Giants After the Bye | Big Blue Kickoff Live | New York Giants

Giants After the Bye | Big Blue Kickoff Live | New York Giants

Hello everybody. Welcome to Monday’s Big Blue Kickoff Live. Sorry for the delay. A bit of a scheduling snafu. Thank you to Matthew Sitac for jumping in from upstairs and and stepping in. Sorry for starting late. So we’ll go to around 1:40 today. Taking your calls at 219394513. And the Hackinack Midian Health podcast studio. Keep getting better. Big Blue Kickoff Live is of course presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the Giants. How was your bye-week off Mr. Sciteac? It was great. Very relaxing. And Giants didn’t lose. Giants didn’t lose. And and as of right now, Giants are at the first pick. I was without even having played. It’s funny. I originally thought that I was going to host a show with Vatino. And this was not Paul’s fault, by the way. I’m not throwing him under the bus. Um, and I was going to ask him about this and I was waiting to see how Paul would be like, “John, I haven’t even thought about this yet. I don’t think I don’t know what I’m going to do.” But now you’re here and I know you actually do think about this stuff, so I can actually ask you the question. ideal situation. Throw this prospect class away. Don’t worry about it. Assume it’s unnamed group of prospects. Okay. If you had your choice of any great player at any position with the first overall pick in the draft, what position would you take? What do you mean forget the You can I will let you create a prospect out of thin air. The best prospect in this class could be at any position. What position would you draft the first overall pick in the draft? Yes. Uh I mean I this might be a copout, but I feel like if you if the Giants actually end with the first pick, you have to look into trading down. I’m taking that off the table for now. Okay. You you have to pick a player and one and I’m taking quarterback off the table. Yeah, I would not go quarterback. I feel like pretty confident heading into next year with Jackson Dart as the quarterback. I would say if there was an Andrew Luck level quarterback prospect in this year’s draft class, I think you have to have that conversation regardless of who’s in your building, but there’s not. So, that’s I’m taking quarterback off the table. Okay. Um, that’s it’s not an easy question. No. You know what? Maybe offensive tackle. That’s what I would say, too. And I I say that hoping that Germaine Aluminor is back next year, but because he’s a pending free agent, he’s likely played himself into a at least a much bigger contract than what he just got from the Giants last offse or two offseasons ago. I I hopefully he’s back, but if not, then obviously your right tackle spot opposite Andrew Thomas is the most glaring hole going into the off season. So a tackle would make sense. I would say that would be that I’m 1A 1B. My 1B would be wide receiver. That was I was literally about to say and my other choice would be wide receiver. Similar situation with Juan Del Robinson, a pending free agent. Now I would say I feel like bringing back Germaine Aluminor is at least should maybe be a slightly higher priority than Well only because good question. We have seen the Giants offensive line for the first time in what feels like over a decade actually produce solid consistent results on a week in and week out basis and Germaine Lumar obviously has played a very big part of that. Andrew Thomas is the lead guy in that group and the three interior guys I think have been playing better than a lot of people expected them to play but Germaine Lumor has really held it held it down on the right side. So, and as great as Wal’s having a great season, probably the best season, not probably the best season of his career, but you did also just last offseason give a contract to Darius Sllayen. Obviously, Malik Neighbors heading into year three, but it’s after your third year that you are eligible to sign an extension. Correct. So, if Malik comes back, has a monster year, you would expect he would at least want an extension. So, it’s just how much money can you really give out to wide receivers each off season? So, I feel like No, no, no, no, no. I’m with you. I don’t I think I I I think your logic is sound. I also think you could just pretty much take almost any position on defense. Maybe not outside linebacker, edge rusher because I with Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, and Kavon Tibido under contract for at least one more year. I feel like it’s obviously not as big of a need and you just this past draft with the number three overall pick. You just chose the best player in Abil Carter despite it not being a need a position of need. But I mean, I know you said kind of take the actual specific prospects out, but someone like Arville Ree. Yeah. Maybe Caleb Dallas. Let me ask you, would you consider Arll Reese or even a Ruben Bane, let’s say? Well, Ruben Bane is more of a edge rusher. No, he is. Would you consider one of those two guys if you move Tibido for a player at a position of need in the offseason and you just had Burns and Carter on the roster? Yes. But at the same time, I want to see Burns and Abdul kind of have a, you know, get the full aotment of snaps each and every week. I agree with you. And while it’s great to have a surplus at especially at a premier position like edge rusher, I don’t know the I mean we’ve seen this year like the rotating the three of them, it hasn’t produced the results that we kind of thought that the defensive line was going to get. Now I think agreed the the performance of Dexter Lawrence in the middle has I think played a role in that. You know, he hasn’t had the dominant season we’ve grown accustomed to which I think has led to outside of Burns the edge guys not quite getting the same or the production that maybe we thought they were going to get. I agree. How would you then rank three technique defensive tackle, inside linebacker, and corner? I think corner has to be one just because Flat’s a free agent. Yeah. Again, it’s another another position with a pending free agent. If you tell me Flat’s going to be back with him and Adbo as the top two corners on the outside, corner is not as big of a need. and Mike McFad at inside linebacker, too. Yes. So, I I guess fortunately all of these free agent questions will be answered before the draft. Correct. Correct. But correct. Correct. Which is why I don’t want to spend too much time on this. But I just thought it was an interesting exercise given right now the Giants would have their pick of the litter. Again, if if you don’t have if you’re not controlled by the quality of the class, but I’m with you right now, you sit there and I think right now Fernando Martinez is probably the handsdown top quarterback in this class as of now. Mendoza. What did I say? Martinez. Yeah. Fernando Mendoza. Sorry. Yes. And Carl Banks kept saying Martinez to me before about joking about something else and that got stuck in my head. That would be the player that teams would try to trade up for. I think that Simpson’s fallen back. He has not played well the last half of this year. And I think Tony Paulina has told me he thinks Dante Moore is going back to to Oregon. So I think Mendoza would be the guy. That would have to be a tradeown situation in your stack picks. For Giants fans, regardless of how the Giants do over this next month, I think every Giant fan should be rooting for Mendoza to have an unbelievable college football playoff performance and Dante Moore for that matter. And Dante Moore, even Tai Simpson. That’s correct. All of them. Have all the quarterbacks play their out of their minds? Because as we all know, quarterbacks always rise in the months leading up to the draft. Yep. Giants are not in the business of needing a quarterback this draft. So whether the Giants are at one and looking to trade down or five, you would want, you know, three quarterback needy teams to be ahead of them. So one of the best position players drops to them wherever the Giants end up drafting. Yes, I agree 100%. All right. Now, I will just real quick, we don’t have to talk about this because I’m going to get real up in arms if we do, but you want to talk about the best quarterback in college football this past season. It’s not Mendoza. It’s not Dante Moore. And it’s not Tai Simpson. It’s a guy who may not even get drafted or a day three draft pick. Not really an NFL prospect, but I’m sorry. The best quarterback in college football this past season, Mr. Diego Pavia. What? And I’m not going to say no bias because there’s definitely bias, but if you just look at the numbers, most certainly should could be in high contention for the Heisman Trophy. What I am just curious, maybe you’ll be able to answer this. Mendoza became the heavy favorite to win Heisman after Saturday night where he didn’t play that great. They just Indiana beat Ohio State to win the conference championship. Very nice job, but he didn’t really do much. He big fourth quarter, but yes. Yeah, but you I mean you look at his numbers overall boxer just wasn’t that