Talking New York Giants with Bobby Skinner

Talking New York Giants with Bobby Skinner

Hello everyone and welcome in to the interview with Bobby Skinner who we’ve had on many of times but Bobby I don’t know if we’ve had you on yet in the Giants Nation show era. We might have. I can’t remember. It’s time flies by. We’re already in December. The Giants already well already. The Giants still have two wins even though we’re in December. Um and that’s kind of where we are right now. But Bobby, first of all, how are you? And I guess I’ll I’ll phrase it like it is the first time in the new show era. How is it kind of being your own boss and and doing that stuff? I wanted to kind of get you, you know, your answer to that question. How’s that been? That’s probably the most enjoyable part is like I get to do whatever I want. I don’t have to answer to anybody. If I do make a mistake, the only person I can, you know, cuss out as myself. Uh, you know, so every every success issue is like I I get to I get to own that. Um, plus it allows us to like kind of, hey, you know what? Even if this doesn’t make money, this is something we can go and do where that just wasn’t the case when you’re working for a company. Uh, you know, and you know, I think the breaking big blue has been a huge success with Jordan Renon. That’s, you know, something that would have never gotten done. Um, despite, you know, you’d think things like that would happen more with the resources. So, it’s been fun, dude. Uh it it feels like, you know, the Spotify raps came out the other day and I’m like, damn, that’s kind of like we didn’t even have a full year. Um and this thing is, you know, kind of running like a welloiled machine. So, I’m excited. I’m excited to see what it does with a full off season. Uh especially, you know, Giants are going to get a new head coach and and hopefully a new GM even though I don’t think so. Yeah. I mean, I’ll kind of transition to that since you mentioned it already. I mean, it was a I don’t even know. I don’t know if you could even describe it as a press conference a couple days back now uh with Joe Shane, but I mean what did you kind of get out of it as the kind of general message besides him of course understanding the questions which he’s very good at? Yeah, there’s there was no way he was going to come out and like wow great press conference for Joe Shane. There’s just it was flat out impossible because of the way they’re at. So I actually think he handled it as well as he possibly could, you know, to the most part. um you know saying he doesn’t double down or make the same mistake twice was probably his biggest mess up because that’s like been a defining character trait for Joe Shane is making the same mistake twice and thrice and four times and sometimes five times. Um my biggest takeaway though was when he was asked about like do you have any asurances from ownership about your job and he didn’t he said he didn’t say yes and he said you know ownership will evaluate this at the end of the season where his answer last year was the exact opposite like yep I I fully expect to be back we have good conversations with ownership like we’re you know we keep them in the loop with everything. So, that was the only thing that um I I I really like will take away of like, all right, I’m keeping that in the back of my mind. The rest of the stuff was basically just him, you know, taking his beating. Let’s go to Abdul Carter, too, because that’s been obviously a big story in in Giants Land. And Joe Shane didn’t waste any time in his opening statement. He even said, “Listen, I know you guys are going to ask about Abdul. I’ll just get it right out of the way here.” What has been I mean I listened to your show so I do know your take but just for our audience and letting them know what what the hell is the deal with with Carter and then CFKA couldn’t stop profusely saying it was his decision. Thank you Mike. We we do in fact know that it is your decision. It’s kind of like Joe Shane with his I understand the question. I mean those like little ticks that I was hearing throughout the week have just been ringing in my head of I understand the question and it was a coach’s decision. So uh what what do you make of the whole thing with Abdul Carter? right now. I make of it he needs to start getting sacks. Uh I think Carter has been an effective player. Uh you know, he has more total sacks, hits, and pressures than anybody on the team, and that includes Brian Burns, who has, you know, what 13 sacks on the season. Um I think he’s had some games where it’s like, man, he is popping off the the screen. The last four games though, you had a little bit of a three-game, you know, stretch in there where he wasn’t doing much. this past game was his best game in a month against the Patriots despite being out there. He needs to get sacks and then and then grow up. Grow up. Like it’s as simple as that. Like being missing meetings, being late to meetings, like those aren’t mistakes. That’s that’s being immature, right? A mistake is you jump off sides. A mistake is you got confused by a zone read and you chase the running back when the quarterback kept it. That’s a mistake. There’s missing a missing meetings is just immaturity. That’s not that’s not a mistake. So, grow up and get sacks because as much as like you know the film is pretty good on on Abdul Carter, we didn’t draft him third overall to have good film. We had we didn’t draft him third overall to stuff the stat sheet. And I think that stuff is coming, right? Uh but eventually it does have to come. We have to stop saying it’s going to it’s going to come eventually. Eventually, he’s going to have to put together those games where he has, you know, four sacks and three games to go with all the other, you know, metrics of quarterback hits and pressures. Just a quick follow up on that, Alex. Sorry, I just wanted to ask