Giants Huddle | Bears Rapid Reaction

Madelyn Burke and Shaun O'Hara react to the Giants 24-20 loss to the Chicago Bears in week 10.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to get inside the Giants. Hut's go, Let's go,
Let's go, Adients do coet I like? Get out on
the Giants Moblo Jude, give Me Some June part of
the Giants podcast net Will Let's roll.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome into a week ten rapid reaction here on the
Giants Huddle podcast, brought to you by Citizens, the official
bank of the New York Giants. From game day celebrations
to your everyday financial needs, Big Blue fans can get
the most out of every moment with Citizens. Learn more
at citizensbank dot com. Slash Giants Madeleine Burke here with
the Super Bowl champion Sean O'Hara. Week ten, Shawn, the

(00:31):
Giants went out to Chicago. Twenty four to twenty was
the final score the Giants falling to the Bears.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
The Giants were up twenty to ten with four minutes
left in the game. The wheels fell off. We've seen
this story before this season, but what stood out to
you about this one?

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, madel And it felt like a rerun, not the
ending everybody had expected and hoped for. But the Giants
controlled this game, and you felt like when they were
up twenty to ten, like Okay, you know what all
they need is a big defensive stop, get a couple
first downs on offense, and you come away with the victory.
And we've seen this team disintegrate like this before. They
did it against Denver, they did it against Dallas, and

(01:08):
they just had not learned how to close out games
and finishing games in the fourth quarter. Look, the NFL
is like the NBA. Now you get the game in
the fourth quarter and then you find a way to
make the plays to win the game. And they can't
seem to do that despite how well things looked offensively.
And look, Jackson Dart was the spark plug. He ran
for two touchdowns early in the game, ends up leaving

(01:28):
because of the concussion, and when he left the game,
you really felt like, man, this offense just kind of
lacked that spark. Even though Devin single Larry had a
big forty two yard catch and run, it just was
not enough offensively for them to try to get back
into the game once the Bears took the lead. And
I think the defense has struggled with that capacity. And
it's hey, when the offense gives you lead, you've got
to go out there and you've got to find a

(01:49):
way to close it out, take the quarterback down. They
had chances to sack Caleb Williams, they could not bring
him to the ground, and ultimately it was his legs
that ended up undoing this game for them.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Absolutely. And the Giants did have two solo sacks, one
from Dexter Lawrence one from Abdul Carter, both called back
due to penalties by corners in this one. And so
when you have, you know, a flag on the field
that rescinds a sack, you don't want to see that.
Kayleb Williams a very slippery quarterback, a tough one to
bring down, especially this season.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, ten penalties for the Giants all together, and Tay
Banks had two on one drive. Yeah, the other the
penalties you're talking about, and that gated those big sacks.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Those are huge, huge sacks, huge moments that could have
really affected the game in a different way. Mentioned too,
Jackson Dark going out with the concussion in the fourth quarter.
The Giants had a significant lead. When Dart leaves the game,
Russell Wilson comes in. They kind of rely heavily on
the run game. When russ is in that first drive
that rust is in, they kind of took some time
off the clock, but the second two were three and outs.

(02:47):
And when the offense can't you spend significant time on
the field, it is hard for a defense to kind
of come right back out there and try to stifle
the Bears. Who are, you know, trying to drive down
the field. I mean, we heard Ben Johnson last week
against Cincinnati say, you don't want to give us a
shot in the fourth quarter because we will always find
a way. They did it last week again Cincinnati. They
did it again against New York Giants.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, and that's where defensively you've got to really put
the clamps down on them. Offensively, you know, I think
the red zone issues rear as the ugly head. Again
in this game, they were one for four in the
red zone. You mentioned the drive. Russell Wilson comes into
the game to start the fourth quarter. They get the
big place from Singletary, They march down to the field,
They get to the one yard line and they have
to settle for a field goal on fourth and one

