which guys we think are going to get
the biggest opportunities, Like guys like Hie and and bow
Will will definitely be in the game. They're they're gonna
have to be in the game. For deep threats, we
want we want to have the the illusion of or
we want to have the ability to throw the ball
deep down the field, to have everybody backing up to cover.

(40:34):
We know everybody's gonna be trying to step up into
the box, maybe eight man box, trying to get up
to get get closer to scateby. They don't want the
offensive line to get too much confidence and get started
knocking guys out of the way. And once you see
the technique this category runs with that, that kind of
causes a problem for guys because he's not necessarily running
through holes. He's jumping over guy's legs and he's creating

(40:56):
his own hole, so to speak. And when you can't
see him, he's on top of you real quick, and
it's hard to tackle him because he's already so low
to the ground, so they it's been a bit. It's
been a bit of an issue for some of these
guys that are looking around if they don't get him
in the backfield. He's harder the hip because he's coming
up from behind, like, oh my god, there he is.
Like he kind of appears on you right away.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
And Rady appreciate the phone call. Thanks for giving us
a ring. I think you want to tap into, which
is what you're hitting on, the athleticism of some of
the talent you have. Now, that doesn't mean that it
should just be all short passes and hope for the
best with Yak, but I think you can at least
play into Scataboo, Lon Deel Robinson and some of these
other elusive playmakers that if you can get them out

(41:38):
in space and the defense has to account for Dart's mobility,
that maybe that can at least lead to productive drives
without getting the forty five yard to fifty yard home run.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Well, yes, but I think I think the rollout is
going to be going to start to come into play.
Dart's gonna be outside the pocket some of you saw,
and I think that's just going to be because he
called Slaton back on the play. When outside, they're gonna
look at that and they're gonna be like, Okay, now
we can have some options, we can have some combacks,
we can have some goes. The thing that I you

(42:09):
would love to see is for them to set up
that that bubble screen to play that I hate the
most in football, and the guys in the front that
are supposed to block this take off because the dbs
will be sitting there trying to get to the trying
to get to the receiver that they think they're going
to throw the ball to. And I never see anybody
do that. I'm waiting for let it be our team.

(42:30):
Coach Stable, if you're listening, I'm yes, but that that
is something I would love for our team to do,
because every team seems to try to block those guys
out there, and the DB's are getting smarter and smarter
and they're pressing more and more to get to the guy.
So I'm like, all right, time to pump it and
let it ride. Let's see what happens. So I think

(42:50):
that's gonna be something that's gonna come up soon. Once
you do it once, they'll they'll back up forever.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
But you also just brought up an interesting point, Howard
with respect to the comeback route Dari Slaton. Now, receivers
also need to account for Jackson can extend plays, and
that means, in terms of your route running, you may
run a round and all of a sudden you look
at the line of scrimmage he's still running around, which
means a level of adjustment has to come into play

(43:15):
here so that you maybe help out your quarterback to
still salvage your play.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Well, there's scrambled rules. Now. I don't know what the
rules are for this particular team or with this particular offense,
but there are always scrambled rules. If you're deep, you
come up. If you're short, you usually go deep. If
you're a cross, you come over, if you're over, you
go across. You're trying to create create more space for
yourself and find open windows. And some guys run up

(43:39):
and sit down right across the first down marker after
they beat their guy, and they're like waiting and waiting
for their quarterback to turn. You can and if you
can see them, it comes a big play. So, like
I said, it's going to be interesting to see if
dark It starts to get outside the pocket a little
bit more. Because now he's out there, you got to
come up to try to get him. If you don't
come up to get him, he's going to run the ball. Also,

(44:00):
all of a sudden, it becomes more pressure on the
defense to try to figure out another way to get
in front of him, try to find it, figure out
another way to slow him down. I think that's gonna
be one of the things that's going to help him
out a lot, help up their offensive line a lot,
because once you get out in space on the side it,
you know, all all hell could break loose really quickly.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Let's head back to the phone lines. Doug is in
New York joining us here on Big Blue Kickoff Live.
What's happened to Doug?

Speaker 2 (44:27):
Dug? What's that mean?

Speaker 1 (44:27):
Doug going?

Speaker 7 (44:28):
Once it's done, the lance coming back to Jackson darn
and little Jordan Humphrey. Even if they brought him up,
isn't the role you only can dress forty six or
does that change since COVID.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
No, there is a limitation in terms of yes you
get the roster. Let's say to fifty five and then
I believe I think it's forty eight that you can
have active because of the two additional spots, so you
have some wiggle room. But yeah, you can't have everybody active, No,
clearly you still need to have your set of inactives.

