Former NFL QB Matt Simms | Giants Huddle | New York Giants

Former NFL QB Matt Simms | Giants Huddle | New York Giants

The Giants huddle is brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the New York Giants. From game day celebrations to your everyday financial needs. Big Blue fans can get the most out of every moment with Citizens. Learn more at citizensbank.com/giants as we welcome you to the Hackinack Meridian Health podcast studio. Keep getting better. Bob Papa joined by SiriusXM’s Matt Sims to talk a little big blue. And Matt, I had a chance to watch practice the other day. very spirited practice. What was the first impression that you got in watching the Giants in person as you watch them go about their work? I I think the excitement of the quarterback room, the addition of Russell Wilson, uh the fact that the offense, the team seems to be responding extremely well to him and his presence, uh and just the way that he carries himself. He carries himself as a veteran quarterback and a quarterback that’s won a Super Bowl. So, I think those things are very important and and ultimately uh they they lead to a little bit more uh just that stuff kind of spreads a little bit more out to the rest of the football team when you have confidence in the position. Jameus Winston obviously brings veteran experience. He was a former number one overall pick uh in the National Football League. He’s been there, done that. It’s a very unique room, isn’t it? It is. It is. I mean, they they got it all, man. It’s kind of like me and you, you know, doing this together. You know, we’re not exactly the same cat, but we got different ways to do it, and we have fun doing it. And the same thing for that quarterback room. I think that’s what’s really fun for Dball is that he’s got four guys that are more than capable of doing it. And the biggest thing for for him and KFKA is really just finding what that right recipe is for each one if they do have the opportunity to be the guy. Jackson Dart continues to get better and better. And he made a play in practice on Monday that had us both like, “Wow.” Yeah, this is this is what we expected, right? Is is these wow type of football plays. And uh he was dropping back, looked to his left, wasn’t there, escaped out of the pocket, was being chased, running full speed, right? Full speed to his right, and he saw someone open coming across the middle. I actually should have taken a note of who who the completion was to, but I was so impressed by the actual throw, but full speed run, turned, contorted his upper body, and absolutely ripped a laser beam across the middle of the field. Threw it so damn hard he fell over. Uh, so just the athleticism and the ability to make those type of dynamic throws, I think, are extremely important for the position, especially modern football. And Jackson Dart did a billy yesterday, so really small example of what we expect to see from him going forward. And then let’s talk a little bit about Tommy Devito because um you know he’s the local kid. He’s the guy that’s familiar with this offense having been in it now in year number three. Yeah. But you know when you’re the fourth quarterback the reps are very limited but it seems like anytime he gets a rep, he wins his rep. Might only be two. It might only be two throws at the end of a period, but his batting average has been off the hooks so far this preseason. Yeah, his batting I mean his Hall of Fame batting average right now, but you’re right. He had a few plays yesterday and what I love is as soon as he steps in to the huddle behind the line of scrimmage, there’s a presence there of a guy who is very comfortable, right? And the most comfortable quarterback in this QB room, right? The most experienced with the head coach, with the offensive coordinator. So, when he is playing, you can definitely see that confidence that he has the position. And it it’s not it’s not like this parlor trick anymore. This dude’s got it. He’s a he’s a he’s an NFL backup. He can do it and it’s really impressive. And and for me being being a homer and all that. Uh I don’t have to say it in a sense of like, oh, it’s like it’s a game or it’s like this this party favor, right? No, this guy’s an NFL quarterback. He is a highle football player and made tremendous decisions yesterday, but also delivered the football with a lot of accuracy and a lot of power. And uh man, he he looks really sharp right now early in camp, right? And uh we’ll see how this whole competition shakes out. But the Giants know full well that you ain’t sneaking them on the practice squad anymore. That that that story that narrative is over with. They were doing something yesterday and I think this is you know we we the media will chart throws and who’s hit this and who’s thrown this many touchdowns and who’s thrown interceptions and it’s common for all 32 teams. People are shooting videos during the