(03:30):
and not being able to punch it in right there.
It was seventeen to ten, so they kicked the field goal.
Now it's twenty ten if they had scored a touchdown there.
Now it's twenty four to ten. It's a different ballgame.
So those red zone possessions are so valuable and you've
got to find a way to convert. Giants were also
one to four on fourth down, so those two situations
cost them this game.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
How to loup get in here? If you're lined up here,
you got to go over the middle with at the
score great, how do we make that happen? I don't know,
but Kitnis does? It makes sense of your money with
citizens Official Bank of Eli manning. Yeah, And it's a
tough way to finish a game too, again, having a
ten point lead and things falling apart. The Giants defense

(04:11):
did have success though on third down Shawn, I mean,
Chicago just three for eleven on third downs. What was
working for that unit there?

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Well, I think first and foremost, the Giants defense did
a good job stifling the run. Coming into this game,
the Bears had the second best rushing offense in the NFL,
and you know, look, it was a combination of DeAndre
Swift and Kyle Mnungui throughout the season, but had the
monster game last week where he had one hundred and
seventy six yards on the ground, but Kayla Williams added
to that as well. He had sixty three yards rushing.

(04:40):
So I think their production against the run game early
on forced the Bears into some third and long situations
and they were able to get some pressure on them.
They also got assisted by some drops. There were number
of drops by the Bears. Receivers had a couple, you know,
I think that Dj Moore has had a couple, so

(05:00):
I think that helped them out. But the defense was Look,
they were getting off the field on third down, which
is exactly what you want to do. A couple of
big sticks. Drew Phillips had a huge tackle on a
third down, so I thought they did a good job there.
And then just at the end of the game, they
could not close it out. Whether they ran out of
gas or whether it was just you know, guys not
making plagues, not making the same plays that they had

(05:20):
made early on. But we've seen that time and time again.
Rear its ugly had to season to.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Your point too, the run defense that was working so
well for this Giants team early in the game was
what unraveled, especially when it came to Caleb Williams his
twenty nine yard run, which was a career long in
the NFL, set up that two yard passing touchdown to
Rome a doonsay that brought them within a score. It
was twenty to seventeen after that one, and then you know,
next drive they're on the field and Williams runs into

(05:45):
seventeen yard touchdown to give the Bears a twenty four
to twenty lead. The Giants offense gets on the field,
Russell Wilson's just not able to get much done. He
gets one first down with his legs and then kind
of you know, takes a big sack there and unable
to to extend it in the Giants fall.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah, it was tough to see that. And you know
the touchdown throw on Noonsday as well. You know, it's
I feel like every week there is an issue in
the red zone with coverage all of a sudden there,
you know, it was McCaffrey last week. You know, the
week before it was Saquon Barkley and the red zone
standing alone by himself, no defender in sight. And you
know that was another big play. I think, you know,

(06:26):
when you look at defensively, I thought the Giants played
a little more zone in this game. Than they had
in the past, and yeah, usually their man I think
a lot of that was because of Kayla Williams's ability
to run. So it was, look, we don't want to
turn our backs to the to the quarterback and man covered,
so zone defense gives us a better chance to kind
of corral them. But they actually had some spy rushers

(06:47):
on at the end of the game there to try
to keep Caleb Williams in the pocket, and he still
found a way to beat them. So they're gonna look
back at this film defensively and they're gonna say, man,
we had them, We had Calen's Williams in our grasp.
How many times did did you a defender with his
hand on Calebones and can't bring him down? And it
was d Lineman, it was Linemackers, it.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Was playing Hivido had him wrapped up a couple of
times right out.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, you know, and the kids. You know, he outran
Bobby Ocarike on that big run. So he's strong and
he's fast. You know, he's a threat as well. So
as a tough loss, I think both sides contributed, and
so did the special teams. Look at the end of
the game, you know, Jamie Gillum, you know, with a
little bit of a shank put six.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, and mirror, and that mirrored to the way the
game started too with the kickoff. The kickoff not kind
of going the way you want it to. I do
want to give some flowers to a bright spot offensively,
Darius Layton. He's been struggling with drops in recent weeks.
Today comes out a perfect four for four. He started
three for three, including an incredible highlight one handed catch
on the sideline, left the game for a period of

