Big Blue Kickoff Live 9/6 | Week 1 Matchup

John Schmeelk and Paul Dottino highlight big matchups for Sunday night's game vs the Cowboys, discuss the Giants offensive line, and take calls from fans. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | iHeartRadio :00 - Matchups vs Dallas 21:00 - Calls 31:50 - Giants run game 42:10 - Offensive line 50:30 - Dallas' offense

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Episode Transcript

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

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

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're on giants dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
You know what I saw to York Giant Crack and.

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

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Seventeen one tuck down.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
We are World Tavern.

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

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Let's go on crazy dogs hasn't Hello everybody, I'm happy
Wednesday and welcome to the Big Blue Kickoff live right
here on Giants dot Com and the Giants Mobile app.
Shmelk Tatino with you. The phone number is two A
one nine three nine four five one three. Hashtag Giants Chat.
This is kind of Paul today where we officially turned
the page to match Up Week. We'll still take your
calls with bold predictions. Whatever else do you want to

(00:46):
talk about, we got you. We'll try to get to
your calls pretty early here because we're tired of hearing
ourselves talk for the past six months. At two oh
one nine three nine four five one three. Paul, we're
at a game week here. It's exciting. Can't wait to
get this thing going and actually talking about some matchups
and the things that really determine who wins and loses
some of these games.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, well, you know, John, I think the bye week
between the end of the preseason and then the first
regular season game lends itself to that malaise. At least
it did for me. It made me overstressed. For most people,
maybe it's a down or time.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
I mean, we also haven't seen a starter step foot
on a football field in what four weeks now, well,
I mean rasins the game number two.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
And quite honestly, we haven't seen Saquon Barkley take a
real snap in a year, you know, well since January.
So yes, absolutely, there's a lot of reasons to anticipate
what's going to happen Sunday night, and I think a
lot of folks out there maybe you feel the same.
I don't know. You'll be excited for the Thursday night
game that kicks everything off of the NFL season, right,

(01:47):
and we'll all be real excited about Sunday's games, But
we still have to wait all the way until eight
twenty at night, until the Giants and Cowboys finally get
this thing going. I mean, that's part of the imagine
what jetson Bills fans feel like that. I mean that's
that's hard.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
I have a good suggestion for you to fill the time.
Go right ahead, why don't you join a fantasy football league?

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Absolutely, I have to try that.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
You know, that's a good one.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
I thought, what were the odds of you getting a yes?

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Zero zero point zero percent?

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
By the way, I want to give some information first
before we get going again. Get on the lines two
on one nine three nine four five one three. So
we are doing some different things with our podcast now
heading into the regular season. Nothing less, everything's more. So
I'm sure you've kind of realized what our new lineup
for a big Kickoff Live is gonna be. We're still
five days a week, every weekday twelve three to one thirty.

(02:42):
Our lineup in terms of personnel, it's gonna be either
Paul or I or both with Lance on Monday. Tuesday
is gonna be Manelin and Howard. Paul and I will
be with you on Wednesdays. It'll be me and Casie
Us on Thursdays, and then Paul Lance will be with
you previewing the game on Friday. So that's gonna be
our big Kickoff Live schedule. It's gonna be a little

(03:02):
bit different the weeks we have like Thursday night games
or road games on Monday night, which he wasn't going
any road Monday night games this year, but people are traveling,
they might not be here, so those weeks might change,
but that'll be our normal lineup for Big Book Kickoff Live. Also,
I know Pearson psyched about this. We have five huddles
a week now, so make sure you check those out
on the Giants little podcast platform. You can find it

(03:22):
on your favorite podcast platform, Giants dot com, slash podcast,
the Giants Mobile app. That's gonna be our rapid reaction
after each game, a normal Sunday game week on. That'll
be for Sunday slash Monday Tuesday. I'm gonna have Shan
O'Hara every week. By that time, both of us will
watched the tape of the game and we're kind of
gonna go inside the x's and all's a little bit
for some more technical football stuff. Right Wednesdays, we're gonna

(03:44):
have either a popish perspective, which is kind of a
look back at a famous game between the two teams.
This week it's gonna be him talking to Eli Manning
about his numerous Week one opening game matchups against the
Dallas Cowboys, so we'll have that going on today on
the Giants Huddle. Thursday is going to be a national
interview that will usually be Lance talking to a national

(04:04):
reporter about the upcoming game in the NFL season. This
week is gonna be Devin mccordy. That'll air tomorrow on
the Giants Total podcast. And then Friday will be our
normal game preview, Papa with Dable Me with the player,
Paul and or Lance, or Lance and or Paul with
a beat reporter covering the other team. So that's gonna
be our Giants Hot line up. Next week we're gonna
launch our new podcast, Giants Hangout. We're gonna have two

(04:26):
different groups, one reacting to the game on Monday, one
previewing the game on Thursday. It'll be Lance, Russ and
Howard on Monday. It'll be Mannling and can see Us
on Thursday. And then we'll get to mixing guests throughout
the year to give it a three or four person
kind of roundtable debate show type of atmosphere. And that's
an addition to our her playbook stuff. We have our
Spanish language podcast on there as well. Draft season will

(04:49):
be every Wednesday, and Pearson's editing them all and he
couldn't be more excited about Yeah, it was his birthday
last week, by the way, Happy belated birthday, Pearson and folks.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
On the TV side, there's still the Brian Dables Show
every week, and still the MSG postgame show Postgame Live
that comes after every game as well. And I believe
Access Blue is still on Saturdays. I'm not sure what
the day is is that Saturday's.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
Person Access Blue that's still on Saturdays, so it's Blowout,
Big Blue Baby. Yeah, and then our radio offerings are
have increased as well, so we're gonna have our special
game preview on Saturday mornings on WFN. That'll be me
and Sean Morash, who hosts the WFN Giants podcast with Paul.
What's the name of that podcast, Paul. It's supposed to
be One Giant Step, One Giant Step, although quite frankly,

(05:37):
some details have yet to be worked out.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
So we will see that it.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Was called last year, so search for exactly the episodes
from last year. So Sean Morash and I will be
on FWFN every Saturday morning from nine to nine thirty
preview in the game. You'll hear probably some of the
sound that you'll hear during the week from some of
our interviews. And then we have a two hour pregame
show before every game now on Wfan. For home games,
were live at the stage inside the MetLife Gate and
come by say hello. We'll do contest, we'll do giveaways,

(06:03):
we'll do phone calls if you call it to the show. Guys,
go to the wfan stream on Sundays two hours before
the game. We will take phone calls. If you're a
big fan of people kick off live, it'll be me
to see us. Paul's gonna chip in for a few
segments as well. We will do your calls over the
course of those pregame shows two hours before every Giant game. Again,
you can stream it on the Audissey app at WFA

(06:25):
dot com. Just listen live. You can find that broadcast,
so make sure you're tuning in ca see us and
I will be doing the postgame show after each game.
Paulague Dots will be in the locker room getting sound
from the players for us, and Bob Pop and Carl
Banks will of course be popping on for those home
post game shows as well. You got all that you
wrote it down. We're busy, ready to go. We are
buzz going on. We appreciate you being with us, and
we appreciate you checking out all.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Our I have no rest until after the super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
They have the bye week. There is some rest on
the bye weekend. I suppose, yes, no, there is, trust
me altherwise Peterson might die. So all right, match up here,
whise Paul. Yeah, what are some of the things that
you've kind of focused in on this week that you're
really keeping an eye on that you think could be
critical for this game on Sunday or anything else that
you want to make sure you hit on here.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, I think the most obvious matchup is what are
the Cowboys going to do against Darren Waller in terms
of Giants offense against Cowboys defense? And then I think
the other side, You know, I appreciate the fact that
everybody wants to talk about a Dori Jackson and ceedee lamb.