Speaker 7 (45:01):
Well then then that I think they'd have to switch
somebody out, or if they brought up Jordan Humphing and
want to use them, they'd have to switch somebody out
that would be inactive, that has been active before.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Correct. Well, just like for example, you know when they
called up to mon Fox because of injuries, you know,
then all of a sudden you got to sacrifice somebody.
So yeah, you don't just call up a player and
then you add him into the mix. You're going to
have to then take away from another position that could
be healthier or a position that you think you can
get away without having one less personnel.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Well, here's the other thing about this. I know what
we're talking about, but we have to remember the neighbors
is down, so now there is an open spot.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
Which means they're probably going to call up a permanent
wide receiver as part of the fifty three. So one
of those guys on the practice squad that we're talking
about is probably going to be the next guy called
up to make the fifty three dogs. So you're already
going to have an additional wide receiver. But if you
then wanted to call an additional wide out up to
give yourself more options in different routes for Jackson Dart,

(45:58):
I think that's something that certainly is feasible.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
Yes, they're kind of competing at that spot right now.
To say who's going to be the guy that comes up, Well, only.

Speaker 7 (46:08):
The reason I mentioned little Jordan Humphrey because I remember
that him and Jackson Dart had some made some big
plays in preseason.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
So yeah, he threw the touchdown to a Buffalo.

Speaker 7 (46:17):
Connection that privy veezer in practice to develop some some
special roots for them to run.

Speaker 5 (46:27):
Well, thanks for everything, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
You got to, Doug. I appreciate the phone call. I
mean that goes back to what Howard and I were
talking about earlier. You had mentioned Dart had been on
the second unit and then with the scout team, so
he's worked with several of the guys that are on
the practice squad. But I don't think little Jordan Humphrey
is going to all of a sudden leap frog Jalen
Hyatt and bow Collins. He's also a different wide receiver
than the two of them.

Speaker 5 (46:49):
But is it.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
Possible that through the conversations that Dart has with Kafka
and Dable, and he says, hey, you know, when I
worked with little Jordan Humphrey in the preseason, he ran
this route. I thought we had six maybe we can
work it in if they choose to call him up.
I think that's reasonable.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Well again, I know they need to call somebody up maybe,
or they need to call up the Turbo and let
him need a running back. And you know, there's a
lot of different options there, and would just like move
with Chevsky over to receiver more getting more action in
the receiver role. I don't know like how they're gonna do,
how they're gonna do and which guy is gonna do what,

(47:24):
But it just seems like, you know, like I said,
they have another receiver on the field with Chefski, and
if they bring Turbo in, I don't know if he
catches punts now, but if he can catch punts, and
then all of a sudden, you kind of you got
your extra back, You got your extra returner now, now
we can get some more get a little more action
out here.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Well, Turbo certainly is capable of special teams. I mean
I covered him when he was at Columbia, so I
can tell you he's got that hit his history, and
that's why I think he's intriguing from that standpoint. But
once again, they may and I'm just looking at it
from the outside looking in here, I think right now,
even though you mentioned they could use it additional running back,
prioritizing the receiving core is number one more so than

(48:05):
I think any other facet on the roster, because granted
they still have Darius Layton, you still have Wandel Robinson,
and you have Hyatt, and you have Bo Collins. But
given in the blink of an Ie Howard, you know
within a game, you know you should lose a guy
and Oshefskin. But if you don't want to use o
Chefski's wide receiver, I think you have to protect yourself
with perhaps that fifth wide receiver at least somebody that

(48:25):
is versatile enough to run routes. So that's at least
how I would be leaning at it, based on the
initial stages. Even if they bring somebody in from the
outside of the organization. I still think they're leaving that
roster spot open to prioritize wide receiver more so than
any other position, because, once again, based on what also
Gable said in yesterday's meeting with the media, knock on wood,

(48:49):
it seems as if they came out of yesterday relatively
healthy outside of neighbors. So it doesn't look like they
have I'm sorry, a necessity. We're getting a little bit
physical with one another here, so you got to watch
out for me make those small jokes early. You know,
I'm crafty like the camp Scataboo to pop out of nowhere.
But anyway, fight that hand, it doesn't look like they
may need to at least call up a player at

(49:11):
another position, at least based on what the early stages
of the week look like. All right, let's head back
to the phone lines. Let's check in with Mike in Springfield, Massachusetts.
What's happened to Mike?

