Giants Beat Reporters Round Table | Giants Huddle | New York Giants

Giants Beat Reporters Round Table | Giants Huddle | New York Giants

Welcome to another edition of the Giants podcast brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants. I’m in the Hackin Sack Health podcast studio. Keep getting better. It’s time for another Beatriter round table. I wish I went back and counted how many of these we’ve done. I think we’re probably at like five or six straight years to to to to preview the season with this. And joining me this year, as usual, we have Art Stapleton from the record. We have Paul Schwarz in the New York Post. And now we have Chris Bisnado as the fourth member of our quartet here from Giants Insider. Gentlemen, how are you? Hope you are well. I want to start with this. Uh Paul, you’ve been the longest on the beat, so we will give you the honors of going first. Age Before Beauty here. What’s the most important thing you think you learned about this team this spring and summer? Why the hell do I always go first? It’s it’s it’s it’s an honor. Yeah, I know. It’s It’s not It’s It’s one of those It’s one of those You’ve been here the longest, so you go first. What do you think? I’m going to fall asleep by the end of this, so you have to get me You have to get my words going now. All right. I I understand. This is a It’s a It’s a It’s a man. You’re a veteran. You’re a veteran, buddy. Yeah, I get it. Okay. Um Paul, Paul, this is basically the equivalent of Abdul Carter trying to get to the podium and Brian Burns saying, “No, no, no. You go away now and I’m going first.” You know what? And it’s funny because I’ve often been compared with Brian Burns in a lot of different aspects. So you’re that that’s you’re right on with that one. Um um you know what I learned? I learned that what new quarterbacks can do to the atmosphere of a room and a team. Okay, we don’t know if they’re going to add more wins yet. We think they will, but it’s just they added one, two, three new quarterbacks. And this is not going to be a referendum on Daniel Jones today, right? We’re not going to do that. But it just seems like the atmosphere and the attitude and it was like the window was open and this breath of freshness came in. All three were different. Um, I think we kind of got a sense what Russell was beforehand. I think we kind of got a sense what Jameus was beforehand. And I think those what our senses were multiplied and magnified because they are more than what we thought they were. And I think we when ever, you know, when I’ve been covering the beat, whenever you bring a rookie quarterback in who they think could be the future, that adds juice. And I’ll speak for myself, and I I would think that all four of us will say that we were either blown away or surprised that Jackson Dart was so much of a revelation this summer. So, that was my take on this team that um boy, the quarterback room is different and refreshing and interesting. Really interesting. Art, how about you? Yeah, I mean I I don’t want to, you know, just go online, but I think Paul makes a great point and it’s definitely a talking point going into the season. The idea that, you know, look, these quarterbacks, um, I I think I maybe underestimated the lack of overall leadership from the quarterback position on the team. And like Paul said, it’s not a referendum on who was here. It’s just it’s not easy to construct the quarterback room. Uh, and they brought in, you know, personalities that went from, you know, milk toast to fireball. I mean, that that’s pretty much what I was told back in March and it carried through. Uh, I think it’s interesting the way they pieced it together. Uh, you know, it was almost like a puzzle. I think Russell Wilson is the pickmeup guy. Russell Wilson is the come on guy, 7:00, like Darius Sllayton said this week, disgustingly consistent. That he’s always there for a smile. And if he didn’t do it every day, you would say, “Man, I I’m just so tired of that.” But it’s like, how are you up so much? And then I look at Jameus Winston and I think there are two sides to Jameus Winston. I think the side we see in front of the cameras, which is comic relief. And yes, that’s there, but I think Jameus Winston is also the heavy. I think he plays the heavy a little bit in this room. I think there’s accountability. I saw it this summer. a receiver dropped the ball in a walkth through and Jamus was all over him and and I think they’ve mesh meshed to the point where Russell and Jamus kind of play two sides of the coin and I think that has helped Jackson Dart as well because he can see two different guys, two different perspectives and how they handle it. So, I think Paul nailed it. Um, from March until now and now, let’s see when they get on the field and and land over on September 7th. Biz, same question to you. You can expand or go somewhere else. Yeah, I hate to give uh Schwarz so much credit, but I’m going to do it. He’s the captain here, so I’m going to have to ride with the captain, the Brian Burns of this team. Look, this organization needed a bolt of energy in the worst way, and the quarterback room has provided that this spring and summer. No question about it. The drafting of the franchise quarterback and they think is their franchise Jackson and Russell Wilson. Like Paul said it before, I’m not gonna sit here talking about Daniel Jones, but it’s a much different quarterback room now with Russell Jamus and of course bringing in Jackson. This organization was blah. Let’s face it. I remember standing in training camp last year and saying, “Oh man, it’s just like this year much different. much needed energy through the building. The future is bright with Jackson Dart. He showed that this summer and of course Russell and Art brings up a good point. You know, there’s a lot of Russell behind the scene that we don’t see. And uh he’s a leader. Everybody said that talked to this guy is just a natural leader and what he provides to this quarterback room and to this organization was much much needed. That was the biggest thing I I took from this training camp too. All right, so let’s stick with the quarterbacks then. Art and and Paul mentioned this in his first answer. Now the rubber hits the road, right? You know, the leadership is great, the feelings are great, the vibes are great. I agree with everything all you guys said. I you know, even when Eli was here, right, he led in a different way. Like I don’t feel like even he had an impact on everyone in the locker room the way Russ has had. But then Eli went out there and led in the two Super Bowls, right? So, what do you think now this is going to look like offensively when Russell Wilson gets on the field as the starting quarterback in this offense? How have they built this thing around him? How is Brian Dable and Mafka going to try to make this thing work and what will it look like with Russell Wilson as the starting quarterback? That is the $10.5 million question, right? With Russell Wilson, I mean, we know what he’s gotten off the field. And if you pay attention, whenever Russell Wilson has been talked about the last couple months, it’s always been about what he brings off the field and on the field in the huddle and personalitywise and his approach. And he has a Super Bowl ring and he’s in the same locker that he had Super Bowl week way back when at Metife. But the reality is, I think that is the biggest uncertainty and mystery regarding the Giants in that we’ve spent so much time this summer talking about what this offense looks like with Jackson Dart and asking Brian Dable about Jackson Dart. I think on Wednesday was the first press conference that Brian Dable was asked a question about Jackson Dart. Actually, I think I said that to you, Biz, you know, the idea, you know, hey, we we didn’t ask about Jackson today. and and it was actually an intriguing thing we saw in practice after the fact, Gable kind of breaking off during an individual period and working with Jackson in the end zone. But I don’t know what we’re going to see from Russ. I don’t expect to see the washed player that I thought we were going to see this season. I think he’s shown a lot more than he was given credit for in Pittsburgh. Um, you know, you look at the the touchdown interceptions in 11 games in Pittsburgh leads a team to the playoffs and the reality is if he did that this year, the Giants fans would be looking to put him in a in the Ring of Honor next year. I mean, that’s how how much of a difference it is. You know, I always talk war, you know, or the value of replacement in baseball, you know, value of replacement here for Russell Wilson and the quarterbacks, I think, is a big jump. Um, does this offense rely a little bit more on Tyrone Tracy the the you know play action? I think that’s where Russell’s at his best. And you know, we all anticipated the vertical game last year and we didn’t see it at all. Do we see the vertical game this year? Maybe guys in a little bit more