Giants vs. Commanders Preview | Big Blue Kickoff Live | New York Giants

Giants vs. Commanders Preview | Big Blue Kickoff Live | New York Giants

Hi again everybody and welcome to Friday’s edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants. I’m Paul Dino. He’s Matt Scitec. We’ll be here for the next hour to talk Giants football with you as they get ready to take on the Washington Commanders here on Sunday at Metife Stadium. Uh the voice is coming back just a tad. It was worse yesterday. It’s coming back just a tad. This is what happens when you have a coughing fit in the middle of December. Uh it was bad on uh Wednesday night and I didn’t even know how I was going to make it through yesterday, but I did a little bit better today. Not great, but we’re going to try to do our best. Have you still been doing your what 10 mile walks outside in this weather? No. No, actually not. Uh it’s it’s just Yeah, this is too much. It’s just too much. Uh I I I kind of took a week off. In any event, uh we will be here for the next hour to talk Giants football with you folks as again they get ready to take on Washington. Uh as always, coming to you from the Giants podcast studio presented by Hackinack Meridian Health. Keep getting better. And as always, our number is 20119394513 or social media. It’s giants chat. And if you are not listening to the show live or watching the show live, our entire podcast network is available on the Giants mobile app, podcast platforms everywhere, and at giants.com/mpodcasts. Okay, we talked to Mike Kafka just before practice earlier this morning. And this was one of the uh I guess I could say least revealing Friday morning pressers that we’ve had all season. It was pretty quick. It was it was very quick. Uh he did tell us that Kavon Thibido who is definitely doing better in terms of his rehab with his shoulder injury uh has some limited stuff he’s able to do but not quite ready yet. So he’s out against Washington. That much he was able to tell us. He did not tell us whether or not Jamie Gillan is going to punt on Sunday. Uh we do know that they brought in Cam Johnston already yesterday, a veteran NFL kicker in case he has to punt. Yeah. Uh Kfka did say uh he was asked about Jamie specifically and he did say that Jamie is not going to kick at practice today. Correct. However, unlike Kavon who we did rule out before practice, he would not go so far as to rule Jaime out. he said they want to keep, you know, keep that one open at least for now till after practice, maybe maybe even tomorrow and see if he progresses at all. Uh so he did, I guess, you know, give a little bit of an update there. And then the only other player he talked about on the injury front was Gunnar Oesky, who he said has is continuing to pro progress through the concussion protocol, is at the next step. Yesterday we saw him uh upgrade from uh I believe he was was he DNP Wednesday? Yeah. Or maybe he was limited Wednesday but then upgraded to limited yesterday. Yes, he went up to limited and I guess he progressed. I would expect on the final on the injury report today, it’ll say I think based on what Kfka said, barring any setbacks, that he would be a full participant and that he would shed the non-cont designation that has been on the injury report the last couple or at least on Wednesday. uh and assuming he is a full participant in today’s practice and does not have any setbacks I would think that then either whether it’s later today sometime tomorrow would be the appointment with the independent neurologist to hopefully get that final clearance and if he gets it then he should clear and be good to go for Sunday’s game. Yeah. Uh coach seemed very confident. Yes. He did say he expects Yes. barring a setback he expects Gunnar to clear in time. Yes. So, that would be really cool because uh this is one of the guys who I’m going to be honest with you folks. I you know, we get a a certain feel for certain guys during the course of the year. He’s just he’s a guy you pull for. He just is. I mean, I I I don’t know how else to describe it. He was a long shot to make it to the NFL when he came out of school and was able to hook on with the Pats for a while. Actually, you know, wound up being a sensational kick returner for a short time. I made all proto one year as a return guy. Uh and then it got sidetracked, right? And oh, then he thought he might be out of the league and then the Giants pick him up and then he thinks he’s out of the league again. And then the Giants bring him back. I root for the guy because he’s a blood and guts guy. He’s just a regular dude. And uh for his sake, for his sake. I hope he’s back. And I I’ll be honest with you, I hope the Giants bring him back again into training camp next year and give him a chance to win a job. I hope so, too. But the Giants did make or do have some guys on the practice squad ready to fill in in case Gunner does not get that final clearance. They do. Of course, Amir Smith Marcett’s been on the practice squad all season. But the Giants also brought back Xavier Gibson who was with the team for a brief stint earlier in the season, then went to, I believe, the Eagles and was there for a little bit and he started at the Jets the beginning of the season. So, he’s been all around this little tri-state area. Uh, so both Smith, Marsette, and Gibson are on the practice squad and both have that experience as kick returners in case Gunner does not get cleared, but again, the expectation barring any setbacks is that he will get cleared. And I forgot there was one other injury update that Kfka did give and that was Tyler Nub, who was added to the injury report yesterday as a limited participant with a quad injury. And Kfka said he’s fine. There’s no concerns there at all. he’ll be good to go for Sunday’s game. Now, uh of interest, uh the Giants did pick up a uh a receiver yesterday. Yes, they finally filled that open roster spot that’s been sitting there all week. And and to be honest, um I was a little surprised because it’s not like the resume is just chalk full of stuff. Uh Ryan Walter, right? Ryan Miller. Miller. Ryan Miller. Miller. He uh he hasn’t played a whole ton and in the limited action that he has played hasn’t done a lot either. He’s mostly a special teams guy. I was going to say he’s played primarily on special teams for the Buccaneers this season. He’s played about 60% of their