October 3, 2025 • 41 mins
Theo Johnson chats about the Giants offense going into week five, John DeShazier chats about the matchup with the Saints, Wan'Dale Robinson discusses the receiver room, and Bob Papa has his weekly sit down with Giants Head Coach, Brian Daboll.
:00 - Theo Johnson
14:07 - John DeShazier
31:12 - Wan'Dale Robinson
34:46 - Brian Daboll
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to get inside the Giants.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Let's go Giants on the Giants moubuling, give me some
job part of the Giants Podcast.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
Network's Welcome to another edition of the Giants Little Podcast,
brought to you by Citizens, the official Bank of the Giants.
I am John Schmelk. It's our normal Friday funny. You're
coming off of Giants victory this week. Of course, they
are traveling to New Orleans to take on the Saints,
but we have a bonus interview this week. We're gonna
lead off, as always with our main spotline interview with
Giants tight end Theo Johnson. Then we're gonna talk to
(00:31):
John Deschaser. He covers the Saints. We'll get the inside
scoop on what's going on in New Orleans. He covers
them for New Orleans Saints dot Com. Then our little
bonus interview. I did about three and a half minutes
give or take with Wanda Robinson in the Giants' locker
room this week, talking about the loss of malink neighbors
and how the wide Receiver group is gonna try to
(00:51):
make up for that loss as best they can. And
then finally, as always, we have Bob Poppa with the
head coach of the New York Football Giants, Brian Dable.
Thanks for being with us, everybody. I am John Schmelk.
Let's get to our first interview, Theo Johnson.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, we're joined by Giants tight end Theo Johnson as
they prepare for this game against the Saints. And I
think the one thing that everybody wants to ask right
away is when you lose an impact player like Molik
Neighbors to the injury, that first time without him is
going to be significantly different, especially for a guy who's
got so much ability. What are your expectations in terms
(01:27):
of how the offense will operate in his absence and
also how the defense decides to play you guys differently
knowing he's not there.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, So, you know, and you lose there's no replacement leak,
there's nothing else to say about that. You can't replace
a guy like that. But it's just going to be
on everyone else on offense to pick up a little
bit more slack, do a little bit more in the
game plan, and then you know as to what the
defense is going to do. You know, might see some
more man that we've seen than we've seen the last
(01:55):
couple of weeks, just because you know, we don't have
Malik out there. But I'm super confident all the guys
and I think everyone's gonna do a good job of
picking up the slack that he left off.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
All Right, we all know you can't just fill the shoes.
Is it the speed, the yak yardage? The intimidation factor
that he is such a big play guy, which do
you think is the biggest aspect that has to be
compensated for?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, I think there's just you know, he has a
lot of production. He gets a lot of targets, a
lot of catches, so those are going to have to
be filled by someone else or probably in our case,
a multiple of other people. It's not going to just
be one guy that fills that hole and you know
gets all those targets. Are gonna have to be on
everybody else, you know, to make those plays and they
(02:40):
come their way.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
One of the things we saw last week is that
the Giants ran the ball forty two times and only
had twenty one pass attempts against the Chargers, which means
the running game is also going to have to pick
up some of this offense's responsibility as a tight end.
Your role, you do everything. You're an all around tight end.
But how do things change for you when you know
(03:03):
you might be a heavy running team?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
You know that that's that's something. As a tight end,
you know that you're gonna be asked, like you said,
to do everything. So, you know, we wanted to establish
our run game early in the season. I think we've
done a good job of that last week. I think
having a you know, a good QB run game has helped.
It helps open up a whole lot of other things,
you know, so we don't bad eyes a ten end unit.
Knowing that we're gonna have to run the ball a
little bit more and honestly run the ball well helps
(03:28):
open everything else up in the past game. So having
a good running game is really important for the game play.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
We always ask offensive lineman when you have a mobile
quarterback behind you, do you kind of have an instinct
about where he's going to go and what he's going
to do and how he's going to extend to play?
As a tight end, you run the end of that
line a lot of times? Do you have to also
kind of account for that too?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, the one thing our coaches have been telling us
since Jackson's taken over, is you know, you always got
to stay alive. You always like the play is never over.
When you think it's over, he's gonna scramble, He's gonna
you know, he plays with his feet. So even when
you think the play's donner, or you might think he
might be somewhere, you got to stay alive and keep playing.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
All right now. One of the things that I thought
was very important that we saw the other day, Cam
Skataboo is the kind of guy who seems to energize
you folks. He makes one of those dirty yard yardage runs,
tough runs, barrels into some people, drags some people. It
looks as though I certainly know what energizes the crowd,
it looks like it energizes you guys in the huddle
(04:28):
as well. Could you discuss maybe the emotional impact that
one of his runs has on you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, playing with the energy and effort and toughness and
grit that he plays with, Like you said, it energize
the whole team, not just the offense. The defensive guys
watch they see a guy that's giving us all out there.
That gives them juice to then you know, play there
all it asks everybody to elevate their game. When you
see a guy that's still running and you might be
(04:54):
jogging on the backside and you know he's not going down,
you got to run and catch up and try and
make a block form. Can't just you know, watch a play.
So I think what he's done, the energy he's he's
brought not only with his play, but with his energy
on the sideline and how he you know, approaches being
a leader on the team has really brought a lot
of juice to us.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Let me ask you a little bit about also the
run blocking, because there are times when it's a tight
end you might be asked to be a full back.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Or an h back.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Now. I don't know how much of that you did
at Penn State. What has that been a difficult transition
for times when you're asked to do that?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Not at all. At Penn State, I played everywhere. I
played in the backfield, h back all the way out wide.
Honestly similar to what I'm doing now. I'm not doing
a ton of h back stuff now, but you know
I'm still asked to do it. You know, you've seen
last game. I was leaning up on some full back
die stuff. So you know, it's something I've done a
lot in college. It's something I'm comfortable doing, and I
(05:46):
wouldn't say it was a difficult transition for me. All right.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I want to go back to a second for the
inspirational emotion that Scataboo has. Your quarterback has that too,
And I'd love to know what he is like in
the huddle because you would hit seem to have a
good chemistry going yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, you know Jackson. Jackson has a lot of juice,
great energy, just a natural leader. The way he you know,
he talks. He commands everyone's attention when he's in the huddle,
and I think that's that's really important as a quarterback
to to have your respect of everyone else is blocking
for you. You know, when when we get lined up, we
want to make sure that we're protecting our guy back
there because we know that you know, he's gonna he's
(06:22):
gonna get those gritty yards as a quarterback, he's gonna
throw his thrown a hand into someone's face. And as
a protector, you know, we want to protect a guy
that's gonna give us all for the team.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
He seems to have such a confidence and assertiveness when
we see him at practice. We've seen him a little
bit in the games obviously, but we also talk to
him in interviews. He has a maturity that bealis his age.
I mean, I know you're on your second, your player, yourself,
but he seems like a guy who's been in this
league for eight nine years.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, I think Jackson is probably one of the most
confident people I've ever met. And it's you know, it's
unwavering confidence. It doesn't matter what anyone else is saying,
what the outsider world saying, what other people might think,
any preconceived notions. He believes with one hundred percent certainty
in his heart that he's the best. He's gonna make plays,
(07:12):
he's gonna win the game, He's gonna do his part
to help us win the game. And I think that's
a trait that is is invaluable, Like it's is something
that you just you can't put a price on.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Right, how much do you think it helps his offense
to have Andrew Thomas back in the lineup. We saw
him play a full game last week, obviously blindside protection
for the quarterback, but it really goes further than that,
doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Man I I love playing next at especially you know,
as a as a young ted end last year, you know,
the first six game I got to play with him, Like,
I really saw what having a you know, a pro
Pro Bowl All Pro left tackle playing next to him,
just his knowledge of the game, you know what, like
it helps me play better. So having him back has
(07:53):
been been huge. He's he's such a great player and
I'm really glad to see him back healthy.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You know, It's funny lot of times people will talk
about they'll say, well, you know, how can one guy
make that much of a difference, But when you are
that much of a talent and you're that much of
a steadying influence on everybody else, it does make a difference.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Huge, Yeah, huge difference. Like like I said, when you
have a guy that just knows so much he helps
everyone else around him. Yeah, and especially with the old line,
like they all have to work in tandem, they all
set as one, they all work as one. You take
a you know, a pivotal piece like that out, it
causes some waves, It caused some changes, and having them
(08:34):
back has just been huge, I know for me personally,
but also other tight ends. And I'm sure the other
Lineman as well.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
All right, let me go back to Jackson for a second.
Jackson Dart the quarterback in case I didn't say his
last name before. I think you know who he is.
We've heard stories that last week, going in to his
first NFL start, he made a lot of phone calls
late at night to the coach, to some of the receivers.
Did you get one of those phone calls? What was that?
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Like?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Man, Jackson will call me at all weird hours of
the night. He called me late late one night this
week and I was say, man, what is this guy doing?
And I wasn't sure where he was he was. He
was up in Dave's office and they were talking about
the red zone plan. I mean, he's talking to me
about some of the red zone plays, and you know
what he sees my role being on a particular play.
(09:20):
That guy is always the last one out of the building,
Like he is here all hours of the day. He
truly invests himself and gives himself to, you know, to
this organization. Just just seeing the way he's worked, it's
exactly what you want to see in your starting quarterback.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I think it's interesting because I've been telling people that Wilson.
Wilson certainly provided a lot of leadership, and he lets
you guys know what it takes to be a champion. Heck,
he's gone to the super Bowl twice in one one.
But I think the quarterback room there was a lot
of influence there. I don't know Jackson from his days
at Old Miss, so I can't test his study habits there.
(09:57):
I suspect they were really good, I really do. But
I think Russell Wilson has also kind of helped all
of you guys in that locker room about detail and
about focus and about hey, you got to be a winner.
Well you got to do these things, am I right? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I think you know, for me being a being a
younger player in this league, seeing a guy that's a
proven guy in this league knows what it looks like
to be on a championship level team. Uh, Seeing how
he's approached his work every day, how consistent he's been,
I know it's helped me, and I'm sure it's helped
Jackson and other quarterbacks and everyone else on this team.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Now, did you go to the tight end university school
during this whole season? I did?