practices, right? But something happened yesterday that I kind of never really noticed, but you and I were standing in the end zone and it was during one of those periods where offense does not work against defense and they were working on cadence, snap count. share with the audience what this is all about because it seems so basic but you hear with some teams are having some issues with new quarterbacks and snap count that it’s something that I think all of us that watch football cover football don’t realize the amount of work that goes into it and why it’s so important. It is extremely important. It’s something I think that in modern football sometimes we tend to overlook, especially in college football nowadays where everything is on the clap, look at the sideline and go back. Uh in the NFL though, that is not the case. In the NFL, this is a vital tool to the success of your offense, to the rhythm of your offense, to the power that your quarterback has and controlling in game uh the the tempo of the game, managing the football game, the big picture. And when we saw that exercise, Russell Wilson was the starting quarterback on the field. He was going through his mechanics at the line of scrimmage. We saw the other three quarterbacks essentially mimming Russell Wilson’s body language, the tone in which he was saying, the cadence and and that is so important with teams that I have been a part of. We had had multiple sessions essentially almost like listening sessions, right? where you would go into that room, the starting quarterback would give their cadence. We would go through all the different cadence that we had in certain uh situations that that we knew would be important, and the other quarterbacks had to essentially copy and paste what they heard and do their best to copy the rhythm, the tone, and the pace as much as possible of that starting quarterback. So, for whatever reason, if someone rolls an ankle or this or that, you can go in and immediately go through the procedure without any hiccups or or repercussions to the rest of the team. Huddle up, get in here. If you’re lined up here, you got to go over the middle with it to score, right? How do we make that happen? I don’t know, but Citizens does make sense of your money with Citizens, official bank of Eli Manning. And and that has to be a a very unique challenge um for like let’s just say Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart has been the man at Old Miss for the last three years, right? He has his cadence. Yes. He has his own rhythm. Jameus Winston has been a starting quarterback in this league. You know, now he’s been an offbench starting quarterback, but for his first bulk of his career in Tampa, he was the guy, right? he was the starting quarterback. How hard is that from a Jackson Dart standpoint, specifically as a rookie, to be able to now say, I’ve got to delete my way of doing it because I need to do it how Russell Wilson does it. Yeah. And and it’s a process that everyone in the NFL has to go through at some point where you kind of have to leave some of the things that really got you there to the door right behind and start to reshape, reframe, polish what you’ve always done. And and for Jackson, hey, this no problem at all. Like to learn from a Super Bowl winning quarterback and a guy who’s been around the league as long as he has and has been as successful as he has now. I know recently it’s not quite so favorable in the media and the narrative that surrounds Russell Wilson, but that being said, Russell Wilson is a pro. Russell Wilson at at uh for the majority of his career was one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. So, Jackson Dart, I think, although it may be difficult to to put aside what he has learned through the years and to dive feet first, head first into whatever Russell and Dave and all them are doing. But at the same time, man, I mean, it it’s an awesome guy to learn from. It’s an awesome guy to be around and to go through the mechanics that way because clearly Russell has played long enough to have gone through a lot of different scenarios and situations. And when you’re playing for a team like the Seattle Seahawks and Pete Carol and you’re playing in these hostile environments, he’s definitely learned a few tricks that that most rookies would not even really actually think is a part of the NFL game yet. share the story with our audience that that you told me about being a young quarterback being in Atlanta. Yeah. Matt Ryan is the starting quarterback, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL at the time, right? And what it was like in a meeting room to the detail of, you know, fans again in media, we think of watching film, knowing your playbook, all these other things, but like you guys spent a lot of time on snap count. Yeah. And and just like this little room that we’re in here right now, Matt Ryan would Matt