New York Giants Just Getting Started?

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The New York Giants were pretty good all around against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, but they're going to need to be a little bit better in week two against Rams in a couple of critical areas. You are Locked On Giants, your daily New York Giants podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, New York Giants fans and welcome to another edition of the Locked On Giants podcast. I am your host, Patricia Traina, and today's episode of Locked On Giants is brought to you by our friends over at Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use the promo code LockedOn to get $20 off your first purchase. On today's episode of Locked On Giants, as usual, we're going to have some blue notes at the end of the episode. Just some random thoughts, transactions, just random little things to talk about, to keep you up to date on stuff going on in the land of the G-Men. In segment number two, we're going to put a spotlight on Pancake Pat. It's been a while since I think giant fans have been able to enjoy pancakes, and Pancake Pat is bringing them back. So I'm going to talk a little bit more about that, as well as give you a clip from an interview that I did with Patrick Ricard, the full back of the New York Giants last week. So that'll be segment number two. But first, for segment number one, the Giants, I still am pinching myself. They were so good against the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, really, really good. But as with anything, nothing is perfect. John Harbaugh, when he spoke to the media on Monday, he said, there's still some things we've got to clean up that we want to work on in the coming week so that our game is better when we take on our next opponent, which will be the Los Angeles Rams out in LA on Monday Night Football. Yay, another night game, right? Anyhow, I have a couple of things, couple of areas that I feel the Giants absolutely need to work on, get a little bit better at, and let's kick that off, okay? So the first thing they need to improve, the defense is secondary. Now, I am tired of saying this, I'm sure you're tired of hearing me say it, but I remain concerned about the cornerbacks. I just do, I mean, I do not think Greg Newsom had the best game. I do not think that the backups when they had to come in, Colton Hood, who's a rookie, and Paul Sinodibo, I don't think they fared well. I thought Deontay Banks was the best of the bunch that played. But I am still concerned about that defense of secondary. So in particular, what I would like to see them improve upon is that outside coverage. Because quite honestly, I saw some discipline breakdowns in looking at the game again. And you just can't have it. Look, in the case of Greg Newsom, he was up against George Pickens, who I think is the Cowboys, probably their top receiver I would think. And Pickens fell down on one play. I think he had a couple of drops in the game. You can't count on that every single week. And they were lucky bounces, lucky breaks, whatever you want to call them. But you can't count on that happening every single week. To me, Newsom's got to be a little bit better than he was. No, make that a lot better than he was against the Cowboys. I think the reason why his numbers don't look so bad is because, like I said, he got some breaks, which were out passes and again, George Pickens falling down. So the numbers are skewed. I'd like to see that improve. And again, the starters should be Newsom and Banks. I don't think there'll be a change there. But if a Debo gets called upon, he's got to be better. I mean, we're talking a guy who last year was a starter, who was one of the big free agent ticket signings. And when he went in there, I was like, come on, man, what are you doing here? It was almost like, I don't know, like he wasn't ready or I don't know where his head was at. But I didn't like how he played when he had to come in, when the guys in front of him got injured. You know, Colton Hood, at least I can say, okay, he's a rookie, he's still learning. So I could probably give him a pass. But that being said, you can't really give them a pass because if they're called upon, they have to go in there and they've got to perform up to the level. And the Rams, they have good receivers. You're not going to count on them falling down or dropping passes. It's just, you know, lightning in that instance is not going to strike twice in my opinion. All right. The other area that the Giants absolutely need to improve upon, their pass rush. Now, they got pressure on Dak Prescott 11 times in the game. All right. Dak Prescott is one of the hardest quarterbacks in the NFL to sack because it gets rid of the ball so quickly. So that being said, the Giants in a few plays just barely missed Dak Prescott. And while you're not going to get a sack on every pressure, you want to at least get one or two would be nice, you know, maybe three, maybe four, as many as you can get. Because even though defensive players will tell you that sacks, you know, are not the end of the world if you don't get them, they're pretty important because it means that you're pushing the opponent back in terms of lost yardage. So, yeah, why wouldn't you want to get some sacks out of it? And that pass rush, you know, in particular the NASCAR package, you know, I