June 17, 2024 • 18 mins
On this episode of the Giants Huddle podcast, John Schmeelk is joined by NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger to discuss OTAs and minicamp as well as talk about the new additions on the offensive line.
:00 - Minicamp notes
5:33 - Offensive line
10:47 - Wide receivers
14:49 - Giants defense
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to get inside the Giants. Let's Giants. Dont
on my giants bubbling, give me some jump. Part of
the Giants Podcast Network. Let's Roll.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the Giants Little podcast brought to you by Citizens,
the official bank of the New York Football Giants.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Johnsh Belk, joined by the King. Just look at a shirt,
you know this guy is it's bald these breakdowns.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I gotta I gotta get some free advertising. Shameless advertising.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Brian balde Are from an NFL network. Baldy is good
to see you, man. How's your off season been.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
You know, it's been good, Giants, It's been good. It
always goes by too fast, you know. I mean here
we are right at the finish of this offseason. So
but it's okay, though I've had a good you know,
this thing just flows, you know, I mean, whether it's
you know, the combine and then the Pro days and
the draft and schedule and it's just like you just
got this thing like kind of greased where you just
(00:48):
all of a sudden, it's it's the middle of June.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, it comes fast, and now all of us kind
of get our six weeks to step aside. We're recording
this after the Giants final mini camp practice, Baldi came
checked it out. Unfortunately for you, not a ton and
in terms of team and full speed stuff today, but
give the fans a quick impression of what you saw.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Well, the first thing I saw before they started their
stretch today, John, I don't know if you saw it
or not. They had this one period where it's just
like this big play period and I saw Daniel Jones.
They hit Jalen Hyatt like fifty yards down the field
and then they ended up throwing a touchdown past the
next play and then they kind of broke So, you know,
just good seeing Daniel Jones throwing the ball. I think
for any Giant fan, the fact that he doesn't have
(01:24):
a brace on his knee, just got a sleeve, you know.
I mean, it looks like the rehabilitation is on schedule.
And then just looking at the new guys, Miliek obviously
you want to kind of watch him just his movement.
That's the first thing that caught my eye was just
his movement, changed direction, catches the ball with his hands,
looking at Tyler Nubman back there at safety, Drew Phillips
(01:45):
looking at Jermaine luminar at left guard, running at right guard.
Just looking at the new faces here right now.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Absolutely all right, well you brought the offense first. Why
don't we touch that first real quick? Daniel Jones, you
had a good year two years ago. Last year, much
like the rest of the offense, was a bit of
a this because the pieces around him just everything fell
apart at once, right.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, it fell apart in the opening game.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, first, the opening game, first series.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
First, I mean, kiel and there's Andrew you know, like
grabbing his hamstrength. I mean, it's just you know, and
then John Michael got hurt, and Saquan got hurt, and Dan,
like you know, it fell apart. It was hard, kind
of a tough evaluation, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, and that's the question I was gonna ask you,
because I watched the tape every game Monday. You watched
the tape of all these games, And honestly, I have
trouble taking anything substantial out of Daniel Jones's tape last
year just because of what those five or six games
did he played in looked like on tape, and what
was going on around him. I just can't change my
mind much from what I saw the previous year, because
(02:44):
last year is just so messy.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
It was ugly, It was really ugly. There were games
where you go, like I remember the game in New
Orleans last year, and like, you know, like they ran
the same blitz over and over again. They couldn't pick
it up, and so you know, John Michael was out
did whatever in there. But it was just hard. You know,
the quarterbacks got sacked eighty five times, you know, the
quarterbacks that played last year, to Rod and you know
(03:07):
Tommy and you know, so it was just it's just tough,
Like nobody wants to go through any kind of a
year like that. Again, I know that Andrew Thomas is
a good player, of course, really good player, and you
know he got back into form and started looking like
what he did the year before. And so now it's
a question of how quickly can they put this group together?
To me, you know, and that's really to me what
(03:30):
preseasons got about. I talked to Carmen today, the new
offensive line coach. Been around this league, He's coached some
of these guys, he's got his techniques. How quickly can
those five guys, including the tight ends, how quickly can
they come together and just win the line of start
winning the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And look, we got to see what Evan Neil is
a right tackle. He hasn't done a whole lot in
the offseason. You hope he's going to come back, and
we'll get to him specifically in a second. But how
much baldy of a difference can the new offensive line
coach make in conjunction with bringing in two veteran guards
to help suppleman Andrew Thomas, You to your mentioned as
ready a really good player and help out your two
youngsters jms at center and then they know right tackle,
(04:07):
what kind of substantive difference And how can those guys
specifically carn Basol and make a defense make a difference
with a unilite that very quickly?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Well, I mean, first of all, you want you're only
going to be as good up front as your center.
