Big Blue Kickoff Live 9/5 | Giants vs Commanders Preview

Paul Dottino and Matt Citak discuss everything you need to know going into Giants vs Commanders, talk about the NFC East, and take calls from fans.

0:00 - The NFL season is here!

14:30 - Calls

24:00 - Youtube questions

37:40 - Offensive line

45:00 - Giants run game

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff line.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Do it because you're on Giants dot com.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Do you know what I saw to York Giant Crime.

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

Speaker 2 (00:15):
At fourteen at the final one time down?

Speaker 3 (00:18):
We all we're all tamped.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
They did well.

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

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Let's go on, Hell on the Crazy Dogs, hasn't fun? Hello,
get everybody, and welcome to Friday's edition of Big Blue
Kickoff Live. It is presented by Cadillac, the official luxury
vehicle of the New York Football Giants, and we are
coming to you from the Hack and Sack Meridian Health
Podcast Studio. Keep getting better And.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
If I look jacked up, well I am Matt.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but the energy is just bursting
from the seams. You're gonna have to deal with me today.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
This is probably the first time that I actually feel
like I might be on the same or at least
close to your level.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, there we go.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Ready for some real Last night got me so amped
up for just some real football.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well, if you didn't happen to see the game last night,
we saw two teams in the NFC East Philadelphia and
Dallas play absolutely no defense in the first half whatsoever.
It was embarrassing.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, the Eagles had their best defensive player ejected before
one defense snap.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
I have no idea what got into Jalen Carter to
do what he did, you know, to spit and get
himself thrown out. And we'll see what the NFL wants
to do about that. By the way, because they have
put an extra point of emphasis this offseason, and we've
been told this because the NFL has passed out a
lot of things to the broadcast teams to let us know,
you know, what they're looking for and what they'd like

(01:44):
to emphasize and rules changes and stuff like that. This
is a big point of emphasis this offseason about mutual
respect amongst players. Sportsmanship is like with a capital S.
And with what he did last night, I'm curious if
there are gonna be any repercussions, if he may even
get not just to find but would they consider suspending

(02:07):
him a game just to slam home the point that
they've been telling us now for months that they were
going to crack down on poor sportsmanship.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Well, if they do suspend him for one game, can
they delay that until week six. That would be nice. No, yeah,
I hear where you're coming from. I mean, it's tough
for him to have any argument, you know, saying like, oh,
I didn't do it on purpose. You clearly see it.
Of all those like you know, spit videos we've seen

(02:38):
over the years, this had to be one of the
most obvious where you can literally just see it flying
right out of his helmet hitting Dak Prescott. And I
know at least a lot of Eagle fans have been
trying to say, oh, well, look at the video Dak
spit at him. First, there's another video where you can
see Dak standing about I don't know seven yards away
with two of his own offensive linemen in front of him,

(02:58):
and Dak spitting at the ground. You know, if you
want to say it was somewhat in the direction of
Jalen Carter, I can give you that, but it was
still at least four yards away from where Jalen Carter
was standing. And then Jalen Carter walked right up to
him and spit on him. So all I'm gonna say
is it's Jalen Carter doesn't exactly have the best track

(03:19):
record of smart decisions. He was just the latest one
in a list of them. So we can leave it
at that now.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
In terms of one other comment about the game, as
I said, no defense played at all during the first
half when it was twenty four to twenty Philadelphia, and
then after in the second half, I think both teams
kind of lost their way. I didn't see a lot
of gas in the tank I thought. Also, the lightning
delay was also a big part of that.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
Oh yeah, that clearly had an effect on the teams.
I mean, as soon as they went into the delay,
you were seeing all these tweets from reporters that were
at the game in the tunnels being like, oh, you know,
the Cowboys are having carts of food wheeled into them.
That's not what you want to hear in the middle
of the third corner of the game. And it's no
surprise that once they both teams took the field again,

(04:08):
both offenses were incredibly sluggish. There were no points scored
after the lightning break. I mean, only a couple of
first downs total between the two teams. Ceedee Lamb, who
had an amazing first half, seemed like he, you know,
forgot how to catch a football towards the end of
the game. Yeah, it was after a first half of
amazing offensive play. Second half left a lot to be

(04:32):
desired on both for both teams. Did you guys stay
up the delay? I did not make it until the
end of the game.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
I dozed and then woke up with a few minutes
to go and Ceedee Lamb. As you mentioned, h dropped
one long bomb down the stretch and then another one.
He should have made a play on. If you're at
all pro, you gotta make that play. Whether or not.
Some people are are going to say that.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Was not a drop.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
I grete tough, that's a drop.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
He also admit he said it himself that he dropped
the ball. There were many people out there who liked
to well, he.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Is not one of them.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
He's obviously one of the best receivers in the NFL
and so through a high standard, and he expected himself
to catch that if again, if.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
He's going to be as great as he says he is,
he's got to make the play and he didn't. So
three drops for Ceedee Lamb. Another item I thought was
very interesting or Dori Jackson, the former Giant now starting
out at one of the corners for the Eagles and
had a miserable first half. They really went to town
on him. And I'll be frank with you, I liked

(05:35):
the Dory as a guy, really good player until the
concussion two years ago, and when he came back from
the concussion, I didn't think he was the same player.
And then last year when the Giants brought him back
late because they were hurting for bodies on the depth chart,
I thought he was just an average player last year
at best. I just didn't think he was the same.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, I thought last year he was okay, he wasn't bad,
he wasn't a lie ability out there, but he also wasn't,
you know, Theodori Jackson of a few years ago. I
was a little surprised that the Eagles, you know, I'm
pretty sure didn't they sign him pretty early? Yeah, in
free agency, Like I'm surprised that they went after him.
Clearly they were targeting him, and free agency wanted him.