impressive and he became the heavy heavy favorite for Heisman after that. Well, winning counts and that sort of stuff. It’s not just about statistics, I guess, but like I give more credit to the head coach. Look, I look, that’s what I said. Mendoza is not to me like a Andrew Luck level type of prospect here. I think he’s a good player. I think he’s there deservedly a first round first round pick, but again, I’m not sure how high the ceiling is there necessarily. I think, look, and I know the committee, and I want to give small schools a chance. Oh, don’t get me started on the committee. I am very, very mad at the committee right now. What are we doing with Tulain and James Madison here? Are we just going to enjoy two first round, you know, 30-point losses and say, “Oh, well, you know, they won their conferences. Rename it the College Football Invitational.” That’s not the College Football Playoff because you don’t have the 12 best teams in the country playing. Notre Dame has every right to be upset. They’re one of the 12 best teams. And again, I have no problem Miami going over them because the head match up. I got no problem with that necessarily. But you want to sell me that Tulain and James Madison are better teams than Notre Dame and even Vanderbilt? BYU I mean BYU is two losses to Texas Tech. That’s it. I mean this isn’t a college football show, so I don’t want to go too deep. And I could go on for a very long time about my feelings college football playoff right now and they screwed us out of the playoff Vandy that is. Throw throw us a bone. Give Diego Heisman. By the way, how much did they play people along with this whole like ratings every week and how they do it and then in the end it just none of it ended up mattering like at all. Yeah, it’s just amazing. We could have a whole podcast just about that. All right, so I go back to the Giants. So I I did a little self scout today, okay, of the Giants. It’s the same routine I do every week for the Giants opponent just to kind of see who they are, figure out what type of team they are. And I’m going to throw some things at you, Matt. She’s You haven’t looked at any of this yet, so I’m throwing to these all cold. No idea what you’re about to throw at me. So, here’s what I’m going to throw at you. The Giants this year offensively have overall been pretty good. Um, EPA per play, believe it or not, they’re ninth in the National Football League offensively in EPA per play. I do believe it surprising. 19th in DVOA. Again, those are two different efficiency metrics. Passing DVOA, they’re 16th. EPA per play, they’re 14th. So, pretty good. Success rate, this is interesting. Success rate, guys, is determined. This is a not quite as analytic. So basically you either have to get half the number of yardage needed for a first down on either first or second down. So if it’s second to 10, you get five yards as a successful play. First and 10, five yards is a successful play and do the math after that. The third and fourth down in order for it to be successful play, you have to get the first down. That’s kind of how you determine what a successful play is. So overall just 23rd overall, 14th rush, 27th passing success rate. And the reason why is the Giants have been one of the best big play offenses in the National Football this year league this year. Do you know where the Giants rank, Matt, in overall plays of 20 or more yards per game? Uh overall for you or not per game? Sorry. Overall plays of 20 or more yards where they rank in the National Football League. Pretty high up, I would think. Eighth. Yeah, I was going to say past plays of 20 plus yards. Seventh. It’s really good considering where the team’s been at in that category. It was one of the keys we had in the offseason, right? You had to make more big plays. And if you want to look at how this Giants offense has really succeeded is running the ball, they’re fine. 14 success rate, 20th EPA per play, 17 TVA, they’re fine. They’re not great. They’re fine. But what’s made this offense different is their big plays. Seventh in pass plays of 20 plus yards. Do you know where they are in pass plays of 30 plus yards? Also top 10. Third. Yeah. Third with 19. the big plays in the passing game. And then I looked this up too. The Giants have the percentage of passes that travel at least 20 yards in the air. They lead the National Football League at 18%. It’s like 3% higher than anybody else. That’s kind of that stat in particular is kind of insane to think about considering what we have had here at the last couple of years. Yes. where we probably ranked among if not last pretty far down that list. Yes. In air yards of 20 players of 20 plus yards. So at least they’re you know corking it down uncorking it downfield. And by the way this has worked with three different quarterbacks. Jameus Winston uh Wilson and with Dart. Well Wilson had won one good game. Well he only played three games. He was still chucking it down field. That’s true. So, give credit to first Brian Dable and then Mike Cafka, too, for figuring out a way to manufacture more big plays. And when I looked at the offense, that was a big thing that jumped out of me. Third down, they’ve been pretty good. 11th in the league. Their red zone stuff still needs to get better. It’s just not good enough. Just real quick, yes, also give credit going back to what we were discussing before, the offensive line. Oh, those plays downfield don’t have any chance to develop if the offensive line isn’t giving any of the three quarterbacks time for the play to actually develop. And that’s where I was going next. So if you look at pressure rate, Giants still only ranked 23rd. Not very good. Sack rate 24th, 7.2%. Not what you’re looking at. But then you look at some of the, and again, this is more of advanced metric stuff. You can either buy into this stuff or not. So I’ll give you two different sets of metrics here. So this should give you an idea that maybe you should buy into them a little bit. ESPN publishes, Matt, as you well know, pass block win rate. Yes. Every week. So, this isn’t updated through this week. It’s updated through last week. They haven’t updated their week 12 of the NFL season. Is that a little white chocolate you got there on that cookie? It looks pretty good. A little white chocolate. That’s not bad. Um, so we got grabbed me right in the middle of lunch. It’s okay. I know. I know. I did. And and I and I appreciate you jumping in. Case is going to work for you tomorrow, by the way. So So So now I just threw the guy under the bus who screwed up today and that’s fine. So in the past block win rate uh metric that ESPN has, where do you think the Giants rank? Pass block win rate. This is on offense. Yes, offense. Pass blocking win rate. Middle of the pack. 11th. Oh, even better. Overall offensive line, pass blocking grade. Pro football focus. Where do you think the Giants rank? I know Pro Football Focus has been very high on the Giants offensive line this year. And I believe I think I actually saw this I want to say fifth. 12th. 12th. 12th. I saw a different metric that had BFF had us at five. It is right in line with the ESPN number, right? I mean, if I told you before the year that they’d be ranked 11th and 12th in those metrics, I think we’d be having a parade. And we were asking for middle of the pack. Correct. I think we all said 18th. Sign up. Where do I sign? Right. So, again, I thought that was that was interesting. Uh they’ve leaned more into being a 12 personnel team this year. They’re sixth in the NFL and running two tight ends. Y 11 personnel. They’re down to 15th, I think. No, 18th. Sorry, my handwriting sucks. Wait, what? The percentage of 11 or 12 personnel, sixth in the NFL, 35%. And it’s it’s kind of crazy because the first three weeks there wasn’t much of it and obviously after the Malik injury was a heavy turn towards that. I can double check it. Last I looked they were number one since the Malik Neighbors injury. That’s correct. Yes, absolutely. Now, this is the really interesting stuff and I’ll get to the defense because that’s a problem. And I do find it interesting that when we asked about what player we would draft, we would both pick offensive players even though that’s been the strength of the team this year and not the defense. But that’s that’s where we are. You can say also almost any position. Yes, that that is correct. You did say that, but that but that was also your third option. That’s true. All right. So, I broke down Jackson dart in a million different ways here in terms of this is all based on EPA per play and um EPA per drop back, pardon me. So, scrambles are included in this. Okay. And then I have pass rating, which is kind of separate. So, I broke it down in different scenarios how he’s done this year. And I think it’s an interesting deeper look into how he’s played. Do you think he’s been better verse man or zone this year? Man, no. 5050 shot. No, that’s fine. He is 28th. Wow. In the NFL in EPA per drop back against man defense this year. 12th verse zone. So, found that interesting because a lot of times if you run a lot of complicated zones that can give young quarterbacks issues, right? But you look at the Giants wide receiver situation. Maybe guys aren’t getting opened as much versus press man. That’s why that can be a little bit of a difference. And the pass rating numbers are the same there. Overall, by the way, he’s 16th in EPA per drop back. 15th in pass rating this year. Jackstar can’t complain. Excellent. Right. So now this is interesting. You always look like try to look at quarterbacks how they do without play action, right? You want to see him in a standard passing situation without help, right? How you going against the defense? Where do you think Jackson Dort ranks in EPA per play without using play action this year? 18th. Fifth. Wow. I’m just taking wild guesses. No, I know you are. And this is great because I think that would be the perception, right? Rookie quarterback without play action, he’s going to struggle a little bit. Yeah. Fifth, eighth in quarterback rating. 