All Episodes

March 2, 2023 12 mins
John Schmeelk and Paul Dottino sit down with Jim Miller, host of “Moving The Chains” on SiriusXM NFL Radio, to discuss building up the Giants offense, what Coach Martindale looks for in defensive players, and why the combine is so important to NFL scouts and coaches. SUBSCRIBE NOW:Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | iHeartRadio 00:00 - Daniel Jones’ progression 03:53 - Building offense  05:26 - Giants defensive line 08:15 - Coach Martindale’s defense 11:00 - Value in the combine

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 Huttle on Giants
dot Com. Here we go, Here we go on the
Giants Mobile. Let him, Let's go, part of the Giants
podcast Network. Welcome to another edition of the Giants Huttle podcast,
brought you by PSC and G Energy Efficiency for game
time and anytime, visit PSEG dot com, slash Giants for discounts,
rebase and all my energy assessments. John schmu called Totino

(00:20):
and Jim Miller from Moving the Chains on sirius XM
NFL Radio every weekday from three to seven. Him and
Pat Kurwin talk everything NFL, and he's gonna talk some
Giants with us right now. Jim, what's going on then?
How great, gentlemen, Thanks for having me. Let's talk g man.
We should also say former Giants quarterbacks a cup of coffee.
I blew up my hip. So Tom Coughlin, you can't

(00:40):
make the club and the tub, you know what I mean?
I remember very well. Yeah, Tom did not have much
patience for injuries. I said, Tom, I can't help you now,
but if you give me six weeks I might be
able to help them. No, Jim, I signed you to
help Eli now, so I blew up my hip and
the basically end of my career. That was a quick

(01:01):
spring right there. Yeah, it was a quick spring. All right. Well,
and we're here to talk about some quarterbacks, so let's
stow where Daniel Jones Jim, I know, obviously you watch
tape on these guys. You watch a lot of giants
this year. Your take on the progress he made this year,
where he's at, what the next step could be, and
if you want to talk about the contract situation, you can,
but I'm just really interested on your take on what
he's done on the flat. I think, certainly he's coming

(01:22):
off his best year. You know, he cut down his turnovers.
It's his most productive year. I thought Brian Dable, and
I've spent time with Brian before in New England, did
a great job utilizing him. You know, certainly it's the
first year of a new head coach and he wants
to build a culture and lay a foundation all the
cliches that we talk about. And I thought Daniel Jones responded,

(01:42):
you know, his athleticism. I think people don't realize how
good of an athlete he is at moving the football
with his legs. We know there was an issue at
wide receiver there, so he probably didn't have the most
around him. But I think for him to for him
to execute the offense in the style of offense the
Giants needed to win. He was effective in doing that

(02:03):
and obviously, you know what a great win against Minnesota.
I mean that truly was a nice finish to the season.
I thought for Daniel Jones. You know, when Mike Kafka
was named the offensive coordinator, there was a lot of
debate amongst people in New York as to who's going
to call the plays. Dabele was named head coach. He
called the plays in Buffalo, he should be the guy.
I was always in the camp that the head coach

(02:24):
should not call the plays, he should have coordinators do it.
Now that's the personal preference. Were you surprised and as
you watched the Giants this year, did you see some
of the Calfka Kansas City influence in what was going on? Yeah?
I did. I think they you know, they're you know,
utilize the offense to for his skill sets because he
is a better athlete. The bootlegs. Like I watched him

(02:45):
against the Bears. I mean, they killed the Bears with
the boot like Bears couldn't stop them, you know, when
they played the Bears, and uh, you know, so I
thought the offense was geared towards him. And I think
Brian Dable recognizes being with the guy. Being with a
guy like Bill Belichick in places that he's been, it
does command a lot of your time. You know, it's
not just you know, you don't have the time dedicated

(03:06):
to do the heavy lifting to you know, coordinating and
putting in game plans and all that. Even my time
in New England, Bill Belichick ran the quarterback meeting rooms,
but still that his secretary was coming in every five minutes.
Open up the door. It's an away game. What are
we serving on the plane? A man ham and cheese
and we're back to watching. All right, coach, this guy's
available or do you want to sign him? Yes, sign him?