(06:17):
I think we saw last night that, you know, I
don't think he's necessarily going to be like a huge
liability on a weekly basis. But for the Eagles, who
have obviously aspirations to go back to back Super Bowl championships,
I don't know if i'd feel good about him being
one of my starting corners out there. I mean, there's
a reason why it seemed like the Giants didn't have much,

(06:40):
if any interest in bringing him back, and they've obviously
got to know him very well over the last couple
of years and kind of have a good sense of
how much he might have left in the tank. So yeah,
I wouldn't be surprised that Philly, you know, already starts
looking for some potential guys that they could bring in.
Whether it's I mean, as we've about in the offseason

(07:01):
that are leading up to training camp, cornerback, and then
the secondary in general is the position group where there
are veterans on the back nine of their careers, but
veterans that are sitting there waiting for a team to call.
You know, Sante Samuel Junior is still out there. I
hope he doesn't end up.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
After week one, when you don't have to guarantee the
salary for the year, you will see some of these
guys trickle it.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if that is a position
that they address in the near future.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Now, I want to make one thing very clear though,
folks before we dabbled too much in the fact that
you know, there were certainly some weaknesses on both of
these teams that we saw yesterday. I do want to
just go back to something that I have always said,
You can't judge a team in the first couple of
weeks of the season. You got to wait till a
month in. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it

(07:49):
is in the NFL today. So I don't want to
make any concrete, knee jerk reactions about what I saw.
But I will say this that in Philadelphia, both showed
some wards last night, that's for sure. Now again, Carter
was thrown out immediately, so that changed the complexion of

(08:10):
their defensive line. So I don't want to say that
the Eagles defensive line has taken a huge shot because
card and play. You know, whether or not he's on
the field next week or the week after, when he's
back in the lineup, he makes a difference one hundred percent.
So I don't want to go too far with that. No, no,
but they didn't play very well without.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
Him one hundred percent. But going into the season, you know,
especially after the big trade in the division, you know,
last week with Michael Parsons going to Green Bay. When
you looked at both of these two teams, I think
everyone would agree that both of the offenses are a
lot better than their defenses. I mean, in Dallas, top

(08:50):
heavy Dallas. In Dallas, there's no question, especially after the
Michael Parsons trade, they still have what I think could
be a top offensive unit the Cowboys. But their defense,
I mean, they have a lot of holes now. Oliver
Eagles obviously are coming off a season last year where
they had one of the best defenses in the NFL.

(09:11):
But they lost a lot of key players and these
are players that everyone knew going into this season. Those
are gonna be big holes to fill, and I don't
know if they did fill all the I mean, you
look at the defensive front. The defensive rount doesn't look
like the defensive front that we saw last year in Philadelphia.
You know, Josh Swett last night, Joshwtt was a big loss.
Milton Williams was a big loss. You know, they signed

(09:33):
a Zizo Jalai. He wasn't even active last night. I know,
so wow, So we kind of knew that.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
The I wonder if he was hurt again that I
don't know.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
I I'm not sure if it was healthy, inactive, or
if there's something going on. But we knew that the
defense were gonna be you know, for the Eagles. I'm
putting weakness in quotes because I still think the defense
will be pretty good with Jalen Carter playing. I mean,
their rookie gi Hot Campbell, he was fantastic last night.
He was really good. And you know, they have good
players across their defense. But as the offenses for these

(10:04):
two teams that are clearly going to carry them to
whatever level of success they might have this year, and
the offenses both looked good in the first half. They
looked really good. I mean not just good, really good.
The Dallas Dallas on that first drive went right down
the field. Javonte Williams looked like he, you know, drank
from the fountain of youth and all of a sudden,
you know, got some of his spring back from earlier
in his career.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
The Dallas so line played well in that first half too.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
They did, they did, and obviously with the Eagles, I mean,
the Eagles scored was it twenty four twenty one twenty
one first half points?

Speaker 5 (10:36):
Was it?

Speaker 2 (10:36):
It was twenty four to twenty ath a half, wasn't it.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
Whatever it was, they scored three touchdowns in the first
half alone, and that was without A. J. Brown and
DeVante Smith doing anything. Yeah, they combined for They combined
for I think a total of thirty yards receiving the
two top guys, and AJ Brown is one of the
best receivers in the NFL. So clearly, you know, we

(11:01):
are talking about some of some of the warts. But
the offenses for both of these teams are not to
be like overlooked in the slice, but they are could
end up being too top ten offenses this year. I
wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
It is clear to me that while Philadelphia has the
best balanced in terms of the roster in the division, Okay,
that's clear to me. It's also clear to me that
the Giants might wind up having the best defense overall
in the division. That's possible if these guys play like
they can they got a chance to do.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
It's gonna come down to the run defense, which is
not not going out on a limbs say doubt. I
mean especially you know it's gonna start on Sunday with
the Commanders, who obviously they no longer have Brian Robinson,
but the dual threat of Jalen Daniel Jayden Daniels is
obviously something that the Giants are gonna very much have
to keep an eye on on Sunday. But when it
comes to, you know, facing these two teams again, Javonte

(11:54):
Williams did look pretty good last night. Miles Sanders had
that one big run. But I'm out exactly. I wouldn't
say I'm nervous about the Cowboys run game, the casting
game that is very talented, but the Eagles that is
going to be I mean, there's gonna be tests earlier

(12:14):
on the Chargers, the Chiefs, Like these are teams that
want to obviously have balanced offenses, but are gonna want
to run the football. Uh But that Week six game
against the Eagles, how the Giants can potentially contain or
at least attempt to contain the run game led by
Saquon and Jalen Hurts, that is going to be a
huge test to see. I guess how much the Giants

(12:36):
really closed the gap with some of these division rivals.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Well, here's what I will say. Realistically speaking, Philly, Washington,
and Dallas are all top heavy on offense where their
offenses are better than their defensive units. I think we
could say that pretty clearly. The Giants are the opposite.
They've got the better defense that's going to have to

(12:59):
lead the offense. So they're the outlier in the division.
And if you believe that defense is the best way
in football one oh one to compete and to potentially
be a winning team, this should help the Giants close
the gap. This is just fundamental football. If you play
great defense, you should be in most of your games.

(13:22):
On the other hand, teams that can't play very good
defense run the risk of being hammered a bunch of times.
So that's a very interesting dynamic in this division where
I just don't think enough of people are going back
to the fundamentals of football and understanding that the Giants
have a chance to close the gap. If for no

(13:42):
other reason, then they might wind up having clearly the
best defense in the division. I don't think we should
ignore that.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
No, No, of course. The only thing I'm going to add,
and this is I'm saying this because we've heard it
from you know, Brian Burns, Dexter, Lawrence cave On all
the defensive players is as much praise as we're giving
them and heaping up onto them. They got as much
talent as they have on paper, I know it means
deadly squat until they actually go out there, starting this

(14:11):
Sunday and start doing it for real. Yeah though, like
I do agree that I think on paper the Giants
have the best defense in the division. But on paper
doesn't mean anything. They gotta to go out and do it.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
Make a statement Sunday. How about that? Exactly, make a
statement on Sunday? All right, folks, two on one nine
three nine four five one three. Just as a programming
reminder of the kickoff at Washington on Sunday is at
one pm. Obviously, you can catch the game on Fox
TV locally, uh and also on WFA and radio. We

(14:45):
go to line one, Rob and Yunkers. You are first
on the program.

Speaker 6 (14:48):
Hello, good afternoon on guys.

Speaker 7 (14:51):
Thank you taking much.