you, Bobby, um, with the one drive suspension into the one quarter sus like or like not, you know, having him play, what do you think of that disciplinary measure? Is that enough? I I’ve seen a lot of people on Giants Twitter saying, you know, he needs to be sat a game, two game, whatever it may be. Does the quarter really like influence him in the future to be like, all right, I’m sitting at quarter because I did this now I won’t do it again because when it it seemed like when he sat for a drive, nothing changed because then he got this, you know, a disciplinary measure again. If he’s not a total just jerk, it should. I mean, it was on prime time and everyone saw, right? And then you know you have the West Steinberg stuff that gets out there as a joke and now you’re now everyone’s laughing at you Abdul Carter. You you’ve become a punchline, right? That’s the first time in his life that that has ever happened where there’s millions of people laughing at him, right? Whether they believe it or not. If if that’s not enough to motivate him to grow up, what what will be? You know what I mean? Like do you need to be released from like if you’re that immature to not let that stuff wake you up, then you’re a lost cause. So, I I I think it will. I I think it will. Now, will I am I saying that you might have an issue pop up here and there throughout his career? I’m not saying that. But the immediate future that should wake him up. And I do think he kind of has put this pressure on himself from right when he was, you know, in the offseason, right? Trying to get Lawrence Taylor’s number and, you know, this and that, right? He’s kind of brought this upon himself and he’s kind of, you know, people have been waiting to just jump on him because of that, right? So whenever any small opportunity comes up and you know a lot of rookie pass rushers do not have great rookie seasons um and really you know don’t turn it on towards the last few weeks but you know for him it’s you know you’re number three overall. You’re kind of already putting yourself in that high stature if you’re comparing yourself to Lawrence Taylor by trying to get his number. We’re expecting sacks and sacks each and every week. Uh and then when you’re not producing that, you know, it’s just not good enough. And I’m sure mentally for him, he’s probably just a little bit confused. I mean, think about how successful he was at Penn State, right? So, it’s always an adjustment for these guys, I think, when they come and they’re not immediately successful uh at the next level. But, I mean, it’s you can’t miss. I mean, two weeks in a row I thought was just like insane. I, you know, I’ve never seen that before. I mean, I’ve seen players sit because they were late to meetings for one week, but two weeks in a row that, you know, it had to be one drive and then a whole quarter. I thought was just I mean absolutely ridiculous. Um and you know definitely needs to grow up because it’s not like he’s there and uh you know we don’t have any other options at the position. I mean we are you know blessed as the Giants in in one spot to have you know a few guys who are quite talented at that edge rusher spot. So um you know he’s definitely he’s definitely got to grow up and you know I I’m hoping I’m going to see a little bit more progression as the season ends here. Do you expect that? Do you expect a few more sacks or or a few sacks I should say or kind of him improve a little bit because we do usually see that with rookie pass rushers? I think so. Um Jaden Daniels is going to be tough because he’s hard to bring down in a week. But you get to play the Vikings, the Raiders, and then if there was a game where he was really getting after the quarterback was, you know, the Chargers number one, but like the Cowboys, right? He had a lot of success against Dallas, right? He even, you know, he basically forced that interception that Drew Phillips had in that first game. So, I think a lot of it does have to do with the quarterback, right? And they’ve played some quarterbacks and teams that get the ball out quickly. Um, where like nobody on this team has gotten sacks except for Brian Burns, right? Like the second most is Nacho with three. Um, right. And you even look at some of Brian, you know, Brian Burns sacks and you’re like, I’m not that’s more of a right place, right time thing. Uh, and Abdul Carter has uh done that. So, I do I do think he’s going to get some more sex because you get to play um you know, the Raiders and Vikings in there and and then even the Cowboys. As good as Dak is, he’s not someone who’s extending plays with his legs a ton anymore. So, I do because I think he’s been a pretty damn good player. Uh you know, like defensive player-wise this year, Brian Burns has been number one. I I think Abdul Carter’s been, you know, number three after like Dexter Lawrence. Obviously, Dex having a down year. Um so, I think he’s been effective. So, I I do if he doesn’t and he’s getting a bunch of quarterback hits and pressures, I’m not going to sit here and cuss him out, but it’s going to be an entire off season of saying, “Hey, that that was all nice. You have to finish this year.” Because if you have two years in a row where you’re not putting together the sack production, you’re not living up to that third overall pick. You’re talking a little bit about the upcoming schedule with Commanders, Vikings, Raiders, Cowboys, the last four games for the Giants this year. When I’m looking at that list, there’s none to me that says, “Yeah, if Mike Kafka can string a win here or string a win there, he’s in the running.” Or obviously he’s going to get an interview, but like he’s in the running to be the next head coach. And for that matter, Joe Shane as well, although apparently he’s sticking around for the next head coaching shirts. What What do you have to like What do you think of with Kfka and Shane and these