So when your center is making all the calls, everybody
knows exactly where they're going. Can be stout against you know,
one technique's nose tackles that can be stout and you
could keep that pocket just flat up front? Quarterbacks, can
(04:37):
you want to come off the edgic quarterbacks? Daniel Jones
in his In this league, the good quarterbacks they can
avoid the outside.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Pressure because you can step up.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
You could, you could step up, but you need to
be able to step up.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
You need depth.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
You need that depth. So you got to you got
to keep that front flat. In fact, I was talking
to Jermaine today, Illuminar, and you know he was asking
you know, I was asking him about going up against
Texa Lawrence. So you know, Dexe Lawrence is a freak
in his business. I mean, there's just not many guys
in this league. There are three hundred and sixty pounds
that can rush the passer, of course, so you what
you have to do to a guy like that, You
have to almost run block him every play. You can't
(05:10):
let him get any kind of a steam coming at you.
And so when I was talked about keeping that pocket flat,
it's some of it is game planning against going against
some of the monsters up front that you got to see.
You can't let those guys basically start leaking into the quarterbacks,
you know, feet and steps where he can't step up
and make these throws.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
You're ready for a change. Payday comes early with citizens,
So go to that retreat. Knew you moves to the country.
Now you're raising goats and launching a lifestyle brand. Are
you ready for all that life breaks?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Absolutely? What do you think of John Michael Schmidt?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I know you evaluate him as a player coming out
last year first year, some real rough patches for a rookie.
And I talked to him last week and both he said, look,
the first season for me, it didn't go as well
as I wanted to.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
But what did you think of him overall as a
player coming out and what.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
His coming out of a minute? So, look, there was
you know, Joe Tipman, there was a couple guys last
year that all came out. Sure they all got a
chance to play. I think they all kind of you know,
sawid this thing was gonna be a lot different than college,
which it is obviously, But I think you know what
you want is you want to identify, like your job
is to basically identify the fronts, make the calls, make
(06:19):
the checks, you know, when a play does come in late,
to be able to redirect everybody, so everybody's stepping together.
So I thought it was tough because of all the
changes and all the personnel groups. Like I think if
you could get Jermaine and John in there. John's a
very smart player. I've known John a long time. I've
worked out with him down there in South Jersey. He's
(06:40):
a very very smart player, and he's been a consistent player.
So I think what you're looking for is consistency and
intelligence where you're not beating yourself, where you know, the blitz,
the a gap pressure, none of that stuff is affecting you.
They want to mug that gap, they want to come,
they don't want to come. You got to have an
answer for all of that stuff. You're going to see everything,
(07:01):
and so I think, you know, John Michael, I think
got a chance to see a lot of that that
he never saw when he was in the Big Ten.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
And to your point, the Giants struggled a lot with
twist and stunts over the past couple of years, Baldy.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
They know withink, yeah, I mean they come in different ways.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
They could, and the Giants offensive line struggled picking them
up in game situations too. How much can an addition
of a guy like Caren Brisillo resetting what your pass
protection rules are, how you handle those things, then maybe
tweaking some overall technique, how much can that make a
difference in terms of getting you playing.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Walt Comer is a good coach. I talked to him
before practice today. He's been around. He knows how to teach,
you know, individual techniques, coach the group. The big thing
for Carmen right now is a can he get five
guys to line up and play week in week out?
For example, like the Kansas City Chiefs have basically lined
up with Tray Smith and you know, all their guys
up front for their three inside guys basically almost every
(07:53):
play for the last three years. So like, can he
get five guys that can grow together as one? That
that's one, and then the big thing for karm is, Okay,
you know you're in a dog fight. It's Sunday afternoon's
third quarter. You've got to fix things. You can't get
to the mic linebacker in this run? How we get
into the mic? Are we folding this thing? Like? To
(08:13):
make the adjustments that you have to make game day.
That's when it's one thing to build the line, to
teach the techniques and all that to make you a
better individual player. It's another thing game day. You gotta
fix things when things aren't going well.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, absolutely, final one on the offensive line, Evan Neil.
He's had his struggles though the first couple of years.
Joe Shane said this offseason, Baldy he needs to play better.
The Giants name to play better. He's battled knee injury
his first year, he did an ankle injury last year.
He hasn't done a lot this offseason, which you know,
I talked to him last week.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
You know reps. He says, I've lost a lot of reps.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And I wish I had him from you watching him
from a fundamental standpoint, what are some of the things
fundamentally that he has to do better to be a
more consistent pass protect.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, you'd like to see him. You'd like to see
him have quicker feet. And if you don't, if you
can't quit, can your footwork like you'd like to be.
You'd like to see your sets consistent, consistent sets, and
so sometimes you have to adjust your set to the elite.