talked on yesterday's show, I talked about that no-defensive-line look that they put out there, their NASCAR package. And I was really, really intrigued by that because that's a lot of speed you have out there with Thibodeau and Abdul Carter and Brian Burns and Arvel Reiss, but they've got to get a little bit more out of that. They've got to get home. And I get it, you know, sacks come in bunches. It might be, you know, another week or two. It might be this week. Who knows? But they've got to do a better job with that because it just wasn't, you know, it didn't hurt them. Let's put it that way. And again, I know that, you know, that Prescott can hurt you with his legs if you bring, like, a gazillion pass rushers at him. But it still would have been nice to get some sacks against Prescott. And, you know, certainly against Matthew Stafford, I would think the Giants should have a better opportunity to really pressure him and maybe get a few sacks out of that game. Whether it's, again, one or two or however many, every little bit helps. So that's another area that I feel the Giants really, really need to kind of beef up. So again, you know, not a whole lot. I mean, you know, you can point to the penalties, I suppose. But quite honestly, you know, that crew that officiated the Giants game on Sunday night going in, we had done a scouting report on that crew and they were deemed a flag-happy crew whose average penalties per game was above the league average last year. So, you know, penalties, some of them are judgment calls, some of them are ticky-tack, but, you know, you'd want to cut them down, especially, you know, the discipline-related one. You can't be having the personal vows and the stupid ones that, you know, we saw a couple of. So, I would say maybe if you're looking for a third area for the Giants to improve on, get rid of the stupid penalties, the discipline ones where you get flagged for personal vows. There's no place for that, there's no excuse for that. And the Giants had at least one of them in the game. I think Jevon Holland drew one of the personal vow penalties. So those are the areas that the Giants can get better at as they get ready for week two. They start things on Tuesday. The players will be in. No media access until Wednesday, but we'll keep you posted on everything as the Giants get ready for a big cross-country trip to Los Angeles and an opportunity to go to an O for the first time in a long time, right? So that being said, when we come back, we're going to serve up pancakes with Pancake Pat and put the focus on fullback, Patrick Ricard. So that is coming your way right after this. Hey, Giant Vans, there's no substitution for being at an NFL game in person, but getting a good deal on tickets can be quite a hassle. Well, with Gametime, that doesn't have to be the case anymore. Gametime makes it easy to find tickets to NFL matchups that you want to see, with prices that include fees so that you know what your toll cost is up front. And you can get tickets with just a couple of taps. It's just so easy. 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On Kalshi, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning that there's no house. As the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position. Trade the draft pick, the game, and more on Kalshi. Download the Kalshi app and use promo code LockedOn to get $25 when you trade $25. KALSHI, Kalshi, trade what's next. 18 and over only. Restrictions and eligibility, requirement supply, event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Kalshi products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values and available markets may vary from those mentioned. For more information, please see kalshi.com/regulatory. All right, Giant fans, welcome back to the Locked On Giants podcast. Locked On Giants is part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network in America, celebrating our 10th anniversary all year long. Thank you so much for 10 great years. I'm your host, Patricia Traina, credential member of the Giants Media for Locked On, as well as for New York Giants On SI. That's where you can find all of my written work. A big welcome to our Blue Crew, who happen to be our every dayers, our newcomers, and everybody in between. Speaking of the Blue Crew, we have our own little club with features such as AMAs, which I'm going to do weekly now. We have one-on-one texting, expanded newsletter, we have a toxic free Discord channel where we are talking about the Giants and other stuff around the league. You know, 24-7, whenever the mood hits, you can jump in there, and usually somebody is available to chat with you, whether it be myself or another Giant fan, and so much more. And you can find out more about the Blue Crew by visiting lockedonnygiants.supercast.com. Again, that's lockedonnygiants.supercast.com. All right, Giant fans, let's talk about some pancakes, shall we? When it comes to football, there is nothing like a good pancake, as in a pancake block. And with Patrick Ricard, the fullback, he's bringing that position back to the Giants offense, a position that I absolutely love. I love that old school football style, and I've missed the fullback position, to be honest with you. The Giants last had a good fullback. Oh gosh, you'd have to go back to when Henry Hynosky was here. Which was over a decade ago. Patrick Ricard is back, and he