Speaker 6 (14:53):
Hey, Rob, I just want to say that I called
you guys last year. It's funny about Dori Jackson, and
I complained about him like the whole episode, and I'm
happy we don't have him the more because it seems
like when it comes to a good quarterback, he's going
to be the main target when it comes to a receiver.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Well, I mean, I mean especially considering the other guys
the Eagles have in that secondary on the other side,
Mitchell Cooper, like, yeah, he's gonna he's going to be
the corner that the you know, opposing offenses target for.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
I mean, who are you going to pick on? You
know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (15:28):
Although CD Lamb did did have a couple of really
good plays on Mitchell in the first half.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
I don't know, does I want to test him too much?

Speaker 8 (15:35):
Though?

Speaker 6 (15:35):
No, I'm with you and Paul, I agree with you
as well. A couple episodes back, somebody was saying that
we should have kept more offensive linemen, and I agree
with you because we always had that issue with offensive linemen.
So I agree that keeping more is better.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
I'm glad you just brought up offensive line. We should
tell you today that Brian Dable, the head coach, said
that Andrew Thomas was going to participate in practice today.
Now we don't know how many snaps you'll take or
the extent of what he's going to do, but Brian
Dabele did say Thomas would be practicing today and that

(16:13):
after practice they were going to talk to him and
the trainers and go from there. So that puts a
little bit of a different spin on things compared to
yesterday when he did not practice.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
And I think it's also important to add that Brian
Dable did add that not only was Andrew Thomas going
to be on the practice field today, but he did
say he's going to do some team stuff. He shared
that little detail, which obviously we know coach doesn't like
to share too many details, especially when it comes to injuries.
But and we don't know exactly how much in the
last two weeks Andrew Thomas has been doing in terms

(16:45):
of team drills, so it was just good to hear
coach Jabele say that he would be out there for
at least some team stuff. We have no idea the extent,
but the fact that he's out there for any team
stuff is an encouraging side and Rob before.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
You continue, I should all so add one other injury note.
Coach Dable also mentioned that they would pull back a
tad little load management on Eliite neighbors his back was
a little bit sore. But then Brian Dable also immediately
responded to a question about it and said, don't worry,
He's gonna be fine for the game on Sunday. So
this is just a load management issue, and as we
all know, that becomes a riler, regular NFL phrase these days.

(17:23):
Back in the day, that didn't happen. But today there's
load management every week with guys.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
I mean, that's just the way it is.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
It's a regular occurrence. So no need to paddock. Go ahead, Robin.
I'm sorry to interrupt you.

Speaker 8 (17:35):
No, it's okay.

Speaker 9 (17:35):
A few more things.

Speaker 6 (17:37):
I'm feeling very excited about this year. I know preseason
is just preseason. I've been a Giants fan all my life,
but this preseason soelf totally different. I just feel that
I feel that we will make it to the playoffs.
And I'm going to give you guys a callback after
we beat Doubt. So we're gonna beat Washington and we're

(17:58):
going to beat out. So remember I'm a Rob from Jager.
I will be giving you a call back when we're
two way zero, Rob.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
We will be here and I await your phone call.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
I look forward to that phone call.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Have a great day.

Speaker 9 (18:10):
I have an excellent day.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
You two that you're thanks for calling. Two one nine
three nine four five one three. Arnold is in Buffalo
Online two, your next other show.

Speaker 9 (18:19):
Hello, Hey Matt, Hey Paul. How's it going.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
How are you?

Speaker 9 (18:26):
Everything's great, Everything's great. Listen. I'm very excited about this season,
you know. I just I think Russell Wilson is going
to really do it. And I got some mom some
mom predictions later on. But I wanted to ask one question.
Can you can you tell me the difference between I

(18:53):
keep hearing you guys say, like a three technique and
a five technique. What's the difference between those dates?

Speaker 2 (19:01):
All right, I will tell you. I try to avoid
those things because you're right, most fans out there don't
understand the nomenclature that's very specific when you start talking
about the positions along the defensive front. Okay, in short,
the one that you'll hear the most often is three
technique defensive tackle. Basically, that guy is the penetrator. He

(19:26):
is the guy who's more athletic, who's more spelt, and
he's the guy who you want to want to get
pass rush out of playing the defensive tackle spot, as
opposed to the other defensive tackle, who is often referred
to as a nose tackle. Even if you play in
a four to three front, they'll still call him a
nose tackle, because that's guy. He's the dexter Lawrence. He's

(19:49):
the wide body, he's the plugger. He's the one who's
going to try to fill up the gap with his girth,
or the guy who's going to try to take two
guys in a double team and just sit their butts
right on a line of scrimmage so they can't do
anything else to block for the other offensive players. That's
basically the most common technical term you'll hear for any

(20:11):
of the defensive linemen. Three technique referring to the penetrating, quick, athletic,
felt defensive tackle who wants to get into the backfield
as opposed to the plugger at the line of scrimmage.
I could waste a lot of time here going through
all the different positions. I don't think that would do
anybody any good. That's the one that's most common.

Speaker 9 (20:35):
So you're saying a five technique is dexter Lawrence.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
No, no, no, no, he is a nose tackle. Great
technique would be not you, notcho, not Cho would be
not Cho would be a three technique because he's more
of a penetrator. Darius Alexander is more of a three technique.
He's more of a penetrator. Leonard Williams was more of

(21:00):
a three technique because he was more of a penetrator.
I know, it's funny because next to the Lawrence at
nine sacks last year, and he missed a whole bunch
of games. So you probably could say to me, why
isn't he a drink technique?

Speaker 3 (21:12):
No, he is a nose tackle.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Okay, appreciate it, Arnild, thank you. Two one nine nine
four five one three. I know John likes to use
a lot of the coaches terminology. I don't know that
that necessarily helps a lot of our fans because they
don't know those things. So I've always tried to, you know,
use the older nomenclature, which just sticks to basically the positions.

(21:38):
And as far as the two defensive tackle spots, I've
always used the penetrator and the plugger because it makes
it so much easier for fans to understand what their
role is in the defense. But the penetrator is the
three technique. Okay, that that one gets used a lot.
Even on TV, they use that one a lot.

Speaker 3 (21:57):
Yeah, I mean especially I feel like with how versatile
all the pretty almost all the defensive linement across the
NFL are these days, and with how so many guys
line up in multiple spots, I agree that, you know,
I don't know if you need to always, you know,
use the three technique five technique term terminology, because again,
these guys move around so much. Dexter lords lined up

(22:19):
primarily at nose tackle, that one kind of easy, but
I feel like so many other guys, they're just lining
up all over the line of scrimmage. You don't necessarily
need to, you know, single one guy out as oh
he's the Giants three technique or.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
You know, even back in yesteryear, when teams started going
to the three to four defense, the nose tackle was
the guy in the middle of the three down lineman.
But then as defenses started to develop more specialized roles,
you can now have a nose tackle in a four
down line set because he's the plugger. Yeah, and so

(22:53):
he's not necessarily the guy in the middle of a
three down line. That's why use to penetrate and the plugger.
It's the easiest way. In this way, everybody can understand
what you mean. Two one nine three nine four five
one three is our phone number here on Big Blue
Kickoff Live. Do we have any YouTube comments? Did you
see any?