space, a little bit more anticipation. Um, but I think that’s the biggest thing is that I just don’t know what this offense is going to truly look like with Russell Wilson when the lights go on and you know they’re ready to let’s go. Let’s see how good this offense can be. Because that’s why I asked Brian Dable, do you know what your offense is going to look like with Russell Wilson? And he gave me all the Russell’s a pro and Russell’s this. I don’t know what they’re going to look like. And and I’m not afraid to admit that it’s a little bit of a mystery for me when I walk into that stadium down there in FedEx and have to watch the game from like this because it’s obstructive view in the press box. All right. So, Biz Art says it’s a mystery. Put your detective hat back on here. Try to get to the bottom of this. What are we looking at here? What is his offense going to be? Yeah. Yeah. Look, Art’s got a point. We’re not going to know till we start seeing him playing on, you know, starting next week in Washington. Uh but what we do expect is this and you know Brian’s Dave’s never going to come out and tell us well we’re going to attack down the field more and all that stuff because you know Dave will rather have 15 root canals and tell us anything you know what he expects to do this season uh what they what the way they’re going to attack it. But look what we expect right John uh we expect Russell to be more vertical. That’s what they want from him and we’ll see how that plays out. We’re going to see a lot of boots. That’s what Russell loves to do. and guys like Slate, look, there’s there was times last season, we all look at the film after the games, I’m sure, where there was guys open down the field that the previous quarterback just didn’t pull the trigger or didn’t see and all that. So, this offense now is going to be a lot of, well, we’re going to get guys down the field and we’re going to hit them down the field, okay? And that’s what Russell is going to provide. So, because look, that’s what Russell provides, right? We all know about the moon ball. Everybody talks about that, but he’s a vertical guy. He gets it down the field and that’s what Brian Dable and Mike want to do more. As far as turnovers, Russell’s not I’m sorry, John. No, go ahead, bro. Go ahead, B. Look, Russell’s not a turnover machine. That should cut down. Okay. But that’s what they hope for. Let’s get it down the field. Let’s be more aggressive. Let’s get guys like Darius Sllayton more involved down the field. Okay. And let’s just see how it works out. Yeah. Look, more explosive plays and and and fewer turnovers, I think, is is like the brief summary of what you want this to be. Paul, you can you could touch the offense, too. And I also just add to what Art said, you know, he said there was first time all offseason there was no questions about Jackson Dart. I think what the Giants want is that no more questions about Jackson Dart for a while because that means that things are going well when you’re asking about Russell Wilson and what the offense is doing, right? So, I think that that’s going to kind of be the dynamic here as we move forward a little bit. Yeah, that’s that’s um going to be wishful thinking. You know what I mean? It’s it’s it’s just going to be I mean, people would be talking about Jackson Dart at halftime of the Washington game if uh the Giants don’t have three touchdowns. That’s just the reality of a young exciting quarterback. Um I mean, I think Art really screwed up by mentioning war wins against replacement with Biz on this thing because he’s already got De’s, you know, what’s what’s De’s win against replacement? Huh? Who? There we go. There we go. Yeah. Who’s Davis? All right. Keep keep the baseball stuff out of this. I don’t even know what wins against Fair enough. Runs runs batted in home. All right. Okay. Now I’m a real dinosaur. I get it. I even care about batting average for God’s sake. Yeah, me too. It’s a Oh, boy. You got Boy, you’re really old now, buddy. People go, “Well, he’s hitting 217.” But I’m like, “Yeah, you stopped me at 217.” Well, he’s Okay, forget it. Forget it. Well, oh, the question was about the Giants offense, right? Not about Okay, I get it. Um, you know what? I hear what you guys are saying. I almost think it’s going to be a little more conservative. You know what I mean? I I think they want to run the ball. I don’t think they look at Russ and say, “We got Russ 2012 to 2020. We got Russ. We got Dangerous. You know, we got the the Seattle.” I think they know exactly what he is. And I agree with you guys. I’m not sure. I mean, he looked fine. I mean, I I was too dazzled by Jackson Dart to really, you know, I mean I mean I mean he looked fine. You know what I mean? As Biz said, yes, the boots, the rolling to the right. I get it. You know, he still doesn’t fire the ball over the middle. You know, people say that’s not like part of his arsenal anymore. This way, right over the top, beautiful. But I think they’re going to want to run the ball. And I think they’re going to want this to be kind of a ball control defense team. You know, they’re going to want to say, you know what, Russ is going to be really smart. He’s not going to create a lot of turnovers. We need more explosive plays, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to try to get a bundle of them. We’re going to get them when they’re there. We’re gonna, you know, try to get 21 points or 24 points and give this ball over to our supposedly ferocious defense. So, I don’t think it’s going to be Russ Russ. It’s going to be Russ can make the plays. He’s going to do what he can do. He’ll be consistent and obviously low turnovers. But, we’ll see. I I mean, Russ look fine to me. You know, people ask me, “How’s Russ? How’s Russ?” He doesn’t look physically washed. He definitely does not look physically washed to me. He throws the ball. I mean, I didn’t watch him in practice in Seattle, but I don’t look at an old quarterback who’s like kind of just trying to get by on guile, but we’ll see. We’ll see. I mean, but the the decline the last three years, which is not crazy statistically, but it’s there. So, I’m a little torn between that. And I think because of that, they’re going to say, you know what, we got Tyrone Tracy, we got Cam Scatteraboo, we got Motor, we got some guys who will throw it to Neighbors, and let’s just keep it tight, keep it together, hit a shot when we can, and let uh Abdul Carter and the and the boys and Dexter Lawrence have their fun. Yeah. Yeah. And go ahead, Biz. Yeah. So, like look, that’s what he did in Pittsburgh a lot last year, right? They had the defense and all that. And by the way, Biz, what he did when he was good in Seattle. Yeah. That’s how he won in Seattle. Yeah. I mean, they, you know, like Paul said, this isn’t, don’t mistake what I was saying about the Giants going to come out winging it all over the field, but they’re going to go more, they’re going to be more aggressive with Russ, but like Paul just said, you know, like they did in Pittsburgh with Arthur Smith with Russ last year. They took their shots with pickets down the field, but that, you know, they game plan was the defense. Let’s run the ball, try to, and that’s what the Giants, you’re going to see a lot of that. You saw a lot of that in practices in the joint, like a lot of that, a lot of those little short passes from Russ and all that. and then you take your shot. That’s what you’re going to see this year because they have the confidence this year that Russ could go vertical. Okay, that’s the difference. Russ could go vertical this year. The vertical game was not there with Daniel last year. Okay, this year they feel, hey, we have it back and Dave’s an aggressive guy and they’re going to take their shots. It wouldn’t surprise me, John, and guys, that if they run a very similar offense to what they ran last year with Daniel Jones, obviously take the running aspect out of it, but they really didn’t have too much running in Daniel Jones aspect either. Coming back from the ACL, you know, they want ball placement, priority, getting guys in space. When you’re throwing the ball to a slant on Wel Robinson, if you throw the ball here to the defender side, he’s getting stuck by the safety. If you throw it here, he’s maybe running for 60 yards for a touchdown. I mean, the ball placement last year was awful. um the idea of seeing guys open when they schemed guys open open and we all know we all remember the flee flicker in Germany and that was kind of the you know the end point the endgame for where you know things ended with Daniel Jones and everything else but you know they schemed two guys open down the field one guy was running free at 25 yards I think is still running he’s you know he’s all the way in Switzerland going hey I’m open I’m open and they took a sack back. So, I I think that’s kind of also where this offense is is that they believe that Russell Wilson’s accuracy is going to be a big jump in this