98. It’s excellent. Well, I think the fact that even without the play action, just his usage of his legs and running offers the threat of, you know, a running play without it actually being a play action running play. Now, here’s an area where he really needs to get better. Okay? And these are interconnected. Play action. 32 out of 34 quarterbacks in terms of EPA per play using play action. And I link this to plays under center 29th in terms of EPA per play as a quarterback. Now, if you watched him in college, this should make a lot of sense to you. He was a shotgun quarterback in college. And when he ran play action, it was more of a shotgun play action RPO. Yeah. Where he didn’t have to turn his back to the defense and he’s really struggled in the under center play action game having to turn his back to the defense. Matt, in those in play act in under center scenarios this year, he has the highest sack rate in the National Football League. It’s at 17%. Which is astronomically high. That’s not great. It’s 34 out of 34 qualifying quarterbacks. So again, something he wasn’t asked to do in college is being asked to do more in the NFL under center play action, especially with two tight ends, right? You want to lean into that sort of thing with bigger personnel on the field. That’s something because again, he didn’t have to do it in college. I think that’s been a bit of adjustment for him in the NFL. Yeah, 100%. I mean, I feel like that going into, you know, after getting drafted, going into his junk year, even regardless of where he landed, like around the draft time, people said, “This is something that Jackson Dart is going to have to develop as part of his game because he just was not asked to do it in college.” There’s some guys that were not asked to do something in college, start doing it in the NFL, and immediately, you know, hit the ground running as the numbers show. Not exactly the case with Jackson, but something that you would think that as he gets more experience running that, you know, plays like that, he will get better because, you know, overall, I think we all agree as you the first numbers he gave, his overall numbers are good and strong. Yep. Mhm. Especially given the the type of plays that he’s accustomed to running. So, given more experience, he’ll get better in those other areas. And 10th in EPA per play in the shotgun in the national football, which is excellent. Now, the last two numbers I looked at were how he did against pressure and how he did against a blitz, which are two separate numbers, right? But you can get blitz but not get pressured. So, when under pressure, he’s 24th in EPA per play. With no pressure, he’s 13. So, he’s done better relative to the rest of the league without pressure. And it’s funny, you think about him as a guy that runs around and avoid stuff. You think maybe that’ll be a little bit higher, but you actually like that better. You the more consistent metric is how a quarterback does under pressure. So, you want to be better when he’s not under pressure. So, that’s a good number. Then against the blitz, he’s been better with against no blitzes than he has been against blitzes. He’s sixth in EPA per play when teams do not blitz against him in the National Football League. Excellent. And 20, he is 26th in sack rate in those situations. 22nd in EPA per play against the blitz, which is, you know, you like the better, but again, and a rookie, you’re going to struggle against the blitz a little bit. This is a consistent thing for rookies. and 30 of 34 quarterbacks in sack rate verse the blitz. So maybe sometimes holding the ball a little bit too much when he sees the blitz coming, which honestly surprised me. I think he’s actually pretty good been pretty good against getting the ball out and finding open players against the blitz. I I found that stat a little bit interesting, but I don’t know. I feel like especially given the uh the sack number you gave way earlier. Yeah, some of a lot of those sacks I feel like were just him holding on to the ball a little too long, trying to make something when he, you know, as we learned over the years with Daniel Jones, you know, just get rid of the ball, throw it away. See, it’s funny. I thought a lot of those plays came against non in on non-b blitz plays, but maybe I’m wrong. I I I have to go back when one when I’ll do the scenes, I’ll look back. I’ll look at all of his sacks and I’ll see when they come. But yeah, I I think you’re exactly right. Anything with the dart stuff you find extra interesting that I managed to pull? No, I mean a lot of it most of it makes makes sense. It goes with you know what the eye test has shown over the last whatever two months. I think you have to be encouraged by how he’s done in non- pressure situations, non-b blitz situations in shotgun when he’s comfortable. That’s a baseline you’re working off of and I think you had to be pretty happy with that in my opinion at least. Yeah. I mean, I think overall most, if not all, Giants fans are pretty happy with how Jackson Dart has looked. It’s it’s kind of been the play of sort of everyone else that has been a little on the disappointing side. Yeah. The other thing I want to check here, and I I was rushing to get this done before the show, and I did not have a chance to check it. I’m going to check it right now. The other thing I think he needs to work on, and this is referencing, and you maybe remember it, I forgot to write it down. I’m gonna look it up right now. Um, if you look at Jackson Dart’s average time to throw, this is still, and I know for more mobile quarterbacks, this is generally a higher number, and I get that, but right now, Jackson Dart has the sixth highest average time to throw in the National Football League. The only players higher than him are Shador Sanders at 3.4 seconds, Caleb Williams at 3.3 seconds, Tyron Taylor, believe it or not, at 3.25 25 seconds. Justin Fields at 3.12 seconds. Lamar Jackson at 3.11 seconds. And here comes Jaylen Herz tied with Jackson Dart at sixth at 3.1 seconds. Notice a a common theme around most, not all of them, most of those guys. Quarterbacks that want to hold the ball and run around a little bit. Yes. Whether they should be or not in in in Shador Sanders case, but he and by the way, he he played a nice game yesterday. He did good job at it. Sure. Um, and then you have the next guys, JJ McCarthy, Drake May, Jaden Daniels. So, I don’t think you want Jackson Dart living in a world where he’s holding the ball 3.1 seconds every drop back. No. And it goes back to your previous point and something that I thought about a lot over the by-week. I think people have very much underrated the impact the Giants offensive line has had on the overall play of the offense this year. If Jackson Dor tried to play the way he’s playing this year with the way the offensive line played the last two years, he’d be not healthy right now. Yeah, he would not be and this offense would be a mess. So, I think to your point what’s allowed the Giants to be successful and play this way has a lot to do with that offensive line. 100%. And as of right now, three of the five starters on the offensive line are under contract for next year. The two are not two or not. The whole right side. And by the way, Renan and Schmidz are up after next year. Yes. Where I feel like Bo maybe I mean obviously it depends on the moves that are made this off seasonason, but Bo I think might get a look a chance to compete maybe for for one of the spots. And I know this coaching staff sees him as a tackle, but what’s the next coaching staff going to see him as? I don’t neither of us know that. Yeah. So, we’ll have to wait and see. The defense is less interesting because it’s just not very good and I don’t have many numbers to really change people’s minds on this to be quite honest with you. DVOA 29th, EPA per play 29th, dead last and rushing on both of those. Passing 19th and 25th. Um, you can look at the yards per game, yards per play. It’s all in the bottom three or five in the league. Passing is a little bit better than that. I always worry though, Matt, when teams rush the ball so well against you, it makes your