(03:27):
We're back to the tape. And so you're responsible for
a lot of things that cross your desk, and it's
you know, and when you're doing everything in terms of
game plans and installing and coaching, that takes a lot
of your time and it takes away from other areas
of your team. And I think Brian and his experiences
recognize that, and so he wanted to coach the whole

(03:47):
team do it right for the Giants because they've they've
struggled for quite some time now, and I think he
wants to do it the right way. Yeah, And how
do you then think the best way is to build
out this roster around Daniel to help him. Does it
have to be a wide receiver first? Maybe it's a
really good receiving tenant or do you think it's the
offensive line? What do you think the priority orders should

(04:08):
be here? So Daniel can take that next step from
being that a fishing guy you get along with his legs,
but not that high level of the production to kind
of add that high level production to his cash. Yeah, well,
I think, you know, it may not be a sexy
pick where the Giants are picking. You know, I think
twenty five first round could be a center, you know,
because the Giants need a center. You know. I think
they've now done a nice job. You know, Andrews worked

(04:31):
out at the left tackle. You got big Evan Neil
on the right. Center is a position. Certainly there's some
free agents out there, but there's two guys in my
opinion that'll probably go the first round is that John
Michael Schmitch from the Minnesota Gophers and Cody Mock keep
your eye on him, the kids from North Dakoda State
Center in Mobile. Yep, he played all he can play
all five positions, and I think a lot of people

(04:53):
do think that he will go in the first round.
And I'm big on the trenches. I think it's important.
You look at the teams that we're in the Super
Bowl this year, they're both very good in the trenches.
And you know from Creed Humphrey and how the offensive
line was structured for Kansas City, and I would say
the same thing about Philadelphia. I think it starts there
because you can always get good skilled position players like

(05:15):
receiver later in the draft. We've seen fifth rounders, you know,
become starters as rookies and are productive, you know, And
so I think those guys will always be there where
the Giants can still fulfill all those needs. Yeah. Always
old school with it beginning in the trenches. Gem I
feel the same way now on the defensive line, though
behind Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams, the depth kind of

(05:36):
gets a little sketchy. How I primitive is it that
they address that, knowing that they also have a starting
needs at inside linebacker and probably could use somebody else
in the secondary too. Well. I think certainly they're gonna
want to resign their own. I would think Julian Love
at safety is one guy they probably will want to resign.
But I'm with you to get another third rotation in
there to help out Lawrence, to help out Williams. You

(05:58):
need another guy in there that can be stout. I
love the pass rushers of the Giants. They're young there
with Ojulari and and obviously with Cavon Thibadeau and what
he's going to be able to do. It's those guys
I think are really good fits. But I agree with
you that linebacker. I think you want some good stud
young linebackers that can run, fly to the football, and
there's guys that are available in this draft. You know, here,

(06:19):
I interviewed the kid today that Ivan Pace from Cincinnati
down immobile. Man. There is not one running back that
could block him. That guy has got and he's not
the biggest guy now, you know Here's he's only about
a little over five ten. But I'll tell you what, man,
when that likes come on and it's time to play.

(06:39):
That guy is like the Tasmanian devil out there with
how he plays. And so there's some good linebackers in
this draft. Cool. How do you view linebackers now, though, Jim?
Are you happy with that? I mean, I've talked to
three of the guys that took to Dian Henley today
that I played two thirty one, you know, and you
know they look like safeties when you see them physically. Yeah,
So do you worry about out the guy now that

(07:00):
can play all three downs? Do you specialize the position? Okay, well,
in running downs, I want this guy. Then I'm passing downs.
I want a guy that can rusher. Maybe i'd play
a safety at linebacker. How much of a specialized position
is that? And I guess then to the point, if
you can find a guy that can actually play all
three downs, how does that elevate your DFA. Yeah, I
think that's a key you know here at the like today,
I interviewed the young man from Iowa, Jack Campbell. Go

(07:22):
look at him. He's got like Erlaker. He looks, yes, yeah, right, yeah,
six foot five, just like Erlacker. Comes in about two
forty eight to forty six. He said, he's played as
high as two fifty five, and he's a big guy.
I mean, and I just remember that when I played
with Erlaker. You know, we tried Brian at a strong
side linebacker and he couldn't he couldn't figure out tight

(07:45):
end release techniques, and so they threw him at Barry
Minner got hurt. They threw Erlacker at Mike, and a
star was born. His first game, he had fourteen tackles
and he's now a Hall of Famer. But he was
a safety in college, right They wanted him to be
strong side, and then he ended up as a middle backer.
I think that that Jack Campbell, he can be both
a Sam and a Mike, and I think probably as