Laflur, hey Matt, can you stand up real quick? Matt Ryan, get up. And he’d go through his procedure of his snap count as if it was the real deal. And you could see it too. And it’s so amazing. It’s it’s like a method actor almost, right? Like as soon as he got into that position, you knew that he saw the line of scrimmage, he saw the defense, said Green 80. you know, the hand mechanics, all this, the body language, the forward lean, uh, even the subtle thing like Matt Ryan spotted out immediately for me, I would have my hands at the side a lot and then right before the snap, my hands would go up. He’s like, man, he goes, “Everyone knows when the snap is coming.” He doesn’t doesn’t matter what you say. He goes, “You got to keep it the same every time.” So, that’s something that for me being in the fourth or fifth year in the NFL, you know, Matt Ryan’s like, “Hey, man, that you got to clean that up a little bit.” you know, and that’s the discussions that you have in a QB room that it’s tough for us fans and and media, right, to really see that, but that’s the amount of detail that you’re going through with each other. And for Matt Ryan, he was a great support system for me as a young football player trying to be a Matt Ryan kind of guy one day. And that’s what this quarterback’s room is going to do for themselves, too, right? Because ultimately, one guy plays, the rest, hey, you’re a caddy. you’re a caddy, you got to be you got to know which club to use and when and why it’s important. But the only difference is is that you got to be able to be the guy hitting the ball, too. So, you got to go from being a caddy to them being Tiger Woods and getting it on the green in one shot, you know, when when it called upon. So, Matt Ryan did a great job of that with me. Matt Shaw was another great resource for me. Jackson Dart has Jamus Winston and Russell Wilson. I mean, that that is awesome. Now, hey, two different football players, but still to hear the opinions of two different players and how they go about the game, it’s just it’s more experience and evidence and information that Jackson can can use at his disposal if it makes sense to him. Or just say, “Hey, that’s a good way. I’m I’m glad that it worked for you. It’s a good way to think about it. It’s not quite my style or my fit, but nonetheless, having that information uh at at your disposal is very important.” You were so fired up that you got Paul Dino fired up. I know. I mean, we should have yelled at Paul when he walked in. He does he not know the deal here? I mean, he just walks right in front of the camera. I mean, even Pearson’s like, “What the hell are you doing, Paul?” He loves This isn’t a serious show, Paul. Yeah, that’s right. He loves doing shows. Um, so let’s talk a little bit about this offensive line. Obviously, Andrew Thomas is on the pup list right now, right? Um, so Hudson’s getting a lot of reps at left tackle. They’re rotating people in and out. Uh we’ve talked about on this podcast a lot about Evan Neil and what we’ve seen out of him. Yeah, it certainly looks like at least on paper, well, not just on paper, but from what we’ve seen in practices that there’s a lot more competition going on on this offensive line. Yeah. Which is good. It’s healthy for everybody. It’s healthy for all the skilled players too because every year it’s that old school saying we go where you go and we’re always talking about who the O line and the D line. They are who set the tone for every football team across the NFL. That’s why we’re always talking about the same group of eight to 10 teams every year because they got talent in the defense and offensive line and they can be physical and they can push bodies around. And for Evan Neil, uh, John Michael Smith, he’s a little bit of an undersized center. He’s definitely put on some weight and some some strength here this off seasonason. So, that’s important. But now having a guy like Evan Neil who is getting uh reps at guard, right, it gives your team a little bit of a flexibility with whoever that that sixth or seventh man is at the line of scrimmage to know that we can move some pieces around. We can kind of make it work because again, injury always plays a factor, right, with every team and their offensive lines. the amount of times these guys roll get rolled up in passing situations and run games, all that. So, having Evan Neil with that size and that ability to anchor in passing situations like a tackle, but to still put all of that size and lean in in a run game is very important. And that’s why I think even Scataboo, his health, you know, is an important thing because getting some of those tough dirty yards in critical situations where everybody in the damn stadium knows that it’s a run, right? You still got to get those things done. receiver position. Um, Gunnar Ovki had an incredible end of practice yesterday. Made some acrobatic catches. Montreal