Speaker 9 (23:13):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, okay, here we go. Go ahead, you want to
read a couple of.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Those, all right? James McKnight said, after watching Eagles Cowboys
last night, what do you see as the Cowboys' greatest
vulnerability again the defense period. I mean, they still have
some talented players scattered across their defense, but you know,
the the Cowboys defense that has caused you know, so

(23:37):
much trouble for the Giants in the last couple of years.
The two guys that were really leading the charge were
Michael Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. Both of them are now gone,
so and they I mean, they do have some talented cornerbacks.
They just signed around Bland to an extension. Trayvon Diggs
is there, But those guys don't scare me nearly as
much as MICHAEH. Parsons in DeMarcus Lawrence did for so

(23:59):
many the year. So really, so, I know it's kind
of a general answer here, but really just the Cowboys defense,
like their run defense doesn't scare me, the pass defense
doesn't scare me. Their offense does scare me because their
offense is really good. Yeah, but so you know, when
it comes to Giants Cowboys Week two, that might be

(24:20):
a game where you know, obviously the defense will have
to step up, but the offense is gonna have to potentially,
you know, keep up with Dallas's offense.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
All right, real quick, mama, dude, can't? He says, how
do you all feel about our linebackers? Well, again, I
consider the linebackers part of the whole edge rushers. I
consider Thibodeaux and Burns still linebackers. I consider Caught a linebacker.
McFadden and Okarak and Muisal those are all linebackers for me.

(24:49):
I know some people want to still separate them with
the nomenclature edge rusher. He's not a linebacker, he's an
edge rusher. He's a linebacker, folks, Okay, how do I feel?
Real good?

Speaker 3 (24:59):
I do think the question was asking more about the
second level of the defense though, the inside linebackers McFadden
and okerrit k. Yes, I feel like that is I
don't want to speak for the commenter, but I feel
like that's probably where they were going because most people
do consider the the I still feel good about the
outside linebackers more as kind of defense alignment. Because they

(25:20):
do a lot of the time lineup on the line
of scrimmage. So if we're just talking about the inside linebackers.
To answer your question, and I actually spoke about this
on the first Giants Hangout podcast that was posted yesterday
on Giants podcast platforms, but I said that the Giants
linebackers are the position group that I think are being
overlooked the most of any position group on the entire roster.

(25:43):
You know, the defense has gotten so much attention, most
of which has been about the pass rush, and rightfully so,
because the Giants could have one of the best pass
rushes in the NFL. We've spoken a lot about the secondary,
mainly because of the additions of Paulson and Debo Javon
Holland joining Drew Phillips, Tyler, Nuban Banks flat you know,
young and up and coming secondary. It's not been much

(26:05):
talk at all about the linebackers, and I think part
of it was due to Bobby Ocarake Tate, I would say,
having a little bit of a step back last year
compared to his first season with the Giants, but that's
only because he was so good his first year in
the Giants back in twenty twenty three. He was so
good and rock solid in the middle of the defense.
Last year, you know, first year in a new defense,

(26:26):
he didn't quite live up to this play up to
the same level as he did the year before. But
now he's year two in the system, in Shane Bowen's system,
and I think both him and Mike McFadden are going
to take steps this year, big steps. And I think
they are just being completely overlooked as a position group,
and I think they're going to surprise a lot of.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
People this year. I have no problem with anything you
just said. I happened to like the linebacker corps.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
Me too.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Anthony says, I'm taking the Giants twenty two to seventeen.
Jack says, the d line is going to be really
good if they all stay healthy, should lead the league.
And then finally, let's see who else do we have here? Oh,
God's will sixty four? I think the Giants will have
a twenty point game on defense. Well, that's asking a
lot for the defense to score twenty points on their own.

(27:14):
Let's go back to the phones more.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
Recent will give up twenty points a game, Oh.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Will give up twenty points.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
They will average twenty points a game as a scoring defense.
I know it's how it's worth.

Speaker 9 (27:26):
I think that.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
So you're interpreting, I'm taking a guess at what Okay,
I think so too, Okay.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
So fine. If the Giants give up twenty points a game,
I'd be it ted disappointed. I think they could do
a little better than that. Really, I think they're that good.
The potential is there to be in the seventeenth to
eighteen point a game range. Where would which would which
would be elite?

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Where would twenty points a game have ranked last year?

Speaker 2 (27:53):
I do not know the answer to that.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
I'm gonna look it up real quick.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
It will be high.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
There were very few teams that give up in the
teams twenty exactly twenty would have the Giants as the
seventh best scoring defense.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
I mean I would sign me up for that seventh
best scoring defense. That's pretty I could with a potentially
elite pass rush.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
I think they they could, if they max out, do
better than twiny an. I hope you're right anyway, Maurice Chebaclaire,
you are next on the program.

Speaker 10 (28:23):
Hello, Hey, good afternoon, Good afternoon, gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, sure you too, all right, all right, doing good.

Speaker 9 (28:30):
Hey, check this out.

Speaker 10 (28:31):
There's a little different kind of questions today, but just
feel what I'm going with this. On Sunday, I'm posing
a question to you guys. Do you think it's better
if we win the talks and we say let's go
Russell and deploy the offense first and set that tunnel
early and go out there and do momentum and you
know that philosophical approach to the game and our mental side,

(28:53):
and we go out there and we get down there
and let's just say something screw up and then we
settle for three, just establish ourselves that way. I know
we all love what we see from the defense, but
I think, like if we what would y'all do? I
want to know? I think if we kind of won
the toss and we said let's go offense, However, I
like to see the offense out there first. And the
second part is like, Paul, do you do you know

(29:15):
any of the coaches that was around that really game
plan towards stuff like that. Just thinking about the coin toss,
like you know, we're going to defer the time, but
now I just see a lot of the fers because
we just want the ball back. So just tell me
how you guys feel about that, and then I'll take
it off there, thank you.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Okay, you want to address the first part of his question.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
Sure, if we're up to me, I kind of I
agree with Maurice, and I think we saw this a
little bit in the preseason. I would like the offense
to go out there first, and as just as Marie said,
sort of established the tone and obviously going up against
the Commanders. The Commanders, I would think it's safe to