games against poor opponents really? and I live with a Cowboys fan here. They’re a poor opponent. I don’t care about the in the hunt BS. Cowboys aren’t a great team. Um, so anyways, like what what is that what can they even show at this point for either of those guys? Mike Casco can’t show anything. Um, yeah, I don’t think even going 4 and0 in the stretch, which is not going to happen, could could show anything. The reality is neither can show anything. Like you’re two and 11, you know, you’ve lo you’ve lost to the same like you’ve lost to bad teams as well too. Like congrats that you’ve kept some of those games tight like but you’ve lost more games than anybody in the NFL. Like congrats on some of those being a little tighter. You know what would have been nice to get like a surprise win, not just a surprise uh tight tight loss. Um so the reality is nothing can ch nothing should change, right? Ownership should look at Joe Shane whether they’re keeping him or not and being like all right this is what happened. But it feels like they’re asking him to like, hey, don’t lose these games or else we’re going to be really mad. Which again is a terrible way to do business. You should be able to evaluate them without these four games. You know, just imagine Jackson Dart, you know, gets, you know, gets sick and he misses the next three games, right? Like this, it shouldn’t make any difference what happens in these next four games against four, like you said, four bad opponents. It’s like the Cowboys are the best of the bunch, but they’re the worst def, you know, second worst defense in the NFL only to the Cincinnati Bengals. So, like even in there, you’ve got a a bad team. So, I I mean, I think they might even be playing like four of like the bottom like four defenses and offenses. So, it shouldn’t nothing should, but I think Giants ownership is looking at this and being like, “All right, well, you better not lose these games or we’re going to actually think about firing, right?” I just don’t understand because you know John Mara at the end of season press conference last year now what I feel is kind of contradicting himself if what they said in the statement when they you know fired Brian Dable is true that Joe Shane will be here for the coaching search because he said you know things are going to have to be different next year or I’m not going to be as unhappy as I am right now whatever the you know thing he said and then to be like all right well we only had two to whatever it ends up being I’m going to say like two to four wins this year. Um, Joe, you’re fine. Let’s stick you around and we’ll have you pick the new head coach and the next coaching staff. That just it doesn’t make sense to me. Then that just contradicts everything that John Meer made a public statement about basically putting the head coach and the GM immediately in the hot seat during the off season to then just let one of them stay. And you know, I just that that’s what I just John Meritt doesn’t care. He cares about optics and how he comes off. like that’s the right he doesn’t really care. He wants to keep everything the same because it’s comfortable right now. He’s dealing with a you know a cancer battle and he’s you know doesn’t want to you know he doesn’t want to give up the reigns but he also doesn’t think that he’s capable of doing a GM search which is again billion dollar organization 10 billion dollar organization kind of embarrassing that you’re running it that way. Um, but so like he he like last year that he kept Joe Shane and Brian Dable. You know what he should have done, right? And again, he should have fired them is what he should have done. But if he when he decided to keep them, back them, say, “I believe.” Not, “Oh, I better be in a better mood. I’m not sure we’re in a better.” No, he should have went out there and backed them and gave them confidence. Instead, what he did was basically be like, “Yep, you guys are fired next year if this doesn’t completely turn around.” And now Brian Dable is fired and things are wor almost worse. Uh uh you know the only difference being is you have a quarterback in Jackson Dart now and like now he’s backed himself into a hole where he basically told us he would fire these guys and he’s not going to with Joe Shane. Yeah. And it’s like I I mean I don’t get it because you know you look even last year the the head coaching options last year uh if they were to have fired Brian Nabel and Joe Shane the the GM options much better most likely than what we’re going to have this time around. I mean you look at Mike Verable obviously what he’s doing with the Pats uh Ben Johnson with the Bears. I mean, it’s going to look silly if they end up now, you know, getting one of these other guys who doesn’t really work out while we see those guys kind of thriving on their new teams. And, you know, it always seems like John Mara is a little bit late to the punch every single time. Even with that, Alex, you know what is out there, some good head coach, some good head coach is out there, but it may not be obvious, right? You have to go outside the box. Look at the guys they brought in the last time. They brought in Brian Dable and Leslie Frasier who worked with Joe Shane uh in Buffalo. They interviewed Patrick Graham. So basically they did three interviews with people they knew intimately. Then they brought in Brian Flores um Dan Quinn and then what was the and Louis Anarumo, right? Another guy who had been with the New York Giants and Louis anorumo. And nobody nobody like thought that Louis anumo was actually going to get that job. So like they didn’t even do a real head coach, right? Kevin sued them. Yeah, Kevin. Yeah, they even screwed that one up for the future. Kevin Oonnell was laughed at. Guess what? Kevin Oonnell’s a coach of the year. Kevin Oonnell is one of the best coaches in the NFL. And you didn’t interview him because it wasn’t