Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into a week seventeen rapid reaction on the Giants
Huddle podcast, brought to you by Citizens, the official bank
of the New York Football Giants. From Game Bay 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 Week seventeen, the Giants
head out to Las Vegas and get the win over
(00:21):
the Raiders. Thirty four to ten is the final score.
Matal In Burke here with the Super Bowl champion Moni
toom Or recapping this one too. I think we got
to start with the offense getting points on the board.
Jackson Dart two hundred seven yards passing, adding another forty
eight with his legs, and two rushing touchdowns. What'd you
like from what you saw from the rookie quarterback.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I just liked that it looked a lot easier. You know,
sometimes the completions were coming easily every time you did
use his feet, except for the one touchdown, It didn't
look like he was taking on these massive shots. It
just seemed like he was much more in control, in
command of the offense, and all that together just breeds
(00:59):
confidence in us me as a fan watching, but it
also must do a lot for that locker room, the
way he's distributing the ball and really getting a lot
of people involved in the game plan, spreading the ball
around and getting Wandale Robinson, who has had a quietly sneaky,
sneaky productive season this year.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah, I mean sneaky productive season to say the least.
He had his first thousand yard receiving season after getting
one hundred and thirteen yards today. Coming into this game,
he needed just ninety nine receiving yards to hit that
thousand yard mark. It's a big mark for a receiver,
and you could tell from the jump Jackson Dart was
feeding him. He had ninety seven in the first half.
He only needed two coming out of the break in
(01:41):
the lock out of the locker room after the half.
But when you've got a player like that, Jackson Dart saying, yeah,
of course I was feeding him.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
That's my guy.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I want him to accomplish that goal as a receiver.
I mean, you are the Giants all time leading receiver.
Not a lot of players get a thousand yard receiving seasons.
How much does that mean for one Dale to get
that accomplishment.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
It's like a validation stamp on the season that it's
you were productive, not only one game, not two games,
not five to seven, the entire season. You were putting
in work and a body of work is much more
impressive to me than one game. And when you are
able to stack a season together like that, on top
(02:22):
of having eighty plus catches last year and this year together,
that just lets you know that you can get open,
you understand defenses, You have the courage to go across
the middle. Being a smaller guy. I mean, he is
a legitimate player in this league and he's only going
to get better.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Right, ninety two receptions and counting on the year you
mentioned though, the courage to go across the middle. The
usage that we've seen of Onondale Robinson, especially since the
league Neighbors went down early in the season, number one
receiver goes down. Onndale really stepped up and is capitalized
on being used in a lot of different areas on
the field. How much does that helps this game evolve?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
When you're pushed into being more and then you you know,
not just an inside guy. Kaf could excuse me. Coach
Kevka talked about early in the year he was no
more as a slot guy. But like you said, once
Malik Neighbors went out, he was asked to do more.
(03:25):
And not only was he asked to do more, he
was doing more in terms of being more productive. So
it just shows that it was one thing for a
coach to think that you can probably play inside and outside,
and then when you get the opportunity to kind of
expand what people think of your game, it's a great
opportunity and he took advantage of it. And there's a
(03:45):
lot a lot of people that get that many opportunities
to do stuff out of their comfort zone and prove
what type of player that they could be. And who
knows what's next for him, And I'm just kind of
I'm really liking the development. And like I said before,
it's not just with one quarterback, it's not just with
one head coach. This has not been the easiest road
(04:11):
for a receiver to be successful. Yeah, you're playing with
a whole bunch of different quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, last season, there was what three different quarterbacks this season,
Russ started, then it was Jackson, then it.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Was Jamis and Jane. There's a lot of different quarterbacks
in there throwing the ball, and there's a lot of
different personalities that you have to deal with, a lot
of different because every time a new quarterback comes in,
the offense completely changes. But the one thing is consistent
is that all those quarterbacks come who took the snap
from underneath the center looked at Wandelle Robinson as an asset.
(04:42):
How to get in here?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
If you're lined up here, you gotta go over the
middle with at the score right, how do we make
that happen?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I don't know, Bud Citizens, does it makes sense of
your money with Citizens Official bank of Eli Manning.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, an incredible ass that he was for this team
as they get the win thirty four to ten. We
talked a lot about the offensive side of the ball,
but the defensive side was really bringing it today. We
saw Brian Burns get a sack and a half, increasing
his sack total on the season to a career high
sixteen and a half and counting the Pro Bowl or
really eating there of Dual Carter also adding some pressure
there the rookie Darius Alexander getting a sack. But more importantly,
(05:20):
the Giants defense had two takeaways and yes, Gino Smith
is the quarterback with the most interceptions thrown this season,
but we saw Bobby Ocaake come up with a pick
inside the ten, running it back forty three yards, a
huge play that put the Giants inside Las Vegas territory
for their offense getting on the field, and then of
course Dane Belton coming up with another takeaway as well.
(05:41):
Takeaways coming into this season of money were such a
point of emphasis for the Giants defense. But we've seen,
especially in recent weeks with Charlie Bollen taken over as
interim defensive coordinator, that the pressure and turning over the
ball has been increasing tremendously for this Giant's defense.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I mean, you met, you met, You mentioned Charlie bow
and do the interim defense coordinator, and I don't think
enough can be said about how different this defense looks.
The defensive line started out the season strong and then
kind of fluttered as the team did, and you just
didn't see the execution on the defensive side of the ball.
(06:17):
There's very few blown assignments. The tackling is way better.