(07:30):
You know, I'm not so sure that it's not one
of the veteran receivers, specifically Cooks, as I've notated. I
think Cooks his experience. Remember the guy's got six thousand
yard seasons in nine NFL campaigns.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
May we talk to this on Monday Show a little bit.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, I'm not so sure that his craftiness against one
of the rookie corners, whoever it turns out to be,
And I'm not so sure which one they're going to
try to run him against. I'm not so sure that
I wouldn't look at him if I'm Prescott and say, look,
you got nine years on that rookie, take him to school.

(08:06):
That to me is probably more of an intriguing matchup
than a Dori Jackson on Ceedde Lamb.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Well, here's the trick the thing. And I think the
reason people are focusing on Lamb and Adorriy Jackson is because, frankly,
it's good on good. Right, you have the probably a
top ten wide receiver in Ceedee Lamb against another very
good corner and Dori Jackson. And I think we kind
of know that's going to be one of the matchups, right.
We don't know which rookie will be on Gallup and Cooks.

(08:33):
In fact, I mean in practice it's been mostly Deontay
Banks on the right side of the formation, right and
Hawkins on the left. If I'm not mistaken, in practice this.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Year, I don't think we're supposed to talk about.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Okay, that's true. Well, whatever the case might be. My point,
Paul is that we don't know if they're gonna travel
because we've got so many different alignments. And this is
what point I was getting at. We don't know where
they're going to be.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Either way, though, John Cooks has nine years of experience
on either rookie, and I have to believe that Cooks believes,
in his own mind and in the cowboys mind, that
he's going to be able to take advantage of their inexperience.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
Yes, the point I was making though, is that we
don't know which one of the rookies is going to
be on Cooks. So it's hard to talk about that
matchup because we don't know what the actual matchup is
going to be. I'm just saying Cooks against the rookie,
and I think that's fair. I think that's a big deal.
He's more and I said this to you on Monday,
Cooks is more of a worry in this matchup to
me than Gallup is. I think so Cooks is a
craftier weapon, but more importantly, Cooks is faster. You know,

(09:32):
Cooks can run past you and turn a small play
into a big play. Hey about this last eight seasons, Paul,
how many players have more one thousand yard seasons than
Brandon Cooks.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Well, he's got six out of his nine NFL campaigns.
I would bet you that it can't be more than two.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
It is two. Can you guess what two players? I'm
gonna give you a bonus points. How about this, here's
a bonus one's Mike Evans. Yes, one, Okay, I'm not
gonna give you a hit for the second one now,
but this is a little tricky. You might not get
this one.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
AFC or NFC.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
It is AFC.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
It is AFC.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Oh boy, he has been on the same team for
all the Oh wow. Okay, if you're if you're if
you're stuck, I'll give you one more hint without giving
it away.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
No no, no, no, no, don't don't hit me. I'm
just I'm gonna go I'm not gonna look it up,
per se. I'm just gonna go down by division by division.

Speaker 4 (10:24):
I'm gonna guess.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Go ahead, Peerson till close.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
But no, oh, don't don't tell me it's Kelsey.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
It is Travis Kelcey. My hint was gonna be it's
not a wide receiver, but I thought that would be
a giveaway, right, So my second would have been he
has won a Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Okay, but yes it is.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Travis Kelcey and Mike Evans are the only two players
with more one thousand yard seasons than Brandon Cooks.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
The production is there, and whoever the rookie is, or
whichever I guess is the proper english, that guy's unproven.
Whoever he is, he's unproven compared to a guy who's
got that kind of resume.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
One hundred percent, and I think I think that's a
huge deal. You mentioned the Waller matchup. I agree. I
imagine we'll probably see Jayron curse on him. That's kind
of been the Cowboys tight end coverage weapon. We talked
to Darren Waller in the locker room yesterday and frankly,
he I mean, I'm not surprised he was right, because
he obviously studies a lot of tape. He's a smart guy. Sure,

(11:22):
but he made the point that, look, their Cowboys play
a lot of zone on early down so you don't
get the ball over their head. But then on third
down they play a lot of man, so you're gonna
see a lot of Jarron curse on him in those
band situations and in those zone situations, you try to
get him with that big body in a couple of
those holes to make some plays. And then the other
part on offense, Paul, and this isn't necessarily the Giants
attacking the Cowboys defense is more trying to, you know,

(11:43):
prevent the Cowboys from attacking the Giants offense. Even though
the Cowboys were third in sacks last year, which was
still a really good number, I think fifty three sacks,
fifty four sacks for the year. Right, they led the
league in pressure rate, they led the league in quick pressures,
and they led the league in those one of the
number that hat oh time to pressure. So they had
the quickest pressures in the league, two under two and
a half seconds. So this pass rush we could talk

(12:06):
about Parsons specifically. We did that lot on Monday, so
I don't want to spend too much time on it. Right,
we expect them to move from around. We'll see him over,
Thomas will see him over. Neil will see him standing
up and stunting and twisting.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
I think so.

Speaker 3 (12:15):
But Tores Armstrong and eight and a half sacks last year,
Dante Fowler has done this a long time. Sam Williams
is a really talented young player. DeMarcus Lawrence wrecked the
game against the Giants. Scusion is loaded with defensive foot
and then throwing the twists in the stunt. So I
think how the Giants handle that where those matchups take place,
how the Giants handle that movement. We still don't know

(12:35):
who the two starting guards are gonna be, right, So
those are all the kind of things I think, And
Lance made this point. It's about the trenches, right, especially
on offense for the Giants, all this fun stuff with
Jalen Hyde and Paris Campbell and the receivers and throwing
the ball down the field, You're not gonna be able
to do any of that if you can't protect Daniel Jones.
And the best way maybe you can do that is
by running. Well, there you go, so you do not

(12:57):
get into those passing situations where you're in second and eight,
you're in third and ten, where the Cowboys can let
the dogs loose a little bit.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
This is why everybody who says it's a passing league
kind of overlooks the fact that one of the ways
that you can defend a vicious pass rush is by
running the ball. So yes, I get it. There's definitely
pass heavy tendencies throughout the NFL, but you've got to
be able to run it when you want to to

(13:26):
keep defenses honest, that will never change. I'm sorry. It'll
be that way in twenty sixty five. It still will
be that way. You're gonna have to be able to
do that. So I'm with you, John, in terms of
I think Barkley's gonna run for at least a buck twenty,
maybe a buck thirty in this game. I really believe
that the Dallas rush defense last year certainly would have

(13:46):
been the weakest part of their deed.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
Now they and they have tried to improve that, much
like the Giants have with drafting Mazzie Smith and once
Hankins gone on their team late last year, their rush
defense did get better. Yes, but I agree, if you
want to look at their defense as a whole, that's
the weakest.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
Link, right And Barkley is basically fueled with fire right
now coming out of the box, So I think that's
a significant spot for the Giants to attack. And the
other thing I would add to you to this, John,
and you may disagree, and I appreciate the quickness of
the Cowboys pass rush, but the Giants because they didn't

(14:23):
have the variety of weapons that they have this year,
I believe they are going to be more adept at
the quick game than they have been in years past.
Because you have the ability to get a ball out
quickly to Waller. You didn't have that before. Campbell is
an excellent quick game route runner out of the slot.