(07:51):
time with a hamstring injury, was questionable, return, gets back
in the game, comes up with another grab on another target.
Slayton very reliable and very clutch in this one, as
was Theo Johnson.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, Darius Slayton average twenty two yards a catch, so
you know, he would have had probably one hundred yards
receiving if he hadn't didn't have the hamstring injury. That
kind of took him off the field. But he exploded.
He had a monster first half. You mentioned that that
highlight reel one handed catch with his left hand, that
might be one of the SV nominees for the End
of the Year Catch you know awards. I think that

(08:22):
play really sparked his confidence and you could see what
it did to the to the offense, the sideline. I mean,
everybody got jazzed up. They got fired up, and he
made another catch right after that as well. So Slayton
definitely did a great job stepping up when his number
was call for. Obviously, he's been disappointed with his production
this season. He's had some plays that I think he
would like to have back that he feels like he

(08:44):
could have made. You know, he almost made a one
hander against Philly, almost had that touchdown catch against the
four nine ers. He's been this close, so he was
able to kind of put those demons to rest and
make some big catches in this game, and that certainly helped.
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Speaker 2 (09:03):
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Speaker 2 (09:11):
Big cashes in this game, it wasn't enough. The Giants
come up short twenty four to twenty as the final
against the Bears turning the page to week eleven, back
at MetLife Stadium hosting the Green Bay Packers. Questions around
the starting quarterback will remain because Jackson Dart of course,
left the game in the fourth quarter with a concussion
didn't return. Will continue to evaluate throughout the week where

(09:31):
he stands and how significant this is. Will it be
Russell Wilson, Will it be Jackson Dart. Who's going to
be QB one against the Packers remains to be seen.
But what we do know is Packers are playing on
Monday Night football against the Eagles. They'll be on a
short week. Everyone will be able to watch them and
scout them. But Jordan loves having another incredible season for
Green Bay.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, Jordan loves doing a great job taking care of
the football. He has only thrown three interceptions on the
entire season. He's been very precise, completing over seventy percent
of his passes. That's kind of the offense that you
expect from Matt Lafleur, and they do a They're really efficient.
It's a lot like what we saw with Kyle Shanahan
and the forty nine ers offense. Similar coaching tree, similar
coaching style. So obviously you've got to stop the run.

(10:14):
Josh Jacobs has been a bellcout for them, and I
think when you kind of look at their receiving corps,
it's not just one guy like Romeo Dobbs has been
one of his go to guys. Obviously, they lost their
tight end, you know, he suffered a terrible knee injury,
So that's a big blow for them offensively. But this
is always a tough offense to kind of deal with.

(10:34):
They have a lot of motion, a lot of things
that kind of take you off your keys, So it'll
be a big challenge for this Giants defense to try
to wrap him up and try to corral him. But
I think for the Giants offense it's just as big
of a challenge. This defense has been phenomenal at getting
after the quarterback, and of course Micah Parsons is somebody
that the Giants know all too well, So it's how

(10:54):
do we slow him down? How do we find a
way to attack him and run away from him and
protect him when we are trying to the football.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Absolutely, that'll be the next one up. Giants back at
MetLife Stadium for Week eleven against the Packers, but for
Week ten, it's a twenty four to twenty final against
the Bears. Giants fallen to two and eight on the season,
and that's a wrap for your rapid reaction here on
the Giants Huddle podcast, brought to you by Citizens, the
official bank of the New York Football Giants. From game
day celebrations to your everyday financial needs, Big Blue fans

(11:24):
can get the most out of every moment with Citizens.
Learn more at citizensbank dot com. Slash Giants for the
Super Bowl champ Shawn O'Hara and coach of the Franklin
Lake War Eagles.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
Let's go, Let's go Ogles.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Let's go War Eagles. I'm Madeline Bark. We'll see you
next time.