Stephen A. doesn’t hold back against the NY Giants 😬 + Patriots SB chances | First Take

Stephen A. doesn’t hold back against the NY Giants 😬 + Patriots SB chances | First Take

All right, let’s go to last night and what happened in Foxboro. The Patriots have now won 10 straight. They are the first team to reach 11 wins this season after last night’s just stomping over the Giants. My goodness. The Patriots led 30-7 at the break. Drake May threw for 282 yards, two touchdowns, an easy New England win. So Monday marked Drake May’s sixth game this season, completing at least 75% of his passes while throwing two or more touchdowns. Wow. May is now tied with Matt Ryan in 2016 for the third most such games in a season in NFL history. May also is now the MVP favorite at minus 135. That’s according to DraftKings Sportsbook. So, as we zoom in a little bit more now on the Patriots and after what we saw last night, do we think that they have the best chance of winning at all? What do you think, DC? Yeah, I I’ve I’ve seen all I need to see from the New England Patriots. This has gone from being a good story to a team that has to be considered as a championship contender. And the reason why I have the most trust in this team is based on what I’m getting from the quarterback and the head coach. Drake May impressed me last night, as he has all season long. He’s had six games this season where he’s completed 75% of his passes north of 200 yards passing and two touchdowns. The only two quarterback to log that many games in a season in NFL history are Matt Ryan and Tom Brady. And oh, by the way, both of those guys did it in an MVP season. Yeah, Drake May is playing at an MVP level. He’s got the highest QBR against the Bliss. This guy is great in situational football. And then if you look at the touchdown throws that he had to Kan Bouty and then the one to Kyle Williams. I mean that is incredible. You talk about shaping a shot on a golf course. He did that on a football field. Unbelievable. So I know the quarterback can see eye to eye with the best in the business. And then of course you got a head coach and Mike Rabel that’s going to make sure that you’re always situationally aware. Some of the things that we’ve seen throughout the course of the season. You can go back to the Tampa Bay Bucks game last night. Those guys being able to cash in in the two-minute drill, having two possessions in that two-minute drill. And of course, that last one, five plays, 67 yards that led into a field goal. I was impressed by that. They scored in two of the three phases of their football team. This is a complete team. Maybe not the best individual talent team, but the best players don’t always make the best team. The best team always wins. The Patriots have the record to prove it. Well, first of all, we ain’t trying to hear mayies from Chris Kanty. We ain’t trying to hear maybe. Maybe. No, no, no. We ain’t trying to hear that. Okay, that’s number one. Number two, sorry to inter to to imitate doggy mad dog Russo with this, but take it easy. Take it easy. All right, listen. Here’s the deal. Here’s the here’s the deal, CC and Sergeant Friday. Listen, the Patriots have been very very impressive. And Drake May is something special. Definitely an MVP candidate. 10 straight wins, 23 points or more, 10 straight games, 23 points or less points allowed, 10 straight games. NFL record never happened before. Major, major props to Vrabel. Major, major props to the whole team collectively. No doubt they’re a Super Bowl contender. Give them their props and their respect where it’s due. I certainly will. But I want to say this, we can’t ignore the schedule. It ain’t their fault who they’re playing, but we can’t ignore schedule. I know you didn’t want to be reminded about that. I heard you talking about the Patriots in that saliloquy you just gave CC. You just it it’s amazing how somebody is as astute and as brilliant as you are at football. Just forgot to mention they were playing the New York Giants like that. Just forgot that. Just forgot that. Loses the seven straight. Three straight since firing Brian Dable. We I’m just saying you you were saying it but you never said against the Giants. I understand why. I mean it hurts you. It hurts you to see this happening to them. I get it. I get it. I get it. And by the way, while you talking about blazes, your suit is pretty dapper. I got to give you credit for that CC. You ain’t slipping. You You’re a part of the mix. I’ll give you credit for that. But let’s look let’s look at some of these games here. Okay. So, you got a victory against the Miami Dolphins. Carolina, we we’ve now learned that they they’re better than we than we thought. And Buffalo, of course, New Orleans, Tennessee, Cleveland, Atlanta injured, Tampa Bay team, New York Jets, Bengals, Giants. Okay, I just gave you eight games there. All I’m saying is that as the season wanes and you start getting in the playoff competition, I’m going to be real interested in seeing how the New England Patriots look. Then, no doubt they deserve all the props in the world, especially the turnaround. They are definitely a Super Bowl contender. No doubt about it. I’m just saying, you know, the the level of enthusiasm, it just needs to be, you know, harnessed to some degree. That’s all because of some of the victories that they’ve had. All right. I’m I’m going to say this. I’m going to side with CC here because I I will say this as when we talk about teams like he just said the Bucks injured team. The Patriots were injured last night, right? That like their whole