Washington asserted himself. Jaylen Hyatt had a really good practice. I guess a lot is going to be said though on Saturday when the Giants play in Buffalo against the Bills. have no idea who’s going to play, but I think some of the names that I just mentioned are obvious choices barring some injuries that they’re going to get some reps. And you know, it it it’s kind of interesting this back end of the receiving core of who’s going to step up and assert themselves and make themselves part of the equation. It it’s extremely important. And I would say that’s that’s probably one of the first things you kind of notice about the football team is that we know who the first three are. Who are going to be four and five that really kind of fit their roles really well. And of course, every defense is going to be focused on who? Malik Neighbors, rightfully so. He’s the most explosive football player on the team. He’s a guy that can take a slant and go and take it to the house, right? That’s important. But we do uh you know the offense needs to protect him in ways formationally shifts motions uh to give him opportunities to do stuff outside of the norm to make it difficult for defenses. But a lot of that pressure also though goes to the rest of the receiving room too to make sure that they can uh alleviate some of that pressure for Russell Wilson for wherever the quarterback is, the running game, uh to making sure that they they can really attack defenses uh with with the skill group that they have. And Russell, we haven’t seen it much in the past in his career of really having a bonafide tight end or highlighting the tight end. But I do think with this offense, with Johnson, with Bellinger, that has to be a big aspect of their game and how they develop as an offense going forward. If you want to know how to manage two minutes of crunchtime football, I’m your man. But if you’re wondering about a long-term financial plan, you should talk to Citizens. Hey, I can also talk lawn care. I’d like to learn about a mowing routine. Yes, I knew I could help make sense of your money with Citizens. And I think as fans watch the game on Saturday, um I think they really need to focus on special teams. who’s returning punts, right? Who’s returning kickoffs? Because you have Amir Smith, Marsette. He’s getting more reps as a receiver. We know what he can do in the return game. Definitely gave the Giants a boost. Gunnar Ovki, who missed all of last season because of injured reserve two years ago, he had a punt return for a touchdown, right? Montreal Washington has been fielding punts in practice. So, I, you know, if you’re a fan, don’t throw that part of the preseason game away. Don’t say, “Well, it’s first preseason game of the year, you know.” No. Because these guys that are getting reps, how you handle a punt, how you handle a kickoff, how you return it are all going to go into this hopper at the end of training camp to determine who’s going to get that last receiver spot. And what I thought was great about our conversation with Joe Shane the other day is is that they the Giants do a great job of making that very known to the players who are are kind of on that fringe of yeah, you’re not in the top five or six of this group, but you are in the top one or two in special teams and and that is your path to making the roster. And there’s so many football players and so many stories, even a friend of mine too that that I grew up with here in the New Jersey area, played nine years in the league. Blake Castanza, Ramo guy, right? went to Lehi and really good middle linebacker, but he had to make uh hi his keep and earn his keep on special teams and he became one of the best special teams players in the NFL and a guy that teams had to actually really game plan for in that sense and because of that he continued to develop at linebacker kept getting more opportunities at linebacker and and that’s something that is always overlooked in preeason but you know for us as fans and football fans we notice it when it goes wrong right And and that’s that’s the biggest thing, right? Is it’s got to be clean football on that side of the ball for special teams guys. And if they can show that that shows that consistency and that dependability, that responsibility of those positions, that’s something that guys like Joe Shane and everyone else would be so excited for. So we could talk about Abdul Carter and we can talk about Kavon Tibido. We can talk about Brian Burns who practices and takes every rep with the intensity of a Super Bowl play. Um, but it’s really what Joe Shane and the team have done, whether it’s drafting Darius Alexander, bringing in some veteran defensive line help because last year, you know, when Dexter went out, you can run on the Giants and the Giants were not great at stopping the run. and the Abdul Carter, Tibido, Burns, Packages, Exotics are never going to get used if a team gets