is making the position relevant again. And I want to talk a little bit about what the Giants were able to accomplish with Patrick Ricard in the game against the Dallas Cowboys. Now, right off the bat, the Giants, they used heavy personnel on offense. The game plan being, let's beat up the Cowboys. Let's wear them down, so come by the fourth quarter. They're dragging. And if you look at it, they did a pretty good job because the Cowboys really didn't have a whole lot of opportunities in the second half of the game. But some numbers for you. The Giants used two or more running backs, which would be a half back and full back, on 48.5% of their plays against Dallas. That's the highest rate that the Giants have used at least two running backs since 2018. Ricard was in 36 of 68 snaps played by the Giants on offense. He was in motion on 19 of 36 snaps, which is 52.8%, the highest rate by a New York Giant since 2018, with a minimum of 15 snaps, by the way. He was the lead blocker on 11 runs, which yielded 43 yards. And when he was just on the field, the Giants had 28 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown, right? When he wasn't on the field, nine carries for 71 yards. So those stats, by the way, all per NFL plus. So, you know, you look at the results of a fullback. And by the way, I do not necessarily think the Giants are going to use a fullback as heavily as they did against Dallas every single week. Do I think they'll use a fullback significantly? Yes, but maybe not to that degree. But that being said, why not use a fullback more often? Why does it seem like the position is fading away? That, you know, there's so few good fullbacks in the league and that a lot of teams just don't have them. They instead use tight ends. Well, I interviewed Pat Ricard last week and I asked him, I said, do you kind of feel like, you know, your position is going the way of being a dinosaur? Now, I don't have the video because we weren't allowed to shoot video in the Giants locker room, the temporary locker room, but I'll play you the audio clip to what he said. I don't think so. I mean, I think the issue is it's hard to find good fullbacks in today's football to really utilize them. So I feel like a lot of offensive coordinators don't want to because it's hard to find guys like, you know, I'm 300 pounds. So it's hard to find guys like me that can move and play the way I do. So I feel like if there were a lot of me, I feel like more teams will want to use that kind of stuff or a lot of guys like Kyle Yusachev who is very gadgety, can do it all. So I feel like they just rather not. And I feel like it came to a point when the fullbacks started getting phased out is when they were just using tight ends to block. Yeah. And then they realized, well, tight ends aren't as good at doing that. So they kind of just got rid of those kind of schemes and just made it, you know, it's been more of a turn into a passing league. So we're like, you know, why would you use a fullback as much? But I feel like it's just if you can have the right fullback, then it will work. And I feel like, you know, that's why Harbaugh wanted to be up here, because we've had success together and the offense is that you're using a fullback that you want, so. All right. That was Patrick Ricard, Giants fullback. And by the way, if you are a Blue Crew member, you can hear the entire interview that I did with Ricard by just logging into the Discord channel. There's a link there where you can find that in other exclusives. All right. So let's take a look at something here. Look at what John Harbaugh has kind of built as far as the run game. You've got a 300-pound fullback. You've got a human bowling ball in the form of Cam Scadaboo. Then they bring in Najee Harris, who's a big running back. They just signed Phil Mafa, a former Cowboys running back to the practice squad, a guy who was 6'1, 232 pounds. Look at what the Giants are building for their run game. Gone are the days of the shorter, quicker, scat-back types. It's all about ground and pound. Patrick Ricard is a big part of that. Now, Ricard's only signed for two years. I think he's 32 years old, so he's getting up there in terms of football years. The Giants also have a young fullback in training, if you will. It's a tight end fullback, Grant Finley. He's on the practice squad, so we'll see how he develops over the next year or two, and whether he could take up that mantle. But the point being is that fullback is making a comeback with the Giants. Just looking at it right away, in week one, what a difference it made. By the way, I talked about this on yesterday's show. I'll mention it again. The Giants were able to run quarterback steaks, a.k.a., in one case, it was almost like a tush push, because there was some pushing going on behind quarterback Jackson Dart. That's what having that extra beef, if you will, can allow you to do. Because if you look at the Eagles, one of the reasons why the Eagles are so successful with the tush push, and yes, I still hate the play, I still do, sorry. But one of the reasons why they are so successful is because they've got a lot of meat up front to get the force they need to push back on the defensive line. That's what the Giants are trying to build. They want a meaty offensive line with strong full backs, strong running backs, strong tight ends who can get that push and plow people out of the way. They want people movers. So I love it because this is old school football. Look, let's call it for what it is. That's a big reason why the Giants were able to control the clock against Dallas Cowboys and why they're going to continue to try to control the clock with their running game. All right, Giants fans, coming up next, Blue Notes, some miscellaneous things that happened throughout the day since I last came to you on the podcast. We'll go over all that when we come back. Hey, Giants fans, there are certain flavors that instantly feel like summer and for a lot of people, those classic red, white and blue freezer pops are right at the top of the list. Sweet cherry, lime, blue raspberry, it's one of those nostalgic summer flavors that everybody recognizes. 