special team snaps. He’s a big guy, 6’2, 220 lbs. Uh again, not much receiving production. Last year he had 12 catches for 128 yards, two touchdowns. This season, two catches for 34 yards and a touchdown. So he hasn’t really been used much as a receiver in the offense. Again, has played primarily and a lot on special teams in the gunner role. So, so some of these and I’ll be honest with you folks, some of these back end of the depth chart moves, bottom of the roster moves that that they’ve been making, I don’t know if if these things are necessarily meant so much for today as much as they are they want to see guys, get a feel for them and maybe wonder if during the offseason they may want to put them on future reserve contracts and stuff of that nature cuz I can’t imagine, you know, you pick up a guy like Miller and think, “Oh my goodness, because he’s going to help us try to win a game in the next month. I don’t think that’s what you do. Yeah, we was it you and I that spoke about this two weeks ago or was it was I on with John about it? But yeah, we gave a heads up a couple weeks ago that we might start seeing some roster moves that, you know, at first you might look at it and be like, why would they sign, you know, player X to the practice squad or bring claim this guy off of waiverss? And it’s the it’s exactly what you just said. It’s because not every roster move at this point when you’re 2 and 11 going into week 15 with four games left. Not every roster move is going to be made to simply just win in this last month. There will be some roster moves where the Giants will bring guys in just to get a little head start and get a look at a guy to see, oh, maybe we do want to sign this guy to a reserve future contract. As as we see every year within what, 24 to 48 hours of the season ending, it’s going to come out that the Giants sign, you know, anywhere between, you know, five to 15 players to reserve future contracts. This is a great time to get a close look, get them inside the building early, kind of see maybe how their work ethic is, see how they learn, how they pick up the systems and stuff, how they interact with everyone else, and just get a look at them on the practice field for this last month before it breaks for the offseason because once once everyone leaves for the offseason, you can’t bring guys in for visits for reserve future contracts. The other thing you have to keep in mind too is that teams that are in contention, and I use the word luxury in quotes, they don’t have the luxury of playing around with the back end of the roster trying to find guys like this. No, they’re worried about winning now. Exactly. Rightfully so. And they need every roster spot to try to win Sunday’s game or Saturday or Monday, whenever they’re playing. uh when you’re an also ran at this point in the season again you have that luxury to start playing around with those kinds of guys. Yeah. So while you know on paper maybe we say like I don’t see what role Ryan Miller might have in helping the Giants in these last four games you never first of all you never know. Second of all, as we said, it could just be to get a a look at him in this last month and see is this guy worth signing to a reserve future deal to bring him into training camp and to really see what he’s got. In fact, one of those kinds of players I personally believe that’s the reason they picked up Saul, the kicker, the former Pittsburgh Panthers kicker a couple of weeks ago. He’s a left- footed kicker who has a really nice strong leg and he did some good things in college and you know he had a couple of uh camp visits here this year with with some pro teams but the Giants picked him up and they threw him on the practice squad. Now again a team that is in contention maybe they’re a little more uh leery about bringing in a quote project kind of guy certainly. I mean, how many teams are going to carry an extra kicker on the practice squad? You know, at the time when the Giants brought Saul in, they they already had a bunch of kickers. I think when when he brought in, he I think he was the fourth at that time. He was number four. Yeah. So, you know, there’s a case where hey, you don’t know how is Coup going to work out over the final month and a half. You don’t know. Certainly, if he does really well, you would anticipate that you’d have a chance to resign him and bring him back next year. You would think that, but just in case, you got a chance to look at this kid now for a month. And that’s there’s another example of one of those guys that you look at with the thought that maybe, just maybe, there’s an opportunity there down the road for him. Yeah. And especially because, you know, we’re talking about Coup and Sauls. Graham Gau is under contract next year. However, obviously with all the injuries he’s dealt with the last couple years and the fact that I believe he doesn’t have any guaranteed money left on the deal because this would be going into the final year, you know, depending, we don’t even know with his health if he’s going to play next year. Like it’s very he’s on injury reserve right now. Yeah, it’s very up in the air right now, especially the injury history, his age. Who knows if he’s, you know, he could retire. We don’t know. But yeah, the Giants could be in the business of finding a new kicker for the 2026 season. So you have K coup in right now and you’re seeing how you know how he plays especially in the conditions of Metife Stadium cuz it’s very different obviously than playing in the dome in Atlanta where he came previously. And then you get a good look at Saul’s as well to see if you know one if not both of them maybe are guys you want to bring back at the very least for training camp work through the summer to see which one you know ends up being the kicker for 2026. All right, folks. So, that’s a little bit of a perspective as to what’s happening with the lower part of the roster. Um, we really don’t talk about that very much because there’s really no need, but I think it’s important to note that while some of these transactions are in the fine print and they kind of go unnoticed, don’t let it fly under the radar too much. do keep it in mind because at some point in time, maybe as little as a month down the road, all of a sudden you’re going to see that that guy signed a reserve deal because they want to bring him to training camp and you’ll say, “Oh