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Hey, guys, I'm interested in the matchup between our lines
and the New Orleans Saints. I'm worried that our offensive
line will not match up well against the New Orleans
line and vice versa. I'm wondering whether or not we're
going to have the same opportunities with our defensive line

(49:43):
against New Orleans lines. And I appreciate your comments on that, guys.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
Sure absolutely, we'll let you go on that note. It's
a really good question, and I don't mind at least
jumping into a little early preview. There is news one
of the players that the Saints has relied on right guards.
He's a Ruiz is going to be out, So just
like the Chargers, they're already down one of their starters.
And I think you brought it up. Hey, you know,
you got to take that into consideration context wise, but

(50:10):
also a big part of the NFL, Howard is they
don't feel sorry for you in the NFL if you're
beat up, so your opponent then has a chance to
take advantage. And the Giants took advantage of an unhealthy
Chargers offensive line. Now the Saints are not necessarily limping
in to the same degree as the Chargers, but Ruiz
is a starting offensive lineman and he's at the right

(50:32):
guard spot. And I think you've got to test who
they bring in, and you've got to see whether or
not they can establish the run and pass protect. Also
for a young quarterback, in Spencer Rattler, so that at
least early stages of the week could be an opportunity
for the Giants to capitalize. As far as the Saints
defensive line, I don't know how much you saw even
after the Giants game. They stuck with the Bills this

(50:54):
past week. I mean, they gave Buffalo and Josh Allen
some trouble. This is a thorn in the side of
you type of defense, and you still have some veterans
in this defense. I mean the Mario Davis may still
be one of the best middle linebackers in the NFL.
He is so well disciplined in helping stop the run.
Chase Young and Cam Jordan are veteran pass rushers. I

(51:16):
don't think they have the same degree as the Chargers
where there's maybe a game wrecker that you're like, oh
my god. But I think they've got a lot of
seasoned veterans who have plenty of reps under their belt,
and they're pretty well disciplined defense. So this is still
not going to be a picnic for the Giants' ability
to pass protect as well as run the football.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
I think the Giants are gonna be okay against against
the Saints. I think that we are giving them a
lot of credit. Yes, they kept the game close, but
they didn't win the game. I think that everybody gets
up when you see the guy, when you see Josh
Allen standing on the other sideline, your defense is going
to play a little bit better. And they've you know,
talked to each other and leaning on each other. Okay,
we got to make sure this guy doesn't beat us.

(51:56):
And of course we beat him, but you but you
get excited for that. They're gonna be looking at the
Giants and they're like, oh, this is our get right game.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
Excuse me, yeah, because they're still looking for the first
win of the season. I know, you get emotional over
the seats.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
It's okay, it's gonna be our gid right game. And
they're gonna be trying to, like, you know, do everything
they can to how we're gonna confuse the rookie quarterback.
So that that right there, that one statement is the
thing that gets gets teams all the time. When you
do things that you don't ordinarily do, you also open
up yourself to mistakes. And that's where you know, yes

(52:29):
they're veterans, yes, but they're if they're trying to bring
an extra guy if they're trying to disguise a coverage
and all of a sudden, you're you're gonna be making mistakes,
and that's you just don't always it doesn't always work
that the rookie quarterback loses because he hasn't seen this before.
It's gonna be hard for him.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
Well, you bring up once again another interesting point. And
I remember looking over some of the statistics how Jim
Harbaugh fared against rookie quarterbacks starting his career, right, and
you know, barely anybody had success, So not one or
something like that, correct, And I'm sure they're gonna do
a lot of that again with respect to because the
Saints defensive coordinator is branded Staley Stanley, who is the

(53:07):
former Chargers coach coincidentally before Harbor took over. But Staley
has had a very good track record of being a
savvy defensive coordinator. So I understand what you're saying, Howard,
that sometimes you overthink things when you go up against
rookie quarterbacks. If it was a newer defensive coordinator, I
would be a little bit more concerned about maybe New
Orleans thinking big and creative. I think the fact that

(53:30):
Staley has done before, been there before, This is not
his first rodeo. Maybe he doesn't fall for that dangling
carrot that perhaps other defensive coordinators or other younger coaches would.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
Well, what's gonna like I said, what's gonna happen? And
they're gonna he's gonna wind up seeing Dart outside the
pocket and it's gonna like throw off everything. If you're like,
if we're thinking we're gonna disguise this and whatever, they're
gonna get caught because Dart's gonna be outside of the pocket.
This is coming a week because he looked good outside
the pocket, and they're gonna start designing plays to get
him outside the pocket. That's gonna be harder on the defense.