Speaker 5 (10:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
All right, So at the obvious question, what did you
gain from that? How? How did that help make you
better this year? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I think you know, the biggest thing I took away
from that, it was a great experience. I was around
all the top, you know, top ten ends in the league,
guys that have been in the league prior and have
had a ton of experience and done a lot of
great things. And I think, you know, the biggest thing
for me I learned personally is bringing more physicality into
every aspect of the game. So sometimes in the route game,
(11:02):
I try and like to be cute. I play receiver
in high school, so sometimes I like to rely on
my speed. And you know, the thing I learned there
is like, man, you're two hundred and sixty pounds, you're
big and fast. That is very hard to cover. But
if you only use one of those aspects, it makes
it just a little bit easier for the defender to cover.
But if you use everything, you possess your size, your speed,
(11:24):
your strength, and every single play, you're gonna wear guys
down as the game goes on.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Okay, well, now this week you're gonna play in the Superdome.
What is the loudest dome building that you've played in
so far throughout your career in college obviously as well.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I can't think of many domes I've played in. Honestly,
I don't know if I played in the dome in college.
This will be I mean, from what I've heard, probably
allows one I've played in.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
So it does beg the question about the adjustment you
guys are gonna have to make. We know the loud
speakers are blessing pretty good out here in practice, but
this is definitely going to be an experience for you.
And are you curious as to how you're going to navigin.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know, I I think, you know, playing in a dome,
having an enclosed definitely, you know, helps the sound echo
and stuff. I played at a very big school. We
played in a lot of really you know, big competitive games.
I playing a lot of really loud games. So I'd
like to say that I'm prepared for the noise. But
it's definitely it's definitely going to be an adjustment. You know,
(12:26):
I'm not exactly sure how how loud it's going to be,
but I'm confident that I'll be able to to be
able to handle the noise.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
The one thing I do want to ask you about
the Saints before I let you go. They've got some
really stout linebackers. Mario Davis has been doing this a
long long time this league, so I'm sure you're well
aware of you know, what they're going to bring to
the table. I'm not going to ask you for the
game plan, obviously, but is there just in general, one
thing that you believe you've got to be able to
do to set the foundation of success this week.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah. I think it kind of goes back to what
I was talking about earlier. It's it's it's being really
productive in the run game, getting those linebackers to step
up to help open up the pass game. They're they're
super physical downhill linebackers, and I think if we run
the wall, well we can get a hat on those
linebackers on every down. I think that's going to help
(13:15):
open a lot of the other things in the back end.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Well, it was certainly a pleasure to walk into that
winning locker room last week after the Chargers game. I
know you guys are it shouldn't get that feeling.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Again, for sure, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
THEO Johnson, we wish you the best of luck. Thanks
for taking the time. Thank you, Puddle up, get in here.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
If you're lined up here, you gotta go over the
middle with at the score great.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
How do we make that happen?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I don't know, but Citizens does. It makes sense of
your money with Citizens Official Bank of Eli Manning.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Great job from THEO Johnson there.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
The Giants Litle Podcast is brought to you by Citizens,
the official bank of the Giants from gaining they 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. All right, let's turn
our attention to the opponent this week, the normal Saints.
John Deschaser does a great job covering them for New
Orleans Saints dot com. Here's my conversation with him, and
(14:07):
now we welcome in the man who covers the Saints
for New Orleans Saints dot com.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
He is John de Chaser. John, How are you?
Speaker 5 (14:14):
I'm doing great? John? How you doing?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I'm doing great?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Man?
Speaker 4 (14:17):
All right, So Giants and Saints and Giant fans are
all excide, like, all right, you're going to New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
You got a chance to win too, straight.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
And I keep telling them when they call up our
big Blue Kickoff Live show here on Giants dot Com.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Well, you know what the Saints are thinking, we'reroing four.
We have a chance to get our first one of
the year. The Giants are coming to tad right.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Yeah, I mean, and that's that's one of these games.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
You know, if you got one and three team minute
zero and fourteen, both are looking at the other one
like they have a port chop around the next saying,
you know what, we can get one. And so you know,
that's that's the that's the attitude that the Saints have
to have because you know, it's been so so disappointing
so far this season with the four losses, and of
course the Giants. You know, you change quarterbacks, you increase
the enthusiastic and you get that new quarterback you bring
(14:56):
in the New Orleans and you feel like you got a
chance to get to in a row.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Tonically, the last game the Saints won last year was
against the Giants, so though of a chance to try
to repeat that performance, John, you mentioned the quarterback situation
with the Giants. They went to a new quarterback, Saint
sticking with Spencer Ratler.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
You look at his numbers.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Good interception to touchdown ratio, it seems pretty efficient, but
just overall production moving the ball yards per play, that's
not there. So what needs to happen with Ratler and
this offense is just get more consistent production and really
explosive plays out of this passing game.
Speaker 6 (15:29):
Well, I mean, maybe they have to scheme these guys better,
you know, scheme them open a little bit better. Now
the protection has to be able to hold up. And
part of that is, I don't know necessarily that teams
are respecting the team the Saints as a passing team.
They're saying, okay, we'll we'll go all out for the run,
but we don't think you can you can get off
the line of scrimmage on us. We don't think you
can hold up long enough in pass protection to be
(15:50):
able to get guys deep. And the Saints have some
guys who can.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
Run fast, obviously Rashis Shahi, Chris olave.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
On, Brandon Cooks, but none of those guys have any
chunk plays this season because the Saints have not been
able to hold up so far in terms of protection
with Spencer Ratler. So that's going to be job one,
be able to hold up long enough for him to
be able to get into the progressions and get a
guy deep.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
And you know, it's a lot easier said than it.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
Sounds, because when you're playing against really good defensive teams,
especially teams that have really good defensive linemen, which the
Giants do, they able to beat people, They able to
get to the quarterback and they rush him and they
get him off his marks and they speed him up,
and so he's got to basically check down and do
those kinds of things. And I think another thing you
have to factor in is Spencer Ratler went through a
quarterback battle to win the job, and you don't want
(16:38):
to lose the job by making a series of mistakes.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
So I don't necessarily.
Speaker 6 (16:42):
Know if he's being too guarded, but certainly that I
would imagine that's got to be in his mind somewhere
that I don't want to turn the ball over.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
I don't want to turn it over.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
And so he's doing everything he possibly can to make
sure he doesn't turn it over.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
With John is ironic because when he was coming out
I remember watching him in college. He was kind of
considered that like wild horse, playmaker, throw it all over
the yard type. It almost seems like he's kind of
pulled back on that almost a little bit.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
Too much, right, Oh, absolutely, And I mean, and again,
I think part of it is when you're in a
quarterback battle, you know that the other guy's breathing down
your neck, and so you know everything's factoring in, and
especially as a quarterback, as much as anything, it's turnovers.
That's what contributes to non winning its turnovers. Now Saint
still has not been able to win, but Spencer Rallley
(17:29):
has played clean enough to where they've been in really
three of the games. The blowout was at Seattle forty
four to thirteen, and that's almost an anomaly where it
was just like, what in the world is this one
of the that was really one of the worst play
games I can remember it and I've been covering this
team since like ninety two, and so it really was
not a well played game in any phase of the game.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
But for the most part, sincer Rally's been cleaned with
the ball.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
He's done a lot of checkdowns, but again he's been.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Cleaned with the ball. He hasn't turned it over.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
He's missed a couple of big throws in the end
zone which could have been pivotal and could have swayed
games in the Saints favor. But for the most part,
he's done his job. But again I can imagine him
not wanting to try to do too much because again
you've got that rookie Tyler Shuck on the bench behind you,
number forty overall pick, and he's chomping at the bit
(18:20):
to be able to get in the game and give
his best accounting of himself. And so if you're special Routley,
you're saying, Okay, not only do I want to win games,
but also want to make sure I hold off the
guy behind me.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
You mentioned the offensive lineman. Your first answer, Caesar Rui
is not going to play in this game. I imagine Dylan
Radns will be in for him.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
You think it could be him, And then more than now,
it could be the rookie Torriscelli. I can't remember his
last name, that's Simpkins, Yeah, Simpkins. Simpkins will probably be
there if Raidens can go. And so, you know, unfortunately
for the Saints, you know, this is a continuing issue
from years past where they've had linemen get injured, they've
had key players be injured, and they've had to have
(18:57):
the next guy step up and that kind of thing.
So you know, my theory on that is always you know,
the next guy is the next guy for a reason.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
He's not the starter for a reason.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
So you obviously have a little bit of a drop
off there, but you hope Simpkins can come in and
hold up as well or better than Caesar Ruiz has.
And basically you've got the rest of your offensive line
in place. And look, the Saints have invested high picks
and good funds into that offensive line, and so you
(19:27):
would hope, you would love for that to be the
best unit on this team, and so far this season
it has not been. So hopefully this game will be
a step in that direction. They certainly need to be
against the Giants defensive line, but you want that to
be the best unit on the team because that gives
your offense the best chance to be efficient, That protects
your young quarterback and gives him a comfort level, and
(19:48):
it justifies the picks and the seedings that you have
in those guys.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Yeah, Ravens did play a bunch. Trevor Penning came back
last week. He played a guard. How is that transition
gone from him going from tackle to guard, and then
how of the two young tackles Calvin Banks and tell
you Flanga done well.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
Really, Trevor Finning probably would have been best served to
start off at guard, even though he started out.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
At tackle, that's where he was drafted.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
But he played tackle at a small college.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
And look, he's a big bruiser. He is a guy
who probably.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
Is better in short areas in terms of being able
to get his hands on people, overpower people, man handle people.
He didn't have the greatest feet in the world. That's
why it didn't really work for him at tackle. But
I think at guard he will be much better because
he just gets to get in there and maul of
god the guy in front of you, get your hands
on him and get him off the ball. He is
very capable of doing that. The young tackles now Tyley
(20:41):
Foaga on the right tackle. He switched from left tackle
last year. He's going back to right tackle, which had
been exclusively his position. He admittedly has struggled some at
right tackle this season so far, so he's got to
get his feet wet because he played pretty good at
left tackle last year. So now he's back at the
right tackle, which is more natural for him, but he's
based having to kind of rediscover it. So you know,
(21:02):
hopefully he'll fall in line and get his rhythm back
because he's a really good player. Kevin Banks, junior left
tackle has really been, you know, worth the pick. I
think he was number eight overall and he's really been
a good enough guy there to basically on draft night
he became your starting left tackle and he played that
way and I think he's going to continue to play
that way. So the Saints, all things considered, should knock
(21:24):
On Wood be set at offensive tackle for the next
eight ten years with those two guys because both of
them have really good feet, both of them have really
good hands. They can protect the quarterbacks, and that's what
you have to have out there on those edges, especially
when you're going against edge rushers and guys who can
really get the quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
All right, final thing on offense before we jump over
to the defense here, John Alvin Kamar Kendre Miller. I
feel like teams are really loading up the box against
those guys, so I feel like they both look pretty explosive.