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This season FanDuel is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all-new FanDuel Rewards Club featuring exclusive offers, surprises and a whole lot more. Every week, check the FanDuel app to see what's waiting for you. Now this week, the New York Giants are currently a seven and a half point underdog against the Los Angeles Rams. It's a game that's sure to generate a lot of buzz and excitement, especially how the Rams were dominated by the 49ers in Australia and the Giants dominated the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. But we're talking a lot of buzz here. And you know what? If you've got a good feeling about the Giants making it 2-0, why not check out FanDuel and make this your most rewarding season ever? Visit fanduel.com today to get started. All right, Giants fans, welcome back to the Locked On Giants Podcast. I am your host, Patricia Traina. And coming up this week, the Giants Squad Show will be airing on Tuesday. We're coming to you at 10 a.m. It'll be myself, Mark Collins, Jay Berman. We're still all on Cloud 9 from Sunday Night. I know at some point we should probably come down off of Cloud 9, but it's been so long. So we'll talk about that. We'll get you caught up on all things Giants as always. Great discussion. Come on through. It is a live stream. So if you want to come on through and join the chat, you know, in between sessions, I try and answer the comments that come through on the chat room and we hope we see you there again. That'll be 10 a.m. on the YouTube channel. If you can't make it or if you listen to us on audio, we'll have the replay of the show for you. Just wherever you get your podcast, whether it's on YouTube or on our audio platform. So do check that out. All right, let's get into our Blue Notes. Blue Notes is kind of like a daily wrap of little things that happen that are just worth talking about. Now, earlier in the show, I mentioned Phil Maffa, who was signed running back, former Dallas Cowboys, Seventh Round Pick, didn't make the Cowboys coming out of training camp. He is a six foot one, 232 pounder. He was signed to the practice squad. Now, the Giants also, for what it's worth, they cut receiver, Dalyne Cambry, from the 53 man roster. They had just signed Cambry from the practice squad to the 53 on Saturday, basically hedging because they weren't sure if they were going to have a league neighbor. Once neighbors declared himself ready, Cambry was inactive. The expectation is he'll probably go back to the practice squad, so I'm not sure. They're going to have to clear a spot out for him. I'm not sure where that spot's going to come, but maybe they're bringing up, they're planning to bring somebody up from the practice squad, whether that's Berrios, who now they can do that because of the week two rule. Let's actually talk about that because this is a salary cap strategy that the Giants and all NFL teams can use. Basically, if a player is on an NFL roster in week one, his entire salary is guaranteed against that team's cap. Let's say, in the case of Cambry, he was on the roster as of week one, and his salary was just a smidge over one million, that amount is guaranteed now throughout the full season. Usually, what you try to do with cap gymnastics is you try and get a guy who doesn't cost you a lot. You put him on the roster, you put your higher-priced veterans on your practice squad, if you can, and then you shuffle it around. Because now, come week two, if you want to bring up Berrios, you can, and if you decide later on that you need that roster spot for something else, you can cut him and not have to worry about having that full cap amount, hit the salary cap. So it's a little bit of cap gymnastics, if you will. Now, speaking of the cap, the Giants also restructured, they executed a simple restructure of safety, Javon Holland's contract. So they cleared up a little over five million in salary cap space. So what's a simple restructure? Basically, it just means taking a player's base salary and cutting it down and saying, okay, you know what, we're going to give you the bulk of this in the form of a signing bonus. So the player gets it up front. And Holland's case, he's in year two of his three-year contract. And so his base salary dropped to about, I think, 1.2 or 1.3, which was the full guaranteed amount that he was owed in his contract in this year of his contract. So it saved the money and it reduced his cap hit to about 12 million. But in 2027, Holland's going to have a $24 million cap number. That's where I suspect that they're going to look to extend him