left side of their offensive line didn’t play last night. Part of their defensive front that we talk about has which has been electric this season didn’t play last night. It’s not the fact that they beat the Giants, which I totally understand, two and 10 team, all that kind of nonsense. It’s how they’re beating these teams. And they have beaten the they have they have left no doubt. Like there’s a saying in the NFL, leave no doubt. When they have walked off the field, you have thought that’s the best team. Whether we were full strength, not foot, this is the best team that’s walking off the field. And I don’t think we’re giving Josh McDaniels nearly enough credit for what he’s done with Drake May, but also their entire offense. You have receivers that nobody I mean Diggs is their highlight who has been a castoff a couple years ago, right? And so you’re talking about what and Hunter Henry, he had another touchdown to Henry last night. May did that got called back otherwise he has three touchdowns but it’s it’s by committee and even their run game which you would go it it’s okay I wouldn’t write home about the run but guess what Josh McDaniels finds a way to make all of these things efficient and he finds ways to put May in a successful opportunity and May is taking advantage and I think a lot of times we go by this thing and don’t understand how important it is to go beat the teams like they beat them last night leave no doubt the confidence that comes from that they got two big weeks coming up after the buy. They need to go win those games, right? But as I look at this team, there’s nobody in the AFC that I would go, I’m scared of them any more than I would be of the Patriots. So, I would say, could the Patriots win it all? Yeah, because everybody that you keep putting in front of them, they keep winning. Schedule SAS, they only play one team above 500 currently the rest of the way, and they already beat that team. That’s the Buffalo Bills coming off of their by-week in their place. The Bengals could be above 500 at the Well, we’ll see. I’m just saying that’s that’s the re the strength of schedule is irrelevant, sir. I mean, they have a 57% chance right now according to our FBI of having a number one seed in the conference that goes up to 72 if they beat the Bills. You brought up the Giants in terms of wanting to diminish what we saw last night. To me, that impressed me more. Yeah. Right before your by-week, a two- win team rolling into your building. Well, let me say this. That would have been a spot to come out flat and they didn’t do that. They showed a maturity beyond their years and that impresses me. Well, listen, I know that you think you the king of the mornings because at 6:00, you know, I don’t know if you noticed this Jeff Saturday when he doing his radio show, you got two cats on the side, you know, you know, the wonderful uh uh you know, co co-host that he has with him, but he’s sitting at the head of the table like, you know, he’s King Ky. You know what I’m saying? I mean, you see how it’s placed, okay? So, I understand that. But let me tell you something about first take, my brother. Okay? You know, when you sit up there, you talk about it doesn’t matter. Well, that’s the beauty of first take, baby. We decide what matters. This is what I’m saying. We we the ones talking about it. We’re going to decide what matters, not them. They they got the play. But in terms of the bantering back and forth about what’s relevant and not No, we determine that, not them. And here’s the point that I’m making. When you’re looking at it, it’s the level of competition as we fantasize looking forward about matchups. For example, the Texans are not the best team, right? They’re not in first place in the AFC South, but look at look at their trajectory. Look at how they’re looking right now compared to how Jacksonville and obviously the Indianapolis Colts are looking. All of a sudden, you got your eyebrows raised and a team that started out 0 and2, 0 and three is now seven and five. And you’re like, “What the hell’s going on here? Look at this defense.” you start fantasizing about that. We looked at Baltimore and Pittsburgh and we said, “H whatever.” Because of what we’re seeing, even though one of them could end up making the playoffs, we find ourselves fantasizing about Cincinnati at 4 and8 catching them because we know what Cincinnati brings to the table offensively with Jamar Chase, with T. Higgins, and a Joe Burrow. And we’re saying, damn, what if they make the plays? It could be very interesting. We’re looking at Kansas City coming up, right? And just tipping at you, you know, you know, tugging at your heels and all of this other stuff. You’re wondering about the Chargers. You’re wondering about how legit and real Denver is going to be as the season wanes. I’m saying all of those are like fantasy situations where you’re hopeful that these confrontations come up so you can really really see whether or not your prognostications are legitimized or not. That’s what we’re talking about here when we’re looking at the New England Patriots. We know they’re going to the postseason. They’ll likely have the number one seed. The road to the Super Bowl likely comes through Foxboro, but we still find ourselves looking at them compared to others and say, “Hey, what if they go against this team or that team?” And that’s what’s making it interesting because they have a weaker strength of schedule. Now, right now, as you said, Ky, they have the highest percentage to get the one seat in the AFC. But to Stephen A’s