passing numbers look better because teams just keep running it. So, your passing yards per per game end up not being as as as bad as maybe they should be. Third red zone, not very good. Third down, 21st, not very good. There just weren’t that many interesting things here. Uh, one thing I found interesting, they really do mix up their coverages a lot. They’re not in the top nine in terms of coverage rate in any single coverage. So, they really do mix up their their coverage menu in terms of how they do it. This is really the disappointing one to me. And then we’ll get to your cause. I know people are holding on the line here. I want to get to you uh for the next 40 minutes or so. Take your calls. But 20th in sack rate, 24th in pressure rate. And going into this year, we thought that was going to be the strength of the team and it just has not worked out that way. Yeah, it really has not. And the interesting thing I find about that is this was going this was after last week. So going into this past weekend’s games, obviously the Giants did not play. So, these rankings will likely change, but after 13 weeks, we were talking before about ESPN’s pass rush win rate. Abdul Carter ranked eighth in the NFL individually in pass rush win rate after last week’s game. Obviously, that’s only translated to one and a half sacks, which we all agree is less than we would like, fewer sacks than we would like to see. and his quick pressure rate on PFF is is similarly strong. So that is not an ESPN thing. Yeah. But to see Abdul Carter ranked eighth in that metric and Brian Burns was very close behind him, I think at either 10th or 11th. Okay. Two of the top, let’s call it 12 pass rushers and pass rush win rate. And yet you just gave those stack numbers and pressure numbers and the Giants are well down that list. That’s what I guess is a little perplexing to me. Like you would think if you’re two at least two of your edge rushers, obviously Kayon Tippido is in the equation as well, but two of your edge rushers are winning that often that that would lead to more sacks and pressures, but it’s not really been the case outside of Brian Burns. No, it has not been. It’s been disappointing. Yeah. All right, let’s get to the phones. 2011 939-4513. 2011-939-4513. We thank you for your patience holding. We will get to as many people as we can. Let’s go to Donnie in Queens. You lead us off today. Donnie, what’s going on? Hey guys, how you doing? Um, if I if I told you uh at 19 nothing in the Broncos game a week after Dash and the Eagles that we would be in early December with the first overall pick, you’d probably tell me I was crazy. I think I think everybody, Donnie, I’m I’m with you. Things things in this league can turn fast. Yeah. But here but here we are. But Yep. I’ve made enough negative phone calls um for the season, so I figured I’d just give you a couple things I have my eye on. Sure. Moving forward these last four games, and you just hit on one of them, and it’s it’s my my biggest concern about Jackson is he he simply doesn’t look comfortable under center. He’s going to have to spend a lot of time on that the offseason. It just doesn’t look fluid, even like getting out of his breaks. And you know, I’m watching the Chicago game yesterday and like that’s the offense I want to see the Giants run. Utter sender, you know, play action, leaning on the defense. To me, when when when you’re in shotgun all the time, it just limits what you can do, particularly in the play action in the running game. So, that that I totally agree on that. That that’s a big thing for me moving forward. And Donnie, by the way, I I don’t know about Matt, but I’ve said this on the show before, too. That’s what I want to see the offense look like, too. Make teams honor your run game. pass off of that, get downfield a bunch of crossers off that play action, Matt, if that’s the offense I would kind of like to see here next year as well. Oh, 100%. But the the thing is with that Bears offense right now, show me a rushing attack that’s operating more efficiently and better than the Bears right now. No, it’s true. Like the Giants just have a long They’re committed to it. The Giants offense has a long road to go to get to even close to that level of a running game. And especially with the two offensive linements, you mentioned they gota make but that’s what makes them able to run play action so much is because Ben Johnson the SK the running scheme that they have going right now is the best in the NFL and they’re literally running against it doesn’t matter who’s going up against them. They are finding success on the ground against everyone. They had success against the Packers yesterday who are one of the best run defenses every week. It’s and it’s the same thing. So I I agree with you completely. It’s just it’s almost like Ben Johnson knows what he’s doing. Yeah. the offense is a is a a ways to go to get to, you know, that level where teams have to even come close to respecting our run game like that. Go ahead, Donnie. Yeah. Well, I would say start with not hiring your coach that lives in Shaka, but you know, we we’ll deal with that in the offseason. Uh second is I I definitely think we need to see, you know, improved level of play maturity out of Abdul. Um you know, to me right now, those are the two most important players in the organization. Um it, you know, the first six, seven games, you know, it felt like the sacks were coming. Uh that has not happened. I know he was credited one the other night in the Patriot game, but I mean, let’s be honest, I don’t even know if there was a yard lost on that. Um Drake May, I mean, basically Carter got stolen on his block and Drake May ran right into him. That correct? I you know, I would have got fouled over, but I could have done that. Um, third, and this is a big one, and make sure we get Andrew Thomas to the finish line healthy. Yeah, that’s a good one. Let him go into an off seasonason where he’s not recuperating, doesn’t need to have a surgery, doesn’t need anything cleaned out. In fact, I wouldn’t even hate shutting him down with a game or two left because my number four and final one would be I’d like to see Marcus Bo get out there and see what we have in him. They have a big decision to make on Germaine uh and what to pay him. And I think getting some film out on Marcus would be uh very helpful. So, um I wouldn’t get our hopes up on the first pick. I do think they they’ll get a game or two here towards the end based on the schedule, but th those four things to me are very important moving forward. So, uh appreciate the you gave us at the top of the show and I’ll call back before the year is over. Thanks, guys. No, thanks Donnie. Thank you, Donnie. Yeah, I I think he knocked off three guys pretty good. And I’ll say this, too. You know, you talked about Carter. I feel like even though he wasn’t getting the numbers matt, he was more impactful earlier in the year than he has been the last few weeks. I feel like once he came back in the last game after the first quarter against the Patriots, I felt he did get in the back field a few times and he should have been. He was going up against the backup left tackle. Yeah. But I feel like let’s see that level of impact the rest of the year now within those three quarters versus the Patriots. Let’s see that now the last four four game even if the sacks aren’t there. Let’s see the impact on the game. Yeah, if you look at his analytics, his like game log throughout the season, you’ll see the first couple of weeks he had made an impact. You know, he only he had the half sack in the season opener, but he was getting a lot of pressure and at least somewhat consistently the first couple of weeks. Then he went through a stretch, a long stretch where he really did not was not making an impact basically at all. And then I would say the last two maybe three games you’ve seen him pick it back up again. So if if he had been producing like he did at the beginning of the season and then this last stretch all year, I think his sack numbers would be significantly better. But obviously you can’t just eliminate, you know, like a six week stretch where he kind of disappeared. And that’s, you know, that’s the that is the reason why I think his numbers and the perception of his play is so off because when you’re the number three pick and especially coming off the season that he had last year at Penn State, you’re expected to make an impact and do it pretty consistently and you can’t go, you know, a month and a half without really showing up at all. And look, he’s going to have Laramie Tonsel this week. He’s been lining much more up on the right side of the defense over the left tackle recently. So I’ll call that the match up even though he may move around. He gets tonsil. He’s going to get Darasaw when they play the Vikings in a couple weeks. He just got back from injury. Y Cowboys Tyler Gayton. He’s been in and out of the lineup. I don’t know if he’s going to be healthy in the air. He’s an improve young player but again not he’s not an upper echelon tackle. And then well the Raiders Colin Miller’s healthy. That’s