(54:02):
It's harder to blitzer guy if if he's rolling away
from the blitz outside the pocket and throwing the ball
down the field. It's hard to blitz a guy when
you know you're swinging the ax guy across the line
to pick up that guy coming on the edge. So
it's going to be interesting to see. I know Stalley
is a good coach, been around for a while, but
you know, if he was that good, he'd still be
wherever he was before. All coaches keep moving around constantly,

(54:24):
so it's not it's not a it's not a forever job,
so to speak. So it's gonna be interesting for me
to see how this how this coach is coordinating in
these players, how they're going to handle you know, you know,
getting after dark. Now. The one thing I can say
is that it is loud in New Orleans, so he's
gonna have to have a system. They're going to be

(54:46):
on top of it. They're gonna they have to know
exactly what they're doing because it gets loud in New
Orleans and if they get in a game, it gets louder.
So you got to take him out of the game early.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
And where the Saints have been taken out of games themselves,
whether it's home or on the road, is they've had
headaches on special teams. So maybe that's an area that
could help out Jackson Dart as well as the defense.
But this unit, they've got eleven sacks and four games,
which is pretty good based on the math in the
early stages of the season. And I mean it goes
back to, once again, Howard, the principles we were talking

(55:17):
about earlier. I think if your branded Staley, You're gonna
come into this game before you get consumed by Dart.
You're gonna say, let's contain camp Scatago. Okay, let's put
Dart in passing situations on third down, So maybe he
can't be thinking about erasing everything simply by taking off.
And then if you do that, you know, then you
feel as if you have an opportunity to maybe get

(55:38):
some hits on the quarterback. If the Saints don't solidify
their run defense, you're gonna make it very fable for
Jackson Dart. So before I think Staley tries to dig
deep into those bag of tricks and all those other elements,
I think he's gonna emphasize, guys, this week, we've got
to limit the giants conventional run game. And if we
do that, then we put Art in more of a

(56:01):
pass happy situation, which the Chargers failed to do for
the majority of the game this past week.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Well, you're trying to get guys behind the sticks, that's
what they say you want to get You want to
have the zero and one yards on the first play.
If you can do that, then all of a sudden,
this second and eight second, when it's second and nine,
it takes a lot, a whole lot to try to
get get enough yards to make sure it's managable for
third down. You're not always going for the first down
on on that, you're always not going for the first down.
When you're second and eight, you're usually trying to figure out, Okay,

(56:29):
I just need five or six yards here, so we
have something manageable. If we get a first down, that's
a bonus, and that's how your play call it starts
to go. If if he gets four yards on the
first carry and it's second and six, then you don't know,
are they going to run it again? Oh God, or
what's gonna happen again? And it becomes a problem. You're
trying to make them as one dimensional as possible. And

(56:51):
if the if the Giants go on to score in
their first drive like they did in this this this
last game, that creates a problem for for the Saints
because they're not a big, you know, offensive jargonnaut right
now with the young quarterback there trying to figure find
his way, trying to you know, get all the receivers healthy,
and they're not all healthy. So yeah, you got one

(57:12):
of two guys you got locked down. You get still
got a pretty good running back, and you got a
quarterback that's he's trying to find his way.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
Twenty one points, Okay, it's still hovering in that seventeen
to twenty one point department. So you're still putting pressure
on your defense to make plays. And remember, and once again,
this is not to take anything away from Jackson Dard
and a victory is a victory, and brownie points don't
matter in the NFL like college football. But Howard, as
we talked about earlier, the interceptions shortened the field immensely. Okay,

(57:43):
it's not as if they had to go eighty five
ninety yards consistently the offense.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
But he did it one time. He did.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
He didn't open in the game though, when things tend
to be scripted and you have the element of surprise
much more so in play than as you get into
the later stage.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
Did the game. I think he'll be just fine.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
I'm not I'm not doubting that, but I'm saying that
all of these things, you got to put them into
context in terms of what are you reading into from
the first performance and what are defenses that are now
scouting him thinking about?