the most obvious one. And people laughed at the Vikings a little a bit for hiring him. Uh but the reality is that was the best coaching hire of that cycle. So go find somebody, right? It’s like the excuse last year. Well, we can’t fire Shane Bowen because we can’t get anybody better. Why not? you you can’t go and identify somebody who may be a little early who’s willing to take that jump. You can only look at the CBS p you know you know power rankings of next best five defensive coordinators and that’s the only people you can interview from. So that’s where I get frustrated with them is like they’re they never change where it’s like they they they run the team like a fan almost where it’s like all right like we have limited information right I can’t go and call this person and that person to find out about this you know defensive coordinator at Georgia or whatever but they can do that but they just kind of do like oh this is this is what the media the these are what the CBS articles of of potential head coach candidates put together. This is what the Dne Bugler and Mel Kyper big board is. Yeah. And it’s kind of like what you were saying too, right? It’s it’s kind of they don’t want to step out of their comfort zone. Uh you know, John Mara doesn’t want to mix things up. He kind of wants to stay status quo. And it’s the same thing with the way they they do their, you know, coaching and GM searches as well. I I mean, kind of transitioning to the head coach search because we know that’s definitely going to be happening. Hopefully, there’s a GM search as well. But I mean, if I guess with there’s two different ways to look about it, right? If Joe Shane is there versus no Joe Shane, because I think that influences it quite a bit. If Joe Shane is still sticking around, are you expecting kind of the Lanna Rumos and the other, you know, kind of more safer options, the more connected options I should say, uh, versus some of the other guys that have been floated around if Shane, you know, potentially was fired. I might be expecting that either way because those are the names we consistently hear and a lot of a lot of that I believe is coming from ownership. Like I think ownership is gonna have a huge say in the next head coach which is you know frustrating where it’s like oh my god it’s like we’re never going to learn right like you’re just you just constantly my worry is not having a guy with leadership or experience right like I’ve even actively said like I think retreats can be a good thing you know I I did uh it’s Bill Bich skus it a little bit but go look at like the last like 25 super bowl winning head coaches I think like 18 of them were like retreads right you have Andy Reid in there uh Grood and Dun Um, you know, so there’s there’s there’s so many, you know, C Gary Kubak like so there’s so many Super Bowl co winning coaches who have uh done I need to like just put that on a note because I cite that all the time without the exact number. Um, but it’s like they they have a lack of accountability and discipline issue. So they’re going to look to let’s fix that. And I I just hope they don’t create more issues by fixing one thing, right? they go to plug another hole, but you know, they bust three other ones wide open by hiring some, you know, boring, you know, stale offensive coordinator. Uh, and that messing with Jackson Dart’s uh, you know, development. So, that’s those are the things I’m worried about. Like a Mike McCarthy, for example. I I keep seeing that. Oh my god. Which I I understand he’s won games and stuff. It’s but it’s like, man, what what about that guy inspires you that he’s going to lead us to Super Bowls? Like I understand that I would take 12 wins three years in a row, but like the goal is still Super Bowls. The goal is to find a guy who’s going to be your head coach for 10 plus years as do you believe that is the guy? And what bothers me, I mean, both you guys talking about sitting tight, waiting, trying to just or just being comfortable with what’s going on. And Bobby, you said those two guys and Shane and Dable should have been fired last year. And then what I find just honestly hilarious is that somehow Shane Bowen ended up sticking around on the team longer than Brian Dable did. it like it just baffles me that like I don’t know if it’s entitlement, I don’t know what it is, but how is that even possible that the defensive coordinator who’s been horrendous in his job ends up sticking around longer than the head coach? Like I feel like one either goes with the other or one before the other that just like that just honestly just made me feel like I don’t really understand what the hell is going on here. How do you get rid of one before the other? Yeah, it was again plugging holes, not making like big is like what what was even the like you said, what was kind of the point of that just getting Brian the toxicity of Brian Dable out there like you you cited the fourth quarter losses and guess what you now you had two back-to-back fourth quarter losses in a row. Uh and then you fired Shane Moan and Charlie Bulan got like extra aggressive and they got then they got torched by the Patriots. So they just they try and fix one thing at a time, right? Like that’s kind of been a Giants issue is like bad self-evaluation and trying to fix one thing at a time, hoping that that fixes everything. And I guess with that now and and looking towards the draft, listen, I I’m I don’t know how much you’ve looked into prospects. I’m not even going to mention players by name. We have to start doing our draft research uh when winter break kind of rolls around here in the next couple weeks because there’s nothing else to really do. Um, and so I ask you at least positionwise with that first round pick, if the Giants don’t end up trading it back, it will most likely be in the top five, if not top three. What position, group, or groups are you