(14:45):
I hear with on that, you know, and I'm saying
to myself, Well, if the Giants tried to use the
quick game against Dallas's pass rush in the past, they
didn't have the complete toolbox to be able to really
run that effectively. I think they we've got that now.
So between the quick game and the run game, I
actually believe the Giants will move the ball effectively against

(15:07):
Dallas all night. I really believe that.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
Well, they're probably gonna have a top three defense this year,
So if you can move the ball up and down
the field a great sign, then yeah. But I mean
it's gonna see. I mean, they have two really good
cover corners and they have an awesome pass rush.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
They do they do, they do. I do think though,
that those two factors that we just spoke about. Are
the best way to attack a defense of that characteristic.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
I think a lot of play action to early downs
masters and.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
The Giants have that. And then we keep forgetting this
too because Barkley only caught fifty seven passes last year.
We keep forgetting Barkley is also a part of that passing.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
Game, assuming you don't have to leave him in to protect.
That's the tricky Well, what you want to try to do,
I think is use and we know I hate to
use the Giants fans. You're gonna get sick screens. Screens
can can really help short circuit when these guys are
getting a little bit too aggressive coming up field.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
On the pass rush. And maybe, just maybe that's part
of what the Giants can do to counter no.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
I think, I think those are all fine ideas, and
I'm curious to see the other thing I'll bring up
before we get to it. We talked about the Giants
defense a little bit in terms of matching up outside.
I'm curious to see how much wink blitz is in
this game, because you know, the Giants in the highest
blitzering into the last year. He's gonna play a lot
of man to man. But even though the numbers are
still on the high side based around the rest of

(16:26):
the league, for the Giants, they're blitz numbers and man
to man numbers went way down late in the year.
Last year when they played a prolific passing attack like
the Vikings, they played much more zone and they blitzed less.
Now it doesn't mean that they were near the bottom
of the league, but just compared to what they usually do. Yeah,
the numbers were down, I mean turned it back. I'm

(16:46):
curious to see now, with different corners, some different personnel Okayaca,
you know, Thibodau and Ojalaia a year older, et cetera,
et cetera, how much do they ratchet up or ratchet
down there blitzer eight in this game given the passing
talent that they're facing in Dallas. But if you've talked

(17:08):
about this, right, against rookie and young experience quarterbacks, you
want to blitz a lot. Against experienced, smart quarterbacks, you
want to play more coverage. So how does Wink adjust
his scheme based on this opponent. I'm curious to say.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, I think that's gonna be more situational that it
will be just the game per se in other words,
feel position of course, uh time, down and score and
down and distance. I don't know that we're gonna be
able to say at the end of the game, or
we figured out how much Wink really wants to blitz.
I think it's gonna be more situational than anything. And

(17:39):
I wrote this number down John, which I thought was
very interesting because in talking about Prescott, you know, there
have been some comments always doing a lot of interceptions recently,
dudes a turnover machine, folks, all right, in the last
two years, twenty five picks. This is over twenty eight games.
By the way, twenty five picks, eighteen fumble, of which

(18:01):
only seven were recovered by the opponent, So it's only
thirty two turnovers in twenty eight games. But he did
fumble eleven other times. This guy has been so careless
with the football the last two seasons, and somehow I
don't keep hearing turnover machine tag to him.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
Well, that's because for the first four or five years
of his career it was the lowest intercept rating correct correct.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
But while Daniel Jones's turnover percentage is going this way,
Prescott's is going the other way. And that's not something
you want to see as a guy gets more and
more years into the league. Sure, so the question becomes,
and I'm going to ask.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
You this, and I do wonder if maybe this is
one of the reasons Mike McCarthy made the change that
he did in terms of play calling.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
Don't know, don't know, but I ask you, yes, if
you'll wink and you realize that this guy's had trouble
not only throwing picks but holding on.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
To the football, that's a good number on the fumbles,
it's a good number.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Does that make you more aggressive just because you want
to hit him and knock the stuffing out of him
and get him jittery so that he coughs it up.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
It's a good question. I don't know. I'll have to
think about that one, you know, because I think you
feel you feel okay about your talented guys up front
getting home without blitzing too. You don't necessarily half the
blitz all the time. If thiboda'no jlari progressed the way
you want, you have dexter William dexter Lawrence and let
Williams inside. Do you have to bring extra guys to
get that done? That's a good question. But I do wonder.

(19:24):
But you're right, I didn't realize. I knew about the
interception numbers obviously, but the fumbel numbers are interesting. I
didn't realize he had that many fumbles the last two year.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah, the good number. The number of fumbles is startling.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
How many fumbles the last two seasons.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Eighteen fumbles, but only seven were recovered by the opposition. Okay,
which you know obviously mitigates it somewhat, But you can't
guarantee that when a guy fumbles the ball you're gonna
get it.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
On average, quarterback fumbles we like six times a year,
give or take. You'd say, I think it'd certainly like to.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Keep it in the eight or nine range.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
I'm curious. I honestly don't know what those numbers are. Yeah,
but no, I think those they're good stats, you know,
over over yeah, over a two year periods.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
Certainly don't want it to be eighteen.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
No, certainly, not that that's high one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Right, you know, over over the court over two years,
I'd say about eight or nine is probably an acceptable number.
And the problem becomes how many times does he get
hit and how many times does he get sacked, because
then that's gonna warp the number correct.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
And also what you got to consider too is that
the last two years Dallas has led the whole NFL
and takeaways. Yes, you have to protect the ball and
if they do get a couple, then you got to
get a couple back, right, So that that goes to
your point, no doubt. Turnovers goes without saying always very important,
but Dallas has been unusually consistent. Because we talk about
this turnover some year to year oftentimes fluctuate and vary

(20:41):
a lot, but they've done it for two straight years.
So we'll see if the Giants are able to protect
the ball against But again, that is one of those
numbers that can really fluctuate year to year.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah, and this goes to the Giants, by the way,
in terms of interceptions, because the Giants play so much
man or usually try to, you're not getting a lot
of picks in that scheme. But what you certainly want
to be able to do is when you get the prescott,
you want to tell your front seven when you get home,
knock that ball free, because he's had a tendency to
put it on the ground.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
Two A one nine three nine four five one three,
two oh one nine three nine, four to five one three.
Really good stuff there, Paul. By the way, go run
or walk with Giants Legends. The Giants Foundation will host
of five K Racing Kids Run presented by Quest on Sunday,
October eighth, at nine am in MetLife Stadium. Net Proceeds
will benefit the Giants Foundation. All participants will receive a
commemorative T shirt After the race. Stay for a post
race festival with appearances by Giants Legends and a live DJ.