When I rewatched a couple of your games, the numbers
look pretty good. What have the Saints gone out of
their run game on theyer Kellen Moore.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
Well, I mean they have, especially in this last game.
They really both performed well, ran well against Buffalo and
Buffalo was the worst to run defense in the NFL,
but the Saints were able to take advantage of it.
And look, he's just got to be able to take
advantage of the teams that you play. Alvin Kamara year
nine really does not look like he's lost much of
a step. He's you know, he's a guy who glides.
(22:19):
You know, he'll give you some between the tackle stuff,
He'll give you some on the perimeter stuff. He's a
really good receiver historically, and so he's he's been a
guy who who really is reliable. He gives you everything
you want to run it back. But Kendre Miller is
a guy who gives you a little bit of thunder.
And that's what the Saints need, kind of that yin
and yang. That's what they had with mark Ingram, when
(22:39):
they had with Alvin Kamara. He gives you that thumper
who can get in there and really be physical as
a runner. And finally, I think it's his third season,
he seems to be adapting to what the Saints want
from him, and that's a great thing because they're gonna
need him because Alvin Kamara has been nicked up the
last couple of years, and Kendre Milder's been nicked up also,
(23:00):
he hadn't played much. So you have that guy who
you can take some of that pressure off Alvin Kamara.
You want to keep Alvins touches down to probably eighteen
twenty two a game, you know, including receivering. But if
you can get Kendrey Miller another ten twelve touches in
there in terms of carries, that really can agera offense
some All.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Right, let's go to defense.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
What when opposing offensive coordinators put on the tape they
watched the stans they prepare for the games, who's the
guy there kind of circling with that red sharpie that
all right, this is the guy we need to shut down,
slow down.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
If you want to have success against this defense, well.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
It's probably it's probably edge rusher Karl Granderson. Granda was
having a really nice year. He's getting to the quarterback
and that's something that you know two years ago he
did really well.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
I think he had eight and a half sacks. He
dropped down last year.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
He gained weight because he's playing you know, traditional defensive
end in the four to three and so he wanted
to be able to take on double teams and sometimes
he slid down and played defensive tackle on rushdowns and
those kinds of things.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
So he had a little bit of weight. He shed
that weight in the offseason.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
I think he's down to like two seventy from you
know two eighty five or so. So getting him out
in space and on the edge, he's really been a
guy who you know, his motor runs, he's able to
get to the quarterback. He's pretty relentless. Uh, he will
take on blockers. But he really has benefited from moving
to the edge and having the freedom. So he's the
guy who really has been disrupted the most. Now, you know,
(24:21):
Cam Jordan's still you know, he's still the old warrior.
He's got three and a half sacks. I'm thinking, you know,
two and a half sacks, so he's really still got.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
A little something going there.
Speaker 6 (24:30):
You know, he's not a guy who's going to be
out of juice, but really called Grandison is the guy
who has been directing the most attention, the guy that
you have to worry about, because when you get guys
getting to the quarterback, the first thing you have to
worry about if you were in offense, is is that
guy going to get the ball out of the quarterback's hands.
Is he going to slap it out of his hands?
Is he going to call the fumble? Is he going
to get the quarterback off his market and create a turnover?
(24:51):
And Carl Grandison's probably the guy who's most likely to
do that.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
All right, two of the guys on the line, I
want to ask you about one. How close is Chase
Young coming back? I know they said probably not gonna
play this week? Is he getting close for you guys
real quick? And then Brian Berza, who was a first
round pick a couple of years ago, for you of
how is he coming along?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Do you sense a breakout might be upcoming for him?
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Well?
Speaker 6 (25:12):
First, first part of that is Chase I really don't
have any idea. We thought he was going to be
ready by now, and whatever that injury is is lingering
a little bit longer than we thought. It's a calf injury,
but you know it must have been either more serious.
They said he didn't have a setback, so it must
have been, you know, just a little bit more serious
than everybody thought. And of course calves are kind of,
you know, tricky, so you got to be careful with
(25:33):
him when you do get him back. So I really
don't have any idea. Hopefully it will be next week
against New England. We know he's been ruled out of
these first five and the Saints need him. They need
him on that edge, So you know, the sooner he's back,
the better because you know he's one of those first
guy off the bus guys. Yeah, you want him the
first guy off the bus because he is a specimen
(25:54):
and he looks that way on the football field when
he's out there. But you know, hey, the best ability
availability and he hadn't been available thisear so you know
the Saints really need him on the field. Brian Berzi. Yeah,
he could be in for a breakout because you know,
we saw some of it last year where you know,
he's got to spind move that is really really lethal
(26:15):
when he's in that short area and guys have a
tough time keeping their hands on him.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
So we expect to see more of that of that
out end.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
He got his first sack of the season last week
against Josh Allen and hopefully he'll be able to get
some more here, because you know, he's the guy who's
who's really disruptive at times, and he can do that consistently,
you know, within the within the Saints rotation. So hopefully
he's the guy who's who's kind of finding his way
in there, because again you switch from four to three
to three four, and now he's you know, in a
(26:43):
different area, and so hopefully he'll be able to turn
it up a little bit more here as we go along.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
All right, two more questions John before we get you
out of here. The secondary, How is Brendon Stale using them?
Are we still seeing a lot of that, you know,
to safety shell rotate out of that, not putting extra
guys in the box. And by I was really impressed
with with with Jonah Sanker last week. I thought he
had the pick. He had two good plays covering tight
ends in that game. So how is Staley kind of
using that secondary? And what do you see from Sanka
(27:09):
the rookie?
Speaker 5 (27:10):
Well, I think it was a little bit. I think
it has been a little bit more zone.
Speaker 6 (27:13):
You see some gaps and you know it's it's you know,
you want to keep things underneath, obviously, and it's going
to be as effective as the pass rush is. And
the Saints haven't had a great pass rush so far
this season, so you know, if they can get to
the quarterback, then that zone is going to look a
lot better because you don't necessarily want to hang those
guys out there man the man. I don't necessarily know that.
You know, they feel comfortable with those guys being out
(27:35):
there man the man that way, So you got to
be able to create more of a pass rush and
hopefully that's something that's coming along again. We mentioned Carl Granderson,
we mentioned Cam Jordan, we mentioned Brian Beze. Those guys
got to be able to get on the horse and
get to the quarterback. That's going to help out their secondary.
Uh Sanker has He showed some range last week that
I just didn't know. He had the sideline, the sideline
(27:56):
before the interception in which he made you know, in
the and on left side of the secondary to play
before that on the right on the right sideline he
ranged over and had a PBu.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
He's a guy who really had some great.
Speaker 6 (28:09):
Range and he showed some pretty good hands on that interception,
which you know, which you know is one of those
things with defensive backs. You know, you always say, okay,
he's playing defensive back because.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
He can't catch.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
Well, he looks like he's got some hands, and he's
a guy who you I think you I think you
like out there in coverage because he's got that ranginess.
So now you can allow your cornerbacks to be a
little bit more aggressive, especially if he's the guy over
the top, because he can go get the ball, he
can cover. So he's going to be a guy who
you know, he's really been kind of a little bit
of a fine you know, third round pick, and I
(28:38):
don't know if necessarily you think those guys are going
to play early, because in fact, they had some guys
out there before him early. But you get an injury
in the secondary that prevent you know, that provides the
opportunity for him to get on the field, and he
looks like he was ready to take advantage of it
because he stepped in last week against Buffalo and he
had a really really good game. The interception, three pass breakups,
five tackles, a really good game from from the rookie.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
All right, final question, I got to ask Hi about
the old head to Mario Davis. Has he given you
any like tips on like the found of youth stuff
that he's found? He is that dude gets old. He
just keeps playing good football man, especially against the run
around the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Dude, I call him the Wolverine.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
He just he he won't get hurt, he won't miss games,
he won't slow down. It's it's been amazing to witness
and to see because you I mean, you know you
you watched a lot of football. You know how it
really can can take away from a guy and the
guy can basically just fall off the table at him. Yeah,
and the Mario Davis has not falled. I don't know
(29:38):
where his table is, but he hadn't fallen off of it.
He hadn't fallen off of it. I mean, he really
continues to produce. He's still got the energy. He does
things in the all season. He will never tell you
all of his secrets, but he does things in the
all season. He'll just say, you know, I added something
in the off season, and you know I started doing
some and so and but he won't specifically tell you
what it is, so I don't know where it's found.
(29:59):
The youth is he dips into it during the off
season at some point in time. But like I said,
I just call him the Wolverine because you know, he
plays the demanding position and the guy doesn't miss games.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
Uh, he doesn't miss snaps.
Speaker 6 (30:10):
You know, he's out there every game one hundred percent
of the snaps. And it's just been it's really been
remarkable to see.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I love it. John.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
You can find all this great work on New Orleans
Saints dot com. John enjoy the game on Sunday, my friend,
I appreciate the time today.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
All right, thank you, John hoddle up, get in here.
If you're lined up here, you gotta go over the
middle with at the score.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Great. How do we make that happen?
Speaker 4 (30:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Bud Tennyson does.
Speaker 7 (30:35):
Makes sense of your money with citizens Official Bank of
ELI manning.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Awesome stuff from John desize're there talking about the New
Orleans Saints. Great previews. Should be a fun game.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
The Giants Foundation will host a five K racing Kids
run presented by Quest on Sunday, October twenty sixth nine
am MetLife Stadium net Proceeds will benefit the Giants Foundation.
A five O one C three nonprofit corporation. All participants
were a CV commemorative and after the race day for
a post race festival with appearances by Giants Legends and
a live DJ registered that with giants dot Com.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Slash five K had.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
A chance to talk to Giants wide receiver Wandell Robinson
a bit earlier this week.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Joined here by Waldell Robinson wondoll.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
When you went back and you looked at kind of
what the passing off has looked like with Jackson last
week on tape, what you see I.