point, they did play the Giants last night who struggled mightily. Okay. The Giants had Jackson Dart back under center after he missed two games obviously with a concussion. took a bone crushing hit near the sideline in the first quarter. Even though he probably could have stepped out of bounds earlier and gained a few less yards. Dart, who has been scrutinized for his style of play, said he’s not going to change a thing. Listen to this. This is football. Like, I’m going to get hit if I’m in the pocket or outside the pocket. Like, it’s I don’t like I feel like I’ve played this way my whole entire life. It shouldn’t be like any shocker to anybody if you’ve followed along with my career. We’re not playing soccer out here. Like, you’re going to get hit. Things happen. It’s part of the game. I appreciate people, you know, wanting to, you know, me to be healthy and all that stuff. And I want to be healthy, too. But I play this game aggressive. So, I’m not I’m not going to just change how I play the game. But maybe you should, cuz I don’t want to stare at my screen and go, every five seconds this guy is running for his life. Do you think Start’s aggressive style is worth it, Stephen A? It’s not worth it. It’s very idiotic on his part. And I want to use that strong word not to insult him. I want to use that strong word so he understands the severity of of what we’re talking about here and he protects himself. I watched Jeff Saturday on Get Up this morning and you could not you’ve never been more right, Sergeant Friday. You’ve never been more right. This is These aren’t those cats you were going against in college. Yeah, this ain’t some wreck league. You know, at some point in time, you know, your talent, you know, all of these guys aspire to be in the NFL and then you get to the NFL and you want to forget what this league is and what it meant to you and why it was so important to you to get to this level because this is the creme de la creme. This is the elite. These are men out here, not boys. Okay? And the fact of the matter is is that to subject yourself to unnecessary violence. It’s not a smart thing for a quarterback to do. It’s just that simple. First drive of the game, Harold Landry put a blow on him. Okay. He he held on to the ball too long and instead of throwing it away, he got popped. We saw what Christian Ellis did to him, you know, when he was when he was scampering down the right sideline. That was a vicious hit, but totally legal. Totally legal. Okay. Yeah. You can’t subject yourself to that. You’re the face of the franchise. You’re that important. And most importantly, as Dominique Foxworth said on the same segment that you were on with him, Jeff Saturday, you got other people’s futures in your hands, not just your own. Other players that depend on your level of production and coaches. You got to think about everybody, not just yourself. You have to stay in play. And to subject yourself to unnecessary punishment is stupid. Especially when you’re somebody who’s already missed games because you’ve been concussed on multiple occasions this year. Multiple. It’s just it’s just not smart. Yeah. And somebody has to tell again, you’re not telling it to him to insult him because Jackson Dart is a hell of a player. Has tremendous potential. I know I’m rooting for him the whole bit. Everybody is. But you’re saying words like stupid and idiotic because we’re trying to save you from yourself. He will not last long in this league if he continues to take shots and subject himself to taking the kind of shots we saw him take last night. He will not last. This is not a toughness issue. I I believe Jackson Dart is a very tough football player and I I love his moxy. I love his attitude. All of those things were the reason the Giants drafted him where they did. And I know Dall had great plans for this guy. But I think he needs to realize, right, this is not college anymore. That the difference between college in the NFL are them dudes on defense. You see that? You see the way Chris Kanty looks all 67 plus of him and 330 of him that plays a 47. That dude hitting you is different than what you faced in college. You probably faced two guys that look like him in college. I’m being dead honest. When you got to the league, the first thing I realized was, oh my god, like the linebacker speed, the safety speed, the defensive line speed. It is insanity. These dudes close out so much faster. And what Jackson Dart, I want him to understand is it’s not about this season. It’s not about it’s 10 years, 15 years. Like you are the franchise. You are the New York Giants franchise quarterback. Everything they’re going to build, they’re going to build around you. Malik Neighbor’s career is tied to you. Scataboo is tied to you. Offensive line is tied to you. Tight end, everyone is tied to you and your ability to be on the field. What I don’t need, okay, we’re in the NFC championship game. We got to go to the Super Bowl. It’s second and 13 and you want to stretch it out. Go stretch it out. When we when we have no chance or it’s not that that vital at that point in the game, do not do that. At some point, you have to understand availability at that position is the biggest part of your job. You got to be available for us. We can’t we can’t do it without you. We can’t go find another guy. We can go buy one or two games, but at the end of the day, we’re all of us are tied to you. And I think the idea of being tough at quarterback, you’re going to get hit plenty, man. Like that’s just the nature of our game. Don’t bring on unnecessary hits. And