looking for for the Giants to pick there? Yeah. So, I don’t know names, but I have like you you listen to what other people say to try and get an idea, then you watch the players and make your own decision. Really is I I want to attack the offensive line and the and the defensive attack or group. Again, there may not be any of those guys there worth taking, but that’s where it’s like I want to get bigger and stronger up front on on the trenches, right? It’s been ignored for too long. I understand the offensive line is like passable as a pass protecting group right now, but like they can really serve to improve. Germaine Aluminor is a free agent as well. Greg Vanroen’s a free agent. Those guys aren’t long-term pieces. Renan’s not even a long-term piece despite being a little younger. JMS isn’t very good. like I I want to build this offensive line and make it a strength and not just passable. Like it’s been it’s been a a breath of fresh air what it has been this year. Um but I want it to be better than that. It’s kind of like what you said, right? As as we fix or kind of fix one issue and then everything else now becomes an issue. Yeah, the offensive line’s been a, you know, a heck of a lot better this year, but you know, everything else has been dramatically worse. So, um, I think, you know, it it’s I personally am like, you know, I look at the board and I don’t really know, you know, I haven’t looked super deep into the prospects, but I mean, the Giants are such a flawed team. I mean, yeah, the, you know, guys on the trenches would be great, but to be honest, like after watching Pulse and Adbo um, against the Patriots, I mean, corner is not a terrible shout either. Yeah. Um, you know, I could go any position. I like there’s Yeah. Like if Caleb if you like Caleb DS way more than anybody else, go Caleb DS. If you like Arll Reese more than everybody else, go Arll Reese. I think this is going to be a year where I’m in favor of the trade down. Um yeah, I agree. Okay. You know, like if they get a top two pick, you know, there’s going to be some QB hungry team. Please Jets keep winning games. Please, I beg of you to keep winning games. But like this is a year where I can really see myself being in favor of the trade down. Yeah. I also think I mean based on what I’ve read or kind of looked at so far I think you can get I wouldn’t say the talent is super topheavy necessarily. I think you could uh you know get some guys who who would be you know still very big difference makers you know sliding down into the later single digits uh you know compared to you know number two or number three or wherever the Giants end up. But I mean the Giants just have to get good football players. I mean, that’s the at the end of the day, the Giants don’t have a ton of those. Um, but you know, it it’s at this point I’m, you know, I always am going to get excited for the draft, right? I’m sure March is going to come around. I’m going to get excited doing the mock drafts or whatever, but at the end of the day, I think for the Giants, it’s not necessarily even a personnel like it’s just it’s bigger than all that at this point. And I think we’ve seen that that it’s just the organizational mishaps at every turn. If that doesn’t change, it doesn’t matter if you have, you know, Patrick Mahomes and, uh, you know, I don’t even know who, you know, Justin Jefferson and the best O line in football. Uh, you know, if you every, you know, other week your kicker, uh, you know, injures himself before the game and you don’t have a a backup kicker or, um, you know, your defensive coordinator is not, you know, calling the right plays. I, you know, it’s just, it’s not going to change unless they fix the basics and the fundamentals of what the organization is doing. And that’s the worrying concerning part because it just doesn’t Super Bowl is the standard, right? So like so like say Jackson Dart turns it like gets even better and is like a guy who’s getting us in the playoffs every year. You can cap yourself out by being a badly run organization. Shout out the Cincinnati Bengals. Um even though the Texans defense is great right now, like I think they’re an embarrassing organization. The way that they put offensive linemen in front of CJ Stout, I think it’s embarrassing what they’ve done. Trading like having offensive line issues and then trading away Larry Tonsel because he had not his best season. I think that’s an embarrassing move. So like the Texans, if the Texans had a better offensive line, they might be my Super Bowl team. But because I think they make mistakes similar to the Giants, I think they’re in an issue. But they do have I would kill for that defense that they have. Um so yeah, I agree. You can cap yourself out. the Buffalo Bills, right? As much as like, ah, we pulled from the Bills, they got Josh Allen. Do you look at that roster and being like, man, they’ve really put together a Super Bowl winner around Josh Allen? I I don’t think so. I think they’ve they’ve done a terrible job giving him weapons. I think they’ve had terrible first round pick after first round pick of Dalton King, Keon Coleman, Ky Elim. like they’ve had terrible first round picks and it’s made it difficult for Josh Allen to get that Super Bowl that he’s a deserving player that he will probably win one eventually, but he may be a Tan Marino because the Bills don’t build around him correctly. And Alex, you’re worried about the fundamentals. I mean, just just the final point on the draft. Uh, I don’t feel comfortable if Joe Shane is making the picks like to be completely honest because you’re looking at the the picks that he’s made since 22 and it’s Neil, it’s Banks, we have no idea. You know, Carter’s a question mark and then Neighbors and Dart in between that. But it it’s right now looking to be a pretty easy and I really don’t give him credit for the neighbors pick either because like who else