a challenge too. I forgot. You know their offensive line stinks but Colt Miller is a good player. So if he gets Miller on the left side so we’ll see. He’ll he’ll have a couple nice match ups to watch him against in the last four games of the year which will be fun. I mean, he is one of the guys I think this last month is the most important for because, you know, it’s not going to wipe out everything from the first 13 weeks of the season, but if Abdul Carter finishes this last month of the season strong, you know, multiple sacks in this last month, a lot of pressure, it’ll just have him probably himself, but I think also just everyone else, the fan base, you know, anyone just feel a lot better about him going into next year. And look and and don’t have another thing where you got to get benched for a quarter. That goes without saying. That’s almost number one before even the other stuff. A thousand% thousand% you know there cannot be any more disciplinary related no things at all this last month. Absolutely. And on top of that if he finishes strong if he gets and this might be a stretch but you know three sacks in the last four games. It might not sound like much, but I think it’ll give everyone just some level of added confidence going into next year that him, Burns, and Kavon, because the three of them are all, at least as of now, under contract to be back, that hopefully that unit with, you know, a healthy Dexter Lawrence in the middle, will help improve all of those sack numbers. All right, let’s go to Wilson and Roxberry. Wilson, hope you enjoyed your bye week, sir. Hey, Wilson. I I I miss too, Johnny. I miss you. I miss Matt. I miss everybody. But I haven’t gotten to speak to you in a while, Wilson. Yeah. Yeah. Hey. Hey, Matt. Listen. Uh, let me add something. Um, when you win 11 games in three years, man, we all trying to cling to something. We all trying to cling to something. But, um, but, uh, for a lot of people to think that this kid is a franchise quarterback, it it just you just you just you’re just trying to fool yourself. This kid is This kid is small kid with a below average arm. He doesn’t have a below average arm. I understand that it’s a first round pick, Johnny Denny, but listen, he does not have a listen. He does not have a below average arm. I would call it an I would say he’s in I would say he has an average NFL arm. I don’t think it’s below average. You you can win. You can win with Of course you can. Yeah, for sure. Okay. But but like like Wilson Wilson Wilson Wilson just an example like his arm and Joe Burrows are very very similar in my opinion. Very similar. Okay. All right. I’m just gonna say this to you Johnny before I get to Joe Shane real quick. Yes. We you know I know everybody knows that the Giants cannot cannot bring a first a first year head coach here. They can’t. They’ll it’ll be such a disaster that people will like blow up. So, they’re going to have to get a guy that that’s been here that’s done that, right? I’m going to give you an example real quick. I’m just going to give you a name. Let’s say Mike McCarthy comes in. Okay. Give you a name. Just one name. Sure. That’s fine. And Mike says, “Uh, Mr. Mayor, do you want me to lie to you?” No, don’t lie to me. Don’t lie to me, Mike. Don’t lie to me. You’re not going to win with this kid. You’re not winning with this kid as a quarterback. What do you do? What do you do? Because you have the first overall pick as of today. What do you do, Johnny? Yeah, but Wilson, I would say, and I’m being completely honest with you, just in terms of Hold on, let me go, Wilson. In terms of tools, athleticism, arm strength, things of that nature, I think Dart’s got more of that than than Fernando Mendoza. Well, Johnny, listen, he he rented the blue tent this year. Basically, he had to pay the NFL to to live in the blue tent. I’m saying it’s something drastically has to come. Plus, on top of that, this kid for some reason got like a bullseye on his back. I don’t know if it’s his personality, but but you know that that tend to catch that catches up with you. No, Wilson. Wilson, look Wilson. Look, everything you’re saying, Wilson, is fair. And I don’t think it is. And look, coming off of Daniel Jones’s first year, everyone was convinced he was a franchise quarterback for a long time, right? So, I think we’ve seen Wilson, let me Well, hold on, Wilson. Wilson, hold on. Let me finish. So, after eight games that Jackson Dart has played, he’s had eight starts, correct? If I’m not mistaken, I don’t think we know anything yet. I think he’s shown enough that you need to see more and see him in another year. But am I willing to place a bet that like he’s going to be the next Eli Manning and the quarterback for 15 years after eight games? I don’t think I don’t think anyone should be there yet. And that’s nothing against Jackson Dart. I would say that about Cam Ward. I would say that about a bunch of other young quarterbacks in the league, too. I just I I I’ve seen too much where I’ve seen guys play well for short stretches and then it doesn’t go well. I’ve seen guys play poorly for short stretches and they end up being really really good. So, I just think it’s a very small sample size, Wilson, but I think you’re we’re talking about next year. And I think Jackson Dart has flashed enough and showed us enough, especially given what the quarterback class looks like this year in the draft, that it makes so much sense to make him the starter for next year. Yeah. But Wilson, my my comment earlier, it just that last point that John made is the reason like we’re looking at a quarterback class that does not have, you know, that Andrew Luck type prospect, that sure bonafide, you know, franchise quarterback guy. So that combined with what Jackson has shown us in this eight starts, I think that combined is more than enough to go into 2026 with Jackson Dart as the quarterback. I’m not sitting here saying this guy, you know, guaranteed he’s here for the next 15 plus years. Like, we’ve seen things change so quickly in the NFL. You never know. I’m done making long-term proclamations. I’ve been bit in the butt too many times doing that. But I feel confident saying he is by far the best option going into 2026. I understand that. But but even that’s a that’s a bad that’s how I guess curse is not the right word. I don’t know. That is just the the way that the ball just has fallen for Giants fans. But even when we have won only nine or two games this year and we you know we can get as high drastic and everything even with all that with all those high drastics that we had had in the past three years we still gonna go next year with such a big question mark. It is. It is. I don’t think I don’t know if another franchise, you know, goes through that. I mean, okay, like Cam Ward, I don’t know, but you know, but but you know what I’m saying? Even though we drafted a kid, but we don’t know next year and we should have a a better sample of what we supposed to expect. But if I go for what I saw this year, I said, well, I don’t how is this kid going to the last 17 games? I haven’t seen him, you know. I haven’t seen a wow. Okay, here we go. I haven’t seen a wow game. I said, okay, that kid has it. He’s got it. He’s got it. I haven’t seen it, Johnny. I don’t know if you have. I don’t know if you Matt has have, but I haven’t seen it. And uh and real quick before I let go, guys, on Joe Shane, I’m going to get like I said, look, forget about D card. It’s got a lot of wrestler. I don’t know, but when you draft a a number third overall player, he’s got to have more impact. Half the time I didn’t even I didn’t even know he was on the field. That’s how bad it’s been. But I’ll give you a few names. Look, Drew Phillips, Tyler Nubin, Ted Banks, Evan Neil, uh um Joshudu, Jayen Hayes, Kevin Tibido to a point. All those guys have in common is this. They have they have made zero impact on this team. That’s too many draft picks, Danny. too many high drastics that haven’t made no impact at all and and that that alone is an indictment and and thanks again guys for talking uh you know it was really nice talking to you guys after a while to you man have a good day thank you Wilson good talking to you man and look guys again I would say this no matter what what Jackson has done this year it’s just a small sample size and we’ve seen small sample sizes change things but I feel I mean I I again just because of what the class looks like I I I don’t I don’t even hesitate saying forego a quarterback in this year’s draft class. like Jackson has shown me enough. And I don’t know if he’s had one wow game overall, Matt, that I would say like, “All right, this game is what blew me away.” But I’ve had enough moments throughout all his games where I’ve been like, “All right, if he’s shown some special traits here where if he can get better at the everyday, every down in down out quarterbacking part of the NFL, which is getting the ball out a little bit quicker, things like that, I feel like there’s enough there where he be can he can become a very good quarterback in the National Football League. We’ll see if that