(08:07):
natural would be a Mike because he can cover, he
can stuff the run on first and second downs. And
that's a big linebacker who can run, who can play
all three downs. Let me stick with defense, but ask
it from a different perspective. You played quarterback in this
league for a number of years, Jim. When you look
at a Wink Martindale defense, We've talked about some of
the soft spots maybe, but yet it was an effective

(08:27):
enough defense in the red zone and help the Giants
make the playoffs. What is it about Winks defense besides
his blitz happy tendencies that makes it a difficult deal
for a quarterback? Yeah, I think, well, you always got
to be on your toes because, like you said, you
gotta be ready for the blitz, and he can bring
all types of exotic blizzes. Certainly he's known for the
all out blitz, which he runs as kind of has

(08:49):
got to have it down type of play that he's
going to go to what his work best for him.
But you got to diagnose it. It It can put a
lot of pressure on young quarterbacks that maybe don't know
they're detections where you can free up a guy and
get some turnover friendly plays like strip sack fumble when
the guy comes free and the protection isn't as solid

(09:09):
as what it should be and they create a lot
of turnovers. That's been the history of Don Martindale and
he's had a ton of success as a quarterback. Jim,
how much more valuable has that receiving tight end become
an NFL offenses today? Is it almost as value if
not more valuable to have a tight end? Again, I
don't want to compare people to Travis Kelcey. But to

(09:29):
have that type of weapon in the receiving game at
tight end compared to focusing on say wide receiver is
homes just how this NFL game has evolved. Yeah, I
think you know and Dabeles ones who has experienced it obviously.
You know when they were in New England with Grenkowski
and they had the young man who had the unfortunate
Hernando had the unfortunate incident off the field, they had

(09:51):
a good twelve personnel package where one guy's a mismatch
because he's so big and he can run and you
can block, and then Hernandez was kind of the mobile
guy that could could do everything. And I think that's
a good start to structure an offensive. Plus what two
tight ends do. It basically shows you the strength defensively.
They're going to roll down one safety to the strength

(10:12):
of where your tight ends are or which they view
as the strength, and it cleans up a lot of
your reads. So it gives you a lot of clues
as a quarterback where to go with the football. Brian
Dables experienced that, and that's another area that is really
deep in this draft. From Luke Musgrave, who's that guy
to me probably will be the first tight end taken

(10:33):
of how he ran down there, and we'll be he
clocked over twenty miles per hour. That's rare to have
tight ends. But you've got other guys, the kid from Latu,
from Alabama. But this is a very deep tight end class,
and I agree with you. Teams are always trying to
find those mismatches against linebackers, against safeties. A lot of
teams will bring in nickel guys now to cover a

(10:54):
tight end, and it's a struggle, especially with the guys
in the college game today because they can flat out
running spread offenses. Big picture final question for me, Jim,
you were a player in this league and now they're
talking about Demorris Smith when the NFLPA saying, am, maybe
we shouldn't do to combine anymore. Maybe these underwear Olympics
just aren't worth what they're supposed to be. People can

(11:15):
watch the film, they can watch the games. What is
your take on the future of how this entire personnel
selection process is going to turn out? Well? I just
know for me, when I experienced the combine in ninety four,
I viewed it as a great opportunity. You know, it
is a job interview and football, your body is your resume.
You know, there's only certain things that teams can do

(11:36):
when they're going to invest millions of dollars into players.
You know that they want to play for their team
and represent their organization. And it's like any other job interview, right,
you want people to be accountable, reliable, productive when you
have them come to work with you. And that's all
this is. Damore Smith had to interview to be the
executive director of the NFLPA. He went through a job interview, right,

(11:58):
That's all this is. So you know, I'm I'm not
a big fan of those comments of him because I
think for a lot of players, especially myself, it really
prepared me to how to be a professional, how to
conduct myself into interviews, how to represent myself where where
my potential future employer wanted me to be on their team.

(12:19):
And I thought it was a great benefit to me.
And I love to compete, and I think when you
come here to the combine, you have that ability to
go out there and compete. And all the teams they're
trying to do is get the measurements that they know
are good indicators over history that they're going to make
the selections that they're going to. Man, that's why I
wanted to ask you, Jim. This is awesome man, Thank
you so much for the time. Appreciate you, Jim. I'm

(12:40):
moving to Chain Serious SMNFL Radio every weekday three to seven.
Make sure you go check it out in some bonus
weekend episodes two by the way, don't feel forget about those.
We'll see you next time with the Giants Little Podcast.
See you later.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

24/7 News: The Latest
Therapy Gecko

Therapy Gecko

An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.