was he going to pick? I mean a quarterback. I do. You got to give like and here’s the thing is Evan. Fair enough. Evan Neil failed. We wouldn’t if Evan Neil was great, we couldn’t do like, oh well, I don’t give him credit for that because these guys, there’s no such thing as a slam dunk. I do think Neighbors was as pretty damn close to one. Um, but I do give him credit for that because he could have went quarterback. He could have went another, you know, player or Neighbors just couldn’t have been as good as Bill, which has happened with top 10 receivers. But, um, I I I got to just spit this out because I looked it up. 16 of the last 25 Super Bowl winners have had a retread head coach. Six of those go in the Bill Bich. Coughlin has two. Dunie Gruden, Kubiaak, Pete Carroll has one in there. Uh Bruce Aren. Uh so and then Andy Reid with the other three. I just I want to get that number out there. Yeah. No, no, no. That’s uh that’s cool. I mean, yeah. I just I don’t I don’t know with the coaching search of where the Giants and if the Giants can pull something like that off. I mean, a Super Bowl just seems so so far away. And as each year has gone by in the 2020s, I guess for that matter, it just seems like they just go further and further out than uh closer and closer. I do want to ask about someone who hopefully can lead them there eventually at some point in his life, I hope, and that’s Jackson Dart. The concerns though of recently of this last week have been since that Patriots game, it wasn’t a flashy game. It wasn’t even close to it. It was one of his honestly, you know, worst performances of the season. I’m not saying he played horrific, but it wasn’t good. Uh, and also the whole issue with concussions and and injuries uh for Dart is now on the top of the hill and everyone’s worried about his future. Um, I guess just your take on Dart so far this year. I know it’s it’s hard because everything, you know, I feel like everything has been just weird with him coming in so early and then the injuries and then the concussion, but then the medical whatever. Anyway, go ahead. I I’ve been very pleased with Jackson Dart. Um, and I don’t think it’s just because I like I was lower on Jackson Dart than the New York Giants. I think I think a large majority were probably in line with what I thought of him in the draft. Um, but I I’ve been extremely pleased with him. Like he looks like he belongs, man. Like um where I was worried that he might not look like he belongs, especially as a rookie. Uh you know, and you know, the early days of camp, I was like, “Oh gosh, this is this is not this is a mess, right?” Like this is early training camp. You’re not judging the guy on this. Like this is a mess. And then it just like flipped for him one day and it’s been all uphill since. And so like he’s still got a growth to do, but I just feel like he’s going to be good enough that he’s going to be able to make the plays to get by as he learns the game and matures and gets better. The injury stuff, yeah, I worry about that. I think it’s become way more overblown as a talking point because he hasn’t had these stupid plays over the last uh two games that he’s played despite getting injured and having that big hit on prime time. like he did take that big hit on prime time. That wasn’t a stupid play. Uh that’s a thing that a quarter quarterback should do every single game. The Patriots just had just decided like if it’s close, blow his ass up. Do not give him the benefit of the doubt whatsoever. Um you know, but he was sliding in the Bears game. He didn’t take any really big hits in the Chicago Bears game. It’s just when he fumbled, he popped his head off the ground when he was trying to recover his own fumble. So, he’ll get injured again. What you don’t want is what David was doing is in fourth quarter blowouts running quarterback power to try and you know make the score differential a little different number one and then frustration like the 49ers game they’re down by you know 14 points or whatever it’s the fourth quarter and he can run out of bounds and he’s deciding to just stay in bounds and put a shoulder through somebody. That’s the stupid [ __ ] that you can’t do. Um but he I he’ll get banged up like he’s a running quarterback. That’s going to happen. you know, their days of guys not missing any games is far and few. It’s just it’s just not there anymore except for the guys like Mahomes and Allen who are somehow able to just avoid any injury. Yeah, I mean I he’s been way better than I thought he’d ever be. Um, you know, from watching his college tape and and he’s made drastic improvements and, you know, you got to give Brian Nabal credit for that because he he spotted that guy obviously. Um, but I I do think, you know, he has all the tools and I, you know, I always use this phrase, but I think he has that like it factor. I think we saw it on that uh two-point conversion in the Pats game. I mean, um, you know, he can make plays. Um, and it’s just about surrounding him with the the proper talent and uh, the resources he needs going into next season. But I’m also not super concerned about the injury stuff as long as you know he’s not just slamming his head into the ground for no reason. Uh kind of like Kev Scataboo. So, uh you know, I think those two guys, you know, give a kind of character and identity to the Giants. And I really do think, you know, if Scataboo is still, uh, you know, up and playing the rest of the season, I think, you know, you could see a lot different results just based on the kind of energy they brought. But, um, yeah, I I mean, I’ve been impressed with him and, you know, I’m going to just throw this fun one out there. There’s I would assume no chance you think the Giants take a quarterback, even if they get number one, number two pick. No. And one of the worries is when they you let these guys draft their quarterback is if you’re in