(21:31):
Register now at giants dot com slash five K. All right,
let's get to the calls, folks, and we want to
try to get some different people on over the course
of the regular season, folks. So I'm going to institute
our one call a week policy for for game weeks here.
If we find we're a little short and we're not
getting a lot of calls in, I'll put it back
up to two and all regulars can get in twice
a week. But I want to make sure that we

(21:51):
give everybody a chance to get in on the phones
at two to one nine three nine four five one three.
And by the way, we now have a new way
for you to get in touch with this if you want.
I've set up an email address for the show if
you want to send an email in it's very simple,
Big Bluekickoff at gmail dot com. It wasn't taken shockingly
Big Bluekickoff at gmail dot com. So if you want

(22:12):
to say, if you listen to the show on podcast
form and you can't listen live, and you're like, how
do I get a question in Twitter? It's tough. They
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at gmail dot com and if we find it an
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that's another way for you to get in touches us
if you want to get in touches us that way.
All right, let's go to Tim and Charleston. He will

(22:33):
lead us off today on Big Blue Kickoff Live. Hi, Tim,
how are you hey?

Speaker 5 (22:37):
Guys? So this will be about one call. I'm gonna
get my money's worth, but I'm gonna be quick.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
By the way. By the way, since I instituted the
call midweek, I will institute the rule for next week.
So if you've called already this week, you can call
again because you didn't know the rule. Win except Charlie
no rules apply evenly to everybody, but that rule start
on Monday. Go ahead, Tim.

Speaker 5 (22:58):
First, I want to say I was so excited for
all the expanded content. I watched your Sean o'harrow one,
and I'm so stoked to watch that every week. I
love Sean. So now I got three quick things. I'm
going to go through them, and you can answer them.
I'll listen to them off the air. First one is
sort of a comparison past present, and I was thinking
about this the end of last week, and then in

(23:20):
your huddle with Michael Lombardi he actually mentioned it, and
I said, damn, he stole my thunder. But I can
still use it because no one here has heard it
unless they heard it from him, which is I was
thinking that this reminds me right now, and this, Paul
is probably the best one to comment on this is
this reminds me of eighty four, eighty five, and hopefully

(23:42):
next year eighty six. Right. We came off a horrendous
season in eighty three, we came off for a horrendous season.
In twenty one, we made the playoffs. In eighty four,
we made the playoffs. Last year, the next year we
got better. We took it all the way and then
we got stomped by the pully Chicago Bears. And this year,
if we're better and make the playoffs, I still expect

(24:04):
if we faced the Eagles in the playoffs, we'll get
stopped by the Eagles. I mean, maybe, you know, health
wealth wise, you never know what happens. But other than that,
and then hopefully, as Lombardi said, one more draft away
and hopefully next year can be closer to that that
dream season of eighty six. So that's the first past
president comparison. The second one is kind of a research

(24:27):
question for you. And I don't know if you can
pull this off before the end of the week, but
I was and I should have brought it up sooner.
But I've been thinking about Mike McCarthy taking over the
play calling on Dallas, and I've been thinking about Wink
Martin Dale's defenses, and I wondered if if you all
could do or if anyone has done a comparison, you know,

(24:48):
like a past performance on how Winks defenses have done
or vice versa.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Mike McCarthy's I do not believe, Tim, And I'll answer
that very quickly now because I do not believe when
Mike McCarthy was calling plays, Wink Martin that was a
defensive coordinator. I think he was with coach. So I
don't think there's gonna be any overlap that.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
I don't think there is. So the talent, the talent
is different, the rosters and so many years ago.

Speaker 5 (25:11):
The high I understand. I understand that I was just
looking for a little past performance. And that's because because
when he was a head coach in Green Bay, he
was calling plays, wasn't he.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Yeah, But the last yeah, the last time he called
plays in Green Bay I think was twenty It was
always it was a ways back team. It was a
Ways back pin And you know, I hate that. I
don't want to insult.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Wink, but Wink Is is such an experienced and veteran
and respected defensive coach. We all tend to think he's
been a coordinator for like twenty years, and the truth
is he's not. Okay, he's only he was only coordinated
for about four or five years before he got to
the Giants. He was a linebackers coach before that.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
McCarthy last call plays in twenty eighteen. That's the last
year he called plays for Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
What's the first year you have the first year?

Speaker 3 (26:01):
Can you call one thousand and no first.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Year that Wink was a defensive coordinator.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
I look that up.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
I'm telling you you'd be surprised. He has not been
a coordinator for ages. But we just seem to think
that because he is so well respected and and everybody
identifies him because of you know, his schemes and pressure packages.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Twenty eighteen was the first year that so they overlapped one.

Speaker 5 (26:25):
If you faced him, it was one even if the
only even if he did face him, that's irrelevant. One
is not a sample size. But anyway, so that and
they did.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
Not they did not play each other that year. That year,
the AFC North played the NFC South team, so they
did not match up. So you got an answer. How
cudes that you although that that is a good question
and a good thought. How are you called with that?

Speaker 5 (26:46):
Thank you? So my third one is a bold prediction,
but it's it's based on this week's game. You know,
all off season I've said two or three times, I
feel like this game is pivotal because we have to
make up for the tougher AFC schedule this year. We
went five to zero in the AFC last year and
we're not. We might go three and two if if
things break well for us this year, so we got

(27:07):
to make up those games. We gotta be able to
beat Dallas or Philly at least once yep, this year.
And if we're going to beat Dallas, the home game
is obviously the greater opportunity to do. Here here's my
bold prediction, and Paul you said the fuel, thank you.
My bold prediction is that the Giants Cowboys Mike McCarthy

(27:28):
is not going to be prepared for the Giants revamped,
revved up defense. They won't be able to run the ball,
and we are going to get these This is a
specific Fame gled lances on because he hates the stuff.
But we're going to get three interceptions. We're going to
get a clean one. And this gets crazy, but a
tip at the line of scrimmage from you know, either

(27:50):
Dex or Leo that goes up and someone gets it,
we're going to have a strip sack on Dak and
fall you fall. You fed that fuel and then if
we can off their pass trust just a bit, just
a bit, I think we're gonna score three to four
touchdowns and score thirty or more points, and we beat
them by holding them to twenty four to twenty seven points.