happens. I think he has a chance to do it. I think this will be an attractive job because Jackson Dart is here. My guess is that they’re not going to hire a coach who then comes in and says, “I want to change the quarterback because a guy that wants to come here is going to be a guy that wants to coach Jackson Dart.” And generally speaking, you talk to people around the league and and Bob Papa does this before games. He knows people on other teams and he talks to him about Dart before the game. He’s gotten very positive reports on Jackson Dart. Other teams and other coaches really like the way he plays. So, I think again, still a lot to prove, but I think you have to like what you what you see moving forward. Yeah. Look, we’re not sitting up here saying that it’s been a perfect season for Jackson Dart. No, cuz it hasn’t been. There are things areas that John, you touched on earlier that he clearly just has to improve on in the offseason leading into next year. That being said, he definitely has shown enough flashes where he deserves to be the starting quarterback going into 2026. Like I Yeah, I don’t see how that’s even a discussion. No, me too. You know, you can’t give up on guys that have shown this much promise after one season. I don’t think you should give up after a a first round rookie quarterback after one year, period, barring, you know, like a Josh Roan type situation. But but also one that’s just played at the level that Jackson has played from most of the time that he’s been out there. Like again, there are areas he needs to improve it. He cannot take this many hits on a weekly basis cuz you’re right, he’s just not going to last long term in the NFL taking that many hits. No quarterback is. But I just want to point out that, and I’m not trying to compare them as players, as quarterbacks, but just in this one pure simple fact, as a rookie, Josh Allen took so many hits. So many hits. Last year, as a rookie, Drake May took so many hits. Drake May obviously only in year two. Josh Allen now in what year seven? Something like that. They Drake Bay in just one year has gotten a lot better at not taking so many hits, not putting his body at risk as much. Josh Allen has gotten significantly better. Now, he still runs it a decent amount and when you run it that much, you’re going to sometimes just take the big hit. And he’s also 245. He’s a He’s bigger. Yes. 1,000%. But point being, quarterbacks can learn to to not take as many hits when you’re a rookie, a 22-y old coming in trying to prove yourself. You feel like you’re invincible. And I feel like that the way that Jackson was playing prior to the concussion was he kind of felt like I can I never get hurt. Yeah. Like I’m Superman. And then you get hurt. And then it’s sort of like a a little bit of like a wakeup call. And I think as he gets more experience, especially going into next year, he will learn that he is so important to this team. He needs to be out there. And you’re not going to be able to be out there every single week if you’re taking, you know, 10 plus hits every single game. That is something that rookie quarterbacks most of the time do learn. Not everyone, but a lot most of them do learn how to take less hits. Jackson seems like a very smart kid. I feel like he will be able to to learn and you know get it through his mind that he needs to be out there for his team each and every week. And the way to do that is to not take quite as many hits. Don’t be Will Levis definitely not. I just in terms of willingness to take hits. He was he he he he was yolo. He was like let’s go boys and he would just run into people and get demolished on a weekly basis. So you got to just not do that. Yeah. And again, just looking at this upcoming draft again, we don’t know where the Giants will actually land. There’s still four more games to be played. We don’t know who’s coming out. I mean, Simpson and Moore could both go back in. Yeah. But regardless, you would think that there would at least be, you know, at least one quarterback that will be at the top of the draft. And if the Giants find themselves in a position where they can trade down and pick up, let’s say, a first round pick in 2027, which just overall is considered to be a much stronger class. Yes, we’ve heard that before, but yes, we have heard that before. I feel like we hear it every year. Yes, we do. Regardless, but it it makes sense. You know, it would put you in a situation where you are stockpiling your draft assets, putting yourself in a situation where, again, you never know what might happen throughout the 2026 season. You have two first round picks in 2027. Your own and whatever team’s trading up, they’re gonna have a rookie quarterback and probably not that good of a team. So, there’s a chance that could be that pick from the other team could be a top 10 pick, which whether or not you’re in the quarterback business, you obviously would like to have an additional top 10 pick. All right, let’s go to Jonathan in Westchester. He’s up next. Hey, Jonathan. Hey, how are you guys? We’re good. So, not the reason I called, but uh in response to Wilson, I do have to say I’ve been I’ve been very impressed overall with Dart. I think, you know, if you look at his stats, you also have to take into account he’s had a bunch of passes, great passes that uh were dropped. That’s a good point. Uh yeah. Um so I missed the beginning of the show and you know, I apologize if you already touched on this, but I was watching uh Joe Shane’s press conference. Yeah. You know, Jonathan, it’s funny. We we did not do a show after that press conference last week, okay? And I thought about whether or not we should leave the show with it today, but I felt like it was like six days ago at this point, and it was a little bit of old news, so I decided not to. But feel free, you have the floor, talk about it if you want. Yeah. So, there was actually a question that I I kept rooting for uh the reporters to ask it and I I don’t think I heard it asked. So, my understanding is that um Juan Dell, Bellinger, Luminor, Flat, and McFaten are all going to be free agents after this season. That is correct. All Yeah, those are all key free agents in my mind. I mean, you know, we don’t have to go through every one, but Wandelle, you know, he’s having a career year. I think he’s as tough as could be. Flat is one of the few ascending players on the defense. Lumnor is quietly having an excellent season I think at right tackle. So anyway, my question you know that you know maybe you can answer this for me is whether Joe Shane has the green light from ownership to you know push to uh extend these guys you know now or shortly after the season before they hit free agency. Jonathan, that’s actually a good question. I don’t know the answer to that. He did not say whether or not he has engaged with any of these guys in extensions. I don’t think right. I don’t think he was asking that was honestly one of the things that I was most looking for in his press conference last week and just based on how the season has gone the beat reporters chose not to ask anything related to that I guess because before the season they might have had was there one Illuminor bow question about offensive tackle next year we might have gotten one of those I think maybe but maybe that was it. I mean I I’ll check the transcript. I do not remember. Okay. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I know he was asked about it before the season started in his end of training camp press conference. So maybe he I can’t remember maybe he said then you know we’re not going to really discuss during the season. I don’t I don’t remember. All right. So what I would say Jonathan really quickly about the presser um obviously tough tough questions got asked and understandably so. I I think Joe expected I don’t think he was surprised by the nature and the tenor of the questions that he got. Uh there hasn’t been enough wins. He knows that. Um as of now he’s going to be leading the coaching search. Still four games left in the year. We’ll see what happens after the year. And I I think he handled things as as well as he could. He he knows he’s made mistakes. He admitted he made mistakes. Things have not gone as well as he would have liked. Uh but he does think there are good pieces here. And we’ll see what it looks like when the season ends in four weeks. I I I don’t I I don’t I don’t know what else to to take out of it besides that. There wasn’t a whole lot of news in there. You know what I mean? He was not asked about the pending for the agents at all. Yeah. I mean, my my concern is that, you know, we fall into this trap again where, you know, we bring in a new general manager who wants to bring in his own guys and, you know, you have some very good or even great players on the roster that were brought in under the old GM. And you know, um, you know, for example, the last time around it was McKini and Love and and and Leonard Williams and, you know, you you end up losing these key contributors just because a new guy wants to um, you know, kind of clean house to some extent. So, that’s kind of my concern