Speaker 8 (31:19):
Say, I mean a lot of it was quick throws,
just trying to get the ball out of his hands.
I mean, we play they were a pretty big zone team,
and that was kind of the plan, get the ball
out of our hands quick, and really it was really
making himself the run first and so I felt like
we were able to do that and just get the
ball out quick and remember especially just making him comfortable
as first start. Didn't want him to have to try
and do too much.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
So yes to the.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Plan and look at it the way the Saints play
this week and some of the analytics they're a pretty
heavy zoned team too, right.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
Yeah, yeah, they play some zone. They'll mix it up
a little bit too placing man, So we got to
be ready for both. Especially you know now that the
leagu's out, we never know what teams may be trying
to do.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Obviously, this is the first week you've had practice sinsible.
League neighbors said, the season end the injury, What do
you guys have to do as a group. No one
guy can replace what league neighbors can do, So what
can you guys do as a group to try to
alleviate his loss?
Speaker 8 (32:05):
Again, we all got to work together, especially just working
with Jackson. Even the tight ends are kind of a
little bit of a helping hand now too, and a
lot of us especially mean, it's like kind of expanding
a little bit of the routetreet that we have. And
at the end of the day, we just got to
go out there and get up.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
How much do you guys have to be more flexible
going into different spots now? Right you don't have the
league he can you can isolate them. How much do
you guys kind of moving around to the different spots
now with him not being the staple out there.
Speaker 8 (32:30):
Yeah, we're definitely moving around, I say, especially means they
probably playing a little bit more in different places that
we hadn't played. But at the end of the day,
I think it'll be good for us just moving us
around and defense is not knowing exactly what we can do.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
In the offseason, you told about you were excited about
getting a chance to play outside a little bit more.
Now you're gonna have the chance to probably play outside
a little bit more. Are you excited to be able
to do that a little bit more now in regular
season action and kind of show every what you can.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Do out there?
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (32:52):
Yeah, I'm saying, just just someone that I can do everything.
I can play inside, I can play outside, run the
intermediate stuff, run the deep stuff, run just the whole
routes tree even being a smaller guy, and just prove
everybody wrong in that aspect.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
You know, having that one big wide receiver oute there,
you can create the big plays or he can attract
so must attention that creates big plays for someone else.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Right, What are some of the things that.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
A team can do to try to manufacture some more
explosives even if you don't have that kind of one
guy that the other team is kind of locked in
and focused on.
Speaker 8 (33:20):
Yeah, I mean, I think it goes back to game planning.
And that's why I think our coaches are doing a
really good job of is figuring out what matchups to
get us one on ones in favorable matchups that we
really really like and I feel like we can hit
explosives out of them.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
How important is it to kind of keep the energy
up in the room too, because obviously you lose a
guy like that, can it can kind of depress the
room a little bit.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
How how have you enslaved by being the veterans in there?
Try to kind of keep the energy up in your.
Speaker 8 (33:40):
Room, you know, being just being the same people that
we have been every day, and you know, encouraging the
guys and letting them know that at the end of
the day, this is the next man up league, and
guy's got to be ready for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
They should be excited.
Speaker 8 (33:51):
Obviously being upset them the leak's not there, but some
of the guys that haven't gotten to play as much,
they're they're going to get out there.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
And then finally I talk about the energy, how much
energy has is forty four? And then and then number
six kind of brought to the offense a little bit
just because of the way they play The game now a.
Speaker 8 (34:05):
Tremendous amount, especially Scott. You know, you see him trying
to run through somebody, it makes you like, Okay, if
he's gonna do that, I gotta.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I definitely go.
Speaker 8 (34:11):
I gotta go back my off or I gotta go
catch this ball. He's doing everything that he has to do.
And same thing with Jackson. Sometimes I'm like, you know,
you need to chill out trying to punch people.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
With your hand.
Speaker 8 (34:20):
But that energy right there is like, that's my quarterback
and I'll do anything out there for him. So it
makes everybody masch that energy and play up to their
standard too.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Thanks Adough, So thank you. That's one of the Robbins
and good stuff out of him.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
Now let's turn our attention to the hey coach of
the New York Football Giants, coming off as first one
of the year with his starting quarterback Jackson Dart, but
now carrying on without my league neighbors. To talk about
that and a whole lot more, Bob pop up with
the head coach of the New York Football Giants, Brian Dable.
Speaker 7 (34:46):
The Giants we're in New Orleans to take on the Saints.
As always, were joined by the head coach of the
New York Giants, Brian Dable and coach. Obviously, last week
turned out really well with the way things worked and
take down the undefeated Chargers. As you did the look
back on it and talk to the team about it,
what are some of the things that really you were
(35:07):
most proud of with the way the team competed last week.
Speaker 9 (35:11):
Yeah, it was a sixty minute game, and you know
each unit, you know, worked hard to do their jobs
to help us.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Win the game.
Speaker 9 (35:18):
And you know it made some big plays there in
critical moments. Third down was improved, you know, red zone
a little bit better, still can improve in that area.
Took care of the ball, got the ball on defense.
Jamie had a great punt there backed up almost seventy
yards that really changed field position. Was a big play
(35:39):
for us. So all around team win.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
All Right.
Speaker 7 (35:42):
You take on the New Orleans Saints, who you played
last year at MetLife Stadium, but Carr was the quarterback.
He's not the quarterback now. As you study this team
and you get ready to play them, what are some
of the things, with Kellen Moore being the new head
coach that you've looked at and said, you know, hey,
these are things this week that if we do not
(36:03):
do defensively, we're going to get hurt.
Speaker 5 (36:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (36:07):
Well again, three of the four four games they've played
have come right down to the fourth quarter, which is
what we expect. Tough competitive team starts with Kamara. He's
a dynamic running back. He can run every run, but
he makes a lot of his plays on the perimeter.
Cutback screen game is something that I think he's been
(36:31):
very good at. And you know, wheel routs out of
the backfield, options, wraps out of the backfield. I mean,
this guy's an exceptional running back and I think it
starts there. I think they did a good job last
week against Buffalo. I've really mix in the match in formations, motions,
using different guys in different spots. And then you know,
(36:54):
after the running game, they you know, between the Lave
and Shahed on the perimeter, both fast. Alve is an excellent,
exceptional route runner. Shaheed is is dynamic with the ball
in his hands as he is a punt return game,
but they'll give him jet sweeps and reverses that we're
gonna have to be dialed into on our on our
force outside. And then Spencer, I think is a you know,
(37:17):
a good rhythm quarterback. He gets the ball out and
goes to the right spot and you know, does a
good job with the action game. If it's not there,
can use his legs. You know, he's athletic player that
makes loose plays and keeps the chains moving. And you
know it'll be a loud environment and we're gonna have
to do a good job of communicating and tackling and
(37:39):
making sure that the ball doesn't go over ahead.
Speaker 7 (37:42):
Coach, you mentioned loud environment, and I know you'll do things.
You did things during the course of the week to
try to recreate that. Can you ever get close to it?
As far as trying to recreate it, you know, you do.
Speaker 9 (37:56):
The best you can. You know, we've played in a
lot of loud stadiums. This is certainly one of them.
Our quarterback is playing a lot of loud ones, you know,
being down there at Alabama, you know SEC is pretty
loud down there. But every every i'd say venue is
a little different. This one is very loud. Been there
a number of times, and all you can do is,
(38:16):
you know, jack up the music or the crowd noise
as loud as you can and try to make it
difficult down to players. During the week to force you know,
over communication, coach.
Speaker 7 (38:28):
When you take a look at them defensively, and this
front seven especially, I mean you've got Jordan, who's an
eight time pro bowler, Grandison's second in the league in
sacks with four and a half, Brazi is a really
good player inside, and then you have to Mario Davis
and Pete Warner at the backers, all active players. When
(38:50):
you've looked at them and studied them, what are some
of the things that have impressed you with the way
they're playing this year.
Speaker 9 (38:56):
Yeah, I'd say they're a physical unit that gives it
gives great for they get, like you said, a lot
of veterans on their team that know how to play
the game.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (39:05):
Just to have a such a tremendous amount of respect
for Davis the way he's played, the style that he
plays with. I mean, this guy, this guy will smack you, uh,
and he is. I think he's a load. We got
to do a great job of getting a hat on him.
And then you know when it comes down to like
Cam Jordan, like you said, and got Chow's in there
(39:28):
a veteran guy too that you know, they do a
great job playing stout up front, and I think they
got some good players in the back end. You know,
kool Aid was a very good player at Alabama. Sticky
corner a very good technique. Alante that you know plays
inside in their subpackage, is extremely fast. And the two safeties,
you know, sank Or the rookie and Reed can can
(39:48):
really run.
Speaker 7 (39:50):
Coach, obviously, last week was was awesome and you and
you got that win. I know that that doesn't satisfy
you or your players. Can you talk about that mentality
of sort of stacking performances like you talk about it
during training camp, like stack good practice is now trying
to stack wins and and and sort of how important
(40:11):
that is for the group.
Speaker 9 (40:14):
Yeah, you know this is a this is a one
week league, So you put to bed the previous week's
game on Monday and every everything you got into the
week you're playing. So our goal is to play well
each week, to do the things we need to do
to give us a chance. And you know this will
certainly be a challenge down here, going on the road,
and you know, playing in our first row game with
(40:36):
with Jackson, and everybody's going to have to do their
job and do it at a high level coach.
Speaker 7 (40:42):
You appreciate the time.
Speaker 9 (40:44):
Thanks Pop.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
We thank Brian Dabole, Wandel Raminson, john the seizure, and
of course Theo Johnson for joining us this week on
The Giants lital Podcast, brought to you by Citizens, the
official bank of the Giants. From game day to your
everyday financial needs, Giants can get the most out of
every moment with Citizens. Learn more at Citizens bank dot
com slash Giants. Thanks so much for being with us, everybody,
(41:08):
Giants in Saints Sunday one o'clock. You can check out
Big Blue Kickoff live on Saturday morning with Mark Melisis
and I at seven am. Again, that's on Sports Radio
sixty six Wfan. And then on Sunday Moose starts the
Football Day at nine with his football preview show, and
then we have myself and Tiki Barber at eleven am
(41:29):
kickoff at one. It'll be a nice work up. You
can watch the Giants listen to the Giants on the
radio right up at the Yankee Baseball which takes place
on a Sunday afternoon. Thanks for being with us, everybody.