(28:13):
And if we beat them this game, I then predict
my biggest, boldest prediction is we beat them in the
second time in Dallas, and we win ten or eleven
games this year and we're second place in the nfcast.
So thank you guys for taking the call, the prediction
and all that. And I love all the shows. I'm
so excited about the expanded content.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
I appreciate the call. Cool. Why Paul, So why don't
you answer the question? You right? Lance would not have
liked those specific predictions, Paul, Why don't? I don't Will
just say this. I don't know if it's really a
revamped defense. I mean, the defense is Gon'll look the same.
Some of the players are different, obviously, but I think
scheme wise, I mean, he does a lot of different

(28:53):
stuff with personnel. But it's not gonna surprise Mike McCarthy
that the Giants are gonna play No, it's gonnay, No,
it will not.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
You do think the additional talent though on the defense,
will allow play wider selection of play. Totally agree in
terms of eighty questions, Yeah, I could see the similarity.
The thing about the eighty three team that then became
the foundation of the Parcels teams that wound up going
to the Super Bowl is that in eighty three the

(29:20):
Giants had like over two dozen players on injured reserve.
I mean, they were absolutely slaughtered, even worse than some
of the recent teams of Giants memory by injuries. They
also had some questionable folks on that on that that roster,
if you will, that had a lot of baggage, and

(29:42):
Coach Parcels decided, Okay, not only do I have to
do this thing my way in eighty four, but I
also have to clean house and make sure that we
get the kind of guys I want here.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
Now.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
I don't think this team, as Shane and Dabele came
in and took over a lot of guys with excess baggage,
they may not have been as talented as the players
that they have brought in. I would agree with that
they've upgraded the talent immensely. But that's the one comparison
that I would not make, is that that old roster

(30:15):
in eighty three had a lot of baggage. This didn't Otherwise,
you could definitely see some parablem Well, I mean, I.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Think he's comparing eighty three to twenty twenty one, and
eighty four was twenty twenty two, and then this would
be eighty five. I think that's where it was going.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Well, I kind of look at it that Parcels took
over in eighty three. It was eighty three, eighty four,
eighty five, eighty six, it was four years till you
won the season.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
I think the way ten was and there was a
natural progression there. I think the way Tim was looking
at that, eighty four was basically the Giants last year
because they made the playoffs the same way they did
in eighty four.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
And that's fine. Yeah, I'm kind of trying to associate
dables first year with Parcels' first year and how that
doesn't necessarily jive. But I could see the parallels that
you're were equating.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
So I looked It's funny I looked at the fumble
breakdown on Dak because I found that its stat amazing
and really good. So of those nineteen fifteen of them
came in twenty twenty one. He had fifteen fumbles in
twenty twenty one. He only had four last year. So
and the interceptions were flopped, right, he had the fifteen

(31:20):
last year, and by the way, and only whatever many
games he played in, And by the way, he had
a bad thumb last year, and he still didn't fumble
last year, but he filled in a lot of the
year before. So it's it's there's a lot of noise there.
But you're right, that's a lot of him not protecting
the football.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Yeah, it's so long. To combine twenty eight games over
two years, that's forty three times he either put the
ball down or got it picked off. Forty three times.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
Slot two one nine, three nine four five one three
two one nine three nine four five one three. Hey, folks,
don't forget Go download Giants TV, the Giants official streaming app.
It brings original video content, the game highlights on demanded
direct to Big Blue fans. Giants TV is free on
Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV and the Giants
Mobile app. And don't forget, folks. Single game tickets are available,

(32:05):
but supply is limited. Don't miss the Giants in MetLife Stadium.
Go to Giants dot com slash tickets to secure your seat.
All right, let's go back to the phones and say,
what's up to Antonio and delaware. Antonio, what's going on?

Speaker 4 (32:19):
Hey, guys, how are you doing? All right? I have
two quick points to make sure seeing that this game
against the Dallas, seeing that both teams they are they
are they are football They're in football shaped, but they're

(32:42):
not in game shape. So saying that the key point
for this game is rich team is going to be
more fresher going into the third quarter and the fourth quarter,
saying that, would you guys say that the Giants would

(33:03):
run the ball early, are run the ball late? To
see you know by the time third quarter or foot quarter,
which team's gonna be more gas?

Speaker 3 (33:12):
I mean, I think the Giants will definitely try to
run the football only in this game because you don't
want to give a green light to that pass us
like Paul and I spoke about it earlier. And if you
have a lead, you're certainly going to try to run
the ball late. So it really depends on what the
game flow is, depending on what they.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Do late in the game, There's no doubt if there's
more running in this game Sunday night, it's to the Giants.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
Advandy agreed, okay, good and two players that I will
be concerned about that. Norma hasn't really say anything about.
One player is the punt returner for the Cowboys and
Las Mendo's new favorite player, Douce Wan, the five to

(33:49):
five rookie running back.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
No, I think I'm sorry, I tell you ahead, I
thought you were doub.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Yeah, he's very short and he could hide behind that
big line that he could just pop out of anywhere.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
He could also become dinner for Dexter Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
For Giant fans that are a little bit older, Duce
Vaughn's Darren Sprolls, that's what he is. If you saw
the Gyron Sprolls over the years, Darren spoles Is probably
has a little bit better straight ahead speed then then
Vaughn does. I would probably say at this point. Yeah,
but they're very similar size. They both run the load
to the ground. They're very shifty, and that's kind of

(34:26):
what Deuce Vaughan's gonna be. And he can be a
weapon in the screen game, in the draw game because
the Giant. The Cowboys really don't have a compliment to
Tony Pollard Rico Daudell on their fifty three and they
have Deuce Van and those are their two running backs,
So I think that's a good name. And then Cavante
Turpin is the other guy you're talking about who does
punts and kicks for Dallas. Now he has some turnover

(34:47):
issues too, hold onto the ball in terms of fumbles
to keep an eye on. But yeah, he's explosive as hell.
That guy can turn any punter kick into a touchdown.
So I think those are Antonio a very good names.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
What is Vaughan's stature in terms of height and weight?
Because I was thinking get Gerald McNeil, the former Brown's
wide receiver who went five seven one five. They used
to call him the ice cube.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
Well, I think he's one is five to seven if
I'm not mistaken. But let me see what he's waiting
at the combine. Yeah, and I could tell you five. No,
I don't think. I don't think he's I don't think
he's that small, but I can tell you what he
was here. Hold on, he's pretty small. Yeah, No, he's
he's very sim I thought if Danny woodhead, but he's
five eight.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah, he's a little a little bigger, a little thicker too.
I think Pearson, Yes, I think so too.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
I'm loading.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
I remember the ice cube very well.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Well, no, you know what a TONI, You're right. I
have them listed here at five five one eighty, so
that's what he's listing.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
See, so he's definitely thicker than mcneale.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
I was gonna say so at one at one eighty
at five five, that means he's got some meat on
the ball for sure. It doesn't look like it when
you watch him. I forgot I thought he was five seven,
Antonio call he was five five.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
You're right, but but I absolutely agree with you that
you know that's a guy who you you can lose
track of quickly. I mean, there's no doubt that's that's
the one fear is that you're not going to be
able to find him as you're trying to get through
the line.

Speaker 5 (35:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (36:00):
Yeah, that's what I thought. On one more.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
Question, by the way, he Andros was five six one nineties,
so it was even a little bit thicker than vocals.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (36:08):
Yeah. Is Galaday in the league this year? And what
team is here playing for?