offense. Get Malik Neighbor. When did Malik Neighbors catch the ball in space last year? Every time Malik Neighbors breaking three, four tackles, the best play, his highlight of the season was the Colts game and he had to break three tackles on the sideline to get down the field. So, I I think they’re really trying to come up conceptually to be able to take advantage of a quarterback like Wilson and then when Dart comes in, whether it’s this year, next year, whenever, the idea of if he could put the ball where it’s supposed to be, it’s a catch and run offense. That’s what Dable wants. That’s what he’s always wanted in this offense. And I think for the first time, they have an opportunity to be able to take advantage of something like that. Yards after catch. Paul, you had the story at the end of last season and I remember you did the math the the yards after catch for Well Robinson. It was unheard of. You know, it was almost like I don’t know if you remember off the top of your head, but it was one of those things where it’s like Wandell had an unbelievable number of catches and then when you looked at how many yards per catch, it was it was one of the worst you think you’d ever see. One of the worst in the league. Yeah. I think seven and a half, right? It was seven and a half. 7.1, something like that. Yeah. I I I remember I I talked to Wandelle this this summer and I said, um, let’s look at your stats. And I go, what was it? 91 or 93. What were his catches? 93 was it? 93, I believe. And I and he good, right? Yeah. Good. I said, good. Yeah. Then I look at the and he just he and he just said, “It’s got to be 10 easy, you know.” I said, “What?” He said, “It’s got to be 10 easy.” Like maybe 10 and a half, maybe 11, something like that. But it’s got to be 10 easy. And it was like seven really hard last year. Yeah. You know, I like what you guys um um I think it was on I think Sean Sean O’Hara was talking to Theo on one of your your um your broadcasts, right, John? And yeah, he said about Russ, he said, you know, so far in in the summer, I don’t see Russ throwing the ball, you know what I mean? When I cut, you know, and that was not part of the Daniel Jones offense, right? Like I said, anticipation the anticip he said he said when I when I cut the ball is in the air. I almost never see him throw the ball and um you know so which means that you don’t get your head turned around he’s going to hit you in the back of the head but like that is what we’re talking about right that doesn’t have to ball down the field but just get Theo bang bang and you know maybe Theo maybe Theo just catches it for seven yards you know maybe it’s a first down maybe it’s first maybe it’s first down and now it’s second and three maybe he catch it in stride bang and he turns it up because we we think he can do that so that is it yes you guys are all saying the same thing which is right is that it’s not going to be pyrochnics but get the ball to the guys where they need to get it and then let’s see look I think we’re all fascinated we’ve seen Darius Sllayton play a million games we’ve seen Wandel Robinson play a bunch of games we’ve seen um you know Malik play what you know his 14 15 games last year we’ve all seen Jaylen Hyatt play games and never see him score a touchdown you know could this help Jaylen Hyatt you know maybe he’s out there on you wide and all of a sudden they got the fourth quarterback or some some slow safety lined up. Okay, maybe Russ can hit him. So that’s it. I mean, I don’t think anyone looks at the Giants weapons and says they are loaded. Holy smokes, they got a treat that’s loaded. They’re not loaded, but maybe Russ can get them to do what they do best and let’s go here. Let’s let’s let’s move the ball down the field a little bit. Yeah, it’s funny. I think I go back to the the one bomb that Russ threw in in the preseason when he let that ball go to Bo Collins. He was almost surrounded by two guys. Bo Collins had not gone open yet when that ball came out of Russ’s hands, but he anticipated the bad angle the safety took and it turned into an 80 yard catch. So, I think that’s a perfect example. All right, I’m going to leave this open-ended for each of you. Give me your X factor for the Giants offense this season. If you want to hit the quarterback again, you can, but we’ve done that, I think, a lot. This can be a player. It can be just something they need to do better. It could be a unit. Any way you want to go, we’ll go Biz Art Schwarz. Biz, why don’t you lead us off with this one? My X factor for the offense is going to be Theo Johnson. I think Theo is gonna be a big part of this. Everybody talks about when you talk about Giants office, talk about Malik, right? I’m going to talk about Russ. But you know what? I think this tight end room is going to be a big factor. And Theo Johnson is gonna be a big factor of this offense. I I would go I’m gonna go player as well. Mentioned him a little bit earlier. Tyrone Tracy. I I think Tyrone Tracy with what he did in such a limited resume as a running back last year in the NFL and just kind of growing by fire, so to speak, during the season. I I really think that Tracy thinks he can be something special. And I think by watching him, I think he could be by the end of this season, we’re talking about a top 12 back in the league. Now, what does that mean? It doesn’t mean anything if they don’t produce and they don’t, you know, win games. But I really think that this offense, as much as it’s going, yes, it’s going to revolve around Malik Neighbors number one. And I agree with Biz. I think Theo Johnson could have the second number of targets on the team, but I think Tyrone Tracy could be a player that, you know, he’s gonna get a lot of attention because of the fantasy football aspect. So, a lot of people week one to week two might be talking Tyrone Tracy, Tyrone Tracy. I think for this offense, all the rookies we tal about last year need to take a big step forward. I think Tracy 800 yards rushing last year. If you’re talking a full season and a quarterback that doesn’t turn the ball over, you could see Tyrone Tracy at 1,200 yards rushing rushing with without even forcing it. Like I don’t even know if you have to be the most optimistic person in the world to think Tyrone Tracy could be the guy that does that. The Giants Foundation will host a 5K racing kids run presented by Quest on Sunday, October 26th at 9:00 a.m. in Metife Stadium. Their proceeds will benefit the Giants Foundation. All participants will receive a commemorative t-shirt. After the race, stay for a post-race festival with appearances by Giants Legends and the Live DJ. Register now at giants.com/5k. The Giants Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation. Huddle up. Get in here. If you’re lined up here, you got to go over the middle with it to score. Great. 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. Paul, does Tyrone put the ball on the ground concern you heading into the season? Well, I didn’t hear you. I got I got our landscapers now all of a sudden. Oh, okay. I I saw a guy sneaking up behind you there. Does Tyrone Tracy putting the ball on the ground concern you heading into the season? that that’s something he’s got to pay attention to. I mean, talked about how he got grippers and off of Amazon in the spring and how he’s working on ball security. You know, I don’t want to, you know, John now has a colleague that he spends his weekends with who had a uh ball security issue. Uh seemed to figure out a way to fix it and gets to a point where he became the best running back in franchise history. So maybe I’ll give Tyrone Tracy a little bit of opportunity to not put the ball on the carpet. But if he does that, then all of a sudden you’re looking elsewhere. You know Art, I could tell you and and Paul will get to you in a second. Talking to Tiki on I forget what was one of the pregame shows we did in the preseason. He said, “Look, he has talked to Tyrone. He said, “Look, the one thing you need to do is not fumble because that will like short circuit your career. You know, you got to do the X with the one hand over, the other hand over. You’re not going to lose it.” And he has talked to him about that. They have talked. This Tiki actually has told me that Tyrone Tracy reminds him a lot of him. His running style, his slashing style, his ability to catch it. So, um, I’m with you on that, Paul. What’s your X factor? I like how Art and Biz were pandering to the fantasy football. You know, absolutely trying to get a little fantasy football action here. Oh, the tight end. The tight end is going to have a million catches. Target shares crazy. Uh, if you’re in a Target shell, I boarded a Target show. Target. If you’re in a uh if you’re in a uh you know what, reception per point per you know thing. Oh, here you go with him. Look, look, I’m old school. Okay, you know who the key to this offense is? Andrew Thomas. Paul, by the way, we’ve set a record. We’ve done a million