Like the right tackles in this league right now go
against better pass rushers than left tackles do. It's just
(09:17):
the way it is right now. If you were playing
Philly the last three years, you saw Hassan Redik, you.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Made a Lumino talk about it. Hey Feates, Max Crosby
right tackle.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Now you're gonna see TJ. Watt. You're gonna see the
best right now at right tackle. So and these guys
are all different, so you have to be able to
gain plan that. But it starts with your set and
understanding the contact point, how you're hitting them, how you're stopping.
Because every pass rusher wants to beat you inside, and
so if they could beat you inside the Cats, that's
(09:45):
quick as rop to the quarterback. So you've got to
take the inside away. Yet these guys know how to
ghost to dip. You got to be able to handle
the guys coming around the edge too, and how low
they can get. You know, if you're going up against
Bryce Huff and the Jets or like, these guys excellent
takeoffs and they can dip and they can rip, and
(10:06):
so it's got to start with taking the inside away
and then once they start coming to the outside, you
got to you got to be able to run the
horn and you got to stay between your I like
freezing John the tape when the quarterback releases the ball
and where the pass rusher is when the ball is released.
You want to see a separation. I don't care if
it's eight inches. I want I want separation between that
(10:28):
pass rusher in my quarterback and he's got to get
better at that. And then look, he was a good
run blocker at Alabama, like I want to see him. No,
it hasn't helped that he's had different tight ends and
different guards. But you want to start seeing a relationship
with John Runyan developed in the run game, whether it's
(10:48):
combo blocking for power plays, whether it's zone blocking in
your stretch plays. You want to see consistent steps and
movement at the point of attack.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Absolutely offense, real quickly, Baldy. Before we move over to
the defensive side of the world. By the way, first
of all, folks, Giants have their big event at MSG
the evening of June twentieth.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
It's Our Night with Champions.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
A bunch of former Giants are going to be there
celebrate the Giant one hundred season. Make sure you go
buy your tickets at ticketmaster dot com. A lot of
great stuff will be going on though, merchandise, Giants artifacts
on the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Bob Papa will host the whole event. A lot of
great stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Make sure you go buy your tickets again at ticketmaster
dot com. You can check that out or go to
Giants dot com. Only information is there as well. For
the first time in a while, Baldy, I think this
Giants wide receiver group can be a strength of this team.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And I don't know when the last time.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Is we could say that, but they got some pretty good,
fun young pieces here that I'm pretty excited about.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Well, I mean, just looking at how it lined up today,
I mean, you got Malik at right, you know, split end,
you see Jailing at left, you see Windale on the slot.
Slayton's out there, Like, I mean, you can line up
with three guys, I think that can win. You know,
I'm looking for Jailing to take a step up. This
year didn't help with all the situations. But I just
watching Malik, like I thought this was an elite group
(11:59):
at the top of this draft agreed and so on
any given day you could said Malik was the best.
On any given day, you could have said that about
Rome or Marvin Harrison, regardless, they're all going to be
kind of judged together and so but I think Malik
has that ability after the catch to be special. We
haven't really seen that in the Giants since Odell was
(12:20):
a young player here where after the catch you had
to kind of hold your breath to see what he
was going to do with the ball, and that's how
he became the all time leading receiver at LSU. So
I think the fact that I just saw some you know,
some quick screen, some hitches out there to get the
ball in his hands. I think you've got three guys,
and Wandale is an excellent slot receiver. So I feel
like you've got three guys out there that can beat
(12:42):
you with their routes, that can beat you with their quickness,
that can win after the catch.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
All right, let's jump the defense, and I think what
should be the strength of this team, Bald is your
players up front. You already mentioned Dexter Lawrence, he Ed,
Brian Burns, Keveon Tibideau is back. You hope you can
keep his easosial Lai healthy, have a bunch of other
bodies you can play inside this. If everything goes right,
they could start approaching the fronts that they have in
the NFC East. Right, whether it's Washington, it's not quite
(13:09):
the same. They've lost montest Weat and all that stuff.
Cowboys a good front Eagles a good front. I feel
like the Giants are building their personnel where they can
start competing with those other.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
PEOs you need, like I think they you know, I'm
going to see who wins the three techniques.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, me too, I'm curious to see that too.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I mean, so's such an important position for so many
different reasons because most of the protections are set to
the three technique, especially if he is a is just
a beast. Like in Philly they got Jalen Carter.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
And the Giants had Leondar Williams there he left.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Ye, So I mean, if if Leonard was here, like
I'd say, it's really complete. But we can't, you know,
play like that. You need three guys and so, like
I think Brian Burns had a guy in Carolina and
Derek Brown who was almost unblockable. He had over one
hundred tackles last year. Like it allowed him to do
some things. But I think Kaevon needs like we've been
(13:55):
waiting on disease. The injuries have slowed him down, But
Kaevon needs a guy opposite him, and he needs a
guy inside I think to really be the most effective
that he can be. But it does start upfront. And
what you want, though, is you want to be able
to Everybody has got depth. Everybody is building that group
to be seven eight deep. You're dressing eight defensive lignment now,
(14:17):
and really it's a seventeen game schedule. We want to
get him through the season and then hopefully to the postseason.