Speaker 2 (36:14):
He's not. I believe he's a free Kenny hasn't signed anywhere.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Which is thank you an Toni on which I think
kind of speaks volumes as to what team saw on
tape last year.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Well, there wasn't a whole lot of tape to see,
but but it does tell you that whatever it was
that the Giants decided to uh to I don't want
to say bench him, but whatever they decided to do,
not to utilize him. Obviously, other people around the league
feel the same way.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
And when he did play, they didn't see enough to
know to say we need him on the run.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Too bad, It's too bad. Guy. The guy had a
really good skill set. And you know what, John, we
got to know him.

Speaker 3 (36:48):
He was a good dude, and he tried last year.
I think he was absolute for it and he just
he just whatever, whatever juice he had earlier in his
career when he had that hip injury, it must have
sucked it out of him because there just wasn't much
less from an explosive perspective.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
You know, he was always there at practice, you know,
I mean, unless the traders didn't clear him to practice.
He worked hard every day. He did everything he was
asked to do. That to me, I will tell you, John,
in all my years, that is one of the biggest,
if not the biggest puzzler as to why either A
it didn't work out for some unforeseen reason that we

(37:23):
still don't know about, or b he literally lost it all,
lost it all within a year, which just boggles the mind.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
And I mentioned this earing the show, by the way,
something we can talk about. In the two games they
played in together, Paul Hawkins was exclusively at left cornerback
and Banks was exclusively at right cornerback in the preseason,
the two preseason games, yes, they played, so we can
do that. We at least my memory was okay, that's
where I thought. I saw them winding up two O
one nine three nine four or five one three. Let's

(37:53):
go to Jason and new Haven. He's up next, y, Jason,
what's going on?

Speaker 5 (37:59):
Good? Good?

Speaker 6 (37:59):
Thanks taking my call.

Speaker 7 (38:00):
Three points. I just want to talk about a few points.
And I want to give you guys always when I called,
I try to give you guys kudos for the content
I saw that Lombardi, I think Lombardi was last week.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
Was that last week that posted Monday? Michael Lombardi, Yeah.

Speaker 7 (38:15):
Monday, Yes, Yeah, I thought it was great, so a
great interview. We just want to give you kudos. A
part of my Peddy fandom, part of my Petty Giants fandom,
wanted to ask him about that disease is mem Yeah,
and you know.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
What is funny, Jason, I actually got a couple of
tweets about that, and once I got the tweets, I'm
sitting there, I'm like, oh, I should have said something
about that. And but when I swear I I recorded
that interview, gob was that last Thursday, Pierson and we
did like three or four different podcasts that day, And
when I wrote down my questions a prep for the interview,
I totally forgot he said that over summer. I honestly,

(38:48):
I just didn't remember. I would have asked him about it,
especially since he said that before Saquon had signed the
tag and reported on time. Now, since Sekuon did that, obviously,
I think that's no longer relevant either, because he obviously
showed he was a team guy by coming in and
being a camp and everything. But that was an honest
mistake on my part, and I just did not come

(39:08):
to mind when I did the interview. That was on me.

Speaker 7 (39:11):
Yeah, no problem, you do it great. You guys do
a great job.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
By the way, we should note that Barkley has not
missed any time during camp unless the coaching staff decided
to give him a veteran's day.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yep. And he never had a full veterans day either,
I don't think right. He just had that one the
second scrimmage against Detroit. He didn't do any of the
team stuff.

Speaker 7 (39:30):
All right, cool, I have a few points, and then
I know you pressed for time.

Speaker 5 (39:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (39:33):
Now, I'll have two questions that I'll take off the air.
First point is if I asked you, and this is
not directed to YouTube gentlemen. This is directed to some
of the fans that complain about the schedule last year.
If I had asked you, guys, or any fans, will
we beat the number one seed Tennessee in AFC the
year before, would we have beaten Baltimore? And will we

(39:55):
have bet in Green Bay? I think most fans probably
would have said no.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
Yeah. But I I also think though, if you had
to ask those three fans, those same fans, with those
three teams have been in the postseason last year, I
think all fans would have said yes. Once you found
out neither one of those three teams are going to
be playoff teams, then maybe the answer might have been different.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
Hence why Lance always says strength of schedule is.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
Worthless again again and is right well, when you look
at winning percentages, Yes, but I think it is fair
to project how good teams are going to be and
how difficult games are going to be too.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
And really, as we always say, and you know, I'm
a big, big one to harp on this, it's about matchup,
y sure, So I don't care what a team's record is.
If that matchup is on the plus side for them,
it's a problematic game for you, right.

Speaker 7 (40:43):
Right, Yes, And I understand that, But I think I
think too much I think personally is in an you gentlemen,
of course, but I think too much is made of
the schedule.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
No, Jason, that to me. I talk about the schedule
all the time. You can yell me about that. That's fine, No,
I do, That's fine. But look, and Jason, the other
part of it, too, is that you can only analyze
the same stuff over the offseasons so many times you
have to bring in as many factors as you can.

Speaker 7 (41:07):
It's hard, right, right, right, So there is not a
knock towards you.

Speaker 5 (41:10):
You do a great job.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
Point, we're all good.

Speaker 7 (41:14):
Yeah, So I think too much made the schedule. I
called a few I want to say, months and weeks ago,
those teams have to play us. They have to play
us as well, so I don't. And if I'm not mistaken,
we were one of the eight teams last eight teams
in the playoffs last year, so you know we're not
chicken feed either. So I just wanted to say that
to some of the fans. Oh, the schedule or we're
not gonna win. Let's let's see how it plays out

(41:36):
first before we start saying, well, we're gonna lose ten
games and which I think we're gonna win nine to eleven.
That's kind of been my scheme. So I'll move on
to the next point.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
Okay, you know what, No, I've got to say this
regarding your point, that goodness, the Giants played Jacksonville earlier
in the year, because had they played them down in
Jacksonville later in the year, they may not have come
out of that game with the WS and you know what,
they were unlucky though they played the Lions later in
the year. They did that it was a tougher game
instead of playing them rolling.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
That's true, so maybe that maybe that balanced out, because
certainly the Lions were a much better team down the streets.

Speaker 7 (42:08):
The two points I wanted to make it in the questions.
You know, I'll make it quick for you guys. This
this this last year, when I watched the games, it
was evident. I know, you guys saw to most fans
who have any kind of football knowledge or acumen can
see that I that I actually need to see change
if we're gonna be Dallas. And I'm only saying Dallas
because it's our first game of the year to any fans.

(42:30):
And I'm sure you guys know Daniel Jones in those
two games were sacked eight times and pressured. I believe
it was pressured thirty times in those two Giants games.
It was on the other side, whether it was Cooper Rush,
Was it Cooper?

Speaker 3 (42:45):
I think you're right, yeah, one game, Yeah, the first
game was Cooper Rush.