yeah, I remember they had him in in December.” So that’s why I wanted to bring that up. As far as this game goes, uh folks, you know, I was on Washington DC radio earlier this week and you know, we were kind of joking with the guys. Well, this is not Gibbs and Parcels we’re talking about here. some of the great classic Giants Redskins battles of the 80s and 90s. No, these are two teams that certainly expected to do a lot better this season. The Commanders, well, they were coming off a 12- win year. I didn’t think they’d come anything close to repeating that, but I certainly did not think that they’d be scraping the floor in the basement like the Giants are right now. No, coming off a NFC Championship run, you know, I didn’t I agree with you. I didn’t expect them to, you know, repeat that, but I certainly thought they would at the very least, you know, be in the playoff hunt going into Nove uh December. Well, here’s what’s interesting. Certainly not. Both of these teams have had a miserable time on the defensive side of the ball. Yeah. And you know, obviously Giants fans are incredibly disappointed and shocked that that’s happened here. How do you think the Washington fans feel? Because Dan Quinn is their head coach and he has always been known for enhancing the strength of his defenses. Now, to be fair, okay, to be fair, going into the season, one of the weaknesses that we all thought was going to be on this Washington team was their lack of pass rush. Now, they basically brought Von Miller out of the cobwebs to kind of help them because they were so desperate for pass rush. We knew that was going to be an issue and it has been. The secondary has been even worse of an issue than anybody could have imagined. And Frankie Louvu at linebacker is now missing tackles at a crazy rate. And Bobby Wagner, well, you know what? as awesome as he still is against the run, he’s got some trouble covering people now because the range is starting to starting to go away. Yeah, but that’s not that’s the one guy on the defense I think you know you’re right in in coverage. He has not been the best this season, but basically every other aspect of his game has been phenomenal. Once again, he’s instinctive. He is one of just overall one of the most impressive players to me in the entire NFL. The fact that he is 14 years into his career and for the most part still playing at an allp pro level, year in and year out is just wild. I mean, he’s third in the league in tackles. He’s been phenomenal against the run. He’s been good in the pass rush. Coverage has been the one area where he’s not been that great. I agree with you. Father time catches up to everybody. He’s what was he 35 36. It’s amazing. Every other aspect of his game though was playing very well. Frankie Luva might be the biggest surprise on that defense because he was an allp pro last year, the second team all pro. He was great and then he’s just taken such a big step back this year, which this season I would say is a little bit more of what we kind of saw in his first few years in Carolina. It was closer to that. This season’s closer to that than last year. So, you know, maybe last year was the outlier season. I don’t know. But yeah, this this defense it’s struggled just as much as the Giants defense has struggled this season. Uh but on offense, despite the defensive struggles, you would think that, you know, with the defense giving up so many points and yards, that the the run game would kind of get abandoned and they wouldn’t have much success with it. But they’ve been one of the best rushing teams in the NFL all season. They ranked fourth in the NFL in rushing yards this season, seventh in rushing yards per attempt. And that’s with them, you know, playing from behind, I would say, in most weeks. And yet, they’re still running the football and having su having success, whether it’s Chris Rodriguez, Jaori, Kroski, Merritt, even Jeremy McNichols a little bit. They seem to be finding success no matter who’s running with the ball. Not to mention the quarterback situation. Obviously, this week is Mariota, but right, Mariota and Jeene Daniels both have rushing ability in their bag. How much do you think they’ll lean on the run now that Zack Z has been lost for the season? That combined with the weather on Sunday, you know, whether or not it snows, it’s going to be very, very cold, I would expect both teams to lean into the run. Maybe more so Washington because for their defense, the Washington defense again, it’s not been great overall, but the past defense has really, really struggled. Oh, it’s terrible. And so, this is a good game for Jackson Dark to hopefully take advantage of this great matchup and sort of go back to what he was looking like the beginning part of his starting tenure this season, at least in terms of passing. I think what we’ve kind of read is that one to three inches sometime overnight Saturday into early Sunday, but it will stop by kickoff from what I’ve heard. So, I’ve asked our like director of event presentation who’s very on top of the whole weather situation. Mhm. And she said that the forecast kind of keeps changing. The latest she heard as of I believe it was yesterday evening was that it’s could be it’s going to probably be a couple of inches, but it could end up being Saturday overnight and by the time kickoff comes, it could have completely stopped. Yeah, we’re going to get a final weather report in a couple of hour or I’m going to go upstairs and get a final weather report from her in a couple hours and see what you know the professionals are saying about this forecast. But hopefully nothing will be final till Sunday morning. Of course. Of course. But hopefully it’s Saturday night snow, early morning Sunday. I’m hoping by the time I’m driving out here Sunday morning, there’s no snow coming down from this guy. Let it all be on the ground already so there’s time to clear it out before kickoff. Yeah, that that would be nice. Um, so in any event, when looking at these two teams, you know, uh, there are a number of of matchups that I think are interesting. And certainly, to be honest, um, it will be Von Miller who is at the right edge of the Washington pass rush. As old as he is, and if you look at his overall production, he’s not doing much against the running game at all. He’s strictly in there to try to get after the quarterback with whatever juice