But you know you want to be able to run them.
There's only certain guys that you know, a Max Crosby
and Nick you know can play eighty ninety percent of
the snaps for more. It's hard to do that, but
so that you want, you want depth along that defensive
(14:40):
front so that things don't go awry when those guys
are taking the rest.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
You love turf, You're good at it, so you start
a turf bus business grows, your savings grow, become the
most celebrated name in turf. Are you ready for all
that life brings?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Feboo season coming, So it was the next college semester.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
If you need funding, a Citizen Student loan could help
you pay for one hundred percent of your school certified costs.
Get your great quoting about two minutes at citizensbank dot com,
slash pay for college Baldy, I feel like Bobby Ocakes
season got lost last year a little bit. He played
damn well, and I'm curious to seeing in Shane Bowen's
new defensive system how he's going to be impacted.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I know there's a lot more zone, there's gonna be
a lot probably less blitzing.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Obviously, How do you think Bobby o'kuake is going to
fit into what Shane bonenes asking the defense?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I mean, I think I think Bobby can play in
any system. I okay, I mean, I just think he's
a natural mic linebacker. He's super smart. He sees the
play before it begins, like like I want to. I
don't want to compare him to Fred Warner. There's only
one Fred Warner in his business that he plays every snap,
every year, every game. Now Bobby has been healthy. He
played every snap last year and it was a blitz
(15:50):
scheme and so he had he had to cover a lot.
Now he did blitz some, but he had to cover
a lot in a lot of ground in what Wink
was doing. You're not can see those kind of blitzes
in those kind of schemes. But I think every inside
linebacker needs a partner. I don't know if it's Micah
right now, like who that is? McFadden that is, But
like I, every single inside off the ball inside linebacker
(16:14):
needs a partner. He could play next to you and
Indiad Chack Leonard Shack was a playmaker, Like I feel
like Bobby can fill up the stat sheet with some
of the best off the ball inside linebackers in this business.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Secondary Shane Bowen like we spoke about a lot more zone,
a good combination of match zone, spot zone, but a
lot of splits safety. They'll mix it up cover two,
cover four, cover six, and he said today they'll be
very variable. They won't show anything pre snapped and all
of a sudden the snap, you get into your zone
and you figure things out. So what should be the
important things we watch for a ball when we get
to camp for these corners to be good at as
(16:48):
there really is an open competition for the starting nickel
spot and for the starting outside spot next to Deancy back.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Well, they're young, they're very young back there. You know
you might be counting on, you know, the rookie and
Tyler Nuban might be counting on Drew Phillip yep. So
they're young. So we'll see what Trey Hawkins is like
you know, in the second year, like obviously he got
thrown into the last year probably one of the.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Best thing for him, but a little fastter for him
last year.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Okay, but regardless, I mean, he's a talented kid. You
know you want to. But here's the thing is if
you blow coverages or mistackles, you give up touchdowns are
big plays. It falls on the secondary. So the big
thing is communication and with young guys, can you communicate
Like I saw where Tyler Newman is wearing number thirty
(17:33):
one for Antoine Winfield Junior. Like you go out to
watch Tampa practice, you can hear Antoine from the cheap
seats like he's making sure everybody understands. One thing to
listen for throughout this training camp coming up is can
you hear the communication back there because if they're not
communicating because this matchup zone. Look, Baltimore ran it better
(17:54):
than anybody last year and it led to the number
one defensive football and the team that led the league
in sacks.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
And you got a head coaching job out of it,
by the way.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Yes he did so. But it makes the quarterback hold
the ball. So what you do is, you know you
kind of give him a two high shell and then
it's a snap. Now you move and now you sort
of declare what you're in. Now that that takes timing
and it takes a lot of confidence to get to
your spot off of that, you're not lining up in it.
You don't want the quarterback to know until the ball.