(29:56):
already say that their best players, Jaydon Daniels after just
one year, have the Giant. If the Giants win the toss,
put the offense out there and try to take up
as much clock as possible and keep Jade Daniels off
the field for as long as you possibly can. I
think that's gonna be the plan throughout the entire game,
is to try to keep him off Daniels off the
field as much as you can. And the way to

(30:18):
do that is by sustaining long drives, having long scoring
drives that eat up a lot of clock. That means
the run game is gonna have to be working, the
quick pass game is gonna have to be efficient. With
Russell Wilson, you know, maybe that means not too many
moon ball deep shots fifty yards down the field. But
if the Giants can sustain long drives and keep Jayden

(30:40):
off the field for as long as possible, that will
set them up in a good chance to win the
game on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
I love the game plan. I don't know that I
would go that way, but I understand it, and I
think that would be marvelously terrific for the Giants. I
think in doing this the strategy and yes, by the way,
to answer the second part of your question, the reason
that teams defer is because several years ago Belichick did

(31:08):
a analytical study on this and he was the first
one who began the regular process of deferring because he
found out that teams that defer the kickoff win fifty
two and a half percent of the games when he
did his analytical study. So he decided that's it, I'm

(31:29):
gonna do it. Well, this is a copycat league. When
Belichick figures something out, everybody else says, Okay, we're gonna
do it too, And that's why everybody does it. Okay.
The reason is because you want to try to take
use of the double dip, where if you can score
at the end of a half and then get the

(31:52):
ball back to start the third quarter. In theory, you
have the opportunity to have possessed the ball two times
in a row and put up two consecutive scores without
the other team answering. That's the theory behind it, and
I understand that. Okay. However, I am not one who

(32:12):
automatically believes that you should follow the Belichick rule and
automatically defer, and I do think to answer your question,
there are a lot of coaches who will automatically do
it because Belichick did it and that's the way the
league is going. There are other coaches who will pay
attention to the weather. They will pay attention to the matchup,

(32:35):
They will pay attention to the injury situation. They will
pay attention is it a home game or is it
a road game? If you're going to a very hostile
environment like Seattle, where their crowd can cause trouble for
your offense from the very get go, that could be
a detriment if you get the ball first. So yes,
there are some coaches who pay a lot of attention

(32:57):
to the strategy of the individual game at the time
as to whether or not they would do it. I
would tell you if I had the call on Sunday.
The reason that I would defer this time is only
because at the moment, as we sit here today, I
have more confidence that the Giants' defense will go out

(33:20):
and have a better first series than the offense would.
I appreciate your logic, because if that works, it's great.
I think, right now, without any further evidence as to
what this team is about, I have more confidence in
a strong first series from the defense because if the

(33:41):
offense comes out, gets the ball first and does it
move and goes three and out, now you've given Jaden
Daniels really good field position and you're already putting the
defense on its heels for the first time the Washington
touches the ball.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
I hear you.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
That can be dangerous.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
I do hear you, And of course know what I said. Obviously,
if the Giants go three and out, then what I
said backfires for sure, and I get that. But I
just I feel like, you know, the defense has been
so hyped and has all these high expectations everyone seems
to think, despite Russell Wilson coming in and looking pretty

(34:19):
good all summer and in the preseason, people still think
the Giants are gonna have one of the worst offenses
in the NFL. People outside of this building, I should say,
I just think to get the ball first. If you
could then get the ball and immediately go drive down
the field and score a touchdown, that would be setting
sending such a message not only do the commanders to
the rest of the NFL, to the whole NFL world

(34:40):
that has, you know, ridden the Giants offense off to
die like it would be saying like we're good too.
I just think that would send such a message that
that is why I, you know, I with that there's
no right.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Or wrong answer until you see the results exactly.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
If you don't get it, then of course I would say, oh,
it's like a back we should have deferred.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
It's like a fourth down, right, It's only right or
wrong if it works.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
But I just think, you know, because the Giants are
being so overlooked, like it's sort of just like, why
not what we have to lose?

Speaker 2 (35:12):
All right? Real quick, before we get to more phone calls,
I want to quickly go over a couple of our
promotional announcements. Don't forget Giants season tickets are still available.
I know the season is about to start, but that
doesn't mean you can't get in on a season ticket membership.
I'll go to giants dot com Slash tickets to get
all of the information, as well as finding out about

(35:34):
the out of season member benefits that you would get
as a subscriber. Giants TV is the official mobile app.
It is free. It is on all of the different platforms,
Apple TV, Roku, Amazon, fireTV and the Giants Mobile App.
You get to see all kinds of funny things and
highlights of practice and so forth, and so on game
highlights too. Of course, during the course of the weekend,

(35:56):
we need to tell you the Giants Foundation. We'll host
a five Kray Kids Run presented by Quest on Sunday,
October twenty sixth at nine am met Life Stadium. Net
Proceeds will benefit the Giants Foundation. All participants receive a
commemorative T shirt After the race, stay for a post
race festival and appearances by Giants Legends and Live DJ.

(36:16):
Register now at giants dot com, Slash five k and
also the Giants Huddle. Pearson, I defer to you, did
any new ones go up this afternoon?

Speaker 4 (36:25):
I'm not sure if it's up yet, But we have
an interview with Brian Burns going up today just talking
about the Commanders.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
That actually is the pregame show interview, the longer version
of the pregame show interview that John did for the
game against Washington, correct.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
Yeah, And tomorrow we'll have Chris mad Doug Russo on
just kind of previewing the season as well.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
So check out for a seventh by gay by gay.
That's a win by gay exactly. Yeah, we are sitting
too close for you to be screaming, I know.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Okah.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
Yeah, I don't think that Brian Burns huddle has been
posted yet. Okay, but we did actually also yesterday post
the fourth and I guess final at least for now
edition of Phil Simms QB series. Yeah, he sat down
and had a conversation with Russell Wilson. You know, he's
been doing it with all the quarterbacks. This was Russell's turn.
We've been saving it for right before week one. I

(37:14):
highly recommend giving that a look. Do much very entertaining.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
You are cheated already this morning. Please check it out.
Check it out. It's good and I love when Russ
asks Phil if he can go over some of Phil's
plays and Phil says, well, it's a grainy film. I
don't know if you can see them. Oh, it's always
great to see number eleven back here on campus. All right,
we go to Mike and Florida. You're next on Big
Blue Kickoff Live.

Speaker 8 (37:39):
Hello, a good afternoon, and gentlemen, me an explanation on
how the Giant offensive line, which has been I think
classified by you and John as technique oriented, will handle
defensive lines that are called Mauler's. You know, Philadelphi is
a malar Detroit to mother, I can toss them out,

(38:02):
but you know what's on our schedule. So do how
do we match up with that?