he has left. and he’ll be going up against Andrew Thomas who I want to just interject this because right before the show started I asked Matt about do we know where the updates are on the on the Pro Bowl voting. Now we all know the Pro Bowl vote isn’t as important as the all NFL vote because the all NFL vote which is also known as the allp pro team is the one that’s most significant the one that is most recognized by the league. Uh that’s the one that gets published in the official NFL record books. Elias, uh, the official statistician recognizes it. The Associated Press recognizes it. That’s the one that carries the most beef. Yeah. Amongst all of the Allstar teams that get named at the end of the season. The Pro Bowl vote is obviously kind of wishy-washy, but it’s still kind of nice to be recognized. The thing that bothered me is that, you know, I haven’t been keeping track of some of the tabulations, but you came back to me and said, I think Andrew Thomas is like not in the top 10. confirmed he is not in the top 10 right now in the in the fan boat. That is a joke. I I agree. He’s been one of the best tackles in the league this season. He certainly deserves to be a Pro Bowler, but I can’t say I’m fully shocked cuz his breakout season in 2022, he was voted or yeah, voted second team all pro, right? And didn’t make the pro. Was not voted a Pro Bowler, which does not make any sense. No. Now, you know, it does happen. Okay, it does happen. And I certainly hope that the uh the writers uh who are in charge of the AP vote, which becomes the allp provoke, I hope they’re smart enough to recognize that Andrew Thomas has been absolutely phenomenal. I personally believe it’s probably the best season I’ve seen him have since he came to the Giants. You think it’s better than 2022 season? I I do. I honestly do. I think they’re very comparable seasons. I will say I we’re probably cutting cutting hairs here, splitting hairs. I I’ll give the slight edge to this season just because in 2022 Andrew Thomas was great at left tackle. The rest of the line though was not, you know, the greatest and it was his play did not help, you know, sort of elevate the rest of the line. This season it seems like his play like once he got inserted into the lineup week three in the first half and then week four fully the whole entire unit the whole offensive line took a step up as a collective unit which we just didn’t that’s not on Andrew Thomas in 2022 but we just didn’t see it like we’re seeing it this season which of course that also goes with the other guys it’s not that’s not a purely Andrew Thomas but since they’re very comparable seasons I’m going to give the slight edge I’m going to agree with you and give the slight light edge to this season because the whole line as a unit, this is the best offensive line we’ve seen from the Giants in a while. I mean, they are I know you don’t like PFF, but they’ve PFF releases offensive line rankings each week. Giants are at 10. I think all of us would have signed up for a top 10 offensive line before the season started in a heartbeat. I think if you told us that the Giants would have a top 10 offense before the season started, I think all of us would have expected a better record than two and 11. But nonetheless, I guess we’ll we’ll take the small victories. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think I think, you know, at least in 22, he had the consistency of Daniel Jones behind him every week. He had the consistency of Barkley, who, you know, also true. Um, this has been a little bit of a mismatch as the running back situation has been a revolving door because of injury and the quarterback thing also has been a revolving door. Now, he didn’t play at the beginning of the year when Russell Wilson was in there, but he has had to deal with both Winston and and Dart. Yeah. So, those and one half of Russell Wilson. Yes. The first half, that week three game where he played the first half. Correct. So, I mean, there’s been variables, I guess, for sure. Which which I’m giving him a little extra credit for being able to overcome variables and still produce at the incredible level that he has. The rest of the line, though, has been pretty healthy. I mean obviously JMSs missed a couple of games. Schloman though filled in very admirably when Schmidz was down and Germaine missed what one game, one or two games. One I think it was one one game where Marcus Bow filled in admirably. He did okay. He did okay. But as an overall unit, this is like the most consistent production, the most consistent lineup on a week in and weekout basis we’ve the Giants have had in in years. All right, so let’s let’s just hit a couple of these matchups, folks. 2011 9394513 is our phone number. So I think it’s an interesting matchup nonetheless. The aging Von Miller against Andrew Thomas. I think it’s still I know who I give the edge to in that match. Obviously, I mean, Thomas should have no trouble shutting him out in my opinion. But nonetheless, because of Von Miller’s pedigree, and he’s going to the Hall of Fame, okay, for sure. So, whatever he’s got left, and he does lead the Commanders in sacks, is he does. I think he’s at six and a half. Six and a half. And he’s got a lot of pride. Let’s face it, he knows who Andrew Thomas is. and he knows that this is a chance and and I don’t know how many if if he’s even gonna play next year. He’s gonna want to go out and show people, hey, I could still play against the best and still be effective. I think this is going to be it’s going to be a matchup I’m going to want to watch anyway, even though Miller is on his last legs. Um, another interesting matchup to watch. I think um Laramie Tonsel at left tackle depending upon how the Giants wind up playing Burns and Carter. We’ve seen they have flopped. I know Burns has played some more on the other side. We don’t know how they’re going to play it this week. But no matter who is lining up against Tonsel, that should be another really fun matchup because you’re talking about two of the best left tackles in the game being on the same field. Yeah, this is the matchup that I was actually most interested to see. Actually, both of the Commanders tackle matchups were the two that I’m most interested to see because so Brian Burns has has primarily lined up on the left edge. Mhm. So going up against the right since Kavon got hurt. Yeah. Since Kavon