So tho, those are fundamentals of shaying that's fine.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
You got to execute it now, absolutely, and we'll see
if they can do it. Baldy.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
This was fun, man, and this will not be, by
the way, the last time you see Baldy on our
programming this year, So stay tuned once we get to
training camp, if Baldy makes an appeance, you will talk
to him again. Then the regular season, even folks, you'll
be hearing Baldy on the Giants Hottle podcast and maybe
even seeing some stuff on social media YouTube, Twitter, some
of those things that he talks about on his T
shirt there.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
So we can't wait for it.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Great to have Baldy on board with us and we'll
talk you next time the Johns Tottle Podcast.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Everybody
It's time to get inside the Giants. Let's Giants. Dont
on my giants bubbling, give me some jump. Part of
the Giants Podcast Network. Let's Roll.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the Giants Little podcast brought to you by Citizens,
the official bank of the New York Football Giants.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Johnsh Belk, joined by the King. Just look at a shirt,
you know this guy is it's bald these breakdowns.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I gotta I gotta get some free advertising. Shameless advertising.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Brian balde Are from an NFL network. Baldy is good
to see you, man. How's your off season been.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
You know, it's been good, Giants, It's been good. It
always goes by too fast, you know. I mean here
we are right at the finish of this offseason. So
but it's okay, though I've had a good you know,
this thing just flows, you know, I mean, whether it's
you know, the combine and then the Pro days and
the draft and schedule and it's just like you just
got this thing like kind of greased where you just
(00:48):
all of a sudden, it's it's the middle of June.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, it comes fast, and now all of us kind
of get our six weeks to step aside. We're recording
this after the Giants final mini camp practice, Baldi came
checked it out. Unfortunately for you, not a ton and
in terms of team and full speed stuff today, but
give the fans a quick impression of what you saw.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Well, the first thing I saw before they started their
stretch today, John, I don't know if you saw it
or not. They had this one period where it's just
like this big play period and I saw Daniel Jones.
They hit Jalen Hyatt like fifty yards down the field
and then they ended up throwing a touchdown past the
next play and then they kind of broke So, you know,
just good seeing Daniel Jones throwing the ball. I think
for any Giant fan, the fact that he doesn't have
(01:24):
a brace on his knee, just got a sleeve, you know.
I mean, it looks like the rehabilitation is on schedule.
And then just looking at the new guys, Miliek obviously
you want to kind of watch him just his movement.
That's the first thing that caught my eye was just
his movement, changed direction, catches the ball with his hands,
looking at Tyler Nubman back there at safety, Drew Phillips
(01:45):
looking at Jermaine luminar at left guard, running at right guard.
Just looking at the new faces here right now.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Absolutely all right, well you brought the offense first. Why
don't we touch that first real quick? Daniel Jones, you
had a good year two years ago. Last year, much
like the rest of the offense, was a bit of
a this because the pieces around him just everything fell
apart at once, right.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, it fell apart in the opening game.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, first, the opening game, first series.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
First, I mean, kiel and there's Andrew you know, like
grabbing his hamstrength. I mean, it's just you know, and
then John Michael got hurt, and Saquan got hurt, and Dan,
like you know, it fell apart. It was hard, kind
of a tough evaluation, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, and that's the question I was gonna ask you,
because I watched the tape every game Monday. You watched
the tape of all these games, And honestly, I have
trouble taking anything substantial out of Daniel Jones's tape last
year just because of what those five or six games
did he played in looked like on tape, and what
was going on around him. I just can't change my
mind much from what I saw the previous year, because
(02:44):
last year is just so messy.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
It was ugly, It was really ugly. There were games
where you go, like I remember the game in New
Orleans last year, and like, you know, like they ran
the same blitz over and over again. They couldn't pick
it up, and so you know, John Michael was out
did whatever in there. But it was just hard. You know,
the quarterbacks got sacked eighty five times, you know, the
quarterbacks that played last year, to Rod and you know
(03:07):
Tommy and you know, so it was just it's just tough,
Like nobody wants to go through any kind of a
year like that. Again, I know that Andrew Thomas is
a good player, of course, really good player, and you
know he got back into form and started looking like
what he did the year before. And so now it's
a question of how quickly can they put this group together?
To me, you know, and that's really to me what
(03:30):
preseasons got about. I talked to Carmen today, the new
offensive line coach. Been around this league, He's coached some
of these guys, he's got his techniques. How quickly can
those five guys, including the tight ends, how quickly can
they come together and just win the line of start
winning the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And look, we got to see what Evan Neil is
a right tackle. He hasn't done a whole lot in
the offseason. You hope he's going to come back, and
we'll get to him specifically in a second. But how
much baldy of a difference can the new offensive line
coach make in conjunction with bringing in two veteran guards
to help suppleman Andrew Thomas, You to your mentioned as
ready a really good player and help out your two
youngsters jms at center and then they know right tackle,
(04:07):
what kind of substantive difference And how can those guys
specifically carn Basol and make a defense make a difference
with a unilite that very quickly?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Well, I mean, first of all, you want you're only
going to be as good up front as your center.