We'll talk to you next time on The Giants Little
Podcast
It's time to get inside the Giants.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Let's go Giants on the Giants moubuling, give me some
job part of the Giants Podcast.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
Network's Welcome to another edition of the Giants Little Podcast,
brought to you by Citizens, the official Bank of the Giants.
I am John Schmelk. It's our normal Friday funny. You're
coming off of Giants victory this week. Of course, they
are traveling to New Orleans to take on the Saints,
but we have a bonus interview this week. We're gonna
lead off, as always with our main spotline interview with
Giants tight end Theo Johnson. Then we're gonna talk to
(00:31):
John Deschaser. He covers the Saints. We'll get the inside
scoop on what's going on in New Orleans. He covers
them for New Orleans Saints dot Com. Then our little
bonus interview. I did about three and a half minutes
give or take with Wanda Robinson in the Giants' locker
room this week, talking about the loss of malink neighbors
and how the wide Receiver group is gonna try to
(00:51):
make up for that loss as best they can. And
then finally, as always, we have Bob Poppa with the
head coach of the New York Football Giants, Brian Dable.
Thanks for being with us, everybody. I am John Schmelk.
Let's get to our first interview, Theo Johnson.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, we're joined by Giants tight end Theo Johnson as
they prepare for this game against the Saints. And I
think the one thing that everybody wants to ask right
away is when you lose an impact player like Molik
Neighbors to the injury, that first time without him is
going to be significantly different, especially for a guy who's
got so much ability. What are your expectations in terms
(01:27):
of how the offense will operate in his absence and
also how the defense decides to play you guys differently
knowing he's not there.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, So, you know, and you lose there's no replacement leak,
there's nothing else to say about that. You can't replace
a guy like that. But it's just going to be
on everyone else on offense to pick up a little
bit more slack, do a little bit more in the
game plan, and then you know as to what the
defense is going to do. You know, might see some
more man that we've seen than we've seen the last
(01:55):
couple of weeks, just because you know, we don't have
Malik out there. But I'm super confident all the guys
and I think everyone's gonna do a good job of
picking up the slack that he left off.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
All Right, we all know you can't just fill the shoes.
Is it the speed, the yak yardage? The intimidation factor
that he is such a big play guy, which do
you think is the biggest aspect that has to be
compensated for?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, I think there's just you know, he has a
lot of production. He gets a lot of targets, a
lot of catches, so those are going to have to
be filled by someone else or probably in our case,
a multiple of other people. It's not going to just
be one guy that fills that hole and you know
gets all those targets. Are gonna have to be on
everybody else, you know, to make those plays and they
(02:40):
come their way.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
One of the things we saw last week is that
the Giants ran the ball forty two times and only
had twenty one pass attempts against the Chargers, which means
the running game is also going to have to pick
up some of this offense's responsibility as a tight end.
Your role, you do everything. You're an all around tight end.
But how do things change for you when you know
(03:03):
you might be a heavy running team?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
You know that that's that's something. As a tight end,
you know that you're gonna be asked, like you said,
to do everything. So, you know, we wanted to establish
our run game early in the season. I think we've
done a good job of that last week. I think
having a you know, a good QB run game has helped.
It helps open up a whole lot of other things,
you know, so we don't bad eyes a ten end unit.
Knowing that we're gonna have to run the ball a
little bit more and honestly run the ball well helps
(03:28):
open everything else up in the past game. So having
a good running game is really important for the game play.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
We always ask offensive lineman when you have a mobile
quarterback behind you, do you kind of have an instinct
about where he's going to go and what he's going
to do and how he's going to extend to play?
As a tight end, you run the end of that
line a lot of times? Do you have to also
kind of account for that too?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, the one thing our coaches have been telling us
since Jackson's taken over, is you know, you always got
to stay alive. You always like the play is never over.
When you think it's over, he's gonna scramble, He's gonna
you know, he plays with his feet. So even when
you think the play's donner, or you might think he
might be somewhere, you got to stay alive and keep playing.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
All right now. One of the things that I thought
was very important that we saw the other day, Cam
Skataboo is the kind of guy who seems to energize
you folks. He makes one of those dirty yard yardage runs,
tough runs, barrels into some people, drags some people. It
looks as though I certainly know what energizes the crowd,
it looks like it energizes you guys in the huddle
(04:28):
as well. Could you discuss maybe the emotional impact that
one of his runs has on you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, playing with the energy and effort and toughness and
grit that he plays with, Like you said, it energize
the whole team, not just the offense. The defensive guys
watch they see a guy that's giving us all out there.
That gives them juice to then you know, play there
all it asks everybody to elevate their game. When you
see a guy that's still running and you might be
(04:54):
jogging on the backside and you know he's not going down,
you got to run and catch up and try and
make a block form. Can't just you know, watch a play.
So I think what he's done, the energy he's he's
brought not only with his play, but with his energy
on the sideline and how he you know, approaches being
a leader on the team has really brought a lot
of juice to us.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Let me ask you a little bit about also the
run blocking, because there are times when it's a tight
end you might be asked to be a full back.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Or an h back.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Now. I don't know how much of that you did
at Penn State. What has that been a difficult transition
for times when you're asked to do that?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Not at all. At Penn State, I played everywhere. I
played in the backfield, h back all the way out wide.
Honestly similar to what I'm doing now. I'm not doing
a ton of h back stuff now, but you know
I'm still asked to do it. You know, you've seen
last game. I was leaning up on some full back
die stuff. So you know, it's something I've done a
lot in college. It's something I'm comfortable doing, and I
(05:46):
wouldn't say it was a difficult transition for me. All right.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I want to go back to a second for the
inspirational emotion that Scataboo has. Your quarterback has that too,
And I'd love to know what he is like in
the huddle because you would hit seem to have a
good chemistry going yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, you know Jackson. Jackson has a lot of juice,
great energy, just a natural leader. The way he you know,
he talks. He commands everyone's attention when he's in the huddle,
and I think that's that's really important as a quarterback
to to have your respect of everyone else is blocking
for you. You know, when when we get lined up, we
want to make sure that we're protecting our guy back
there because we know that you know, he's gonna he's
(06:22):
gonna get those gritty yards as a quarterback, he's gonna
throw his thrown a hand into someone's face. And as
a protector, you know, we want to protect a guy
that's gonna give us all for the team.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
He seems to have such a confidence and assertiveness when
we see him at practice. We've seen him a little
bit in the games obviously, but we also talk to
him in interviews. He has a maturity that bealis his age.
I mean, I know you're on your second, your player, yourself,
but he seems like a guy who's been in this
league for eight nine years.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, I think Jackson is probably one of the most
confident people I've ever met. And it's you know, it's
unwavering confidence. It doesn't matter what anyone else is saying,
what the outsider world saying, what other people might think,
any preconceived notions. He believes with one hundred percent certainty
in his heart that he's the best. He's gonna make plays,
(07:12):
he's gonna win the game, He's gonna do his part
to help us win the game. And I think that's
a trait that is is invaluable, Like it's is something
that you just you can't put a price on.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Right, how much do you think it helps his offense
to have Andrew Thomas back in the lineup. We saw
him play a full game last week, obviously blindside protection
for the quarterback, but it really goes further than that,
doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Man I I love playing next at especially you know,
as a as a young ted end last year, you know,
the first six game I got to play with him, Like,
I really saw what having a you know, a pro
Pro Bowl All Pro left tackle playing next to him,
just his knowledge of the game, you know what, like
it helps me play better. So having him back has
(07:53):
been been huge. He's he's such a great player and
I'm really glad to see him back healthy.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You know, It's funny lot of times people will talk
about they'll say, well, you know, how can one guy
make that much of a difference, But when you are
that much of a talent and you're that much of
a steadying influence on everybody else, it does make a difference.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Huge, Yeah, huge difference. Like like I said, when you
have a guy that just knows so much he helps
everyone else around him. Yeah, and especially with the old line,
like they all have to work in tandem, they all
set as one, they all work as one. You take
a you know, a pivotal piece like that out, it
causes some waves, It caused some changes, and having them
(08:34):
back has just been huge, I know for me personally,
but also other tight ends. And I'm sure the other
Lineman as well.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
All right, let me go back to Jackson for a second.
Jackson Dart the quarterback in case I didn't say his
last name before. I think you know who he is.
We've heard stories that last week, going in to his
first NFL start, he made a lot of phone calls
late at night to the coach, to some of the receivers.
Did you get one of those phone calls? What was that?
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Like?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Man, Jackson will call me at all weird hours of
the night. He called me late late one night this
week and I was say, man, what is this guy doing?
And I wasn't sure where he was he was. He
was up in Dave's office and they were talking about
the red zone plan. I mean, he's talking to me
about some of the red zone plays, and you know
what he sees my role being on a particular play.
(09:20):
That guy is always the last one out of the building,
Like he is here all hours of the day. He
truly invests himself and gives himself to, you know, to
this organization. Just just seeing the way he's worked, it's
exactly what you want to see in your starting quarterback.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I think it's interesting because I've been telling people that Wilson.
Wilson certainly provided a lot of leadership, and he lets
you guys know what it takes to be a champion. Heck,
he's gone to the super Bowl twice in one one.
But I think the quarterback room there was a lot
of influence there. I don't know Jackson from his days
at Old Miss, so I can't test his study habits there.
(09:57):
I suspect they were really good, I really do. But
I think Russell Wilson has also kind of helped all
of you guys in that locker room about detail and
about focus and about hey, you got to be a winner.
Well you got to do these things, am I right? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I think you know, for me being a being a
younger player in this league, seeing a guy that's a
proven guy in this league knows what it looks like
to be on a championship level team. Uh, Seeing how
he's approached his work every day, how consistent he's been,
I know it's helped me, and I'm sure it's helped
Jackson and other quarterbacks and everyone else on this team.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Now, did you go to the tight end university school
during this whole season? I did?
Speaker 5 (10:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
All right, So at the obvious question, what did you
gain from that? How? How did that help make you
better this year? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I think you know, the biggest thing I took away
from that, it was a great experience. I was around
all the top, you know, top ten ends in the league,
guys that have been in the league prior and have
had a ton of experience and done a lot of
great things. And I think, you know, the biggest thing
for me I learned personally is bringing more physicality into
every aspect of the game. So sometimes in the route game,
(11:02):
I try and like to be cute. I play receiver
in high school, so sometimes I like to rely on
my speed. And you know, the thing I learned there
is like, man, you're two hundred and sixty pounds, you're
big and fast. That is very hard to cover. But
if you only use one of those aspects, it makes
it just a little bit easier for the defender to cover.