a spot that they you fire them, right? That was kind of under the guise of like Dar was having rookie struggles and it’s like well you don’t want to put a new you don’t want to hire a GM who’s tickling your ears saying oh I would like to work with this guy even though he’s just saying that because he knows that gives him the best chance of the job where the best guy for the job may have been someone like hey I didn’t believe in this guy when our draft process I think his rookie year stunk I don’t see the signs I want to draft a quarterback at two Dart has eliminated that part of the process because there’s nobody in their right mind who would look at Dart’s rookie season and say yeah let’s give up on him. Like not to say that you have to be sold that he’s the guy, but like there’s nobody in their right mind would say, “Hey, yeah, that’s a guy we’re giving up on after year one.” So, um that’s um that’s all the more the reason I think to fire Joe Shane right now is like, “All right, now you have this guy after one year. Don’t do the exact Daniel Jones thing where you’re keep holding on to a clinging GM.” Not to say Jones would have been good. Uh anyways, but you’re holding on to a GM and that GM sucks and then you fire Joe. Let’s start this thing fresh and get all behind Jackson Dart. And if he works, uh, then it’s awesome. If he doesn’t, you’re letting that GM and head coach hire probably get another quarterback in two years from now if you don’t feel like he’s the guy worth moving forward with. You guys are I’m putting together little notes right here of like kind of like thoughts and ideas. Um, three years from now, support Jackson Dart. And I I’m going to go clip something from the Joe Shane press conference after this about his Super Bowl being the standard. So, thank you guys for interviewing me. So, hey, I have contact. Oh, yeah. No problem. No problem. Uh I I find it hilarious, by the way, and you know that we have the season is is well over when two of our three quarterbacks are ready for retirement as they are going on their pregame shows on CBS and Fox and Jameus Winston and Russell Wilson during the by-week. I know. I need to try and get Jackson Dard on the, you know, Bobby and Grump pregame show on Sunday. I think you uh already missed out. I believe he’s going on Cam Scataboo’s Twitch stream uh Twitch stream. Excuse me. So, I think you’re late to the punch, unfortunately. Jeez. Um it’s not going to stop me from trying to tweet. Does So, does Cam Scataboo This is This is actually a good question for you guys. Do you guys keep up with like this the Scatteraboo Twitch stuff? Oh, I mean, I see his clips. I don’t watch his streams. Okay. I was wonder does he just like Twitch all day every day? It’s it’s pretty frequent. I think he does have a schedule. Um, like he does it at nights most of the time because I’ve looked like on Twitch before and he’s been live, but I do know he did that he did that stream with Alex. Did you see the one he did with Neon who’s a I think like a page and they did in the big mall uh next to Metife. They went walked around the mall. Um, but anyway, yeah. Uh, shout out Cam Scaboo with his little scooter. um looks like he’s doing all right in his in his recovery. Um Bobby, I I have a a really tough question for you at this point with the Giants two and 11 on the year. Uh for fans, your message to them of like what is what do we do at this point as Giants fans? Like how do we hold on? Uh because you know as Alex and I have talked about and I’m sure you and Grub have talked about and and Jordan run on, it’s honestly getting harder and harder to jump on the mics for the game preview to talk about it for the game recap to go on another show and preview the game too. I mean, I was talking to Patriots fans last week and he’s like he sent me the rundown and he’s like before the show you’re going to talk about your keys to the game. I’m like what keys are there to talk about for the Giants team? I have nothing. Like the season’s over. We’re gonna lose this game. So, what do you like what do you say to Giants fans of like trying to somehow stay through this? You got Jackson Dart. That’s nice. I don’t know, man. This is this is what sports is like it’ll feel good if you if we ever get back to that mountain top, right? It just will feel better, you know? Um or even to be competitive, you know? Like Alex, me and Alex are Nets fans. As much as the Kevin Durant, Kyrie Harden thing sucked, man. It felt good to have that feeling to have a chance at a championship, right? After all those years, Alex probably wasn’t alive or not. He was alive, but not as a act. Actually, you How old are you, Alex? I’m 21. Okay. So, you weren’t alive for the 01, 02, 03 Nets where they were in the NBA finals, right? and I cling to that forever as a Nets fan and I’m like, “Oh, we have a chance at a title. Should have won that damn thing that year. I can’t believe how bad our luck went.” Um, but like that just, you know, when it’s there, I I I dream of doing Super Bowl week with Giants Nation show and going live every single day and then doing interviews and podcasts and live like I I dream of that type of stuff. Um, and you know the quote Justin Tuck, it’s the best feeling in the world. So, it’s the NFL. It’s a it’s a parody league. Uh teams, you know, it’s teams get back on top. Uh and hopefully the Giants will eventually. And hey, and Jackson Dart looks like he could be a quarterback to help do that. I just thought of one more fun one, too. Now, with the by-week, uh on your end, what changes? I’m sure you’ll still be watching football on Sunday, but anything you’re doing this weekend or during the week that you otherwise would not have been able to do if the Giants had a football game? So, originally I had some plans and those both got cancelled. Um, but I don’t know yet. Now, those plans were things that stopped me from, you