So when your center is making all the calls, everybody
knows exactly where they're going. Can be stout against you know,
one technique's nose tackles that can be stout and you
could keep that pocket just flat up front? Quarterbacks, can
(04:37):
you want to come off the edgic quarterbacks? Daniel Jones
in his In this league, the good quarterbacks they can
avoid the outside.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Pressure because you can step up.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
You could, you could step up, but you need to
be able to step up.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
You need depth.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
You need that depth. So you got to you got
to keep that front flat. In fact, I was talking
to Jermaine today, Illuminar, and you know he was asking
you know, I was asking him about going up against
Texa Lawrence. So you know, Dexe Lawrence is a freak
in his business. I mean, there's just not many guys
in this league. There are three hundred and sixty pounds
that can rush the passer, of course, so you what
you have to do to a guy like that, You
have to almost run block him every play. You can't
(05:10):
let him get any kind of a steam coming at you.
And so when I was talked about keeping that pocket flat,
it's some of it is game planning against going against
some of the monsters up front that you got to see.
You can't let those guys basically start leaking into the quarterbacks,
you know, feet and steps where he can't step up
and make these throws.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
You're ready for a change. Payday comes early with citizens,
So go to that retreat. Knew you moves to the country.
Now you're raising goats and launching a lifestyle brand. Are
you ready for all that life breaks?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Absolutely? What do you think of John Michael Schmidt?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I know you evaluate him as a player coming out
last year first year, some real rough patches for a rookie.
And I talked to him last week and both he said, look,
the first season for me, it didn't go as well
as I wanted to.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
But what did you think of him overall as a
player coming out and what.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
His coming out of a minute? So, look, there was
you know, Joe Tipman, there was a couple guys last
year that all came out. Sure they all got a
chance to play. I think they all kind of you know,
sawid this thing was gonna be a lot different than college,
which it is obviously, But I think you know what
you want is you want to identify, like your job
is to basically identify the fronts, make the calls, make
(06:19):
the checks, you know, when a play does come in late,
to be able to redirect everybody, so everybody's stepping together.
So I thought it was tough because of all the
changes and all the personnel groups. Like I think if
you could get Jermaine and John in there. John's a
very smart player. I've known John a long time. I've
worked out with him down there in South Jersey. He's
(06:40):
a very very smart player, and he's been a consistent player.
So I think what you're looking for is consistency and
intelligence where you're not beating yourself, where you know, the blitz,
the a gap pressure, none of that stuff is affecting you.
They want to mug that gap, they want to come,
they don't want to come. You got to have an
answer for all of that stuff. You're going to see everything,
(07:01):
and so I think, you know, John Michael, I think
got a chance to see a lot of that that
he never saw when he was in the Big Ten.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
And to your point, the Giants struggled a lot with
twist and stunts over the past couple of years, Baldy.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
They know withink, yeah, I mean they come in different ways.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
They could, and the Giants offensive line struggled picking them
up in game situations too. How much can an addition
of a guy like Caren Brisillo resetting what your pass
protection rules are, how you handle those things, then maybe
tweaking some overall technique, how much can that make a
difference in terms of getting you playing.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Walt Comer is a good coach. I talked to him
before practice today. He's been around. He knows how to teach,
you know, individual techniques, coach the group. The big thing
for Carmen right now is a can he get five
guys to line up and play week in week out?
For example, like the Kansas City Chiefs have basically lined
up with Tray Smith and you know, all their guys
up front for their three inside guys basically almost every
(07:53):
play for the last three years. So like, can he
get five guys that can grow together as one? That
that's one, and then the big thing for karm is, Okay,
you know you're in a dog fight. It's Sunday afternoon's
third quarter. You've got to fix things. You can't get
to the mic linebacker in this run? How we get
into the mic? Are we folding this thing? Like? To
(08:13):
make the adjustments that you have to make game day.
That's when it's one thing to build the line, to
teach the techniques and all that to make you a
better individual player. It's another thing game day. You gotta
fix things when things aren't going well.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, absolutely, final one on the offensive line, Evan Neil.
He's had his struggles though the first couple of years.
Joe Shane said this offseason, Baldy he needs to play better.
The Giants name to play better. He's battled knee injury
his first year, he did an ankle injury last year.
He hasn't done a lot this offseason, which you know,
I talked to him last week.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
You know reps. He says, I've lost a lot of reps.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And I wish I had him from you watching him
from a fundamental standpoint, what are some of the things
fundamentally that he has to do better to be a
more consistent pass protect.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, you'd like to see him. You'd like to see
him have quicker feet. And if you don't, if you
can't quit, can your footwork like you'd like to be.
You'd like to see your sets consistent, consistent sets, and
so sometimes you have to adjust your set to the elite.