got hurt. Now it’s not every single snap, but he’s taken more snaps on that side. So that would leave especially cuz again Kavon got ruled out this morning. Abdul Carter to face a lot of Laramie Tonsel. It’s not gonna be every snap, but he’s gonna get a lot of the veteran. And Laramie Tonsel is right, as you said, is right up there with Andrew Thomas among the league’s top left tackles. He’s been phenomenal this season. Uh he did give up a sack to the Giants in week one. Since then, PFF has him down for one additional sack allowed in the next 12 games and only 14 total pressures. He is PFF’s number three offensive tackle in pass protection. Number eight tackle overall. He’s very good. This is probably going to be Abdul Carter’s toughest matchup of the season. Uh but to Abdul Carter’s credit, obviously prior to the buy, Abdul had his own what do you we’ll call it, you know, some disciplinary issues that were everyone’s put behind now, but he did get benched for that first first quarter against the Patriots, right? But once he came onto the field at the start of the second quarter, he was great. He had probably his best game of the season. first full sack. That’s great. I mean, Drake May kind of ran into him for that sack, but nonetheless, we’ll take the first full sack. Six total pressures. Uh, according to ESPN analytics, and this is the stat that I think shows that Carter has been better than his numbers, the box score numbers will say, he ranks ninth among all edge rushers in pass rush win rate. Yes. At 18%. So he and that’s even better than Burns who’s 11th in that stat. So he’s been having su some success. It just has not resulted in a ton of sacks. But hopefully after the Patriots game, the final three quarters where he did play well and obviously the second off the- field issue in three weeks, you know, hopefully that kind of lights a spark underneath him going into this final month of the season. He is one of the guys that I think this last month is the most important to. You know, I would say all the young guys, but Abdul and Jackson are the two guys that I really want to see step up in a big way in this final month because they if the Giants are going to have su any success in 2026, those two guys are going to play very big roles in that. And so I want to see them start to play well, gain some momentum and some confidence. Jackson obviously I don’t think he lacks in any sort of confidence as we hear him, you know, speak to the media each week and I don’t think Abdul does either. But Abdullah hasn’t had the same onfield production and success that Jackson has had this season. So I would really like to see him get going in this final month. It’s not going to be easy going up against Laramie Tonsel. But if he could get a sack or even just a couple of pressures off of Tonsel, that would go a long way in having the young 22-year-old gain some confidence going into this the final stretch, the off season, going into next year. And then just on the other side real quick where Brian Burns will I guess primarily be lining up against Josh Connorly Jr. the rookie right tackle struggle to start the season first round draft pick first round pick late first round pick really struggled at the start of the season was credited with four sacks allowed in the first two weeks of the season but since then he has been a lot better. Uh he’s only allowed two sacks and 24 pressures over the last 11 games since that rough opener. So despite the rough start, he has been a lot better. He was one of the top tackles going into this past year’s draft. So Brian Burns and Abdul Carter going up against these two, doesn’t matter which one’s going up against which, those are the two matchups I’m most excited to see on Sunday. Now, when you consider the Commanders have a a solid rushing attack, which you’ve already alluded to earlier in the program, and we’re expecting potentially some nasty weather. We just don’t know exactly. Well, you have to take note that the Commanders when they run behind right tackle are averaging over eight yards a carry on 41 rushes. The eight yard average per carry behind right tackle leads the National Football League. When they run right up Connor Lee’s back, they have been dominant in the run game. It stands to reason that they’re going to want to feed whoever is in the back field and tell them to run behind right tackle. Yeah. Not only that, that’s the the good Washington stat of running outside the right tackle. Now tell them the Giants poor outside against the run stat. Yes, that’s exactly where I was going. Yeah. So through 13 games on runs to the outside. So that’s not just the right tackle or the right left edge, but both edges. The Giants have allowed the most yards per carry at 7.0, the highest success rate at 54.8%. And the highest explosive play rate, which at 25%. And explosive play rate, I believe, is 10 or more yard 20 or more yards in this case. Uh, depends on which you’re looking at 10 for the running play. I think usually 10 yards, 10 plus yards. So, they’re the worst run defense in like all the metrics when it comes to rushes to the outside. So, put that with Washington’s success on running to the outside. And hopefully, and I’m sure it will be that that has been a big talking point in this building this week leading up to Sunday. The Giants know that they’re going to try to run to the outside. So, let’s hope that they obviously come prepared to stop that because if they can stop that part of the Washington game, this Washington offense might have some trouble moving up and down the field. All right, let’s go to the phones. Alex in Syracuse, you’re online, too. You’re first up on the show. Hello. Hey guys, how are we doing today? Hi. Good. How are you? Good. Good. Hey. Um, I just wanted to sort of talk about uh obviously season has been uh disappointing to say the least. Um, the thing that’s hard for me though is it’s and I keep having these conversations where I and I you guys have said this too, which is like it’s really disappointing because we’re playing I think some of the best certainly offensive football that I’ve seen this team play in I don’t know a decade maybe. And so to see the results not show up and now to sort of see the turnover, I think a lot of Giants fans have this like weird misled belief that like that changing the scheme and changing all the coaches that that these things