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Well, Thomas is a Mahler, and to some degree so
is a Luminor. So I don't know that I would
I would necessarily agree with the characterization. I do think
that the three interior guys are technique oriented a lignemen,
but the two tackles they play a power game. Now,
don't don't sell them short.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Yeah, I would say that, you know, I do think
we're gonna see a step from JMS this year. In
year three, he's gotten bigger. He's gotten bigger. Greg Van
Rodin obviously coming off a very solid twenty twenty four campaign,
and John Running is a veteran that's been doing this
for a long time now. Those three the interior in general,

(38:49):
you know, the matchups against defensive lines that have i
would say more top level, top tier interior guys might
cause a little bit more trouble. But I feel like
that goes for almost any team across the league. I mean,
unless you have an all pro center, all pro guards,
you're gonna have trouble against, you know, the Chris Jones is,

(39:10):
the Jalen Carter is, just like basically every single offensive
line has trouble against Dexter Lawrence. So the teams that
have those really top level interior guys, which unfortunately the
Giants do face some of those guys this year, one
of which is in the division. Obviously we spoke about
him earlier with Jalen Carter, But those guys, they're gonna
cause more trouble because if you can wreak havoc from

(39:31):
the interior, that's just gonna throw a wrench in like
the entire passing games plan in the running the whole
offense in general. That's why when Dexter Lawrence can be disruptive.
It messes everything up for opposing offenses.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
Kenny Clark is a pretty good power player, and the
Packers just traded him to Dallas in the Partians deal,
so that does enhance that position for Dallas a bit.
But you know, if you're an opponent, you'd much rather
face Kenny Clark than Michael Parsons. So I'm not gonna
be crying over that move. And then you know, Deron

(40:07):
Pain would be the league guy. I mean, I always
thought Kim Law was a good player, but he's never
lived up to his potential. Payinn of course, was a
really solid player since he came into the league, but
now that some of his other cohorts over the years
have gone, I'm not so sure he can be the
league dog in that defensive line.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
I was surprised that they were so quick to get
rid of Jonathan Allen.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
I think Jonathan all is a very good player who
still has some good football left in him, and was
not surprised to see the Vikings quickly jump and sign
him anyway.

Speaker 8 (40:37):
Anything else, Well, what I thought you would say and
you didn't is that the Giants might have to go
to a two tight end scheme. On a regular basis.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Well, you know me, I'm always in favor of double
tight ends being part of the game plan. In fact,
I like using a jumbo six offensive lineman in short yardage.
And quite frankly, with Evan Neil's still on this team,
you know, Neil's a power offensive lineman, right, He's a maler.
If he winds up seizing Van Roten's job at some

(41:10):
point this season, you can put him in the maler category.
And quite honestly, again, I've got no problem if they
want to go short yardage, get Neil in the game,
make him the extra lineman, make him that second tight end,
and just run that ball right up his back.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
And yeah, I think it obviously depends on the defense
that the Giants are facing, but of course they're gonna
use tight ends to stay in and block on some occasions.
I mean with teams that have more talented defensive fronts.
You know, there's a reason why Chris Manherts made this team,
and he's a long time better and it's not exactly
known for his past his catching ability. I've been saying

(41:46):
this for months. I've been, you know, a proponent for
him to make the final fifty three leading all throughout
training camp because I said he's the best blocking tight
end the Giants haven't by a wide margin, I feel.

Speaker 10 (41:56):
Like, so.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
Yeah, of course, it depends on who they're playing. Obviously,
there are some defensive fronts that the Giants will feel
like they don't need to keep extra tight ends into block,
at least not every play, but on other occasions where
they're playing. You know, elite defense is elite defensive fronts
one hundred percent. You're gonna see tight ends running back,
staying in and back to block help the offensive lineman out.

(42:19):
Thank you, Mike, Take care of chicks. One nine nine
four five one three.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
We go to Randy in California. You're next time Big
Blue Kickoff Live. Hello, Hey, good morning guys.

Speaker 7 (42:31):
How you doing.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Hi good?

Speaker 3 (42:33):
What's up Brandy?

Speaker 7 (42:34):
Are you guys looking forward to a wonderful season again?

Speaker 2 (42:38):
Hey? Man, if you can't look forward to a wonderful
season every August, then you're not an NFL fan. You
gotta you gotta believe every August that you're gonna have
a fun few months. Unfortunately the seasons that hasn't been
the case.

Speaker 11 (42:53):
I'm just happy footballs back.

Speaker 9 (42:54):
It don't matter.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
We got that, Brandy. I love it, Brandy. You took
the words out of my mouth there. Literally was about
to say, I am just happy that football is back.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
I was so desperate I couldn't wait to see the
note of Dame Miami game LANs Sunday night, just to
get Sunday night football back on the schedule.

Speaker 9 (43:11):
Yeah, I hate.

Speaker 7 (43:11):
I had a question, if you guys don't mind asking,
how long do you guys think that offensive line really
is going to take to start gelling?

Speaker 3 (43:19):
Is it?

Speaker 7 (43:19):
You know, like a couple of weeks, you know, mid season.
We should really see what we got.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
I mean on both sides, to be honest. To be honest,
in terms of the offensive line, I don't expect him
to take that long to gel. I mean they're bringing
back all of the starters from last year. Who obviously,
you know, those starters only had the first six weeks
of the season to play together before Andrew Thomas got hurt.
But the whole unit is now back. Obviously, there are

(43:47):
some additions to the group, but four of the five
at least four of the five starters on Week one
will be returning. Obviously, Andrew Thomas will still have to
see but I don't really think it's gonna take that
long at all for the offensive line to really gel
and develop that chemistry. I think we saw some of
those growing pains at the beginning of last year, but

(44:09):
that was last year. Now they've had, you know, again,
a full season, they've had all offseason, all a training camp.
I expect that unit to hit the ground running, honestly.

Speaker 7 (44:20):
Yeah, that's all we're hoping that we can finally fix
the offensive line and start playing better football. It's been
hurting us for so long. If we could just get
that to average, we're gonna have some fun.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Come on, Randy, you know the word. You know the word.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
It's functional. Functional is the word. There you go, Thank you, Randy,
Thanks for Randy call it again. But yeah, we saw
it in the preseason the offensive line. I mean, obviously
it wasn't perfect all three games, but I think the
offensive line was a lot better than what a lot
of people were expecting the unit to be, especially considering
the struggles the unit had last year.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
And they did play against some top tier guys in
the preseason too. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
Not, you know, obviously, not throughout the whole game or
every single game. But it's not like every single snap
was up against backups. Buffalo is playing their starters. The
beginning of that game where the offensive line was looking good.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Yep, Line three has Sean in Maryland waiting to get
on the program. So you're next. Hello, Sean, what's going
on with fellas?