there. No, Jonathan, it’s fair and appreciate the call, man. Thanks so much. Remember, they did want to bring Julian Love back. They actually offered him more money than the Seahawks did and when when he signed there initially and Love’s agent rejected it. think he can get more money elsewhere. He couldn’t. And then the Giants, I believe, ressigned Sllayton on the two-year deal if I remember right. And then they did had not left under the cap, I think, to bring Love back. I think it was Slate who they ended up signing in that situation. And um they just couldn’t bring him back. So, look, we’ll see. It’s funny. I don’t know, funny is the right word, but it is ironic that coming off a season that’s been a colossus disappointment, some of the guys that actually were playing the best for you and are homegrown are actually the guys that are coming up as free agents. So, there are going to be some really tough decisions because you look at it individually like, yeah, these players are good players. You think they can help you. They’re not old. They’re all under 30 years old. But at the same time, do you want to restrain and constrain and give your cat potential future limitations to bring back guys that just helps you to a three and 14 record? You know what I mean? It’s just there’s going to be a tough balance to strike there when you decide who you want to bring back and who you don’t. Yeah, 100%. uh you know it will it will be up to you know Joe Shane the end of the season. I at this point I would I’d be a little surprised if we find out that they’ve resigned one of these pending free agents to a big new contract in the last month. Something tells me Germaine Alumor is going to want to see what he could get on the open market. I don’t blame him. I don’t blame him either. Yeah, I’m with you. Uh, the only thing I will say is that the last time the Giants change general managers, Joe Shane did end up resigning some of the guys that Dave Gtlman drafted. Obviously, Dexter Lawrence and Andrew Thomas being the the big two that are still here and still big-time contributors. So, even, you know, doesn’t matter who’s brought in in whatever position, like it’s not going to be a complete cleaning house of every player on the roster. Like, yeah. No, you would not. You got to keep some regardless of whether or not you brought them in. Like, you got to keep You don’t want to be in the business of losing good players. Doesn’t matter how they got to the Giants, once they’re here, you want to keep the good guys here. I’m with you. I think that Yeah, we’ll see what happens. Let’s go to Bobby and Nins. Bobby, what’s going on? Hi, good afternoon. Uh, first time caller. Thank you for taking my call. I’m a long Giants fan, having grown up in Rhode Island. Great. Thanks for calling. Um, you’re welcome. Um, just a couple comments and a couple questions if if I may, if you can answer them. Um, my comments are the Giants have been in like just about every game except for maybe two of them, the last one against New England. And uh, I think the offensive line has played pretty well. Um, I just hope the ball club goes out in these next uh few weeks and plays hard to win each and every game. Just like Jackson Dart has stated, I hope they they finish strong no matter what the draft situation may be. I know that’s important, but um I would and I hope Kafka gets a consideration to bring him back. Um, he’ll be considered. I know. What’s that? I said he’ll be considered for sure. Yeah. Um I just uh I know I don’t want to play Monday morning quarterback, but that game against Detroit when uh Winston threw the ball on the fourth down um in the red zone. I would have taken the three points to win the ball game and make Detroit come all the way down and and score a touchdown. But that’s beyond the that’s all um in the past. I hope Cafka gets a consideration and like um going to the draft I would try to beef up the secondary. I I think there’s some weak spots back there. Um, no matter I mean considering how many games they lost in the last four or three minutes, you know, Denver, Detroit, Dallas, uh, can go on and on, but um, any any uh, news guys on Tippido and the health of the ball club going against the commanders? Thank you, Bobby. Appreciate Thank you, Bobby. appreciate the call and we appreciate you joining the show and and calling in for the first time. Welcome aboard. Please call again. Yeah, absolutely. Uh no, we have not heard from the coach yet this week. Uh we heard from Mike Cafka tomorrow, I believe. Yes, Mike Cafka speaks at 12:50 tomorrow over Zoom and then I don’t know which players yet, but a couple of players will then be speaking a couple minutes later. Yeah. So, we don’t know. Mike Kfka was ki, I’ll use the word. My guess is that he probably just doesn’t know himself. The medical people don’t know for sure in terms of when or if Tibido can come back this year. The only thing I will say is that Kavon has already missed three games and there now there’s a by-week as well. Typically, obviously this doesn’t always end up being the case, but typically if the team expects a player to be out for less than four games, they do not put the guy on injured reserve. If they think it’s going to be four more weeks, the guy lands on injured reserve. Kavon was not placed on injured reserve. So, this should be about the time with the added week with the bye-week. Good point. You know, it’s basically as if he had missed four game weeks. So, you would hope that he’s, you know, able to return to the practice field this week. We don’t know for sure. I’m sure hopefully coach KFC will give us some sort of update tomorrow, but logically thinking, it seems like at least has a chance to play this week. More interesting. I I’m guessing we’re going to see Mariota this week. You think, right? I don’t know cuz after the game Dan Quinn said Jaden is fine. It was a precautionary measure keeping him out cuz they were already getting blown out. Oh, interesting. He didn’t say that right to the the reporters right after the game. He said Jaden Daniels is okay. He could have gone back in. We just held him out for precautionary measures. So, and maybe not. In that regard, I would think Jaden will play. I mean, if he’s healthy, I don’t see why. Yeah, he didn’t reagravate the elbow injury that forced him to miss time. I don’t see why he would not be out there. Then again, I don’t really understand why he’s out there at all right now. Ah, you always trying to win games, Matt. You know how that goes. No, I know, but that was a gnarly elbow injury he had. I know. Ah, this quarterback would need a left elbow at all. He’s just That’s the type of guy where every time he gets hit, I have to like hold my breath. No, I know. I’m with you. Because he’s just so small, like skinny, tall, big, but he doesn’t have like a ton of muscle. So, every time a big defensive player comes and nails him, I like hold my breath. at least a gap in half, right? I know. And Zack Z obviously with the bad knee injury in that game. That was a rough hit. That was a rough hit that he he’s tore his ACL. He’s done for the season. Yeah. And that might be his career, too. That’s a sad way to end it. It is really nice career for Zach. Yeah. All right, let’s wrap things up with Scott in New Mexico. And by the way, folks, I should say this. I wanted to say this earlier in the show and I forgot. I know all like the Apple podcast and the Spotify like year and review things are coming up. If you guys do have us on the top of your leaderboards and you want to send them into us on Twitter, please do that. We’d love to see them. We’d be excited for that either for Big Blue Kickoff or the Giants huddle. I’ll say this on our Giants huddle at the end of the week as well. So, uh, send those in. We’d love to see them and we appreciate all you guys uh watching and listening and making us a part of your football fandom and Giant fandom lives. Go ahead, Scott. What do you got? Hi guys. Uh, first of all, in regard to Jackson Door, before I get to my main comments, uh, I think Wilson tends to over dramatize just a little. Just a little, just a little. I don’t think he has a nucleus to be a good quarterback and he will develop into a good quarterback. Whether he’s a great quarterback is yet to be determined, but certainly a workable one. Uh, as far as what you commented on who you should take in, you know, your first draft choice or whatever you’re going to do, which trade down, I think you should pay aluminor whatever he wants and basically take a wide receiver, somebody like Colonel Tate from Ohio State, because they need a great receiver to complement Malik Neighbors. Derry Slayton is there, but he’s a a second good receiver and I don’t know if they’re going to be able to keep on. Scott, by the way, if if I had to make my decision right now, I think I would do exactly what you just said to be honest with you. Agreed completely. Resign Germaine and then draft a wide receiver. Yes. 100%. Right. So, my main point is this. Uh this has probably been for me the most disappointing Giant team I’ve watched and I’ve watched them for a long