are that they’re not going to have the effect that they might have that this that the success will be linear. But um and I just think you know asking people to learn new systems and all that stuff. I’m scared of it and I mean at this point it seems like it’s inevitable obviously at this point. Um, so, so my question for you is this. Um, the things that I would like to see in these last few games, um, are the top three things I’d like to see are I want to see this defense have start to look a little bit like what we thought this defense could look like. And sure, it’ll be a little too little too late, but like at least show us like, oh, that yeah, the money invested didn’t pan out this year, but that there’s hope for the future for this defense for sure. Um, I want to obviously continue to see Jackson Dart look the way he’s looked and continue to develop. Um, and then, you know, I I also think I don’t know what happened to those special teams last week, but I I that was looking pretty promising, too. And I’d like to see us return to some semblance of like respectable special teams. I just want to see all three phases like look strong going into this offseason so that there’s some justification for some amount of continuity. to be honest, I’d love for Brazil to be back cuz God forbid we we go back to the offensive line we had for however many years. It’s finally looking good. Um and so here’s my last thing I’ll leave you with and I’m curious to get your thoughts on it. And I know it’s a little early to be doing like the whole head coach search thing at this moment, but it’s coming. And I’ve been sort of a proponent of keeping CFKA on if for no other reason than just to keep some offensive continuity, but that’s not enough of a reason. And so my new sort of hope is if we were to bring Spags back as our coordinate, as our head coach, do you think there’s any chance that CFKA is a little more likely to stay on as offensive coordinator given their past relationship working together? Um because I would love if if if he isn’t given the head coaching job to at least keep him on uh for offensive coordinator because I think he’s done a really nice job offensively this year. So that those are my my questions for you. Appreciate the call. Thank you, Alex. Thanks, Alex. Well, I I will say this. Um Mike Kfka, as far as I know, does have one year left on his contract. Do you Are you Are you on board with that? I I that I don’t know. I don’t know if coaching contracts aren’t typically Okay. Well, I think I I guess what I’m telling you is reality may be also different than paperwork, but I believe paperwork uh there would be a a possibility that Mike Kfka could stay even if they decided to name a defensive-minded head coach uh in that spot. Now, whether or not he would want to or whether or not he would get another opportunity to go somewhere else and be a head coach, those are things that I would not even speculate on, but in theory, if they named a defensiveminded head coach, and you’re right, Spags and him did work together in Kansas City. In theory, could that potentially be a possibility? I guess I wouldn’t rule it out, but I just don’t know how likely it is given that we don’t have the other parts of that equation. Yeah. I mean, as we’ve come to learn, never say never. Like, you never know what could happen. The only thing that I kind of question is I can’t think of a situation, and I could just be not remembering, but I can’t think of a situation where a coach was named interimm head coach in the middle of a season, finished out the season coaching for that team, then the the team decides to hire someone else from the outside as the head coach, and then that guy returns to his old position. Yeah, it would it would take a unique set of circumstances. Can can you remember a situation of that? I could just be completely forgetting, but I just cannot well remember. Well, you know why? Because the Giants haven’t been in this situation very often. And I and I can’t honestly tell you that I keep track of all the interim head coaches that have been in the NFL for the last 50 years. Yeah. It’s just not something that you usually keep track of. But on paper, I mean, that sounds like a situation where the, you know, the interim head coach would say like, “You passed me over for the job that I’ve just held for the last two months. You just don’t know. Why should I go, you know, quote unquote, take a demotion? That’s again, I’m talking about on paper. I’m not saying it’s realistic, but it is what it is. I I I will say this, you know, there are four games left. What if the Giants go on a four-ame winning streak and absolutely blister their next four teams? Now, I’m sorry, you guys are going to laugh, and go ahead if you want to, but they’re playing Washington. They’re playing Las Vegas. They’re playing Minnesota. They’re playing Dallas. Are you honestly going to sit here and tell me the Giants can’t win all four of those games? No, they can for sure. I mean, the next three opponents are all teams with losing records that are in similar situation to the Giants. The only one that has a winning record is the Cowboys, but that game is in week 18 when they might be 500. They’re not winning. They’re 66 and one. Okay, fair. They’re not They don’t even have a winning record. And by the way, they were getting their butts kicked at home until we gave them the game and they but by week 18 when the Giants play the Cowboys, they could be eliminated and they could be under 500 at that point, too. So I ask you, so then is it not possible the Giants could win four in a row? No, they could. But my only thing is I don’t think you you should make decisions about, you know, the future of this franchise just based on the next four games alone. Like even if you win the next four games, I don’t think that necessarily means, okay, let’s just run everything back because we got this late momentum season. Agreed. But it would but it would not shock me if the Giants 4 and0 maybe just because we’re two and 11. So I get it. You know, could we win a couple of those games? For sure. I I think there’s a good chance we do win one or two of these final games. You would have to chew on those games a little more thoroughly if they wound up going on a roll here and looked really, really good. You’d have to give them heavier consideration than you might otherwise do. Yeah. But