Like the right tackles in this league right now go
against better pass rushers than left tackles do. It's just
(09:17):
the way it is right now. If you were playing
Philly the last three years, you saw Hassan Redik, you.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Made a Lumino talk about it. Hey Feates, Max Crosby
right tackle.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Now you're gonna see TJ. Watt. You're gonna see the
best right now at right tackle. So and these guys
are all different, so you have to be able to
gain plan that. But it starts with your set and
understanding the contact point, how you're hitting them, how you're stopping.
Because every pass rusher wants to beat you inside, and
so if they could beat you inside the Cats, that's
(09:45):
quick as rop to the quarterback. So you've got to
take the inside away. Yet these guys know how to
ghost to dip. You got to be able to handle
the guys coming around the edge too, and how low
they can get. You know, if you're going up against
Bryce Huff and the Jets or like, these guys excellent
takeoffs and they can dip and they can rip, and
(10:06):
so it's got to start with taking the inside away
and then once they start coming to the outside, you
got to you got to be able to run the
horn and you got to stay between your I like
freezing John the tape when the quarterback releases the ball
and where the pass rusher is when the ball is released.
You want to see a separation. I don't care if
it's eight inches. I want I want separation between that
(10:28):
pass rusher in my quarterback and he's got to get
better at that. And then look, he was a good
run blocker at Alabama, like I want to see him. No,
it hasn't helped that he's had different tight ends and
different guards. But you want to start seeing a relationship
with John Runyan developed in the run game, whether it's
(10:48):
combo blocking for power plays, whether it's zone blocking in
your stretch plays. You want to see consistent steps and
movement at the point of attack.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Absolutely offense, real quickly, Baldy. Before we move over to
the defensive side of the world. By the way, first
of all, folks, Giants have their big event at MSG
the evening of June twentieth.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
It's Our Night with Champions.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
A bunch of former Giants are going to be there
celebrate the Giant one hundred season. Make sure you go
buy your tickets at ticketmaster dot com. A lot of
great stuff will be going on though, merchandise, Giants artifacts
on the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Bob Papa will host the whole event. A lot of
great stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Make sure you go buy your tickets again at ticketmaster
dot com. You can check that out or go to
Giants dot com. Only information is there as well. For
the first time in a while, Baldy, I think this
Giants wide receiver group can be a strength of this team.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And I don't know when the last time.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Is we could say that, but they got some pretty good,
fun young pieces here that I'm pretty excited about.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Well, I mean, just looking at how it lined up today,
I mean, you got Malik at right, you know, split end,
you see Jailing at left, you see Windale on the slot.
Slayton's out there, Like, I mean, you can line up
with three guys, I think that can win. You know,
I'm looking for Jailing to take a step up. This
year didn't help with all the situations. But I just
watching Malik, like I thought this was an elite group
(11:59):
at the top of this draft agreed and so on
any given day you could said Malik was the best.
On any given day, you could have said that about
Rome or Marvin Harrison, regardless, they're all going to be
kind of judged together and so but I think Malik
has that ability after the catch to be special. We
haven't really seen that in the Giants since Odell was
(12:20):
a young player here where after the catch you had
to kind of hold your breath to see what he
was going to do with the ball, and that's how
he became the all time leading receiver at LSU. So
I think the fact that I just saw some you know,
some quick screen, some hitches out there to get the
ball in his hands. I think you've got three guys,
and Wandale is an excellent slot receiver. So I feel
like you've got three guys out there that can beat
(12:42):
you with their routes, that can beat you with their quickness,
that can win after the catch.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
All right, let's jump the defense, and I think what
should be the strength of this team, Bald is your
players up front. You already mentioned Dexter Lawrence, he Ed,
Brian Burns, Keveon Tibideau is back. You hope you can
keep his easosial Lai healthy, have a bunch of other
bodies you can play inside this. If everything goes right,
they could start approaching the fronts that they have in
the NFC East. Right, whether it's Washington, it's not quite
(13:09):
the same. They've lost montest Weat and all that stuff.
Cowboys a good front Eagles a good front. I feel
like the Giants are building their personnel where they can
start competing with those other.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
PEOs you need, like I think they you know, I'm
going to see who wins the three techniques.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, me too, I'm curious to see that too.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I mean, so's such an important position for so many
different reasons because most of the protections are set to
the three technique, especially if he is a is just
a beast. Like in Philly they got Jalen Carter.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
And the Giants had Leondar Williams there he left.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Ye, So I mean, if if Leonard was here, like
I'd say, it's really complete. But we can't, you know,
play like that. You need three guys and so, like
I think Brian Burns had a guy in Carolina and
Derek Brown who was almost unblockable. He had over one
hundred tackles last year. Like it allowed him to do
some things. But I think Kaevon needs like we've been
(13:55):
waiting on disease. The injuries have slowed him down, But
Kaevon needs a guy opposite him, and he needs a
guy inside I think to really be the most effective
that he can be. But it does start upfront. And
what you want, though, is you want to be able
to Everybody has got depth. Everybody is building that group
to be seven eight deep. You're dressing eight defensive lignment now,
(14:17):
and really it's a seventeen game schedule. We want to
get him through the season and then hopefully to the postseason.