of these. We’re like 25 minutes in. That’s the first time someone mentioned the offensive line. It is Andrew Thomas. You know what I mean? No hanging fruit. Come on. No. No. Because if you you know what if you know you know what I do sometimes I always think and I I try to project the team and I’ll say if you could give me like one or two stats at the end of the year if you tell them to me at the start of the year like what what would be the most important to me. You know what I mean? Like okay maybe it is Tyrone Tracy 1400. Maybe it’s neighbors you know 14 touchdowns or maybe it’s Russell Wilson. You know this is an interesting one. Russell Wilson games played, right? If Russell Wilson’s game played is 15 or 16 or 17, then they’ve had a pretty darn good year. To me, good year. Games played Andrew Thomas. We know he’s a good player. I mean, you guys saw him, right? I mean, he didn’t have a lot of time to run because of his because of his foot. He had a lot of time to lift, right? Man alive, he’s he’s his upper body is is I mean, he’s he’s never looked like that before. So I was I was talking about that yesterday as a matter of fact. Paul, I mean his he’s got some guns on him now. So for me games played Andrew Thomas because I know he’s a good player, you know. I know he’s good. I know he could be really good. If if Andrew Thomas is playing 15 games this year, I can say the offensive line’s going to be okay. It’s not going to be It’s not going to be top 10, I don’t think, but it’s going to be not going to be bottom 10. It’s going to be okay. They have answers now and they have some depth and they have some pieces, but they don’t have an answer for 15 games at left tackle without him. So, I mean, I really want to see him on the field in Washington. I get it if he can’t be. If he can’t be, I really want to see him on the field in Dallas because they need him. They need him. They need him. You know, it’s about time us all of us stop hyperventilating about the offensive line, right? and it’s it’s it’s been more than a decade and we we we have to do it because they just the team half the time. So, if he plays, I think they’ll be okay. So, he is my X factor. Just get on the field and do what you do because we know what he could do. And look, I I’ll be honest with you guys. I think I I think the Giants best player offensively in the in the summer might have been Jermaine Luminor. I mean, he’s had to block Brian Burns and Abdul Carter, and he did not lose many of those reps against some very good pass rushers in those one-on-one drills. I think this to Paul’s point, if this offensive line can be what, the 17th best offensive line in the league this year, little higher. Okay, fine. 14th, right? I I think that is more than good enough for this offense to function the way Biz and and Art, you guys describe that you want this offense to look like. And I think they have the guys to do it. And I do think to Paul’s point, they have some depth behind the guys if they have some injuries, too. I would give them a piss. No, no. I was just saying, man, I’ll take 17th best. I know Schwarz is getting greedy over there. I want 14th. I’ll take 17 best, but from what this line has been the last few years, I’ll take 17th best. NFL ranking of the offensive lines post sports plus Paul will have it next week for you. I’ll give you a little uh little hat tip. You know what the other X factor? I was going to go for uh I was going for players, but to go along the offensive line to me, John Michael Schmidz, will John Michael Schmidz be the player that the Giants thought they were drafting? I remember talking to Sean O’Hara when Schmidz was drafted and it was one of those, you know, give him a little time. You know, he’s got to got to get into his NFL body. He’s got to get stronger. Um, and you know, we think that he could be this, and that’s what O’Hara told me. Obviously, the Giants loved him. If John Michael Schmidz can deal with the behemoths that will be up front, you know, the Jaylen Carters of the world and give a semblance of continuity up front at center, uh, I I think that that could make a big difference. And on the flip side, if JMS can’t be that guy, now all of a sudden, are you looking at having to move guys around? Do you want Van Roen at center? And I think that kind of specul. So, I agree with Paul as far as Andrew Thomas goes, but I think it even goes deeper. I think Illuminor is a big player. I think Marcus Bo eventually could be a big component to this offensive line at some point this year. uh the rookie fifthrounder. He’s shown really really well at both tackle spots this summer. I personally thought they were going to move him to guard immediately when they drafted him. They stuck him at at tackle and he’s looked looked really good this summer. Yeah. But I go back I keep going back to JMS. JMSs is funny. You know, we kind of have this thing, you know, pass each other in the locker room and laugh and you know, AJMS, hey Art, what’s up? What’s up? He probably does it with you guys, too. It’s funny because JMS as the center when the Giants are going well, I mean from O’Hara and then I even remember talking to David Boss and when Kevin Booth played center here and even Weston Richberg when he was here, it was always that’s the guy you want to talk to. You want to talk about the guy that’s the center of the offensive line. JMS has managed to kind of, you know, he’ll do his media responsibilities, but he won’t tell you anything. You know, you you go and you interview him and I’ve joked with him about that. You know, if JMS can be a frontline player here, not in the league, but a frontline player for the Giants, I think it changes the complexion of this offense because now all of a sudden you’re not just saying Andrew Thomas and who you can actually say, okay, they have their center and this guy now a a Joe Shane draft pick is stepping into big shoes and actually coming into his own and developing. So that would would have been I I was thinking about him when I went with Tracy, but you know, you guys talking the offensive line got me going in terms of, you know, a real key that really isn’t talked about. I mean, let’s be honest, how many times has John Michael Schmidt been on the podium this summer because I think the media, the beat, I’ll speak for myself, we’ve given up on the idea of getting good answers from JMS. So every time John Renan gets trotted out to the podium, it’s like, hey, it’s great because Renion’s great. Renan gives great answers. running. You know, he’s the guy, but like to me, the key cog right here is JMS. All right, let’s jump to the defensive side of the ball here, guys. A reminder, the John podcast is brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the 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. All right, defensive side of the ball. Biz, let’s start. Abdul Carter. Abdul Carter. Abdul Carter. Abdul Carter. Let’s talk about the front. So I I I guess Mike, I want to start this way though. We know the personnel is better. They drafted Carter. They bring in Holland and Adbo. But do you think the way this defense plays Biz and the way the personnel is going to be utilized by Shane Bowen will look different than what it looked like last year scheme wise? Yeah, it better, John. It better. You have to adjust to your talent. I expect a lot of different schemes from Shane Bowen this year. You got you got man press corners. That’s what you brought Paulson over here for. Okay. He could play that man press and the other side. You got Tay Banks. You got Flot. Whoever on the other side is going to be. You got to change your scheme, brother. And I think Shane Bowen will. As far as Abdul, you’re going to see him lined up all over the damn place. All right. So Shane Bowen’s going to adjust to his person. I think we’ve talked about this before. I think everybody’s been talking about that since summer. You always have to adjust to what you have. I think Shane Bowen will I think you see a lot you’re going to see a lot more. You saw Look, we saw in practices, we saw in preseason games, you’re going to see a lot more man press um this this starting next week. You know, you got the personnel to do it now. I’m sure they feel they have the personnel to do it. I think you’ll see that. And and Paul, I think the the combination of bringing in the two veteran DBs, last year’s defensive backfield was very young, and I think we saw that turn into big plays. Having Holland and Adbo here, not just how good they play, but their intelligence, uh, combined with the fact I think you can count on the front to get to the quarterback, I think it is going to allow a lot more freedom to Bowen to basically do whatever he wants, right? Whether it’s postnap disguise, moving the secondary around to try to confuse the quarterback, you know, these guys can sit on routes a little bit. The Giants had five interceptions last year. Five. Only one team had fewer. The Cleveland Browns, who had four. I