Speaker 7 (42:48):
In the second game it was Dak In those two games,
neither one of those quarterbacks were sacked at all, zero
sacks yep. So to me, that game, the game on
Sunday is going to be you know, we could talk
about Hyatt and Waller and and and which are important
parts Barkley and Daniel which are you know, of course

(43:11):
important cobs And I'm glad we have those guys some
of the other you know additions we've made Paris Campbell,
But to me, old Line has to step up this year.
They they have to be the reason we win this game.
If Parson goes off and and DeMarcus Lawrence goes off,
we're not winning this game on Sunday. And like you
guys said earlier, running the ball is important, is important

(43:33):
in this game. We have to we have to run
the ball. I don't think they're a great run defense. Yes,
they do a lot of uh, they do a lot
of run blitz, and they do a lot of stuff
like that, But I don't think they're a great run
the line. In my opinion, I could be wrong.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
Maybe you guys could be No, thank you, Jason, appreciate
the call.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
They schallevate over getting to the quarterback and and very
often you're better pass rush teams will have some holes
against a running game. Very often that's just the way
it is because they're over focusing on trying to get upfield,
or they.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Have smaller guys because that took us on speed instead
of having that.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
Absolutely totally agree with that. So the Giants have to
try to do their best to take advantage of that now.
I also believe that if they can get the run
game going early enough and that could be effective, then
Quinn may decide, you know what, Okay, we got to
do something about this. Let's start to run blitz a lot,
which Cowboys have done. They have been a run blitzing

(44:35):
team too, because they have speedy defense and have speedy dbs.
They start doing that, now, that can actually work against
him because with the Giants weaponry at the skill positions,
if they start to then overplay and try to do
run blitzes, now you can throw behind them and so
that could work to the Giants advantage too. If Barkley

(44:56):
starts running the ball well early on Sunday night, Folks,
I'm sorry, this game is over. Giants are gonna win.
I'm just sorry. No, I'm just sorry because that's the
that's the perfect blueprint to make this game play into
the Giants' hands, and if he doesn't, it's gonna be
a stressful night.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
Two A one nine three nine four five one three. Folks,
take your fandom to the next level with the Giant
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(45:37):
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we get that done. As he moved forward here two
oh one I three nine four five one three two

(45:59):
oh one nine three nine four five one three, let's
go to Jeff in Maine. He's up next night.

Speaker 5 (46:04):
Jeff, Hello, gentlemen.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
Hello.

Speaker 6 (46:07):
I like in the new lineup, and I appreciate the
email thing. I don't through Twitter, but I'm very optimistic
about the Giants this year. I think they've really revamped
their entire team. I think the defense is going to
be great, especially with the addition of Bashroom and Simmons
and the coordinator we got. I think we'll be able
to get off the field, which will give the offense
more opportunities for big plays. And I like the offense too.

(46:31):
It's almost a stretch to come up with a concern.
If I had to have a concern, it would be
something similar to I think what Paul said the other day,
which is I think that I like the punter, and
I think he can kick it so far sometimes that
he might OutKick the coverage.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
He does do that enough speed on.

Speaker 6 (46:47):
The outside to get down there and cover them.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
And Turpin is extremely fast and very dangerous when he
handles the ball well. He can really cause you trouble.
And that is good only to still be a concern
for me until the Giants prove otherwise, which is why
I think a guy like Tyrones Taiwan Jones, the running back.
I suspect he's gonna be activated Sunday because he was

(47:12):
a special teams captain for the Bills. They will need
him in kick coverage. Nick McCleod is healthy after not
playing the entire preseason. He is the best gunner the
Giants have. Those guys better be on their game Sunday
because the Cowboys. That's the one thing that the Giants
if they do not take care of business on specials

(47:33):
and at least play even on specials. They're going to
put themselves in a precarious situation.

Speaker 6 (47:39):
Yeah, because one play could change the whole game. So good,
I feel a little better, especially that mccod is healthy again. Yeah,
so good, I feel a little better. My bold prediction
is that Dori Jackson will be the team defensive MVP
if there is such a word of the game or well,

(48:01):
well for the season, the team MVP, uh, if there
is such an award.

Speaker 3 (48:06):
Wow, I just think.

Speaker 6 (48:08):
I just think he's a great cover guy. He can
he can tackle. But if you can take away a
team short game a little bit, uh, that can get
you off the field on third down. And by the
same token, if you can't stop a team's short game,
you can't get off the field.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
I don't think Jackson.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
On our poll that you did, I named him as
one of the maybe one of the most pivotal guys,
because once you get by him, you're out of But defense.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
We didn't know.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
I think all of us, all those focus on guys
up front.

Speaker 6 (48:34):
Yep, right, Okay, well, thank you very much. I appreciate
it and continue the good work.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Jeah appreciate on the backside the back seven, John, would
you not consider Okara, Kay and McKinney very strong candidates
if you're going to go in the back seven for
a team.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
Defense, I would, But for me, corner is just a
more valuable position, so I would get there, okay, Especially
that he can now, it looks like, well they think
we can, they gonna use him that way, playing inside
and outside. That adds another level of versatilty for him.
So I am curious to say I have no worries
about him covering in the slot. I do wonder what's
gonna happen if teams run right at him a little

(49:11):
bit in terms of run support. But he's not the
biggest dude in the world.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Well see, my concern isn't about him being able to
handle or effectively stop guys. He's only played a full
season of NFL games once in his entire career, and
that was as a rookie. So you're right, the durability
of Jackson against running plays could become a problem.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
I think like set the edge though too, like he
hasn't had to do that a ton. That's the one
thing Darning Holmes is actually good at last year's Actually,
he's a pretty physical player.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
He is very physical, and he well, he's got that
Los Angeles mentality. You know, he came from a very
rough part of the city and he so he's got
that street gruffness to him where he goes.

Speaker 3 (49:55):
Right after guys, just like the streets of Leonier, Right.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
So, I don't know about Dori Jackson. I know he's
a good tackler. He's a physical player, but he has
he has missed games every year of his career except
his rookie season.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
And it's different playing inside and out. It is you know,
you're gonna you're gonna deal with more tight ends and
bigger guys defensive lineman rather than the wide receiver, bigger guy.
So yeah, that's one thing I'm curious to see. Duo
one nine three nine four five three. Let's go to
Scott in New Mexico. He's on next I Scott, Hey, guys.

Speaker 8 (50:25):
How you're doing.

Speaker 3 (50:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (50:27):
I always like listening to Tim has some really silent points.
But one thing I hope he wasn't doing was negating
the presence of Dak Prescott because, uh, I assume you
both know this. Dak Prescott has thrown twenty three touchdown
passes against the Giants, which is the most he's ever
thrown against any other team in the league, and to

(50:49):
negate what he can do would be a disaster because
he's had four three hundred yard games and twelve games
against the Giants.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
Just remember, though, you play your own division twice a year,
so every player will always tell you that their best
stats are always against the team in their division, So
really doesn't mean much.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
I'm sorry, I will say this. The Giants have not
beaten him since twenty sixteen.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
That is true.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
Does that matters?

Speaker 2 (51:12):
That's a little more important than the numbers he's given out.

Speaker 8 (51:14):
Okay, I wanted to talk about how you attack and
what players you need to attack against the Cowboys going
to get the victory. One of the players nobody's talking about,
he's not even on the Cowboys is.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
That's probably why they're not talking about.

Speaker 7 (51:30):
Well, there is.

Speaker 8 (51:31):
Dalton Schultz was a big part of the Dallas Cowboys offense.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
Every tight andes for the Cowboys against the Giants. I'll
be honest with you, I don't know if Schultz to
Ferguson is that big of a downgrade. I gotta be
honest with you, I don't think they're very different in
terms of.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
Well, don't you know what, I think. I'm a Ferguson guy.