Speaker 11 (45:23):
Have you been more excited in the long time to
watch the Giants? Man, I'm excited for everything. As we know,
the d line is the highlight of the team. However,
I want to look at the other side of the ball.

Speaker 9 (45:35):
For years, I've.

Speaker 12 (45:36):
Been begging Giants and draft of short yardage bowling ball
like running back, and now we've finally got one in Scatabow,
and I'm really curious to see.

Speaker 11 (45:46):
How to play calling the how we're going to handle
short yard of situations. So what I'm really looking for
I want to see the chess cat. I want to
see Elijah Chapman as a fullback. I want to see scatter.

Speaker 7 (45:57):
Bow in the backfield.

Speaker 11 (45:59):
And I want to sell in a power eye and say.

Speaker 12 (46:01):
Listen, we're gonna run the ball.

Speaker 11 (46:03):
You you know, and we know everyone knows we're gonna
run the ball, and there's nothing you could do about it.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
I love it.

Speaker 11 (46:08):
That's what I want to see from the Giants, like,
come on, we line up, let's go get this touchdown,
keep it moving.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Shut You and I need to sit down with an
extra cheese pizza because you and I are on the
same page, baby, on the same page. Let's let's let's
do it.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
I have two things just to say about this. For starters,
I think it's just important to note Elijah Chapman is
currently on the practice squad, so in order for him
to even be out on the field at all on Sunday,
the Giants will need to elevate him from the practice
squad tomorrow, which we'll find out around four o'clock tomorrow
what roster moves are being made. If he's not elevated,
then unfortunately you're you know, your desire to see that

(46:46):
power eye will have to wait at least one more week.
And secondly, about Scott Scatt, Obviously, the Giants drafted him
beginning of the fourth round. He was one of the
best players in all college football last year, you know,
right behind it and genty, he was up there among
the best playmakers. But it's just important to keep in
mind that he is still a rookie. A rookie running back,

(47:07):
and obviously there's more to playing the running back position
than just running the football. There's past protection, you know,
there's a lot of things. So it might take him,
just like we saw last year with Tyrone Tracy, it
might take him a couple of weeks for the coaching
staff to like fully trust him to put him out
there for more than just a player or two. Like,

(47:27):
let's not forget Tyrone Tracy really did not play much
the first four weeks of the season last year. Until Singletary.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
You're not asking for scott Aboo to get a ton
of carries. You're just talking about goal line or short yardage, right.

Speaker 11 (47:39):
But those are those are a short yardage.

Speaker 12 (47:41):
Listen, third and.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
One, you know, and his point, no, no, I get it,
I get it. I'm just saying those are like high
leverage situations.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
You rookie in and his NFL debut, so you have confidence.

Speaker 3 (47:54):
It's not that I don't have confidence. I'm just trying
to set the level of expectation with Stary, who is
a running back at the coaching staff out very much trust.
Devin Singletary is a running back to the coaching staff
has a ton of trust in I'm just saying, I
don't know if necessarily if the coaching staff is gonna
rush to throw a scataboo out there in these very

(48:15):
high leverage situations in his very first NFL game. That's
all I'm saying.

Speaker 11 (48:19):
See the callers point wise, I'm getting to develop trust,
and I understand that. However, once that trust is developed,
or even if you put a tight endfu back, whatever
it is, I just want to see old school smash
my football.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
The reason I love what you're doing to stop at all, right,
my man. The reason I love what you're saying is
for the following reasons. Number One, scattabuu ran for twenty
one touchdowns last year, so he has a nose for
the end zone and he knows how to power the
ball across the goal line in short yarded situations that
takes a certain knock. Not everybody can do that, So
that's good. So I love what you're talking about, and

(48:50):
I think that's his role right out of the box.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
I really do.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
But here's what I will say. You mentioned the very
scenario one to which you would utilize him, and that
is we'll gonna line up the beef. We're gonna tell
you what we're gonna do and we're still gonna ram
it down your throats. That mentality is a winning mentality.
That's the aggressive, confident.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
Go get it.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
We're gonna prove a point. Go ahead, try to stop
is because you can't. I love that mentality. That's the part.
That's the part that you I agree.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
I agree with that mentality. All I'm saying is Skataboo,
who also missed most of training camp, wasn't really back
on the braxfield to the last week, and played a
couple of snaps in that last preseason game. I'm just saying,
to like rush him out there and do these very
high leverage short yardage or goal line situations in his
very first game. I don't know if that's something the

(49:41):
coaching staff is gonna do in week one. Well, I
think he's going to develop, and it probably won't take
him long to develop into that role. And I don't
think it's gonna take long for him to show the
coaching staff that he deserves more than just a handful
of snaps or hand sure. All I'm saying is week
one for a rookie running back who barely took the
feel all summer. I just think lower the expectations just

(50:03):
a little bit, just for this Sunday. Okay, we'll wait
till Dallas, Sean, Okay, we'll make him happy. We'll wait
till Dallas and then we'll get him out there to
do it. Go ahead, anything else, Yeah.

Speaker 11 (50:14):
This one last thing. I want to shout out to
one of my favorite callers, and that's coach Marvin. He
says something in the off season that really stuck with me,
and he says something along the lines of, no matter
what happens the season, no matter what the record is,
of course we're developing. We have a very good coach
and coach Dave All Shane Brandon Brown. I love the
front office and what they're doing.

Speaker 6 (50:36):
You can see the.

Speaker 11 (50:37):
Logic and the decision makers that they're that they're doing
and how they're trying to build this team to the
ground up. So no matter what happens, please keep that
unit together because they're moving a team in the right direction.
I couldn't be more excited.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
Go Giants A Sean, Thank you.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
Thank you, Sean. We've been we've been, you know, reiterating
that message for months now. You know, obviously we love
the Giants to go on a you have an amazing season,
a deep run, make the playoffs, but really, like we
just want to see them take a step in the
right direction this season, show that they are making growth
all across the roster, that these young guys are developing.