I I there should be a lot more freedom here for Bowen to basically do whatever he wants on defense to to try to create some more big plays, which they desperately need. Look, um it’s really hard to run a defense when you like trust eight or nine guys, right? real time. But it’s also a challenge to run a defense when you have like 13 or 14 and you they all have to get on the field at some point and you got to now figure out I mean Johny Goldston was signed here to play to play, you know, and so is he on the field at first down and maybe Brian Burns is not on the field, you know? I mean, there’s there’s things they need to figure out now. Roy Robertson Harris was signed to play to stop the run. So, is he on the field? And then Micah and then and then you know Abdul calls. Oh. Oh, what was that? Slick. What? Who? M. You know what? I’m I’m obsessed with you. Got Michael on your brain, man. I’m obsessed with the Packers roster. What can I tell you? Who’s talking about McFaten? Who are you guys thinking? The best The best Micah in the NFC East is McFaten. That’s right. We got him. The New York Post might have a Micah McFaden feature coming up soon. Okay. That’s why Okay. Yeah. And as Art mentioned, Sports Plus+ Sports Plus, he didn’t mention it’s only $4.99. It’s like the greatest bargain ever. Um but I digress, obviously. Um um I just think it’s a big challenge now. You know, it’s easy to say, “Oh, Burns, Carter, Dex, Kavon, let them run.” You know, that’s easy. But if it’s if it’s second and three, they can’t be on a field. They can’t be on a field. You know what I mean? So, I think the biggest challenge, yes, I I I look at this and other than the other boundary corner, you know, I don’t think Deontay Banks or Cordell Fla won the job. Someone will get the job. You know, they both were hurt this summer. I don’t think anyone I look at and say it was a challenge and he picked it up. They were both fine. They were okay, but no one said, “I won the job.” So that I question, but I think almost every defense in a league, I don’t think you go one through 11 and say, “I have no questions about anything.” So my question is with this imported talent with Abdul Carter, who we think is going to be a, you know, stand them up, put him down, go here, go here, inside, outside. You know, I can probably scheme something for him, but they’re paying Shane Bowen to scheme it right and exactly right with Goldston, with Harris, with with all these, you know, just to it’s not just cookie cutter anymore. And um I think he’s the key to the defense really. He’s a defensive coordinator. Is he up to this? Do you see a lot of different schemes this year, Paul, with him? Do you see him changing a lot this year? Well, I think they’re going to play more man. I just do. I mean they have they have two man the biggest boundary corners I think you know look Tyler Nuben was a unbelievable ball hawk at Minnesota right he had what 11 or 13 I mean that 13 13 I mean he you know I saw those games he was taking a ball out of the air all the time was he even near the ball last year so I mean you know I mean and and I I I think Javon Holland is going to be a huge impact first of all he can go sideline to sideline he is going to run down touchdowns that, you know, run down plays that were touchdowns last year. And um he’s good with us with the media. He’s good. A little bit attitudy, but good. He’s good. Yeah, he’s all right. A little bit, but I think he’s really good in the room. I think he’s really good in the room. And I think whoever said about, you know, they were young last year. I mean, Nuben and and and Drew Phillips, I mean, they they have two guys now that they Tay Banks unquestionably, you know what I mean? You know, Tay Banks is not going to be able to pull stuff that he pulled last year. He’s got new coaches and I think these guys will jump down his throat if they don’t see him hustling now, you know? So, um, yeah, I mean, on paper, Adbo and and Holland are really smart, good, you know, 25, 26 year old signings, signings. These are guys in their prime. We’ll see if it works out that way. You know, there’s always a reason why guys are free agents, right? George Young said that. Always a reason why someone’s a free agent. You know what I mean? So, we’ll see. I mean, Dexter Lawrence never is never going to become a free agent, right? Because he won’t be allowed to. Um, we’ll see. We’ll see. But it it it’s it’s the guy who’s who’s who’s cooking the ingredients now has got to get it right. Art, what are you thinking about with the defense? She’s on bowling. I think it’s I think it’s three significant upgrades. And I’ll put it like this. Javon Holland over Jason Pinoch. Uh and again, we all I I’ll speak for myself. I think we all like JP what he brought to the table. Great waiver claim. solid player in the NFL and still think he might still be running on that interception down in Miami, you know, that he brought back for a pick six. But, um, I think the Holland from Pino is huge. I think, you know, I’ll give you four. I think Tyler Nub in year two is a big upgrade from Tyler Nub in year one. He’ll even admit that. I was talking to him yesterday. He said my head was spinning. I I had no idea last year, you know, how fast I could play. Pulse and Adbo to what Tay Banks was last year in year two I think should be a significant upgrade. Uh and that allows either Tay Banks or Flat to be the second corner as you guys said and Abdul Carter from Aziz Oari I think is a a significant just based on again fingers crossed he’s on the field and he’s healthy because that was always Aiz’s biggest issue. But I think that upgrade in of itself when you’re talking about Abdul and the things you can do with him versus remember last year when Shane Bowen talked about getting the three pass rushers on the field and it was the idea of can we play Aziz inside. They could not do that with the Z’s. So maybe that package got scrapped that maybe Bowen was willing to do but they just didn’t have the personnel to do it. They’re going to do it this year with Abdul Carter and Brian Burns and Kayon Tibido and Chanty Goldston. I think that edge group is a significant upgrade. So, I think that’s why this defense will be better just because on paper they’ve upgraded in numerous spots and then bring back everybody else that that did their jobs to for the most part last year. And Paul, you go ahead. I’m sorry. Yeah, fell that I Are we all in agreement that there’s a lot of pressure on Shane Bowen this year to get it done because Joe? Yes. Look, Joe provided him more upgrading talent. Now it’s like, okay, Shane, get it done. I think there’s a lot of pressure on Shane this year. All right. So, Paul, you kind of mentioned this and and I’ll go back to what has you guys worried about the defense? Um, what could be the the the pendulum swing that can make this not work? And you mentioned, I think, Paul, and I don’t mean to lead you into an answer here if you disagree with me, but you can’t unleash your pass rush if it’s second and three. If it’s third and four, you can’t, you know, put your, you know, four guys on because they’re just going to run the ball and they’re going to get a first down. So, everyone keeps asking me about the run defense. And my answer is that we haven’t seen Dexter Lawrence on the field yet with the first team defense in a real situation. So, what the hell do we know what this run defense is going to look like? And I don’t think we’re going to know until we get and until we get into that first game in a real situation against a real team. Um, do you think that’s going to be good enough and and frankly the offense can get the team enough leads to allow this pass rush to be everything that it could be? I’m not sure. You know, I’m not afraid to say I’m not sure. You know, Art was bringing down the guys who, you know, this is who they have now. This is who they replaced them with, which I didn’t think of it that way. And it’s like, oh yeah, when you think of it that way, big upgrade, big upgrade. And you mentioned Nuben now versus Newben then. How about Bobby O’ Carrick 2025 versus Bobby O’ Carrick 2024 versus Bobby Carrick 2023, right? I mean, I’m not sure what Bobby O’ Carrick is. Is he Was he the guy? I mean, Bobby O’ Carrick came in and was named a captain within 10 minutes, right? You know what I mean? And and um and deserved it. you know, nobody even knew who the heck he was and he was voted a captain because he was such a forceful personality in the locker room and in the meetings with us. And then last year we we know, you know, no more Wink Martindale. His his his sense of being seemed to seem to dissipate, you know, in front of our eyes. He was not the same player. He did have a back issue, which is alarming, but he says he feels better about it. So, what is Bobby Carake? Because if Bobby O’ Carrick is 135 sack uh uh tackle guy, 140 tackle guy, then okay, this run defense is going to be pretty good. You know what I mean? So So I I’m I’m you know, looking at him. Also, I mean, I thought sitting here now at this time, Darius Alexander would have won a starting job as a rookie. You know, I I think the front office and the coaching staff was looking and thinking, you know what, this third round pick from Toledo, we think when the summer goes through, he’s going to win a job. He got hurt a little bit and he did not win the starting job. You know, he did not. I mean, I think Roy Robinson Harrison is going to be the starting defensive tackle next to um Dexter Lawrence. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to play and that doesn’t mean he’s a bust, but So, um you know, I I thought he would be more of a force right now. So, I I I think I’m in wait and see with the run defense, you know. I mean I mean, look, Dexter’s we know that. I’m just in a wait and see because I I don’t know. I don’t know. I mean I mean I’m not in a wait and see with the pass rush. I mean, if the pass rush is not good, it’s a big problem. you know, if they’re allowed to pass rush, but the run defense I’m, you know, is Bobby O’ Carrick a that guy I mentioned, we mentioned Michael McFaten, right? Um um he’s a really good player. You know, he’s a good player. Um so we’ll see. We’ll see. So Biz, I want to jump kind of build on that with with the run defense and you could add to that. Do you think we might see more base defense on early downs this year where you have Nacho Lawrence and Roy Robertson Harris with the two edge guys at the same time? Yeah, I think he will. I mean, and then you got to get, you know, like Paul mentioned before, we got to get goon. I mean, what one of the reasons they brought Goon over here is for run defense, too. Sure. Okay. I mean, were you surprised that he got listed as a defensive lineman on the depth chart and not like an outside linebacker, which which I thought was a little interesting. Yeah, I found that a little interesting, too. I had heard guys that Biz noter I had heard that that may have been a uh processing thing through the through the league and that’s how the that if you looked at the roster he had been listed as DL all year that’s through the database that Golston was a defensive lineman in Dallas so that’s how he’s listed. So, I agree with you that definitely jumped out and said, “Wait a minute.” But I I wonder if it’s just when they were putting together the roster, they just kind of spit it out and it had DL and no one took the time to change it. Maybe that that’s what I had heard. Yeah, that’s very very possible. Very No, no, it’s very possible. But but John, you know, getting back to the run defense, that’s why he brought that’s why Shane brought Roy Robinson Harrison George Colston over here for a run defense. And we’re going to have to see how how it turns out because right now that’s still a question mark, you know, and you could like Paul was saying before, you know, you could have all these have Duke Carters on the field all you want. They’re in third threes, third fours all the time. It’s not going to mean anything, man. I mean, the run defense has been a big issue the last two years. If they don’t get that straightened out, I don’t care how many guys you have on the field to get to the quarterback. It’s not going to matter. I have a defensive tackle that we haven’t mentioned that had really impressed me the last three weeks of the summer. And I Yeah, DJ. I know where you’re going with this, son. I know where you’re going with this. DJ DJ Davidson is somebody that I know they they really like that has had his issues with inconsistency and everything else. And I’m not trying to make him out to be. Again, not a frontline player, but one of those things, you know, I think of DJ Davidson. I think of like Daniel Bellinger. the value of him is much more internal than it is external. People aren’t going to look at DJ Davidson and all of a sudden say, “We got to get this guy on our roster.” But I think Davidson shouldn’t be forgotten in this mix. I think that’s why Elijah Chapman ended up on the practice squad is because Davidson is one of those guys that in early Downs, you could see them putting him in the base and saying, “You know what? Try to run at this guy.” You know what I mean? like run run at these guys and we have some muscle, some beef up front rather than them taking their shots at trying to run at, you know, Abdul at defensive tackle or Elijah Chapman or or, you know, anyone else that they may try to just stick in there. So, he’s another guy that I think Davidson the last couple weeks has kind of flown under the radar. I think they’re really happy with how he kind of came out of the spring coming back from an injury uh and played really well the last couple weeks. All right. Play really well on. Yep. And you know, you know, and you know what else? I mean, this is going to mitigate the having these guys, these edge rushers on the field too much. I really think that’s going to be where they’re gassed in the fourth quarter, right? You know, where they they’re playing too many snaps. I mean I mean I don’t think it’s crazy. I mean, it it’s probably not true, but I don’t think it’s crazy that the first snap on defense Brian Burns is not on the field and Golston is. I don’t think that’s insane, you know? I mean I mean I I and it probably won’t happen. I just think that they’re are cognizant of we’re not you know Kavon and and and Burns do not have to play 90% of the snaps anymore. 80%. Yeah. Have them at 70, right? You know, you know what I mean? Ju just And so when they really need it in the fourth quarter, god forbid they have a lead, right? And and they can play that way that they’re fresh. So I I think you know that’s part of this manipulation now is who goes where and then what’s going to happen is look you can get burned that way right all of a sudden what you know a play goes bust and art or or biz or me not you John you won’t do this you know ask ass in print or you know says why was this guy on the field you know that was a bad matchup why was he on the field there why wasn’t Dexter Lawrence on the field how many times have we said that and one of those things where it’s like you got to give the guy a break. He can’t play 100 snaps. He can’t play 60 snaps a game. Why wasn’t Brian Burns on the field? Why was Goston on the field during that play? Well, because, you know, for that screen pass or whatever that went bust. So, you know, I mean, you can get too cute here with this stuff, but um they do have more depth and you don’t there’s no reason to have depth just because you’re waiting for guys to get hurt. You know, D maybe DJ Davidson can be a guy on the third series on defense. You put him out there for decks, right? You put him out there for decks and you’re not it’s not it’s not just, okay, it’s it’s it’s, you know, it’s it’s the Cross Bronx Expressway at two in the morning. Let’s just, you know, the only time where it’s open. So, maybe maybe that can work. I mean, that’s what you need. You can’t wear these guys down too much, even though you have to lean on them. 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. So, Paul, first and 10 next week. First and 10. Washington’s got the ball. Who do you have out there up front? You have the base. You have a you do you have a Nacho Dex where Robertson Harrison look with Burns and Tibs? I think so because I think you have I’m not sure against Washington doesn’t run it though. They’re gonna have all these receivers out there. I don’t know if they’re gonna have big personnel in I think that’s the big thing. John, you nailed it. Look at their schedule early on. Look at their schedule. Who’s running a lot of running backs? Especially after Washington just got just traded away Brian Robinson Jr. last week. The reality is that yeah, I know they have uh Crosky Merritt, you know, Bill that everyone wants to talk. If they’re going to come out and give him 30 carries, I think the Giants will say, “Okay, that that’s great. We we’d rather have that.” So, to me, I’m looking at it going, if the Giants defense, the run defense is so much of an Achilles heel, and you could make teams like Washington and Dallas and Kansas City, those first three, want to just come out and try to run the football at you. You know what? I’ll take that. I’d rather have that than have Jaden Daniels running all around like he did last year and you know then all of a sudden Dak Prescott when I’m going to Dallas I’m worried about Dak and the receivers and how am I going to cover these guys and Dak gets the ball out quick. I’m not worried about you know it’s no more EMTT Smith, Ezekiel Elliott, you know guys that Dallas is going to run the football with. So, it’s a very interesting aspect of this is that the Giants may want teams to test their run defense because then it takes them away from their strength and I think their strength uh you know Bis you mentioned just the last thing I thought of. Abdul Carter could be an offthe- ball linebacker