But if you use everything, you possess your size, your speed,
(11:24):
your strength, and every single play, you're gonna wear guys
down as the game goes on.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Okay, well, now this week you're gonna play in the Superdome.
What is the loudest dome building that you've played in
so far throughout your career in college obviously as well.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I can't think of many domes I've played in. Honestly,
I don't know if I played in the dome in college.
This will be I mean, from what I've heard, probably
allows one I've played in.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
So it does beg the question about the adjustment you
guys are gonna have to make. We know the loud
speakers are blessing pretty good out here in practice, but
this is definitely going to be an experience for you.
And are you curious as to how you're going to navigin.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know, I I think, you know, playing in a dome,
having an enclosed definitely, you know, helps the sound echo
and stuff. I played at a very big school. We
played in a lot of really you know, big competitive games.
I playing a lot of really loud games. So I'd
like to say that I'm prepared for the noise. But
it's definitely it's definitely going to be an adjustment. You know,
(12:26):
I'm not exactly sure how how loud it's going to be,
but I'm confident that I'll be able to to be
able to handle the noise.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
The one thing I do want to ask you about
the Saints before I let you go. They've got some
really stout linebackers. Mario Davis has been doing this a
long long time this league, so I'm sure you're well
aware of you know, what they're going to bring to
the table. I'm not going to ask you for the
game plan, obviously, but is there just in general, one
thing that you believe you've got to be able to
do to set the foundation of success this week.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah. I think it kind of goes back to what
I was talking about earlier. It's it's it's being really
productive in the run game, getting those linebackers to step
up to help open up the pass game. They're they're
super physical downhill linebackers, and I think if we run
the wall, well we can get a hat on those
linebackers on every down. I think that's going to help
(13:15):
open a lot of the other things in the back end.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Well, it was certainly a pleasure to walk into that
winning locker room last week after the Chargers game. I
know you guys are it shouldn't get that feeling.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Again, for sure, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
THEO Johnson, we wish you the best of luck. Thanks
for taking the time. Thank you, Puddle up, get in here.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
If you're lined up here, you gotta go over the
middle with at the score great.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
How do we make that happen?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I don't know, but Citizens does. It makes sense of
your money with Citizens Official Bank of Eli Manning.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Great job from THEO Johnson there.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
The Giants Litle Podcast is brought to you by Citizens,
the official bank of the Giants from gaining they 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. All right, let's turn
our attention to the opponent this week, the normal Saints.
John Deschaser does a great job covering them for New
Orleans Saints dot com. Here's my conversation with him, and
(14:07):
now we welcome in the man who covers the Saints
for New Orleans Saints dot com.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
He is John de Chaser. John, How are you?
Speaker 5 (14:14):
I'm doing great? John? How you doing?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I'm doing great?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Man?
Speaker 4 (14:17):
All right, So Giants and Saints and Giant fans are
all excide, like, all right, you're going to New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
You got a chance to win too, straight.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
And I keep telling them when they call up our
big Blue Kickoff Live show here on Giants dot Com.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Well, you know what the Saints are thinking, we'reroing four.
We have a chance to get our first one of
the year. The Giants are coming to tad right.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Yeah, I mean, and that's that's one of these games.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
You know, if you got one and three team minute
zero and fourteen, both are looking at the other one
like they have a port chop around the next saying,
you know what, we can get one. And so you know,
that's that's the that's the attitude that the Saints have
to have because you know, it's been so so disappointing
so far this season with the four losses, and of
course the Giants. You know, you change quarterbacks, you increase
the enthusiastic and you get that new quarterback you bring
(14:56):
in the New Orleans and you feel like you got a
chance to get to in a row.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Tonically, the last game the Saints won last year was
against the Giants, so though of a chance to try
to repeat that performance, John, you mentioned the quarterback situation
with the Giants. They went to a new quarterback, Saint
sticking with Spencer Ratler.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
You look at his numbers.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Good interception to touchdown ratio, it seems pretty efficient, but
just overall production moving the ball yards per play, that's
not there. So what needs to happen with Ratler and
this offense is just get more consistent production and really
explosive plays out of this passing game.
Speaker 6 (15:29):
Well, I mean, maybe they have to scheme these guys better,
you know, scheme them open a little bit better. Now
the protection has to be able to hold up. And
part of that is, I don't know necessarily that teams
are respecting the team the Saints as a passing team.
They're saying, okay, we'll we'll go all out for the run,
but we don't think you can you can get off
the line of scrimmage on us. We don't think you
can hold up long enough in pass protection to be
(15:50):
able to get guys deep. And the Saints have some
guys who can.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
Run fast, obviously Rashis Shahi, Chris olave.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
On, Brandon Cooks, but none of those guys have any
chunk plays this season because the Saints have not been
able to hold up so far in terms of protection
with Spencer Ratler. So that's going to be job one,
be able to hold up long enough for him to
be able to get into the progressions and get a
guy deep.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
And you know, it's a lot easier said than it.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
Sounds, because when you're playing against really good defensive teams,
especially teams that have really good defensive linemen, which the
Giants do, they able to beat people, They able to
get to the quarterback and they rush him and they
get him off his marks and they speed him up,
and so he's got to basically check down and do
those kinds of things. And I think another thing you
have to factor in is Spencer Ratler went through a
quarterback battle to win the job, and you don't want
(16:38):
to lose the job by making a series of mistakes.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
So I don't necessarily.
Speaker 6 (16:42):
Know if he's being too guarded, but certainly that I
would imagine that's got to be in his mind somewhere
that I don't want to turn the ball over.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
I don't want to turn it over.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
And so he's doing everything he possibly can to make
sure he doesn't turn it over.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
With John is ironic because when he was coming out
I remember watching him in college. He was kind of
considered that like wild horse, playmaker, throw it all over
the yard type. It almost seems like he's kind of
pulled back on that almost a little bit.
Speaker 6 (17:07):
Too much, right, Oh, absolutely, And I mean, and again,
I think part of it is when you're in a
quarterback battle, you know that the other guy's breathing down
your neck, and so you know everything's factoring in, and
especially as a quarterback, as much as anything, it's turnovers.
That's what contributes to non winning its turnovers. Now Saint
still has not been able to win, but Spencer Rallley
(17:29):
has played clean enough to where they've been in really
three of the games. The blowout was at Seattle forty
four to thirteen, and that's almost an anomaly where it
was just like, what in the world is this one
of the that was really one of the worst play
games I can remember it and I've been covering this
team since like ninety two, and so it really was
not a well played game in any phase of the game.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
But for the most part, sincer Rally's been cleaned with
the ball.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
He's done a lot of checkdowns, but again he's been.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
Cleaned with the ball. He hasn't turned it over.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
He's missed a couple of big throws in the end
zone which could have been pivotal and could have swayed
games in the Saints favor. But for the most part,
he's done his job. But again I can imagine him
not wanting to try to do too much because again
you've got that rookie Tyler Shuck on the bench behind you,
number forty overall pick, and he's chomping at the bit
(18:20):
to be able to get in the game and give
his best accounting of himself. And so if you're special Routley,
you're saying, Okay, not only do I want to win games,
but also want to make sure I hold off the
guy behind me.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
You mentioned the offensive lineman. Your first answer, Caesar Rui
is not going to play in this game. I imagine Dylan
Radns will be in for him.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
You think it could be him, And then more than now,
it could be the rookie Torriscelli. I can't remember his
last name, that's Simpkins, Yeah, Simpkins. Simpkins will probably be
there if Raidens can go. And so, you know, unfortunately
for the Saints, you know, this is a continuing issue
from years past where they've had linemen get injured, they've
had key players be injured, and they've had to have
(18:57):
the next guy step up and that kind of thing.
So you know, my theory on that is always you know,
the next guy is the next guy for a reason.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
He's not the starter for a reason.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
So you obviously have a little bit of a drop
off there, but you hope Simpkins can come in and
hold up as well or better than Caesar Ruiz has.
And basically you've got the rest of your offensive line
in place. And look, the Saints have invested high picks
and good funds into that offensive line, and so you
(19:27):
would hope, you would love for that to be the
best unit on this team, and so far this season
it has not been. So hopefully this game will be
a step in that direction. They certainly need to be
against the Giants defensive line, but you want that to
be the best unit on the team because that gives
your offense the best chance to be efficient, That protects
your young quarterback and gives him a comfort level, and
(19:48):
it justifies the picks and the seedings that you have
in those guys.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Yeah, Ravens did play a bunch. Trevor Penning came back
last week. He played a guard. How is that transition
gone from him going from tackle to guard, and then
how of the two young tackles Calvin Banks and tell
you Flanga done well.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
Really, Trevor Finning probably would have been best served to
start off at guard, even though he started out.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
At tackle, that's where he was drafted.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
But he played tackle at a small college.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
And look, he's a big bruiser. He is a guy
who probably.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
Is better in short areas in terms of being able
to get his hands on people, overpower people, man handle people.
He didn't have the greatest feet in the world. That's
why it didn't really work for him at tackle. But
I think at guard he will be much better because
he just gets to get in there and maul of
god the guy in front of you, get your hands
on him and get him off the ball. He is
very capable of doing that. The young tackles now Tyley
(20:41):
Foaga on the right tackle. He switched from left tackle
last year. He's going back to right tackle, which had
been exclusively his position. He admittedly has struggled some at
right tackle this season so far, so he's got to
get his feet wet because he played pretty good at
left tackle last year. So now he's back at the
right tackle, which is more natural for him, but he's
based having to kind of rediscover it. So you know,
(21:02):
hopefully he'll fall in line and get his rhythm back
because he's a really good player. Kevin Banks, junior left
tackle has really been, you know, worth the pick. I
think he was number eight overall and he's really been
a good enough guy there to basically on draft night
he became your starting left tackle and he played that
way and I think he's going to continue to play
that way. So the Saints, all things considered, should knock
(21:24):
On Wood be set at offensive tackle for the next
eight ten years with those two guys because both of
them have really good feet, both of them have really
good hands. They can protect the quarterbacks, and that's what
you have to have out there on those edges, especially
when you're going against edge rushers and guys who can
really get the quarterbacks.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
All right, final thing on offense before we jump over
to the defense here, John Alvin Kamar Kendre Miller. I
feel like teams are really loading up the box against
those guys, so I feel like they both look pretty explosive.