at the same time, as you just mentioned, you got to keep in mind the opponents in these four games. That’s why I was very interested to see the little stretch leading into the buy because that was our last stretch of games against playoff contenders, teams that are really in the hunt. And if you know if the Giants had ripped off a couple of wins against, you know, the stretch against the NFC North or the Patriots, who at the time were the number one seed in the AFC, that would have been a lot different than, you know, winning a couple of games in this final stretch. You still obviously want to go out and try to win ball games because again, and Jackson Dart spoke about this before the buy. The guys in the locker room do believe in momentum carrying from the end of one season into the next. Whether people at home, whether fans do or not might be another story. But the guys in the locker room that are going to be here next year, they do think that is a real thing. So, I do think it would be good obviously if the Giants do win a couple of these games get some confidence and sort of remind themselves like, oh yeah, this is what it feels like to win football games cuz hopefully next year the Giants are winning a lot more football games than they have been this year. I do believe there is something to having young players at the pro level learn how to win games. Yeah. After they’ve just lost a bunch of them. You know, I I I’ve been saying this now for what, the last decade as we go into December and people talk about, well, is it really better for the team to win? No, I don’t believe there’s any carryover. No, I don’t believe in that at all. The momentum stops when the season is over. What I do believe is that young players who experience winning at the NFL level, especially if they have not done it before, can learn something from that which they may be able to use in the following season. That I believe momentum I do not believe. All right. I was just going by what Jackson himself said a couple weeks ago, but I agree. Especially because the Giants have lost so many games, you know, in the final couple of minutes, minute or two. How many times did that happen, you know, since that overtime or since the win against the Eagles? More often than we would like. So, yeah, I agree that I think there is a benefit to these young guys who will be here next year again, learning how to like properly close out games and come up with these victories in these close onepossession games, no matter who the coach is. Definitely some benefit to that. Absolutely. And I will say just because to the point that you made of you know some people saying like what benefit wouldn’t it be more beneficial to you know lose the games in order for you know to help your go draft stock which unfortunately we’ve had this conversation every year for the last couple years now. But I will say the one difference this year than in the years prior is the Giants aren’t in the business of drafting a quarterback at the top of the first round next year. the last couple of years, the quarterback position has been a very big question mark where I can, again, no one in this building would ever, you know, say like we’re we need to lose games. Everyone’s always trying to win as they should in this building, but I can somewhat understand people outside the building saying it’s more beneficial to lose to get hired to the number one pick if you’re still in the business of looking for a franchise quarterback at the We know that Jackson Dart is going to be the quarterback next year. I’m not sitting here saying he’s the franchise quarterback moving forward for the next decade. He needs to, you know, things change very quickly in the NFL. John and I were talking about this the other day. You need to win. You need to have success year in and year out in order to become a franchise quarterback. So, I’m not ready to go there yet. But I’m confident in saying I don’t believe the Giants will be looking for a quarterback in this upcoming draft, which makes having, you know, the number two or three pick or the number six or seven pick less significant. Agreed. We go to Dave in Michigan. You’re next on the show. Hello. Hello, Paul. Hey, how’s it going, my friend? Believe it or not, guys, this is my first call all season. Well, it’s nice to hear from you again. Wow. I’ve been I’ve been I know Paul, we we we bounce back and forth on on X, but this is my first actual call. I’ve been so overcome with enthusiasm and joy on Mondays that I haven’t been able to dial the phone. I understand. But uh anyway, uh I have a question um which seems a little out of left field. I want to talk about the coach. Is there any ranking that you know of ranking rating like PFF does players on general managers? Not that I am aware of. There is a um and I don’t know who puts it out, but there is a um a graphic and a chart that comes out that assigns value to every team’s draft pick. And every 5 years they go back over that chart and they they move it along one year at a time in fiveear segments and they use a scoring system based on is that guy a pro bowl player, is that guy an allp pro player, is that guy a starter, is that guy a reserve, is he still in the league, is he still on your team? There is such a there is such I do not but there is such a chart that exists because I was I was thinking about like actually I’m retired now. I retired a few months ago so I got some time on my hands and I was actually thinking of doing something exactly like that but uh I didn’t know if there was anything out there uh you know like it. Anyway, on the head coaching search, um I uh I really want us to go with a defensiveminded coach. Defense has always been what’s really defined the Giants. And even though it’s years after we’ve had a championship or been, you know, worrying uh the rest of the NFC East, uh I I really feel like it’s time to go home to defense. That’s that’s my thought. Um, obviously you want the best guy. If you interview 10 people uh for the job and the guy that knocks you over as far as a culture change uh is an offensive coach, then yeah, I think you got to do that. But I would go in with a if I had a 51 to 49 bias going into the interviews, it would be to come with a defensive coach with the tools to change the culture in the building, not just on the field, in the building. Um, and that you and I