eight yards on first down on a run. That’s right. And it’s second and two. So, um, what do you think about what they’ve done to sort of shake this out and and improve this and then we’re going to find out in game action in the preseason what it really looks like? Yeah, ultimately it’s about size and speed, right? and you got to stop the run, but also too just making sure that you can get at the passer in obvious passing situations. And you’re right, I think Alexander’s presence, the size that he has, right, to be able to clog up the middle of the defense of line is so important. Now, it’s a lot to ask of a young rookie to come out here and and be that guy right from the start, but if you can alleviate some of that pressure on Dexter from being out there, probably more plays than he should be, and leaving him for the plays that really are the gamechanging ones and the obvious passing situations, uh that that’s going to be extremely key. The team that we don’t really like a little bit further south, right, that wears Green, uh that was their ability. They had a almost 10 deep type of rotation where it didn’t matter. They can keep attacking offenses whether if it was run or pass. And I’ve been a part of teams where we were targeting specifically a certain defensive lineman. And as soon as he came out of the game, hey, we’re taking the shot. We’re doing this run play. We’re being aggressive here because we knew that would be a battle we wouldn’t be able to win consistently with some of those play concepts. So having a guy like Alexander, the other depth with with size and physicality, and then the freedom too of Bowden Bowen being able to move guys around in certain key situations, the veteran leadership now added in the back end too. Uh I think they really did a good job of kind of buttoning up some of the loose ends that they had from a year ago. Just to wrap it up, you and I both like uh the Javon Holland, Pulse, and Adbo acquisitions because these are guys with a lot of playing experience, but they’re not old guys, right? They’re both going into year five. Um, and they’re gonna, you know, the Giants had a pretty young secondary last year, but you got Drew Phillips, Tay Banks, um, Cordell Flot, but let’s talk about the guy that you really love. Who’s my guy? Nubin. Nuben. Nuben. We got to start that like Newman from Nubin. What is it about him that really caught your eye last year and why you think he’s going to make an even bigger jump this year? I just feel like he he has a knack for always being around the football and that’s something where we could talk about it. We can go through all the drills. I could teach you everything that we know about how to do this, Bobby, but you’re just you’re not going to be able to get it done. I’m sorry to let you know that. Right. But Newman has that ability, right? And I think overall that’s something that the defense with the additions on the defensive line with him as well. Holland uh now Paulsonbo you’re going to just see I think more aggressive hats flying to the football right for this New York Giants defense. And that’s something that you know we would see at spurts maybe at times but you know for Newan just now another year in the league away from the draft process right that’s something that Joe Joe Shane and us talked about yesterday right just the process of going through the draft and preparing for a 40 and all that it’s not football shape and and now guys like Banks and Nuben and and Trey Hawkins right and neighbors and neighbors right they’ve had an extra year to actually get into legitimate football shape. And I think that’s own drill. Yeah, exactly. We’re not doing three. We’re not doing 5 105. Stay as low as you can and all that BS, right? It’s No, it’s about being uh a dynamic football player, an explosive football player. And I think that’s why all those guys that we mentioned look that much sharper uh and look like veterans on the field this year. Matt, we appreciate your thoughts uh here on the Huddle. And uh if you’re new to the Huddle Podcast, make sure you subscribe to it. Huddle podcast is brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the New York Giants. From game day celebrations to your every financial need. Big Blue fans can get the most out of every moment with Citizens. Learn more at citizensbank.com/giant. So for Matt Sims, Bob Papa from the Hackinack Meridian Health podcast studio. Keep getting better.

On this episode of the Giants Huddle podcast, Bob Papa chats with former NFL quarterback, Matt Simms, about the experience of Russell Wilson, how much Jaxson Dart can learn in this quarterbacks room, and the competition on the Giants offensive line. Presented by Citizens.

00:00 – Giants quarterbacks
04:15 – Snap count
11:50 – Offensive line and wide receivers
15:45 – Special teams
17:50 – Defensive line and secondary

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