When I rewatched a couple of your games, the numbers
look pretty good. What have the Saints gone out of
their run game on theyer Kellen Moore.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
Well, I mean they have, especially in this last game.
They really both performed well, ran well against Buffalo and
Buffalo was the worst to run defense in the NFL,
but the Saints were able to take advantage of it.
And look, he's just got to be able to take
advantage of the teams that you play. Alvin Kamara year
nine really does not look like he's lost much of
a step. He's you know, he's a guy who glides.
(22:19):
You know, he'll give you some between the tackle stuff,
He'll give you some on the perimeter stuff. He's a
really good receiver historically, and so he's he's been a
guy who who really is reliable. He gives you everything
you want to run it back. But Kendre Miller is
a guy who gives you a little bit of thunder.
And that's what the Saints need, kind of that yin
and yang. That's what they had with mark Ingram, when
(22:39):
they had with Alvin Kamara. He gives you that thumper
who can get in there and really be physical as
a runner. And finally, I think it's his third season,
he seems to be adapting to what the Saints want
from him, and that's a great thing because they're gonna
need him because Alvin Kamara has been nicked up the
last couple of years, and Kendre Milder's been nicked up also,
(23:00):
he hadn't played much. So you have that guy who
you can take some of that pressure off Alvin Kamara.
You want to keep Alvins touches down to probably eighteen
twenty two a game, you know, including receivering. But if
you can get Kendrey Miller another ten twelve touches in
there in terms of carries, that really can agera offense
some All.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Right, let's go to defense.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
What when opposing offensive coordinators put on the tape they
watched the stans they prepare for the games, who's the
guy there kind of circling with that red sharpie that
all right, this is the guy we need to shut down,
slow down.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
If you want to have success against this defense, well.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
It's probably it's probably edge rusher Karl Granderson. Granda was
having a really nice year. He's getting to the quarterback
and that's something that you know two years ago he
did really well.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
I think he had eight and a half sacks. He
dropped down last year.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
He gained weight because he's playing you know, traditional defensive
end in the four to three and so he wanted
to be able to take on double teams and sometimes
he slid down and played defensive tackle on rushdowns and
those kinds of things.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
So he had a little bit of weight. He shed
that weight in the offseason.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
I think he's down to like two seventy from you
know two eighty five or so. So getting him out
in space and on the edge, he's really been a
guy who you know, his motor runs, he's able to
get to the quarterback. He's pretty relentless. Uh, he will
take on blockers. But he really has benefited from moving
to the edge and having the freedom. So he's the
guy who really has been disrupted the most. Now, you know,
(24:21):
Cam Jordan's still you know, he's still the old warrior.
He's got three and a half sacks. I'm thinking, you know,
two and a half sacks, so he's really still got.
Speaker 5 (24:29):
A little something going there.
Speaker 6 (24:30):
You know, he's not a guy who's going to be
out of juice, but really called Grandison is the guy
who has been directing the most attention, the guy that
you have to worry about, because when you get guys
getting to the quarterback, the first thing you have to
worry about if you were in offense, is is that
guy going to get the ball out of the quarterback's hands.
Is he going to slap it out of his hands?
Is he going to call the fumble? Is he going
to get the quarterback off his market and create a turnover?
(24:51):
And Carl Grandison's probably the guy who's most likely to
do that.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
All right, two of the guys on the line, I
want to ask you about one. How close is Chase
Young coming back? I know they said probably not gonna
play this week? Is he getting close for you guys
real quick? And then Brian Berza, who was a first
round pick a couple of years ago, for you of
how is he coming along?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Do you sense a breakout might be upcoming for him?
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Well?
Speaker 6 (25:12):
First, first part of that is Chase I really don't
have any idea. We thought he was going to be
ready by now, and whatever that injury is is lingering
a little bit longer than we thought. It's a calf injury,
but you know it must have been either more serious.
They said he didn't have a setback, so it must
have been, you know, just a little bit more serious
than everybody thought. And of course calves are kind of,
you know, tricky, so you got to be careful with
(25:33):
him when you do get him back. So I really
don't have any idea. Hopefully it will be next week
against New England. We know he's been ruled out of
these first five and the Saints need him. They need
him on that edge, So you know, the sooner he's back,
the better because you know he's one of those first
guy off the bus guys. Yeah, you want him the
first guy off the bus because he is a specimen
(25:54):
and he looks that way on the football field when
he's out there. But you know, hey, the best ability
availability and he hadn't been available thisear so you know
the Saints really need him on the field. Brian Berzi. Yeah,
he could be in for a breakout because you know,
we saw some of it last year where you know,
he's got to spind move that is really really lethal
(26:15):
when he's in that short area and guys have a
tough time keeping their hands on him.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
So we expect to see more of that of that
out end.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
He got his first sack of the season last week
against Josh Allen and hopefully he'll be able to get
some more here, because you know, he's the guy who's
who's really disruptive at times, and he can do that consistently,
you know, within the within the Saints rotation. So hopefully
he's the guy who's who's kind of finding his way
in there, because again you switch from four to three
to three four, and now he's you know, in a
(26:43):
different area, and so hopefully he'll be able to turn
it up a little bit more here as we go along.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
All right, two more questions John before we get you
out of here. The secondary, How is Brendon Stale using them?
Are we still seeing a lot of that, you know,
to safety shell rotate out of that, not putting extra
guys in the box. And by I was really impressed
with with with Jonah Sanker last week. I thought he
had the pick. He had two good plays covering tight
ends in that game. So how is Staley kind of
using that secondary? And what do you see from Sanka
(27:09):
the rookie?
Speaker 5 (27:10):
Well, I think it was a little bit. I think
it has been a little bit more zone.
Speaker 6 (27:13):
You see some gaps and you know it's it's you know,
you want to keep things underneath, obviously, and it's going
to be as effective as the pass rush is. And
the Saints haven't had a great pass rush so far
this season, so you know, if they can get to
the quarterback, then that zone is going to look a
lot better because you don't necessarily want to hang those
guys out there man the man. I don't necessarily know that.
You know, they feel comfortable with those guys being out
(27:35):
there man the man that way, So you got to
be able to create more of a pass rush and
hopefully that's something that's coming along again. We mentioned Carl Granderson,
we mentioned Cam Jordan, we mentioned Brian Beze. Those guys
got to be able to get on the horse and
get to the quarterback. That's going to help out their secondary.
Uh Sanker has He showed some range last week that
I just didn't know. He had the sideline, the sideline
(27:56):
before the interception in which he made you know, in
the and on left side of the secondary to play
before that on the right on the right sideline he
ranged over and had a PBu.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
He's a guy who really had some great.
Speaker 6 (28:09):
Range and he showed some pretty good hands on that interception,
which you know, which you know is one of those
things with defensive backs. You know, you always say, okay,
he's playing defensive back because.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
He can't catch.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
Well, he looks like he's got some hands, and he's
a guy who you I think you I think you
like out there in coverage because he's got that ranginess.
So now you can allow your cornerbacks to be a
little bit more aggressive, especially if he's the guy over
the top, because he can go get the ball, he
can cover. So he's going to be a guy who
you know, he's really been kind of a little bit
of a fine you know, third round pick, and I
(28:38):
don't know if necessarily you think those guys are going
to play early, because in fact, they had some guys
out there before him early. But you get an injury
in the secondary that prevent you know, that provides the
opportunity for him to get on the field, and he
looks like he was ready to take advantage of it
because he stepped in last week against Buffalo and he
had a really really good game. The interception, three pass breakups,
five tackles, a really good game from from the rookie.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
All right, final question, I got to ask Hi about
the old head to Mario Davis. Has he given you
any like tips on like the found of youth stuff
that he's found? He is that dude gets old. He
just keeps playing good football man, especially against the run
around the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Dude, I call him the Wolverine.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
He just he he won't get hurt, he won't miss games,
he won't slow down. It's it's been amazing to witness
and to see because you I mean, you know you
you watched a lot of football. You know how it
really can can take away from a guy and the
guy can basically just fall off the table at him. Yeah,
and the Mario Davis has not falled. I don't know
(29:38):
where his table is, but he hadn't fallen off of it.
He hadn't fallen off of it. I mean, he really
continues to produce. He's still got the energy. He does
things in the all season. He will never tell you
all of his secrets, but he does things in the
all season. He'll just say, you know, I added something
in the off season, and you know I started doing
some and so and but he won't specifically tell you
what it is, so I don't know where it's found.
(29:59):
The youth is he dips into it during the off
season at some point in time. But like I said,
I just call him the Wolverine because you know, he
plays the demanding position and the guy doesn't miss games.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
Uh, he doesn't miss snaps.
Speaker 6 (30:10):
You know, he's out there every game one hundred percent
of the snaps. And it's just been it's really been
remarkable to see.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I love it. John.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
You can find all this great work on New Orleans
Saints dot com. John enjoy the game on Sunday, my friend,
I appreciate the time today.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
All right, thank you, John hoddle up, get in here.
If you're lined up here, you gotta go over the
middle with at the score.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Great. How do we make that happen?
Speaker 4 (30:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Bud Tennyson does.
Speaker 7 (30:35):
Makes sense of your money with citizens Official Bank of
ELI manning.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Awesome stuff from John desize're there talking about the New
Orleans Saints. Great previews. Should be a fun game.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
The Giants Foundation will host a five K racing Kids
run presented by Quest on Sunday, October twenty sixth nine
am MetLife Stadium net Proceeds will benefit the Giants Foundation.
A five O one C three nonprofit corporation. All participants
were a CV commemorative and after the race day for
a post race festival with appearances by Giants Legends and
a live DJ registered that with giants dot Com.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Slash five K had.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
A chance to talk to Giants wide receiver Wandell Robinson
a bit earlier this week.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Joined here by Waldell Robinson wondoll.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
When you went back and you looked at kind of
what the passing off has looked like with Jackson last
week on tape, what you see I.
Speaker 8 (31:19):
Say, I mean a lot of it was quick throws,
just trying to get the ball out of his hands.