The pressure on the quarterback has been consistent, like it
was early on when we thought this team really had
an opportunity to do something and all those things together,
you know, and the consistency that they're playing with or
not making mistakes, taking advantage of the make mistakes that
(06:41):
the offense gives them. It just seems like an entirely
different defense over these last couple of weeks. And I
don't know if they pair down or they know their
players better in terms of what they do well. Even
Tay Banks was playing well, not only in special teams,
but he had a couple of goodbus there during the game.
(07:01):
So this is they're getting the most out of the
talent that's out there, and that's what coaching is, getting
talent to live up to what people expect them to do.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, the defense definitely playing inspired in recent weeks. I
think that's fair to say. And you mentioned tap Banks
not only you know, getting to start at corner. Cordell
Flott has been injured, but also making plays on special teams,
including a ninety five yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
We saw how jazzed he was and gassed after running
ninety five yards down the field. He said, Hey, I
(07:31):
just saw the green grass and I went for it.
That's a huge play for a team, right, especially special teams.
Making that play. You know their defense right back on
the field, but you get that touchdown right after the
Raiders score a touchdown. It's a decisive margin, you know,
expander of the gap there as well, but also just
something that inspires your teammates. I mean, you played special
(07:54):
teams at times, you've returned the ball before. How hard
is it to break off a ninety five yard return?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Oh, it's very hard because that it's not just how
well you run the ball and how make somebody miss
or the speed, it's about the entire team. Everybody has
to put a hat on a hat to give you
an opportunity to see a lane. So it just shows
you that the team is actually coming together. Maybe you
know too little, too late, but I'd rather just see
the team playing good football, which they are.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
But you know, you look at you look at the
hat on a hat too. I think a lot of
That's an expression used pretty regularly around special teams especially.
But can you explain to fans who might not understand
that one?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Oh, that's when you know. There's only when you well
the numbers. It's a numbers game, always Football's numbers game.
So a hat on a hat means you're you're blocking
the person that you're supposed to and when you do that,
that may that means the only person that's unaccounted for
is the guy who's holding the ball. So if you're
(08:50):
holding the ball, you can't block the one person that
that's trying to tackle you. So if you can make
every play a one on one, that means all the
rest of the guys or accounted for. Yeah, having the
hat means that you met. You do that and you
get there's a hole for you to go and make
a big play. But when you look at Tay Banks
as an individual and all the flaky's been taking throughout
(09:13):
the entire year, to have a positive play could turn
around a career. And I don't know anything more than that.
All I know is that when you have struggles and
you have a positive play, you can build upon it.
And that was definitely a positive play in his career.
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Speaker 1 (09:45):
Positive play indeed, and a pivotal one in the third
quarter that extended the Giants' lead to twenty seven to ten.
Of course, they'd go on to win this one thirty
four to ten, and a huge game, a huge win
for Mike Kafka, the interim head coach, getting his first
win in a head coaching position. You know, a lot
of conversation this week leading into this game about draft
(10:06):
positioning and fans saying, oh, you know, hoping for a
better draft position. But for the players and the coaches
that come in every day and prepare and spend hours
away from their families looking at film and working on
their bodies and getting ready for these things. I mean, Monni,
we saw just how happy and joyful these players and
coaches were walking off the field after getting a win.
This is what you play for.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, it's funny, we were talking about it. You look
at the situation and you see how excited these players
were to get a win, and it just shows the
disconnect between the way fans think and the way players think.
The players could care less about the draft pick. They
look at it as a situation. I remember when I
played I looked at it as a situation is I
(10:50):
don't want the top pack pick because I know the
top pick. The higher the pick, the more that person's
going to play. And it's if it's not you the
position that's going to be taken, it's going to be
one somebody you know on the team whose position is
going to be taken by a young player, and you
don't know if that player is going to even be
any good. So you realize that players don't think like fans,
(11:12):
and this is they just see the excitement on their
faces and to see them coming off the field like
they you know, like they were the rock Stars, even
though they've had a season that does not represent that.
It just goes to show that playing the game is
a lot different in terms of the energy that you
(11:33):
have to put into at the mindset that you have
to do to play it, regardless of your record. You
have to play to be safe and to try and
extend your career. You have to put your best foot
forward at all times.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Absolutely, and the Giants will have one more opportunity to
do that. One more game on the calendar for the
twenty twenty five NFL season, that's January fourth, Sunday, the
Giants host the Cowboys app Met Life State and NFC
East rivalry, a game that both teams have been eliminated
from playoff contention at this point, but it is still,
(12:08):
as you mentioned, a game to be played, a game
that will put tape out there on who these players
and coaches and personnel are. What are you looking for
to see in the final game of the season.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I'm looking for another solid performance by Jackson Dart. I'm
looking for the defense to tackle, to pressure, and to
really I think this is going to be a step
up this weekend between the Raiders and the Cowboys in
terms of overall team performances, performance, and it's going to
(12:42):
take a lot more to beat these Cowboys on the
last game of the season than today, and they're going
to need to continue to execute at a high level.
I want to see Jackson Dart not take the big
shots like he did today in the touchdown that he scored.
(13:05):
So those are the type of things that I'm looking for.
And then just so men momentum, I think this team
is not giving up. There's no quit in this team,
and that's evident after today's game.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, an inspired team that hopefully can leave the season
with a performance with reflecting positivity on all three phases
of the game offense, defense, and special teams. Before we
wrap this one up to hat tipped Ben Salz, rookie
left footed kicker making all his kicks today as the
Giants get the win. Thirty four to ten is the
final score. Well, it's a wrap for the Week seventeen.
(13:35):
Rapid Reaction 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 can get the most out of every moment
with Citizens. Learn more at citizensbank dot com slash Giants