(51:13):
You know, we've seen it a couple of years ago
with the Detroit Lions. They went from being what I
think the worst team in the NFL or the second
worst team in the NFL, to the next year being
around five hundred. They started this season like one in
set eight and then won eight nine games in a row,
just missed the playoffs, and then the year after they
became one of the best teams in the NFL. And

(51:34):
that's what they've been the last couple of seasons. This
could be one of those seasons where it's more important
just for the Giants to show that they are making
a jump in a step in the right direction. It
doesn't necessarily need to lead to a deep playoff run
or even.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
A playoff run.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
You just want to see them showing that they are growing.
The whole roster and coaching staff is taking a step
where you know, maybe next year we're talking about the
Giants as a legitimate contender tell you.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
That the worst thing you could do is keep everything
the same. If things are not going well, right, you
have to find things to change. Well, after two losing seasons,
we've seen Brian Dable adjust and change things. We saw
him play his starters and veterans at the beginning of
a couple of preseason games and get them more snaps

(52:20):
than he had in the past. We saw him change
the workflow schedule during training camp and especially this past
week where he put them onto the regular Tuesday off schedule,
which he had not done in his previous three years
as the Giants head coach. We have seen him give
the play calling back to Mike Kafka, who, by the way,

(52:41):
when he did it in twenty twenty two, was up
in the box. Now, not only is Kafka getting the
play calling back, he's going to be on the sideline,
which is another change. So let's not.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Forget the complete revamping of the whole player development department.
Brian da will completely revamp that whole group. And he's very,
very high on the group that's in the building right now,
and you know has talked about how they've already helped
this team, this young team already takes, you know, show
signs of growth already.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
So the truth is, if you don't like what's happened
here the last two years where the Giants had really
difficult times trying to slog through the seasons, I get it.
But Brian Dabele gets it too, because he's made some
changes this year to try to get different results. Give
him credit for that, and now we'll just have to

(53:31):
see how it all plays out. Low in Texas. You're
next on the program.

Speaker 5 (53:35):
Hello, Hey, guys, how's it going today?

Speaker 6 (53:37):
Hi?

Speaker 2 (53:37):
I hear you?

Speaker 5 (53:38):
Lo okay, good couple quick hitters. So first, any idea
what the issue was with THEO Johnson? Are you surprised
flat over banks? And could this be the best defense
in the division? Go big blue? Take it offline?

Speaker 3 (53:52):
Thank you, Lou. Okay you want to take for sure? No,
we don't know what was the you know, potential issue,
but he's been on the practice field all week, in full,
in full, not on the not even listed on the
injury report as the full purchaseent, just not listed period.
So whatever the potential issue might have been last week
or two weeks ago, whenever it was, it's clearly not

(54:14):
an issue now. So he's full go. He's ready to go.
He's spoke about it in the locker room. Was it
yesterday or wednesday? M Nothing No cause for concern in
the slightest bit when it comes to theo's health right now.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Correct, As far as Flat and Banks, there is no
official word from the Giants as to what the starting
lineup is going to be, And quite honestly, it doesn't
even matter, because what really matters is who's on the
field that the most important parts of the game. Whoever
plays that first snap gets credit for a start. But
we all know because the substitution patterns in the NFL,
that's really irrelevant. So I think that's important to keep

(54:48):
in mind now as far as what happened with with
the the distribution of snaps and what's happened during the preseason.
Unfortunately for Banks, Flot missed a little bit of time
I'm earlier in the preseason, and then Banks missed the
last two weeks of the preseason, so both guys ran

(55:08):
into health issues. Banks' health issues lasted longer than Flots
and they also came more recently and closer to opening day,
So quite frankly, if you had to make a decision
based on, Okay, well, what are we going to do
here with these guys? I think it probably makes a

(55:28):
lot more sense right now, at least maybe maybe to
tip your scales to Cordell Flott for the moment, because
at least in recent vintage he's had more healthy snaps
on the field. And by the way, both guys had
good off seasons. Let's make that clear. Both guys had
good off seasons. So that's how I stand on it.

(55:49):
I don't think it matters a hlo Beans to be
honest with you.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
Yeah, and to be honest whoever you know on Sunday,
whoever it is, the one that is technically starting out
there at corner opposite Paul Sendivo, doesn't mean just because
they're out there on Sunday that they earned the job
and that is their job all season day, not us.
Oh yeah, it's entire about matchups, entirely two different types

(56:12):
of corners and the Cordell Float and Deontay Banks. It's
just because one guy might be out there first on
Sunday doesn't mean that next week that same guy's going
to be out there first. It can easily flip fop.
You know, they're gonna as Paul mentioned. As Shane Bowen
said yesterday, it's gonna be matchup dependent, which, quite frankly,
unless you have one guy run away with the competition,

(56:34):
I'm perfectly fine with doing it that way.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Yep. Two one nine three nine four five one three
right down the number for next Monday, when we come
back with another edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live. We
are here every single weekday, twelve thirty pm Eastern Time
for one hour on Giants dot com and the Giants
YouTube channel to talk Giants football with you once again.
The Giants play on Sunday one o'clock at the Washington Command.

(57:01):
Giants pregame show starts on wfa N at eleven am.
You can watch the game obviously on Fox unless you
plan on traveling down there.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
I think it's just still available. I'm sure you could
probably get in there. Is there anything? Are we still
running at it on the app as well?

Speaker 3 (57:18):
There's no streaming the game on the app anymore. That
was just the preseason, so postgame or no, the postgame show.
The TV postgame show will be streamed on Giants dot
com and the Giants app and YouTube. It'll an archive
version will also be posted Sunday evening along with the

(57:38):
radio postgame show will be up on the podcast platform
Sunday evening. We're gonna have obviously our typical normal gauntlet
of game day content on giants dot Com and the
Giants app all day Sunday. We'll have stuff going up.
You know, tonight tomorrow we have the fan fest tonight
at the American Dream.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
That's correct, big event. Yes, yes, please folks, if you
have an opportunity later on this afternoon, late in the
afternoon going down towards the dinner time, there is that
fan fest. I don't have the exact time of the
start is at four o'clock.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
I believe it.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
It's already been wiped out of the notes here.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
I believe it starts actually at two o'clock.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
Does it start that?

Speaker 3 (58:18):
Ear think it goes from two to like six?

Speaker 2 (58:22):
Okay, well that's a half hour from now two o'clock.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
Two to six or two days.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
Somebody wiped out the hours. Somebody wiped out the noses
the promo here in the in the document. All right,
In any event, check with the American Dream. Maybe you
can go to American Dream dot com and maybe Giants
dot com as well.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
Yeah, two pm, two pm.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Thank you, Pierson Butler. That's why he's a great producer. Right,
all pro, all pro Pierson Butler. Two pm.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
This afternoon stage from six to eight.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
Giants fan fest over there across the street at the American.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
Dream called the Giants Season Kickoff.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
Yeah you just say, all right, so company East Rulford.
That's where all the action is certainly this afternoon tonight
as you get ready for Giants football. I think that
will do it for us today, Matt Yep, folks, enjoy
your weekend, Giants and Commanders on Sunday. This has been
Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury

(59:15):
vehicle of the New York Football Giants. And as always,
we have come to you from the Giants Podcast Studio
presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting better. We'll talk
to you on Monday. So long, everybody,