time since ‘ 63. The reason being is they have so much talent that hasn’t developed the way it is. And I want to talk specifically about the back field and some of the statistics that are alarming to me. Uh I’ll just quote a few because I’m not going to go into too many, but just a few. The the team opponent passing yardage percentage, the Giants rank 27. Uh opponent passing yards per game 24th. Yeah, it’s not good. Passing yards on first down per game 29th. Now, that was supposed to be the saving grace for the Giants was the defensive backfield, but Paul Adivo did not play like he played in New Orleans. And by the way, 15 plus yard passes allowed 25th, 30 plus yard passes allowed 25th. So, they given up big plays, too. Right. So, my my question to you is, is there a problem? I understand that the defensive line coach or assistant defensive line coach was was fired yesterday, Brian Cox, uh which has nothing to do with their obviously defensive line coach, but obviously they’re starting to clean house. But the defense has been the biggest disappointment in the entire year. Uh because they had talent and they seem to underutilize it. And with the defensive backfield, that’s the key. If you can’t keep guys from getting first downs and so forth via the passing, you’re in real trouble. They have problems otherwise, but I was just wondering, and I’ll keep it short, what’s the what’s the problem with the defensive backfield? Why aren’t they playing better than their u you know, their positions indicate? And is it simply that they don’t have the coaching? Because that’s what I keep leaning back to. I had mentioned that usually the buck stops with the head coach. You’ve already seen what’s happened and it’s been a continuum for three or four years. So, what do you think has to be improved in defensive backfield so they work as a cohesive unit as opposed to being what they are and not being able to finish games the way they’re supposed to be doing and I’ll take your questions off the air guys. Thanks again. Thank you, Scott. Thanks, Scott. Look, I think if that that’s not the the number one question, it’s certainly a top three question you have to figure out heading into next year, right? because they’ve met invested a lot of capital in the secondary, right? Cordova’s a free agent. He was a third round pick. Deontay Banks was the first round pick. Drew Phillips was a second round pick. Tyler Newbin was a second round pick. Javon Holland was a big free agent snee. Paulson Adibbo big free agent snee. Those are all premium assets that were used to get this secondary together. And it has not been as impactful as you needed it to be given all the resources you’ve poured into that unit. Uh so Scott, I usually like to have answers for you. I I I don’t necessarily have one in this case. You hope the younger guys, I think, just continue to naturally improve as they go, but other than that, I I don’t have a I don’t have a silver bullet here, Matt, to be honest with you. Yeah. No, me neither. Uh I would say hopefully next year we see more of 2024 Drew Phillips and Tyler Nubin because I think at the end of last season, everyone felt very good about those two being keys to the secondary moving forward. Agreed. Obviously, they have not had quite as, you know, good of a season this year as they had last year. So, they’re still young, though. Obviously, they’re only heading into year three of being in the NFL. So, there’s still plenty of time to grow and develop into the guys that we thought they were going to be after their rookie years. In in terms of the other guys, I mean, again, I’m with you. I don’t really have an answer. I think obviously Paulo and Javon Holland are proven veterans that have had success in the NFL. you know, really just chalk it up to, you know, because the whole defense has been so bad all year that they’ve just kind of gone, you know, gone with the win sort of. And I don’t think Holland’s played poorly this year. I think he he hasn’t made a ton of big plays, but we haven’t seen him get beat a whole lot either. I don’t think he’s played poorly, but obviously giving when you get the contract that he got, you think you were expecting him to be when I say you, anyone expecting him to be sort of an impact player, which that he has not been. No, I think that’s fair. And kind of same goes for Paul and Adbo. We thought, you know, every each and every week throw Paul and Adibbo on the other team’s number one receiver, that guy is locked down. Yeah, that has not been the case. Has not been the case. Now, he obviously missed some time with this knee injury, but that’s not an excuse because before the injury, he was had some game like mixed mixed bag of performances. Yeah, I agree with that. All right, I’m going to ask you one tough question before we say goodbye here. Okay, let’s say the Giants end their pick in again. I think it’s unlikely the Giants finish at the top overall pick. I think they’ll win a couple games the rest of the way. I agree. Let’s say they pick eighth. Okay, eighth. You get there. Caleb DS is the highest graded player on your board. He’s still available. In fact, he might be the highest graded player on your board. He’s still available, but he’s a safety. You pick him? Yeah. Okay. At eight, I think it’s a lot more. How about six? If he’s the top player on your board, yes. Okay. And especially if whoever is your top, let’s say, wide receiver or offensive tackle, they’re already gone. Well, let’s say your top wide receiver is still there, but you have downsgraded, you know, four or five spots ahead of him. Now, in this hypothetical situation, are either Cordell Flot or Wandel Robinson resigned? Because obviously that let’s say either both are or either both aren’t. If both Wandell and Flot are back, that makes me think then that Aluminador probably is not back. So then I would say offensive tackle. If neither of them are back between Cordell and Well, then I would hope at least that Germaine is resigned. So offensive tackle is not quite as big of a concern. In which case, yeah, I see it’s tough. I think if if you have them very closely ranked, Caleb DS and whoever your number one receiver is, Cardinal Tate, let’s say, I think you go Cardinal Tate, though. I think you’re probably right. I agree with that because Caleb, you know, Caleb DS, if he was a shut down corner, that’s another conversation. But because that’s the thing, if you draft Caleb DS, you’re not throwing them aside, but the playing time for either Phillips, Nuben, or Holland, and it’s not going to be Holland, are going to be severely limited next year. Yeah. It’s not like edge rusher where you could just have one of the guys line up on the inside for a lot of the snaps and you can rotate them in. Like, it’s a lot harder to get a third safety on the field a lot of the time. And Caleb DS is kind of versatile. you kind of maybe play some nickel. That’s why I included Drew Phillips into that in that group. Yeah. Yeah. Look, I think we’ve seen this past year that just because the Giants have some players that are good, that doesn’t mean they’re automatically going to pass over a guy at that position in the draft. But I would be the safety position is one where it’s a little tougher to do that. So, I think it is too, I think. And especially having picked Jackson and at least right now feeling pretty good about Jackson Dart moving forward, you want to surround him with as much talent and protection as possible. And so if you can pair Malik Neighbors with a top 10 wide receiver, that’s a pretty good wide receiver duo for Jackson Dart to be throwing passes to next year. Matt, this was fun. It was good time, man. Good to have you in the hacks podcast studio. Keep getting better. That’s all the time we have for Big Blue Kick Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the Giants. Great job by the caller. Say we thank Bobby from New Orleans for as a first-time caller. Welcome aboard. Hopefully you’ll stick around with us. And of course, we’ll be with you now the rest of the way. Uh we’ll no shows on Christmas Eve and Christmas. And then I think on New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve, I think we have a show. I have to double check that. But uh we’re with you. And then uh obviously when the Giants coaching st search begins in earnest after the season, we’ll have coverage of all that as well. So again, send in those Spotify or or or Apple wrap-ups, uh, wherever you get your podcast. If you get those little end of year things that show you how much you listen, we love to see them. Send them in. Thanks for being with us for Scitec. I’m Shank for Johnny Mack. We’ll see you tomorrow on Big Blue Kickoff Live. It’ll be Lance and Casillas now that we’ve reached things. So talk to them tomorrow. See you then.

John Schmeelk and Matt Citak discuss the state of the team after the bye week, talk about Jaxson Dart, and take calls from fans. Presented by Cadillac.

00:00 – Giants after the bye
29:00 – Calls from Fans
36:30 – Jaxson Dart
48:20 – Joe Schoen’s presser
54:20 – Roster chat

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