starting the game in Washington. And I’ve mentioned that before. Yeah. You know what, Abdul? You’re gonna you’re going to be the guy that’s spying Jaden Daniels and you’re on the field and we trust your instincts and your your goal is number five. You watch number five. You tell me. We got our guys. We know who’s going to rush. We got their responsibilities. We want Abdul to be off the ball, use his instincts, use his vision, and just say wherever Daniels goes, get him. I think on third down maybe are we really didn’t see him get used as an offball linebacker on early downs in camp. That’s not something you see more than us. But do you really think they’ve shown everything, John? No, of course not. Of course. And I think that’s the thing is that the fact that they’ve shown it wouldn’t surprise me that to see it out there right off the bat. The idea of give Washington something that they weren’t anticipating. Um, and see how it works, you know, and if it’s a failure on the first drive, well, then you shove it and you do something else. But um I I think they they cannot also go into a game where they’re putting their best players on the sideline either. I mean that’s the hard part and it goes back to Shane Bowen. I mean I know it circles back but you know this defensive staff has to be cognizant of the fact that these are our best players. What can we do to maximize their talents? Give them breaks. Give them ideas that they’re not not at 100% snap count but also what are their best talents? where can they fit best? You’re not going to want to put Abdul first and 10 from the 20 at defensive tackle, but we got to also have Abdul Carter on the field. I mean, if Abdul Carter is this good, we got to maximize his snaps. And I think that’s kind of that back and forth that they’re going to have to go through week to week. It really is a week- toeek thing based on the opponent. All right, let’s let’s wrap here, boys. I’m not going to ask for a wins prediction. We’ve all looked dumb enough over the past five years trying to play that game. But give me some type of what you think this season’s going to look like. Something that you’re watching, just your kind of a big overarching thought about what this season’s going to look like, what’s important. Anywhere you want to go. I I’ll start here with mine. Look, you just got to figure out a way to win one of those first two games. And people that listen to our programming here, they’re tired of me saying this. The last thing you want to do is come into your home building at 0 and2 0 and2 in the division and you’re staring at Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and Taylor Swift. Like, that is not what you want to be looking at in week three at 0 and2. Um, you just got to figure out a way to win one of these division games on the road. I think both teams have vulnerabilities. I think it’s possible. And I you just have to get off to a reasonably good start this year for the path for what this season, if it goes well, is going to look like it. has to start well early in in some way, shape, or form. So, that’s where I’ll go. Uh Paul, I’ll let you lead off here. Arthan Biz, uh just give me some overarching thoughts here. You want to make a prediction, you can of kind of what this season for the Giants is is going to be. Schwarz can’t wait to week three, John. He can’t wait to meet Taylor Swift. That’s what I heard. I have he’s looking forward he’s looking forward to I have someone in my family who’s already trying to figure out just do you have access do you have access to the suites there? I think she might be sitting in the jet suite. Do you have access to the suites? I’m like oh boy. Oh yes. That is early season pressure. I’m telling you. Yeah. That is early season pressure. Um look I’m not gonna I understand I mean I can look at the schedule too and say you can’t be 0 and2. Then you have the Chiefs. I’m going to take a bigger picture, okay? This is not an unserious roster, okay? This is not a a fly by night situation anymore. It’s time to win some games, okay? And by some, I’m not saying 10. I’m not saying nine. I’m not saying eight. I’m not saying 11. I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m not saying three, okay? And I’m probably not saying six either. This roster I can This roster is better than last year’s. Art just went this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy. This roster is better. Okay, there is no reason why this defense is not a top 10 defense in the league. There is no reason. I mean, there’s just no reason for it. Um, we think the quarterbacks are better. We think the offensive line is better. Um, you know, I don’t think anyone’s thinking that the the the skilled position guys are are are bonkers, but we think they’re okay. You know, potentially better than okay. And they have a real number one in Malik Neighbors. we haven’t talked a lot about, by the way. He could have an absolutely monster year. Yeah. Yeah. He’s Yes. He’s he’s, you know, I mean, fantasy football, whatever. He’s he’s the first guy on the Giants who’s taken, you know, in in fantasy football. And, you know, is it going to be number three? Is it going to be number eight? Whatever it’s going to be, it’s going to it’s going to be high, right? Fine. Um, and they have a quarterback who we think can can, you know, get him the ball in some some way, shape, or form. But I’m just looking at this and I’m saying this can’t be that again. you know, this can’t be one and six. I If it’s 0 and2, it’s 0 and2. It’s not good. You know what I mean? It’s not good. But, um, it can’t be 0 and five. You know, it it it just this is a team that needs to win. This is a front office that needs to win. It’s a coaching staff that needs to win. You know, I’m not putting hot seats on anybody. We know this that Jackson Dart spectre out there. You know what I mean? Um, but, you know, I thought Jackson Dart, I’ll leave you with this. Jackson Dart it, you know, was was really remarkable on the podium, on the field, on the practice field. I mean, he really was, you know, was like really, this guy was I mean, this guy’s hitting hitting everything here when he said after that game where he started and played really well, right, against the Patriots. And he said, “It’s time for me, you know, and we were all leading him with the questions, you know, you think you should play, you know, how is it going to feel to sit now after this great summer?” And he said, “It’s time for me to change my perspective.” Right? That he told us what he said. It’s time for me to change my perspective. And I was thinking, “Holy smokes, he’s right. He’s telling me what I should do. It’s time for me to change my perspective. We put him away for now. And it’s Russell Wilson. And it’s about the Commanders, week one, Russell Wilson, and this team trying to play and win. And that’s it’s time for this whole operation to change its perspective. They’re not sad sacks anymore. It’s a decent roster and they have to win some games. And that’s whatever prediction you want to make of that. Make at the end of this year. There’s no reason why this group shouldn’t say we got something cooking. You know, I’m I’m looking forward to 2026 as opposed to my god, I couldn’t wait for 2025 to be over. Art, I I think it’s um it’s all about the panic button and doing enough so that the only people who are pressing the panic button are people who want to see you fail this year. And I think for the Giants, Paul, you mentioned the Jackson Dart thing. Halime of week one, people are going to be talking about is it time for Jackson Dart if Russell Wilson throws a pick or they only have three points. That is the overarching storyline for this season is that people see Jackson Dart’s presence as a parachute of sorts for the coaching staff, for the front office. the idea that well if they put Jackson Dart in even if they’re struggling you can look at the future and say look we got a guy we got our guy you panic too soon and you put him in too soon and he doesn’t look good it kind of takes away your parachute you know there there is no fail safe there so I think that is the challenge whether it’s not internal I think it’s externally they need to fight that off as long as they possibly can and that comes with winning games like you guys said, because it’s not going to be easy. It’s easy when you’re winning games to tune out the people who are criticizing you. It’s not easy to tune out criticism and, you know, people slamming you if you’re not winning games and you’re losing games and you’re not producing the way you need to. Uh, and I do think that that does start at the quarterback. And I think Russell Wilson is the one who’s probably under the most pressure starting the year is because everybody saw what Jackson did this summer. Everybody knows where the future is. The writing’s on the wall. Russell Wilson has to keep that at arms length and he does that by the Giants winning games and Russell Wilson playing