Speaker 8 (51:49):
Schultz caught fifty seven bulls to six hundred yards, So
I don't know if Ferguson can do that. But maybe
I may agree with you, But I think also the
middle of a lion is a place where you have
to go to attack, and that's where the center is.
Tyler Dias and he ranked twenty fifth AMONGKST centers. Who's

(52:12):
going to line up against him? It's going to be
Dexter Lawrence. Forget the seven and a half sacks. Dexter
Lawrence had forty pressures. The next closest Giant had thirteen.
So if you line him up against the center, that's
that's a definite one for the Giants.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
Biadis still is not a bad player. He's not. He's
a much better player than than Bradbury, the Viking center
that they played into last year.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
I suspect Dallas is going to double Dexter almost every play.

Speaker 8 (52:39):
Yeah, right, I suspect.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
So if your wink, what you want to do is
make sure that if they're going to commit two guys
to Dexter. Which of the other guys are you looking
for to get freed up in a situation where they
might be going against Air. Not just one on one,
but there's gonna be times where he's sending people and
you're gonna have Air against a Thibodeaux or an o
Jelai or against the Simmons. And that's a win for

(53:03):
the Giants because I don't think. I don't think that
the Cowboys have another running back, even though Pollard is
their lead guy, who's gonna be pick up one of
those guys.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
I think because that's what Zeke did for them when
he was there. He was exactly the past. I don't
think anybody else in that roof to do it now.
I'm sure Dallas will be comfortable having Zach Martin block
one on one because he's sure Martin, but another to
keep an eye on too. By the way, Tyler Smith
at the leave practice yesterday with a hamster injury, so
that's something.

Speaker 8 (53:28):
So he may not even play, and that's another place
where the Giants can attest.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
And by the way, Scott not for nothing, and we
talked about this in our division preview show. The Cowboys
starting offensive line is good. Their depth behind that starting
five is very poor. So if you get past that
starting five, you might have some things you can do
back there.

Speaker 8 (53:46):
Right now, I think that's where the Giants the thing
that I would do the most for this particular game
because I'm of the Al Davis school.

Speaker 5 (53:55):
That's it.

Speaker 8 (53:56):
And so for me, I don't say think that offensive
line for the Dallas Cowboys is all it's cracked up
to be. So if you can get the blitzing going
and going early, you can put a lot of pressure
on the players. I'm not saying that Dak's not going
to be able to read some of this stuff, but
it's going to cause a lot of problems for the

(54:17):
Dallas Cowboys offensive line. So I think the way to
really secure it because the outside guys Gilmore and Traylon
Diggs are good, it's going to be hard to get
deep on those guys, especially with Javon Curse back there
as well. So I think Waller becomes the guy on offense,
but on defense, you really need to attack, and the
way to attack is to blitz like crazy, like he's

(54:39):
never done it before. Because I think that Dallas Cowboys
offensive line will not hold up awesome that's the way
I think the Giants have the most direct group to
really win this game.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
Appreciate the call. I'll just say, I'll say this about
the Dallas offensive line. This is not the quality of
group they had, say like four years ago, when they
had all those guys there. I concur but I would
still say it's a pretty good I would say it's
a top half of the league group. I agree with that,
And that's how kind I would put him in that
probably like eight to fifteen, eight to thirteen area, ten
to fifteen area, somewhere in that range.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
This is why, if you're the Giants, that rush defense
has to be stout early. Yeah, because you want them
to be one dimensional. You want Prescott to have to
be looking to throw it all the time so that
we can dial up these pressures. Because the truth is,
if Dallas gets to be balanced and now you have
to be a little bit more conservative, well you're giving

(55:31):
Prescott and those receivers an opportunity to do things to
work against those rookie corners. You don't want that that
that plays into their hands. So you know, again, I'm sorry,
I'm gonna repeat it, John. First quarter, first quarter, and
certainly first half, which team is running the ball better
is really going to dictate how the second half goes.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
I really believe that I got two tweets real quick.
I want to get to you before we say goodbye.
We start a couple minutes late. The real Deal seventy
four tweeted me earlier today. What week did Isaiah Hodgens
start getting a full snapcount last year? And what was
his stat pace for a full season on that full snapcount?
So I did that very quickly. He basically played a
full snap count. I'm just counting regular season games, eight

(56:14):
game playoffs, it was more like seven. He did play
against the Texans in Week ten, but it was probably
like half of what he normally did. So I took
that game and I threw it out. So I started
with the with the Lions game in week eleven, and
then he did rested in week eighteen. So he played
seven games and had thirty five catches in those games,
So he basically averaged five catches a game. So if
you do that math over seventeen games, you get the

(56:35):
eighty five catches. Now you have a lot more weapons
this year, You're gonna spread the ball around more. So
I would not expect that to simply translate. I can
but concur that's what that looks like.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
And you know, to be honest, I talked to Hodgens
yesterday for the MSG Brian Dables Show, and I asked
him that, I said, everybody's talking about the improvement, where
do you think your biggest improvement's going to be and
how will that translate onto the field? Will it mean
more catches per game, more yards per game, were more touchdowns?
And he's like, no, I think we're just gonna match

(57:09):
up every week and we're gonna do different matchups and
different combinations. While he feels better in year two of
this offense and being here for a whole off season,
even he is not paying attention to the stat line.
And that's the way these coaches think. They don't care
about the stat line. Again, I hate to use the
Al Davis thing that we just heard the callers say,
but it's about just win, baby, It's not about stats.

(57:32):
This is not a fantasy football coaching staff.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Okay, I don't think there are any fantasy football coaching
staffs out there, to be honest with you. The last
thing I'll bring up this was an interesting infographic that
I found today being passed around by some of the
data guys. So they basically did a future strength of
schedule for passing offenses. So basically, how tough your schedule
is based on the opponent's pass defense, coverage, and pass

(57:56):
rush kind of put together. Interesting, Giants have the toughest
in the league, and the bottom of the list is
almost exclusively except for one team a f C and
NFC East teams because they all play each other.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
Yeah, so the two best divisions in books.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
So the Giants are the toughest, then the Bills, Patriots, Dolphins,
then the Eagles, then the Rams they're the one team
that's in there that is not in that group. Then
the Jets, then Washington. That eight out of nine, eight
out of nine the toughest pass defense schedules that teams

(58:34):
will play all year, eight of the nine teams of
the a f C East and the NFC, And again
they play each other, so it is not a.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
Surprise and we all feel that way as an overall
level of competition, not just in this particular category.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
Be fun. The AFC North, the only other team that
I think is kind of in that same category, maybe
in a little bit better than the than the two
Eastern divisions, but those are the Those are the three
best divisions in football, no doub about it. Paul, good stuff,
my friend.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
It's a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
So tomorrow, if you can see us and I at
twelve thirty, tune in for Big Blue Kickoff Live. Check
out all other podcast offerings, Giants Tuddle, everything else that
we do. Enjoy the rest of your day. We'll see
you tomorrow.