But you know you want to be able to run them.
There's only certain guys that you know, a Max Crosby
and Nick you know can play eighty ninety percent of
the snaps for more. It's hard to do that, but
so that you want, you want depth along that defensive
(14:40):
front so that things don't go awry when those guys
are taking the rest.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
You love turf, You're good at it, so you start
a turf bus business grows, your savings grow, become the
most celebrated name in turf. Are you ready for all
that life brings?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Feboo season coming, So it was the next college semester.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
If you need funding, a Citizen Student loan could help
you pay for one hundred percent of your school certified costs.
Get your great quoting about two minutes at citizensbank dot com,
slash pay for college Baldy, I feel like Bobby Ocakes
season got lost last year a little bit. He played
damn well, and I'm curious to seeing in Shane Bowen's
new defensive system how he's going to be impacted.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I know there's a lot more zone, there's gonna be
a lot probably less blitzing.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Obviously, How do you think Bobby o'kuake is going to
fit into what Shane bonenes asking the defense?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I mean, I think I think Bobby can play in
any system. I okay, I mean, I just think he's
a natural mic linebacker. He's super smart. He sees the
play before it begins, like like I want to. I
don't want to compare him to Fred Warner. There's only
one Fred Warner in his business that he plays every snap,
every year, every game. Now Bobby has been healthy. He
played every snap last year and it was a blitz
(15:50):
scheme and so he had he had to cover a lot.
Now he did blitz some, but he had to cover
a lot in a lot of ground in what Wink
was doing. You're not can see those kind of blitzes
in those kind of schemes. But I think every inside
linebacker needs a partner. I don't know if it's Micah
right now, like who that is? McFadden that is, But
like I, every single inside off the ball inside linebacker
(16:14):
needs a partner. He could play next to you and
Indiad Chack Leonard Shack was a playmaker, Like I feel
like Bobby can fill up the stat sheet with some
of the best off the ball inside linebackers in this business.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Secondary Shane Bowen like we spoke about a lot more zone,
a good combination of match zone, spot zone, but a
lot of splits safety. They'll mix it up cover two,
cover four, cover six, and he said today they'll be
very variable. They won't show anything pre snapped and all
of a sudden the snap, you get into your zone
and you figure things out. So what should be the
important things we watch for a ball when we get
to camp for these corners to be good at as
(16:48):
there really is an open competition for the starting nickel
spot and for the starting outside spot next to Deancy back.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Well, they're young, they're very young back there. You know
you might be counting on, you know, the rookie and
Tyler Nuban might be counting on Drew Phillip yep. So
they're young. So we'll see what Trey Hawkins is like
you know, in the second year, like obviously he got
thrown into the last year probably one of the.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Best thing for him, but a little fastter for him
last year.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Okay, but regardless, I mean, he's a talented kid. You
know you want to. But here's the thing is if
you blow coverages or mistackles, you give up touchdowns are
big plays. It falls on the secondary. So the big
thing is communication and with young guys, can you communicate
Like I saw where Tyler Newman is wearing number thirty
(17:33):
one for Antoine Winfield Junior. Like you go out to
watch Tampa practice, you can hear Antoine from the cheap
seats like he's making sure everybody understands. One thing to
listen for throughout this training camp coming up is can
you hear the communication back there because if they're not
communicating because this matchup zone. Look, Baltimore ran it better
(17:54):
than anybody last year and it led to the number
one defensive football and the team that led the league
in sacks.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
And you got a head coaching job out of it,
by the way.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Yes he did so. But it makes the quarterback hold
the ball. So what you do is, you know you
kind of give him a two high shell and then
it's a snap. Now you move and now you sort
of declare what you're in. Now that that takes timing
and it takes a lot of confidence to get to
your spot off of that, you're not lining up in it.
You don't want the quarterback to know until the ball.
So tho, those are fundamentals of shaying that's fine.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
You got to execute it now, absolutely, and we'll see
if they can do it. Baldy.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
This was fun, man, and this will not be, by
the way, the last time you see Baldy on our
programming this year, So stay tuned once we get to
training camp, if Baldy makes an appeance, you will talk
to him again. Then the regular season, even folks, you'll
be hearing Baldy on the Giants Hottle podcast and maybe
even seeing some stuff on social media YouTube, Twitter, some
of those things that he talks about on his T
shirt there.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
So we can't wait for it.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Great to have Baldy on board with us and we'll
talk you next time the Johns Tottle Podcast.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Everybody
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!