know, going to do. So, I don’t know. So, here’s the issue is I’m doing the by-week mock draft, which takes a lot of work, especially when you haven’t like done prep on players. So, you don’t just get to pick players, you got to go and watch individual players and pick which one out of a limited sample size. So, I’ll probably get a little early head start on that on Sunday. Um, but I’m going up to the game this this weekend. Uh, the Commanders game this week, next weekend. So, it’s more getting prepped and getting ready to go and do that. We’re gonna turn that into like a little mini vacation, a day in, you know, one day in New York City, one day in upstate visiting some family and the cat skills. Um, so it’s more of getting ready, resting, relaxing, um, and all that good stuff. Very nice. Very nice. Yeah, that’ll be I mean I know you guys get your daily grind still, but yeah. Yeah, I mean it’s just this is the tail end for us for school. So honestly, we’re taking the weekend and studying. It’s very boring, but not not what you would hope to be a by week of rest and relaxation. God, this thing worked out for me because I was just destined for like I guess trade work’s not so bad, but like whenever I think about school, right, you know, some sometimes people are older like man, I wish I would have taken school more serious and [ __ ] I’m like, “Nah, [ __ ] that. I could never I never studying stuff I don’t care about and looking at this like I I never there’s things I go back and like, man, I wish I would have done this better.” There’s I never once I’m like, “Man, I wish I would have studied harder.” Never never once in my life. So, yeah, that’s probably terrible advice for you guys right now. Uh, but I’m just saying I’m not envious of like having like whenever I talk to someone who’s in college, I’m like, “That really sucks.” So, um, yeah, good luck, guys. Listen, I mean, I I have three exams coming up. One of which is ASL, which actually I do like learning other languages, so that’s been fun. Uh, I have two biology exams, one next Monday, one next Friday. I’m very much a journalism major in the communications program at Syracuse. No reason why I should ever be taking a lab science in my life, but here we are. Agreed. That’s the thing. It’s like, yeah, the journal like you’re killing it. You know, obviously I see your stuff all the time, Josh. like you’re killing it, but like you shouldn’t be having to do biology. Like you know that that you know they’re just they’re they’re literally just stealing your money. Now I’m going on like a rant against colleges, but like I don’t need to learn any of this. This is not what my desire is. Okay? There’s there is no there’s no happen chance that I need biology in my future. It’s either it’s very clear-cut. Am I going to need this in my future or not? Josh, you’re never going to need that in your future. Um, when you get sick, you’re gonna look up WebMD. You’re gonna go to the doctor or you’ll just ignore it like a grown man. But like, what what what chance will you ever need that? There’s none. Like, there’s certain careers where it’s just like you either in it or not. I don’t need to study any biology. It’s never going to be important to me in my life. Well, tell Alex that he’s a business major, so his homework is just doing coloring books and all that. I I was I was a uh my school didn’t have business, so I did what a school that didn’t have business major did was e economics and then um failed out. So, good luck, guys. Appreciate it. Yeah, that that’s my weekend, too, Josh. So, I Alex is ahead of me because he finishes first, so he’s gonna get to leave school before I’m here till the the 18th. But anyways, uh that’s that’s the deal there. Bobby, can I let me let me because now you guys got me is sometimes please people like that are in college who are like trying to get in media and stuff. like they’re like, “Hey, can I interview for you for this project or stuff?” I’m like, “Yeah, but your your professor is going to hate me.” Where I’m like, I did nothing of college. Uh basically just kind of like did it as a hobby and then you know like I got very lucky and doing all this like you know hard work too but got very lucky in this. Uh that path is not the path for most people. So I’m like just be just beware that your professor is probably not going to love the advice that I get. Um which is uh but good good luck with college guys. It it is funny they just started like a creator network here um like within like the last month of like a creator economy networking about like being a self-starter and and your own brand which I find it very interesting in this you know day and age that’s going to end up becoming a major. So pretty cool but um yeah that’s what that’s that’s what we got. Bobby, thanks so much for for joining us, man. Bobby Skinner on Twitter. And obviously, if you’re anywhere in the Giants on Twitter and podcast, YouTube, you already know about it, but uh runs the Giants Nation show and they do a great job over there. So, go support that. And you guys will be in our backyard. Basically, Alex, they’re go I don’t know if you saw this, but Bobby and Jordan Ron are going to be at Shen Rose in Clifton, which we live in Montlair. That is literally right around the corner. Uh, next what would it be now? Not this time. December 15th, I believe. Monday. Monday after Commander game. Yeah. Yep. So, definitely definitely go there. Alex, I don’t know if you’re home yet, but if you are, go there. I was going to go there if I wasn’t at school still. Um, so definitely go check that out. But, Bobby, thank you so much for joining us, man. We really appreciate you guys.

In this episode, Josh and Alex talk with Bobby Skinner who is the host of the Giants Nation Show. The three discuss Joe Schoen, Brian Daboll firing, Abdul Carter issues and more….

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