well at quarterback because I think internally there are a lot of players in this locker room who believe Jackson’s time will come but this is Russell’s team absolutely that that can change quickly if things are not going well because all of a sudden you’re looking for answers and then you look at that locker over there and you see number six and you say, “hm, is he our answer to turn this around?” You don’t want that question in October. You don’t want that question in September. If Russell Wilson could push that question by leading this team to wins until December and after Thanksgiving and then you see where you’re at, I think that’s kind of what this season is all about. All right, Biz, wrap us up. Yeah, I hate to agree with a Mets fan and B Schwarz, uh, you know, because I I’ll still never forgive him for 86 in that lucky World Series win of his team, but look, you got to win some games. This roster is the best roster Joe Shane has had in his four years, Giant. Better than even the playoff roster. This is a better roster. And this, they brought in Russell Wilson, a guy that’s going to K one day. Okay, so you got to win some games. No question about it. You don’t want to start off that 0 and4 one in5 type record because like Art said then here comes the Jackson dark questions a million of them by week three week four that’s all everybody’s going to be talking about. So hey you brought in Russell Wilson to win games. You upgraded the roster like I just said this is Joe’s be Joe Shane’s best roster in the four years he’s here. You have to win some games. No question about it. You want to like and like Art just said too. You want to be around Thanksgiving. Okay. talking about Giants football, talking about meaningful games. It’s going to be so important to do that. You don’t want to have that, you know, your family sitting around, your Giants fans sitting around Thanksgiving dinner saying, “Yeah, another year. We’re done. You useless December.” No, you want to have meaningful football by the end of November going into December. Um, that’s going to be so important for this organization. That’s something you have to keep an eye on. Let Russell Wilson, this is like Art said, this is Russell Wilson’s team. Forget about the Jackson Dart stuff now. This is Russell’s team. Get some wins. Try to get a split out of the first two games because John, it’s funny because when the schedule came out in May, nobody had the Giants winning any of the first two games. First three games, right? Different story now. Things chang quick. Yeah, I guess you could say four with the Chargers, too. You’re right, Art. Um, hey, now it’s a different story. Dallas is a mess. We all know what’s going on. and they’re watching a we’ll see in year two. They just got the Terry situation resolved, but John got to get a couple wins early in the season. Get some win, you know, don’t don’t don’t start that over four and five stuff and take him from there. So hopefully that’s you get some wins. You got Russell and we’ll see what happens. Gentlemen, same order. Thank you for doing this. Uh I know Paul already kind of did this once, but he can do it again. Promote what you want to promote. The floor is yours, Mr. Schwarz. Art then biz. What do I want to promote? Hm. Well, Post Sports Plus, uh, New YorkPost.com, New York Post, uh, newspaper edition. Um, we’re starting a California Post fairly soon. So, um, you can you can, um, based out of LA. How about that? Maybe I’ll go cover the, uh, the, um, the Rams. Is it going to be called the California Post or the Los Angeles Post? California Post. Oh, okay. So, it’s statewide. Okay. But, but I’m not really promoting that so much yet because I’m really based in New York here. Um, you know, you know what? No, this is fun. I enjoy this every year. Biz is a newcomer to this and um um you know, we all compete and we all, you know, bust each other and we, you know, kid around and everything like that, but um I think I hope everyone else does. I think we all make ourselves better. We make each other better. And I I I think we, you know, I I don’t know if there’s any day that I go out there and when I don’t laugh with one of these one of these two or three guys at least once, you know what I mean? And that’s um that’s good. You know what I mean? That’s good. In this crazy world, it’s good to, you know, let something at some point. You know what I mean? There’s plenty of people who don’t do that. So, um, um, yeah. And, you know, by the way, I was at game seven in 86. Okay. I was at game seven. I gotta listen to this guy now. Go ahead. Up in the stands. I was there. I was there. Okay. Okay. Congratulations. A very deep and profound answer from from from Paul Schwarz there. I like that. I surpris I don’t know what happened with that. I You can edit that out if you want and I can just uh say something else, but okay. No, I I I think we’ve seen a different side of the Paul Shores personality. I like that. How about you, Art? Is your Is your landscaping done behind you? Are they done moment for now? Okay, good. Um you know where you want to talk California Post? Hey, we got the USA today. We’re all USA, baby. uh uh northj jersey.com uh print editions of the record obviously uh and are all in with ArtStapton podcast year five which is amazing uh that we’ve done it this long. So uh much appreciated to everyone who enjoys our coverage and always to you guys and to John. Thanks for having us on. This is always a fun thing. Uh and by week didn’t we do what we do on by week don’t we where the rest of the season is? thought we have in the past. Every year it’s always been, well, you said they would win this many games and guess what? Um, no. The the last there’s one thing that the Giants need to lose this year. That’s the bookmark in everybody’s search engine for Tankathon. Lose it. Lose it. You’re right. That’s what you have to lose. The Giants have to earn the right to not be involved with Tankathon in December because that’s where the fan base has been and they’ve been conditioned to go there and see where are they going to be picking in the next draft. Yes. Art, please don’t don’t make me start breaking down the opponent’s w average winning percentage for tiebreaker purposes for draft picks. Please, we’ve done way too much of that over the last uh 15 years. So, I don’t even know how long Tankathon has existed, but yeah, that would be my parting shot. Go away, Tankathon. Earn the right to not be included in Tankathon when everyone is pumping up their traffic on the website to see where they’re going to be drafting in uh 2026. All right, Biz. Yeah, John, first of all, thank you for having me on. Yeah, and Paul brings up a good point, man. Just, you know, so many times we’re just standing there watching practice every night. We’re just enjoying having laughs. we are all other guys and it’s so important today, right? So, and Schwarz, we’ll continue this conversation about the Mets when I see you in person. Okay, put your finger down. All right. I I love how the it’s the Red Sox Mets rivalry and the Yankees are the Yankees crazy. I know, right? You got two Yankees in business breaking my chops in April and then all of a sudden he’s faded with that and I don’t hear much of him anymore. So anyway, football season. Yeah. Right. So, um, hey, you can find, you know, me and Jerry Fing and the Giant Insider podcast. And of course, you can find me and Bob Popa on the Ma Cast talking a lot of good food, a lot of good football stuff. Disappointed you didn’t bring any pasta today, Biz. What’s going on, man? No pasta. What’s going on here, man? It’s 9 in Well, it’s 9 in the morning, John. You know, I I can’t You know what I mean? So, a little bit early. Breakfast sandwich, maybe. Come on. give me something here. I should have brought the English muffin I ate. But anyway, hey, thanks everybody. Hey, it’s been a blast. Um, hey, let’s hope we have a really a really good season. Something that’s, you know, everybody wants to talk about like Archie said, no Tank Don talk at the end of in December and all that. So, hey, let’s have a good season. Thanks. It was a blast being on with everybody. Gentlemen, from your lips to God’s ears. Thank you, gentlemen, for doing this right here on the Giants podcast. Our annual writers round table to preview the season brought to you by citizens official bank of the giants for Paul for art for biz from the hackin sack marine health podcast you keep getting better I’m John Schmil we will see you next time everybody

On this episode of the Giants Huddle podcast, John Schmeelk is joined by the Giants beat reporters, Art Stapleton, Paul Schwartz and Chris Bisignano, to discuss the Giants offseason takeaways, the quarterback room, and the Giants defensive scheme. Presented by Citizens.

00:00 – Giants quarterbacks
14:25 – Giants offense
20:35 – X-factors
21:55 – Giants defense
37:00 – Run defense
53:00 – 2025 overall thoughts

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