I mean, we play they were a pretty big zone team,
and that was kind of the plan, get the ball
out of our hands quick, and really it was really
making himself the run first and so I felt like
we were able to do that and just get the
ball out quick and remember especially just making him comfortable
as first start. Didn't want him to have to try
and do too much.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
So yes to the.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Plan and look at it the way the Saints play
this week and some of the analytics they're a pretty
heavy zoned team too, right.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
Yeah, yeah, they play some zone. They'll mix it up
a little bit too placing man, So we got to
be ready for both. Especially you know now that the
leagu's out, we never know what teams may be trying
to do.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Obviously, this is the first week you've had practice sinsible.
League neighbors said, the season end the injury, What do
you guys have to do as a group. No one
guy can replace what league neighbors can do, So what
can you guys do as a group to try to
alleviate his loss?
Speaker 8 (32:05):
Again, we all got to work together, especially just working
with Jackson. Even the tight ends are kind of a
little bit of a helping hand now too, and a
lot of us especially mean, it's like kind of expanding
a little bit of the routetreet that we have. And
at the end of the day, we just got to
go out there and get up.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
How much do you guys have to be more flexible
going into different spots now? Right you don't have the
league he can you can isolate them. How much do
you guys kind of moving around to the different spots
now with him not being the staple out there.
Speaker 8 (32:30):
Yeah, we're definitely moving around, I say, especially means they
probably playing a little bit more in different places that
we hadn't played. But at the end of the day,
I think it'll be good for us just moving us
around and defense is not knowing exactly what we can do.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
In the offseason, you told about you were excited about
getting a chance to play outside a little bit more.
Now you're gonna have the chance to probably play outside
a little bit more. Are you excited to be able
to do that a little bit more now in regular
season action and kind of show every what you can.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Do out there?
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (32:52):
Yeah, I'm saying, just just someone that I can do everything.
I can play inside, I can play outside, run the
intermediate stuff, run the deep stuff, run just the whole
routes tree even being a smaller guy, and just prove
everybody wrong in that aspect.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
You know, having that one big wide receiver oute there,
you can create the big plays or he can attract
so must attention that creates big plays for someone else.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Right, What are some of the things that.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
A team can do to try to manufacture some more
explosives even if you don't have that kind of one
guy that the other team is kind of locked in
and focused on.
Speaker 8 (33:20):
Yeah, I mean, I think it goes back to game planning.
And that's why I think our coaches are doing a
really good job of is figuring out what matchups to
get us one on ones in favorable matchups that we
really really like and I feel like we can hit
explosives out of them.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
How important is it to kind of keep the energy
up in the room too, because obviously you lose a
guy like that, can it can kind of depress the
room a little bit.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
How how have you enslaved by being the veterans in there?
Try to kind of keep the energy up in your.
Speaker 8 (33:40):
Room, you know, being just being the same people that
we have been every day, and you know, encouraging the
guys and letting them know that at the end of
the day, this is the next man up league, and
guy's got to be ready for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
They should be excited.
Speaker 8 (33:51):
Obviously being upset them the leak's not there, but some
of the guys that haven't gotten to play as much,
they're they're going to get out there.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
And then finally I talk about the energy, how much
energy has is forty four? And then and then number
six kind of brought to the offense a little bit
just because of the way they play The game now a.
Speaker 8 (34:05):
Tremendous amount, especially Scott. You know, you see him trying
to run through somebody, it makes you like, Okay, if
he's gonna do that, I gotta.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I definitely go.
Speaker 8 (34:11):
I gotta go back my off or I gotta go
catch this ball. He's doing everything that he has to do.
And same thing with Jackson. Sometimes I'm like, you know,
you need to chill out trying to punch people.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
With your hand.
Speaker 8 (34:20):
But that energy right there is like, that's my quarterback
and I'll do anything out there for him. So it
makes everybody masch that energy and play up to their
standard too.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Thanks Adough, So thank you. That's one of the Robbins
and good stuff out of him.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
Now let's turn our attention to the hey coach of
the New York Football Giants, coming off as first one
of the year with his starting quarterback Jackson Dart, but
now carrying on without my league neighbors. To talk about
that and a whole lot more, Bob pop up with
the head coach of the New York Football Giants, Brian Dable.
Speaker 7 (34:46):
The Giants we're in New Orleans to take on the Saints.
As always, were joined by the head coach of the
New York Giants, Brian Dable and coach. Obviously, last week
turned out really well with the way things worked and
take down the undefeated Chargers. As you did the look
back on it and talk to the team about it,
what are some of the things that really you were
(35:07):
most proud of with the way the team competed last week.
Speaker 9 (35:11):
Yeah, it was a sixty minute game, and you know
each unit, you know, worked hard to do their jobs
to help us.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Win the game.
Speaker 9 (35:18):
And you know it made some big plays there in
critical moments. Third down was improved, you know, red zone
a little bit better, still can improve in that area.
Took care of the ball, got the ball on defense.
Jamie had a great punt there backed up almost seventy
yards that really changed field position. Was a big play
(35:39):
for us. So all around team win.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
All Right.
Speaker 7 (35:42):
You take on the New Orleans Saints, who you played
last year at MetLife Stadium, but Carr was the quarterback.
He's not the quarterback now. As you study this team
and you get ready to play them, what are some
of the things, with Kellen Moore being the new head
coach that you've looked at and said, you know, hey,
these are things this week that if we do not
(36:03):
do defensively, we're going to get hurt.
Speaker 5 (36:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (36:07):
Well again, three of the four four games they've played
have come right down to the fourth quarter, which is
what we expect. Tough competitive team starts with Kamara. He's
a dynamic running back. He can run every run, but
he makes a lot of his plays on the perimeter.
Cutback screen game is something that I think he's been
(36:31):
very good at. And you know, wheel routs out of
the backfield, options, wraps out of the backfield. I mean,
this guy's an exceptional running back and I think it
starts there. I think they did a good job last
week against Buffalo. I've really mix in the match in formations, motions,
using different guys in different spots. And then you know,
(36:54):
after the running game, they you know, between the Lave
and Shahed on the perimeter, both fast. Alve is an excellent,
exceptional route runner. Shaheed is is dynamic with the ball
in his hands as he is a punt return game,
but they'll give him jet sweeps and reverses that we're
gonna have to be dialed into on our on our
force outside. And then Spencer, I think is a you know,
(37:17):
a good rhythm quarterback. He gets the ball out and
goes to the right spot and you know, does a
good job with the action game. If it's not there,
can use his legs. You know, he's athletic player that
makes loose plays and keeps the chains moving. And you
know it'll be a loud environment and we're gonna have
to do a good job of communicating and tackling and
(37:39):
making sure that the ball doesn't go over ahead.
Speaker 7 (37:42):
Coach, you mentioned loud environment, and I know you'll do things.
You did things during the course of the week to
try to recreate that. Can you ever get close to it?
As far as trying to recreate it, you know, you do.
Speaker 9 (37:56):
The best you can. You know, we've played in a
lot of loud stadiums. This is certainly one of them.
Our quarterback is playing a lot of loud ones, you know,
being down there at Alabama, you know SEC is pretty
loud down there. But every every i'd say venue is
a little different. This one is very loud. Been there
a number of times, and all you can do is,
(38:16):
you know, jack up the music or the crowd noise
as loud as you can and try to make it
difficult down to players. During the week to force you know,
over communication, coach.
Speaker 7 (38:28):
When you take a look at them defensively, and this
front seven especially, I mean you've got Jordan, who's an
eight time pro bowler, Grandison's second in the league in
sacks with four and a half, Brazi is a really
good player inside, and then you have to Mario Davis
and Pete Warner at the backers, all active players. When
(38:50):
you've looked at them and studied them, what are some
of the things that have impressed you with the way
they're playing this year.
Speaker 9 (38:56):
Yeah, I'd say they're a physical unit that gives it
gives great for they get, like you said, a lot
of veterans on their team that know how to play
the game.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (39:05):
Just to have a such a tremendous amount of respect
for Davis the way he's played, the style that he
plays with. I mean, this guy, this guy will smack you, uh,
and he is. I think he's a load. We got
to do a great job of getting a hat on him.
And then you know when it comes down to like
Cam Jordan, like you said, and got Chow's in there
(39:28):
a veteran guy too that you know, they do a
great job playing stout up front, and I think they
got some good players in the back end. You know,
kool Aid was a very good player at Alabama. Sticky
corner a very good technique. Alante that you know plays
inside in their subpackage, is extremely fast. And the two safeties,
you know, sank Or the rookie and Reed can can
(39:48):
really run.
Speaker 7 (39:50):
Coach, obviously, last week was was awesome and you and
you got that win. I know that that doesn't satisfy
you or your players. Can you talk about that mentality
of sort of stacking performances like you talk about it
during training camp, like stack good practice is now trying
to stack wins and and and sort of how important
(40:11):
that is for the group.
Speaker 9 (40:14):
Yeah, you know this is a this is a one
week league, So you put to bed the previous week's
game on Monday and every everything you got into the
week you're playing. So our goal is to play well
each week, to do the things we need to do
to give us a chance. And you know this will
certainly be a challenge down here, going on the road,
and you know, playing in our first row game with
(40:36):
with Jackson, and everybody's going to have to do their
job and do it at a high level coach.
Speaker 7 (40:42):
You appreciate the time.
Speaker 9 (40:44):
Thanks Pop.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
We thank Brian Dabole, Wandel Raminson, john the seizure, and
of course Theo Johnson for joining us this week on
The Giants lital Podcast, brought to you by Citizens, the
official bank of the Giants. From game day to your
everyday financial needs, Giants can get the most out of
every moment with Citizens. Learn more at Citizens bank dot
com slash Giants. Thanks so much for being with us, everybody,
(41:08):
Giants in Saints Sunday one o'clock. You can check out
Big Blue Kickoff live on Saturday morning with Mark Melisis
and I at seven am. Again, that's on Sports Radio
sixty six Wfan. And then on Sunday Moose starts the
Football Day at nine with his football preview show, and
then we have myself and Tiki Barber at eleven am
(41:29):
kickoff at one. It'll be a nice work up. You
can watch the Giants listen to the Giants on the
radio right up at the Yankee Baseball which takes place
on a Sunday afternoon. Thanks for being with us, everybody.
We'll talk to you next time on The Giants Little
Podcast
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