if he has a good year this year. And even if he doesn't, what they can do if they need to get that number down, very simply give him a one-year extension, reshuffle the money a little bit, and the one-year extension can have like a dummy year, which means it's a voidable year. So there are things that they can do to manage it. But again, I guess the expectation is that Holland is going to be part of this team for the foreseeable future. So we'll see if that's how it works out. I know we're getting a little down the line here with the salary cap and Jevon Holland. But the bottom line is the Giants now have roughly, actually they have a little bit over 12 million, which is the high end of what General Manager Joe Sheen typically looks to have when he starts his season. The reason for that, and I know some of you are going to say, oh, that means Joey Porter is coming. Well, not necessarily, guys, not necessarily. What that 12 million is going to be used for, I would think is they're going to continue to churn the bottom of the roster. They're going to use it to pay for practice squad elevations. They're going to use it to pay for replacements who come in when guys get injured or have to go on IR. So that's, I think, what that money is going to be used for. Now, again, some of you have asked me, well, does it mean now that the Giants can afford Joey Porter? I don't know exactly what Joey Porter is looking for. Joey Porter, by the way, is the cornerback on the Steelers, and right now he's in the contract impasse. So there's been talk about him wanting out. I don't know exactly what he's looking for in terms of money. I don't know though that they are going to make that move. I mean, I can make an argument for it because look, Deontay Banks is in Sign Beyond this year, Greg Newsome is in Sign Beyond this year. So you figure you're not going to keep both of those guys. But what I suspect the Giants would like to see unfold, and I don't know if this is going to happen. It might, it might not. But I suspect ultimately they are going to want for Deontay Banks to be back here because Banks has looked good in this defensive scheme. Let's call it for what it is. Keep Deontay Banks if he can and start Colton Hood by next year, which means Newsome would probably be the odd man out. Again, he's on a one-year contract, I can't see him being here for the long-term. That's what I think the Giants are hoping happens. Whether that happens, well, that remains to be seen. Still a lot of football to get through this year. Look, I'll say this for my last point here. As good as the Giants look, as good as Deontay Banks look, and as good as we all feel about it, we've got to temper our expectations a little bit. Why? There's such a thing called overreaction from week one, and I'm guilty of it. Look, I was on Cloud 9 after the game, and that wasn't because I was short on sleep, that was just finally being happy to talk about a win, because I've been so tired of talking about losses every week with you guys. You guys deserve better. But, you know, look, you got to keep things in perspective. There's going to be ups and there's going to be downs. And like I've said before on the program, there are going to be games that the Giants have no business winning that they do, and they're going to be games which they should absolutely dominate that they don't. So you got to keep everything in perspective, keep it one week at a time. That said, I do feel still, I still feel good about the Giants season. I think we'll have a lot more wins to talk about than we will losses. And any losses that we do have to talk about, I don't think they're going to be blowouts or disasters like what we saw last year in Denver. So keep the faith, Giants fans. I know I am optimistic as always, contrary to what some of you think, I am an optimist. And we'll just keep bringing it to you here on the Locked On Giants podcast. All right, Giants fans, thank you so much for tuning in to the Locked On Giants podcast. If you made us your first listener today, we appreciate that. If you are just spending a few minutes with us today, we appreciate that as well. We will be back with an all new episode for you tomorrow here on the Locked On Giants podcast. Until then, have a great one, everybody. The Locked On Podcast Network is brought to you by FanDuel. Baseball fans, if you think you know who's hitting a homer today, FanDuel is giving you a free chance to call your shot with Daily Dingers. It's easy to play. Just make your free pick for who you think will hit a homerun in their game. If you're right, you'll receive a profit boost to use on your next bet for a chance at extra winnings. Best of all, you can make a free pick every day throughout the MLB season. So are you ready to play your game today? Join all the action at fanduel.com. That's fanduel.com to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB. Hey NFL fans, I'm Brian Peacock, and that is Matt Williamson, host of the NFL Six Pack, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. NFL Six Pack brings you the latest NFL news and analysis and breaks down all of the weekly action. A six pack of takes daily on the playoff pushed in the 2025 season, or if your team's in draft mode, yeah, we'll hit that too. All right here every day on the Locked On Podcast Network, the NFL Six Pack, subscribe on YouTube or everywhere. You get your podcasts.