Speaker 2 (58:12):
Well, I thought, I think that something that helped out
a lot also is that they ran no huddle offense.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Patient.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
You know, so if you're running no huddle, guys can't
get on the field, can't get out the field. The
referee is not a lot it's not holding the ball
to let to let you guys get set up, and
it becomes a little bit of stressful thing for the defense.
The defense is like, okay, like this is not good.
And it's before the game gets started. To base get
their hands on their hips. That's what you're trying to
trying to accomplish. So you know they're gonna be talking

(58:40):
to their team about pace. Okay, they're gonna come out
and try to go no huddle, let's go. Let's get
our guys in there. And if you can get the
right group of guys in there, and all of a sudden,
like so you got THEO in there, and you got
balancing there, and all of sudden, THEO splits out in
the slot, Like wait a minute, you got a problem.
So that I think I think there's some I think
there's some ways too. You know, first drive to really

(59:01):
put some pressure on and then once you get it
on them, the next drive you just kind of come
back with That's what they did this game. They came
out a little now huddle, then they came out the
next drive they started running about them, and all of
a sudden, the team's like, wait a minute, I thought
they were trying to throw it. And it becomes a
bigger issue.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Because you don't have a good read yet on what
exactly they're going to do. And I'm just looking over
the numbers from the Bill Saints game, and I'm curious
to get your perspective on this, Howard. There's a lot
of mobile quarterbacks in the NFL. Okay, that's clear. But
they just coming off a game in which they went
up against Josh Allen, who coincidentally ran Dables offense in Buffalo,

(59:38):
and he can create lanes right himself, and James Cook
had over one hundred yards. But I guess what I'm
getting at is, do you think the Saints maybe are
a little bit better prepared for Dart given they just
went up against a Josh Allen type of quarterback.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
No mean, Josh Allen's is a different breed of quarterbacks.
So when guys are seeing him there, you know they're
all hands on deck. They don't have the same kind
of intensity looking at the Dark like it's Jackson, is
it's Allen, It's it's a couple other guys like Jalen hurt.
You don't want that guy hurting you with his legs.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
We're working on that during the week, or that was
a new one on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
The fly fly But but but you're trying to figure
out a way to make sure that you're making them
throw out of the out of the out of the
bucket instead of like running outside and getting out and
running down the field. That's what you're trying to do.
Josh Allen is just running over guys. Josh Allen's jumping
over guys. Josh Allen different frame. It's just it's just
too It's way different playing against him than playing against

(01:00:41):
somebody else. Maybe Lamar Jackson could be close, but from
Marcus outside, he's gone. So like you know that those
guys like Josh Allen's just a different one of them.
So I don't think they're going to be super prepared
to play against Dark because of Josh Allen. Because you're
playing against Josh Allen, you're like, Okay, we have a
true running that can throw the ball eighty yards. We

(01:01:03):
can't let him get out of pocket. We can't let
him do this, we can't let him do that, and
he's still doing anything he wants to do.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
The only reason I brought that up is there was
one run that Allen had for twenty seven yards. He
ran up the gut. He joked one guy Howard, who
literally went probably to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
The guy didn't want to hit He didn't want to
hit him. He didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
Yeah, I mean, Dart certainly has athleticism. I saying it's
in Josh Allen territory, but I guess that elusiveness that
you maybe have to account for. That's what I was
perhaps bringing up as it means of comparison, but still
way early in terms of putting him in that territory,
but encouraging.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Someone put him in. Can yet correct.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
Absolutely, and I would subscribe to that same school of thought.
I'm not putting things to ahead of the curve here.
All right. Well, that's going to wrap up Tuesday's edition
A Big Blue Kickoff Live. Appreciate everybody tuning in. It
is presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the
New York Football Giants, and we are broadcasting for the
Giants Podcast Studio present by Hackensack Meridian Health Keep getting better.

(01:02:03):
Remind you the archive of the show and our entire
podcast network is on the Giants mobile app podcast platforms
everywhere and at giants dot com slash podcast. And if
you want more puns on the fly, please at Howard
Cross eighty seven highly recommend it. And I am at
Lance Meado one word, last name Medow. I may give
you a pun, but Jalen hurts hurting you. I don't

(01:02:23):
know if I'll go that deep into my bag of tricks.
I'm just throwing it out there. Appreciate everybody tuning in.
Howard absolute pleasure as always, absolutely same here say lock
to giants dot com for all the latest and we'll
speak to you on Wednesday. Right here on Big Blue
Kickoff Live.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
Have a go on