are exactly the same age, Paul. We’ve been we’ve been bleeding blue for exactly the same number of years. And uh uh I I I I think you’re probably in line with me that yes, they have to pick the best guy, but but but focusing on defense when we’ve got so much talent on that side of the the line that’s underperformed so miserably. Uh I I think we got to go defense. Um, and one one last thing before I let you go, which is uh you you guys talk about the kicking room. It’s funny. I I think Sciteac and and uh somebody addressed this the other day about a day or two after I I tweeted out. I’m thinking the same thing. We we’ve got to get a kicker. And I’m all for spending some draft capital like a fifth like a third day pick to lock in a kicker we want. And the reason I wouldn’t wait for for an un to do the undrafted uh free agent route is that a guy like I’m just going to throw a name out. A guy like Freeman from Yukon is going to be in demand. Why would he come to even though he’s in Connecticut, maybe he’s a Giant, I don’t know, but why would he come to a team that that is so miserably dysfunctional right now when he’s got the choice of the rest of the league? And by the way, one of the things I’m gonna lament is if I were their betting man that I’m not. I would bet that very unfortunately Illuminor is not coming back and we’re going to have a big fat stinking hole in the right tackle because why would he? A steady durable solid citizen wonderful player like that. a Jersey native who by the way is a huge fan of Carmen Brascillo, the offensive line coach. So there are two reasons why he would want to come back. Yeah, but I’m just Okay, you guys know him better than I do. I only know what comes filtered through the media, through his his I love this guy, but if I wanted to cash in and somebody’s offering me I’ll make up a number. If somebody’s offering me$16 million a year to at a good team with a good culture to solidify their right tackle position and the Giants are only offering me 13 or 14, where would you go? Yeah, it’s not a slam dunk, Dave. I won’t say that. And I do think that, you know, while he has expressed an interest in staying here, he certainly wants to see if he can get paid. There’s no doubt about that, too. I’m I’m I’m cautiously optimistic. Yeah. As a veteran that’s kind of played his whole career on, you know, one or twoyear deals, not for high amount of money, like after coming off his best coming off his best season, I fully expect him to look for the best possible contract, whether it’s here or somewhere else. I wouldn’t blame him. Well, the Eagles may make him an offer. I mean, they have to they have to uh beef that uh team up and and things like that. But by the way, guys, and I I know you got another caller. I’m working on that spreadsheet of the last 50 years of interim coaches for you. All right. Be good, Dave. Thanks. Thanks, Dave. Uh Marcus Bo is at this moment considered the Giants third tackle. If Aluminor does take a free agent deal somewhere else, Bo’s going to get the first shot or they could bring someone else in. Who knows, there’s a whole off season. Obviously, we’ll there is how things play out. But, but yeah, I Marcus Bo I probably will get a look some consideration for sure if Aluminor is not back. Uh, couple things he me Dave mentioned real quick. First of all, I hope Germaine does not go to Philadelphia very much so. But if Lane, assuming Lane Johnson does not retire, he will not be going there because they have Milada and Lane Johnson at the two tackle positions. So if Lane Johnson retires, that’s another story. Then it becomes a position where the Philly needs to address it. But he’s a walking injury, Lane Johnson. I know, but when he’s on the field, he’s probably the best tackle, right tackle in the league up there at least. And then the other thing real quick, if you look at the last, let’s just call it like five years of teams using draft capital to pick a kicker, I feel like more often than not, that kicker is on a new team within before that rookie contract is up. So that I hesitate to, you know, spend at least premier any sort of premier draft capital on a kicker just because you could sign a guy off the street that could end up being a pro bowler. We’ve seen it happen in this building in the last decade with various guys. So I hesitate to use draft capital and kicker. That’s just my personal opinion. I wouldn’t do it either. Look, do me a favor because my voice is giving out. Can you read the Special Olympics promo because I know we have to get that in before the end of the show. Uh, yes. Special Olympics New Jerseyy’s annual snowball is heading to Rucker Football Stadium in 2026. This annual flag football tournament will be on the field from March 6th through the 8th of 2026. The sixon six tournament will feature competitive, recreational, and co-ed divisions. All proceeds benefit thousands of Special Olympic New Jersey athletes across the Garden State. Register your team today at nj snowball.org. That’s nj snowball.org. Giants Washington 1:00 Sunday. Pregame on WFAN radio starts at 11:00 a.m. Postgame is immediately following. Also on MSG postgame immediately following the game as well. Anything else you want to promote? I just see real quick just one YouTube comment that Pearson wrote down here. Just want to just address it real quick. Who would be considered the best left tackle if in the league if it’s not Andrew Thomas? Andrew Thomas certainly in the discussion. I would say this year Tristan Worfs, Laramie Tonsel, Garrett BS. Those four are probably your top four left tackles real quick. Okay, promoting uh just the normal content we get up game preview on giants.com in terms of articles. Dan Salomon had his weekly one-on-one interview with Mike Kfka. And yeah, I think that’ll do it. Thanks for joining us on Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants. Coming to you from the Giants podcast studio, presented by Hackinack Meridian Health. Keep getting better. We’ll see you again next time, everybody.

Paul Dottino and Matt Citak discuss the key matchups against the Commanders, talk about Jermaine Eluemunor’s play this year, and take calls from fans. Presented by Cadillac.

0:00 – Commanders preview
13:00 – Updates from both teams
24:00 – Key matchups
32:00 – Calls from Fans
42:40 – Jermaine Eluemunor

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