it started like holding the ball for like four seconds and running pock and then Landry hits you, right? Like throw it away. Live to play the next down. Tom Moore, our offensive coordinator with Indie. He was with he was with the Steelers for a number of years when they won all the Super Bowls with with Brad Shaw and then Tampa Bay with with Tom Brady. He would look at he would look at at Pton Manning and be like there’s got to be a clock in your head. And at some point the bl the play is dead. We don’t want you dead. Get rid of it and let’s move on. I think that’s what Jackson Dart’s got to put into his arsenal. Throw it away and live to play the next play. It’s hard to coach that out of him because you’ll get plays like the two-point conversion at the beginning of the fourth quarter where he scrambles around, throws it to Darius Sllayton, it actually works out, right? And that’s his proof of concept reinforcing a bad habit. But the reality of the NFL is you can’t play quarterback like a crash dummy. That’s exactly right. And that’s what we’re seeing from Jackson Dart. But I think that’s a symptom of a bigger issue because we’re not the first ones that are saying this. Yeah. There have been people in that building that have been trying to coach this out of him. I’m sure there have been players that have tried to communicate to to him. It’s not getting through. Yeah. Just like what we’re seeing with Abdul Carter and them trying to discipline him in the measures that interim head coach Mike Cafka taken not getting through to him. Had to sit him the entire first quarter. The second time that’s happened in the last month. So, so what you’re telling me is there’s nobody on the coaching staff that can message to the top two draft picks. There’s nobody in the locker room that can message to the top two draft picks. effectively there is a leadership void at 1925 drive and it just highlights the importance of them being able to get this next coaching hire right it it’s a shame that the New York Giants are in such a disarray but it shows you based on the product that we saw on the field last night with the special team gaffs oh tell me the last time you saw a field goal kicker miss a kick without touching the ball oh my god tell me tell me the last time did you mention a field goal kicker Did you make it feel good? Where’s that highlight? Where’s that highlight? Oh my god. Talking about it doesn’t do it justice. It’s not a high. Oh my lord. Oh my goodness. Oh my lord. Look at that right there. This is so terrible. Oh my brutal. Young Way need to be on his way out. Young Way need to be on his way out. Talk about how bad the ground is at but don’t leave out. Hey, listen. Hey hey hey listen. That was our game. That was our game. There we go. There’s Jackson D. Like, oh my god. I mean, that I’ve never seen that in all my years of watching football. That was just embarrassing. That doesn’t get any more. I mean, that was Jimmy Johnson. Somebody he might have been without a job last night. The minute the bell the the minute the final bus, I mean, that’s bad. That’s very, very bad. Embarrassing, but hilarious, too. Hilarious. Funny as hell. Oh, you going to see that highlight. I mean, our our pain is Stephen A’s entertainment, I guess. But I as as some as somebody that’s got blood on the ground over there, I’m just saying the special teams gaff, the punt return, the fumble on the kickoff before halftime. I mean, all of these things are an indictment. They’re an indictment on the coaching. They’re an indictment on the leadership. Last night, the the Patriots hung 30 on the New York Giants in the first half. Half the It’s the first time it’s happened since 2009. Yeah. I was on the damn team the last time that happened. Embarrassing. Yeah. Like that. That’s how far this franchise has fallen. And it just shows you the importance of being able to nail this higher because if you get it right, there’s a chance that the 2026 Giants could be that version, next year’s version of the current New England Patriots. Well, I I will say this. First of all, it’s an indictment against former coach Brian Dable, who I got love for. It was a coach of the year. Uh so we’re not saying that he can’t coach, but clearly he wasn’t doing the job. Uh because when you see stuff collectively that bad, that doesn’t happen just because the coach left because the fundamentals that you were being taught and was being emphasized, that stays with you even a few weeks after he’s gone. So the fact that that’s happening, that’s definitely on him to some degree, not just on Kafka. That’s number one. Number two, let’s not forget Joe Shane. I call him Joe Shane, you know, because of how he acted with Saquon Barkley that soft knocks episode and stuff like that. That’s what I call it, Soft Knox. Okay. Let’s not forget the GM. Yeah, you’ve accumulated some talent, but you also accumulated those coaches. You assembled those coaches and you assembled some of those other players.

On First Take, Chris Canty, Stephen A. Smith and Jeff Saturday join Shae Cornette to discuss the New England Patriots’ win against the New York Giants.

0:00 New England Patriots vs. New York Giants
0:42 Do the Patriots have a chance to win the Super Bowl?
3:30 The Patriots’ schedule
5:00 The Patriots’ performance
9:35 Jaxson Dart’s comments
10:38 Is Dart’s aggressive style worth it?
16:55 The New York Giants’ missed kick!
18:05 Thoughts on the Giants coaching staff

✔️ Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️ Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV

#ESPN